First official day in Iceland! We landed a bit early, so we got right into it. Immediately after getting outside, I could see that the wind here is no joke. We headed to Reykjavik to walk around the city with our tour guide, Ólöf. She is incredibly knowledgeable about the country and was giving us information on everything we passed on the way while being incredibly funny. That definitely helped with the jet lag.
We started off at Hallgrímskirkja, the church in the first image, while hearing some of the history behind it from Ólöf. There was a garden of statues nearby all pertaining to Nordic Myths. Ólöf was nice enough to share a few of them with us making it ten times more interesting.
We continued to a few fun stops in the area, such as Rainbow Road and a local handknitted wool clothing store. Because it was still early, we were able to take our time and stroll through the city. We even found a stand that sells Icelandic hot dogs. I got to try one and definitely one of the best hot dogs I have ever had. I will definitely be trying more on this trip. Eventually, it was time for lunch. We stopped at a local grocery store to purchase snacks for later and went to a bakery for lunch. Afterwards, it was finally time for the geothermal power plant.
At the plant, we received an in-depth tour from an employee, David. He gave us all the background as to why geothermal energy works, why it’s so sustainable, and its drawbacks. He then went into the specifics of how their company, Orka Náttúrunnar, does their production and their outputs. Amazingly, the plant alone makes about enough electricity for every person who lives in Iceland. However, due to company use in heavy metal production, it only provides to a small group of the population. The remaining is covered by more geothermal power plants on the island and other renewable energy sources. Following the information session, David took us to a well site. The wells are used to push the used water back underground as “disposal.” We had the opportunity to inside a well and see how it works.
After the power plant, we headed towards a natural hot spring near our hotel. It was about an hour and a half drive, so we all got an opportunity to catch up on some much-needed sleep. After stopping to see the hot spring, we headed to our hotel to unload, clean up, and head to our welcome dinner. The food was incredible, and the rooms are so cute.
Overall, I’d say day number one was a success. Iceland has always been a largely uninhabitable place in my mind. While this is still true for a lot of the island, the places where people do reside are incredibly intricate and are so different from what I had expected. The mountains, glaciers, and lava rock landscapes are beautiful, but there is also so much to learn here. I am excited to see where the rest of the trip takes me!
Swanson School of Engineering 