The landing in Reykjavik was definitely an eventful one. The plane shook violently as the pilot tried to ensure the wheels all touched down on the tarmac. I felt the left side of the plane come down followed swiftly by the right. We had landed in Reykjavik and were all hungry and tired and excited for this new country to explore.
When everyone had settled into the airport, we went to get some food. I broke off with Chris, and we found a pastry shop that had donuts filled with Nutella or glazed with caramel. They all looked delicious, and the lady working there even laughed at me when I ordered the two donuts for breakfast. But we were finally ready to start our long day ahead of us. We got on the bus and began driving to our first destination of Reykjavik in the pitch-black night. We walked around the town and passed numerous historical sites and impressive feats of architecture. Buildings like the Harpa were truly amazing to view and appreciate the architecture and engineering put into the building.
My first impressions of Iceland were that it was very barren and covered with ice and snow, as the name suggests. Lava fissures covered most of the surface as we drove away from the Keflavik airport and towards the capital. I already knew some prior history of the island since I had traveled here before, but that was during the summer months, so I didn’t know how much different it would be in the winter. The cold winter gusts of wind were strong enough to knock people over, and the snow and ice everywhere didn’t make for an easy trek.
But the Hellisheidi power plant was truly a marvel. Seeing the generator and turbine system was truly impressive and the tour guide provided ample details about the system and process of geothermal heating and extraction. We even got to see one of the active Bohr holes that is used to draw heated water from the ground to become stam which turns a turbine to produce electricity. My overall impression of the island of Iceland was that the people there are very resourceful and cunning with the resources they have. They know very well how to take advantage of a climate and terrain that other civilizations would think to be impossible.
Swanson School of Engineering 