June 20, 2018
8:10 PM Iceland Time
Today has been beautiful! It has mainly been cloudy and
rainy the whole time we have been here, and when we walked outside to go to
class there wasn’t a cloud in the sky! We started off with Icelandic lessons,
and it was so pretty out we ended up going outside to practice some of our
Icelandic conversations with one another.
So we are all officially famous in Iceland! We were on TV
this morning! Here is a link; you can see me in a few of the frames!
After language lessons we had a lecture about Icelandic
society. Here are some points that I found interesting:
·
WWII changed Iceland overnight because Iceland
was one of the poorest European countries before WWII, and it became the
wealthiest after the war
·
Iceland is #1 in the world in gender equality
and the USA is 45th
·
In October 2008, there was a great economic
crash in Iceland
o
All 3 of Iceland’s banks crashed caused by:
§
International financial crisis
§
Tiny currency
§
Overspending
§
Greedy bankers and businessmen
§
Flawed EU regulations
§
Icelandic arrogance
§
Negligence by banking sector watch dogs
o
Most people moved to Norway after losing their
homes
o
Before the crash there was “The wild years” from
2005-2008 when people spent a lot of money and lived pretty lavishly
o
Iceland’s main industry used to be fishing and
now it is tourism
After our lecture we decided that it was a perfect day to go
to the thermal beach! It was a bit of a walk, but it was very beautiful with
clear blue skies. The beach is called Nauthólsvík. The beach was a bit colder
than Hawaii beaches, but it was still much warmer than I expected. It did have
an artificial thermal infinity pool that was very nice and relaxing. It felt a
bit weird being in a bikini on a beach in Iceland!
A few of us went into town for a bit after the beach, and we
stopped by a record store where I found a few Icelandic black metal and indie
music that I want to check out. I want to try to listen to more Icelandic music
and watch Icelandic movies when I get back to try to keep up on my Icelandic.
Not that I know a lot yet, but I don’t want to lose what I’ve learned so far.
On our walk back to the hostel, we stopped by the address an
Icelandic representative had given me. Apparently, my great great great
grandmother Katrín Jónsdottir lived in downtown Reykjavik for a little bit
before emigrating to Canada. I took a few pictures even though there weren’t
any original buildings from what I could tell. It was a little surreal to be
standing where my ancestors lived at one point!
Here in a bit we are going to all watch how to train my dragon
in Icelandic! Watching children’s movies in Icelandic has been really fun. Stay
tuned for more adventures tomorrow!
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