A promise is a promise.

I promised to write about my recent trip to Reykjavik. So here I go...

It was fun.


They say leave your reader wanting more right? Still I think that probably won't cut it. So here is a narrative of the weekend. Friday, we worked most of the day, until about 3:00. While Jamin and David were in the lab working on data, and Mireia and Kyle were out on the boat, Bre and I did the familiar circle around Mývatn, visiting each of our transects and collecting our cups of dead midges. It was a nice trip. The day was fantastic - sunny and warm. I wore short sleeves and pants. I would guess the temperature was around 65 degrees F ... which is about as warm as it has been all summer. We made good time, neither of us got lost going the 500m sites, which is a pretty big accomplishment. Jamin told us that it was the first time that the new people had ever gone to collect the samples together without a more experienced person along. We felt pretty good about that.

Anyway, on to Reykjavik.... After our day we drove to Akureyri to catch our flight. Flying in Iceland is great. We showed up 10 minutes before the plane was to leave, got our boarding passes, walked right onto the tarmac and into the plane. There is no security, no x-ray of baggage, nothing. It's the way that it should be and I wish it could be at home. The flight is a 45 minute trip south in a 50 seat twin turbo-prop, and quite relaxing. We got to the city and, unfortunately it was raining. We were worried because it had been so beautiful in Mývatn that none of us had bothered to check the weather or bring rain jackets. (it turned out to be a decent weekend, overcast but no rain other than on our walk to where we stayed) We walked from the airport to our friend Oli's apartment where we were to bunk for the weekend. We walked in and knew immediately it was going to be a cozy weekend... There it was one small room, with no furniture to speak of except an air mattress that was laid on the floor. None of us cared much, it was a small price to pay for a free room within walking distance of the city center.


So at this point I had written a whole post, but it got deleted. Only what is above was saved. I'll try to reproduce what I had written. This is a bit frustrating.


So anyway we wandered downtown and strolled up and down the main street getting a bit of the lay of the land. We were all fairly hungry so we wandered into an Indian restaurant on the main street. It was a small place, probably less than 20 small tables, and it was filled with locals which we thought was a good sign. We weren't disappointed. The food was fantastic, and it was pretty awesome that the chef was the one to whom we paid our bill at the end. It was just him and two servers working. After dinner we headed back to the apartment and got ready to head out for the evening. We taxied downtown to some bars and had a great time. It is unfortunate, but none of the bars would play "Hips don't lie" by Shakira, even though I requested it at at least 6 different places. Bribes don't seem to work either (DJs apparently don't take American flag credit cards). We made it back to the apartment about 7:30 am, soon after being kicked out at close at 7am.

The following day we woke up feeling as good as new (hahaha) andwalked around the city. We stopped in a local establishment to watch the US vs. Ghana world cup match, which was entertaining, but a bit disappointing. We once again headed back to the apartment, but this time to take a nap and shower before heading out again for the evening. Our respite was cut short by the arrival of Oli's field assistant Henny and her friend who was visiting, Carolina. We chatted for a while and we promised to meet up with them later on in the evening. When it was time for us to go, we headed upstairs to the convenience store to call a cab, which was done quite willingly, as it seems someone in our group had tipped the security guard the previous night. We made it downtown to an establishment called Vitabar, where Jamin knew of the DJ who was going to be playing. His name was Terradisco and he has a place in Team Midge legend, which I will not go into. Terradisco was offended that I asked him to play Shakira, and I was offended that he wouldn't so I urged the group to leave.

Nice mustache, Terradisco

We did leave, probably not for that reason though. We made it to a bar called NASA where the Finns happened to be, and where there were also a number of bands playing. NASA is a space-themed bar (motto: expect hangovers) which was surprisingly large and well attended. The bands were great, and I ended up buying their CD's. After the show we rounded out the night at the same bar where we watched the football match earlier in the day. Bre and I actually only went in long enough to try and find Oli, but he was nowhere to be found. After a late night hot dog from Iceland's most famous stand, where you ask for only "Eina með öllu" (one with everything) we made it home to crash once again on the floor.


The trip was a great success and I would love to go back sometime in the future.

When we got home it was back to work. Long hours, because there have been about 5 consecutive days of rain in the forecast. One day, David and I got done a bit early so we painted the roof of an outbuilding on the property where we live. It was a great day to be on the roof, but a bit windy, and as a result I am now the proud owner of a new pair of red polka dot pants.

We painted ourselves in and had to jump off the roof