We have arrived! After a very long day of travel, and barely any sleep on the plane, I have arrived in Iceland! To be exact we arrived around 5 am in Iceland time, which is about midnight on the east coast, so I definitely had a very long day ahead of me full of many adventures.
Stepping outside into the Iceland wind was a life-changing experience because I had previously thought, oh I have experienced wind before this can’t be that bad, but when I tell you… it’s nothing like you’ve ever experienced before. Except of course, if you feel like you face 50 mph / 60 mph winds at night… humbling, to say the least. Our journey began by stopping at a famous church in Reykjavik, which continued the humbling experience of dealing with Icelandic winds (when Dr. Barry tells you to change clothes do so) and exploring various parts of Iceland’s capital. We then departed for a quick stop for lunch, and then the coveted geothermal power plant.
The geothermal power plant was so cool because it was something I have wanted to understand the inner workings of for a long time, and it did! Learning how the system creates hydrogen sulfide and also how they eliminate the harmful pollutant was so interesting! Would recommend visiting it to anyone who is interested in sustainable energy or just geothermal in general! It’s a great sight and experience to behold, especially being able to go into one of the extraction chambers.
Finally, we ended our day with an arrival dinner, which was an assortment of lamb, potatoes, and a salad, and it was so delicious. I personally couldn’t stop eating the bread, and drinking water, and finished it all off with some cheesecake! I am super excited to see what tomorrow holds visiting the western peninsula of Iceland!
Swanson School of Engineering 