Hellooooo day 4. Our first stop today was a bit of a drive but we stopped at a gas station again. I have been loving getting the chance to stop at grocery stores and gas stations so I can look at all of the Icelandic snacks and products! But, our next stop is Skógafoss, a waterfall with stairs we can climb up. I have been itching for a hike and we got a chance to walk along the river and see more falls as well. However, as soon as we embarked the weather took such a turn and it was like a blizzard. It was definitely a cool experience albeit rather cold.
Next, we went to the Skógar museum. This originally started as somebody’s own personal collection and I am so impressed by the dedication. My biggest takeaway from this museum was how I was able to humanize historic Icelanders better now. Like I can read about them and learn about the sagas and history, but at that point they are just stories. But seeing tools they used, clothes they wore, and items they cared for help me fully understand them as real people who lived real lives. I thought this museum was really cool. It highlighted many different aspects of Icelandic life. Of course, I liked the upper floor of the main building that featured textiles. They show us spinning wheels and drop spindles and recovered textiles. The textiles, including shawls and mittens, are gorgeous and their condition is much better than I’d expect. Textiles were very important for Icelanders because they relied on wool clothes to keep themselves warm. Colorful patterns and motifs were likely used for decoration but it’s cool to think about how they were likely passed down from mother to daughter through familial lines. Other rooms of the museum include an entire exhibit on fishing. Fishing is obviously also very important to Icelandic life because it was a main source of food and it is now a big export for Iceland. The exhibit even had a real boat on display! They also included other various clothes and tools like nets, net weights, and fishing poles that would be used to fish. The basement of the museum was really cool too because they had whole cases of taxidermy animals and skeletons that were amazing to see in person. I ended my museum tour at the technical exhibit that took you on a journey through the technology of Iceland over the years. I liked reading about how telephones have changed: starting with the first telegraph lines to Iceland to landlines to cell phones. They also had a collection of vehicles scattered throughout the exhibit as well. My first thought was that they didn’t look very warm.
After the museum, we then headed straight to the Sólheimajökull glacier. Luckily, the weather held off relatively long enough for it be pretty sunny on the glacier itself. I have never had the chance to see a glacier before and I didn’t realize it would have a sort of blue color to it. This glacier has unfortunately shrinked quite a bit due to a changing climate. What used to be all glacier has now turned into a sort of lake and river at the end of it. This was a very unique experience that will stick with me because of how dramatic the glacier has shrunk. I am interested in seeing more glaciers in Iceland and sort of compare between them.
After a shorter drive, we then arrived at Vik to stop for a bit. In Vik, we were able to see a black sand beach which was also an incredibly unique experience. The wind was a bit rough but the black sand made it look like an otherworldly landscape. After a little bit, we left Vik to head towards our hotel for the night. The night had a surprise in store for us: the Northern Lights!! Another very unique experience I have been looking forwards to! We were waiting outside looking at the stars when we were able to watch the lights appear in the sky. They started as just one streak but then quickly spread and danced through the night. After a while, the lights began to look almost like thin clouds which was really cool to see! The Northern Lights were one of the biggest things a lot of us wanted to see on this trip so a lot of us were really satisfied tonight!
Swanson School of Engineering 