Góðan Daginn!

I thought it was appropriate to start by saying "Good day" in Iceland (roughly pronounced gowthan daiyin), because there is no night. Even though the sun technically sets, around midnight, it never truly gets dark. Here is the first picture that I took while I was here, at 10pm.

Luckily I had been training myself to sleep in the light while I was in New York (it was that, or develop an immunity to Iocane powder), so no worries there!

I want to only write about fun, goofy, interesting things (as opposed to the diaries I kept as a child with every minutia about each meal written down), so I shall skip the first day, which was basically just a marathon of exhaustion, tears, hunger, and confusion, and start with introductions!!!

This is me and my new roomies, all of whom I love, on our first day of class:

Going clockwise from me, Harriet (sunglasses on her head) is from Gloucestershire and is a PhD student from York.  She is a medievalist and English to the core, which means I'm not the only tea whore in our house. Josefina (holding the camera), is our own little Luna Lovegood.  Originally from Chile, she can talk endlessly about sagas with her singsong speech patterns, and often disappears into town for hours, probably to ride Thestrals. Alicia (below me), is Canadian with a Masters from York.  She brought a selection of Disney movies, including Emperor's New Groove, so she's a goddess in my book (we have spotty internet here and no Netflix *GASP*).

Then there are our professors!  We are taught the language by Sigríður and Jón Simón.  Sigríður is a sweet Icelandic woman who also goes by Sirrý...like the iPhone persona.  Jón Simón is an Englishman, but he is the only non-native speaker who has been able to fool Sirrý, so he seems like a perfect instructor.  He's a real oddball.  Occasionally he'll say things like "[such and such part of Icelandic grammer] sometimes sends bitches home crying."  Sadly I might not see too much more of Jón Simón - we are taking a test tomorrow to find out if we are in the advanced or beginners class...considering there are some people in my program who have been to Iceland before and can already speak in full sentences, I feel I will be firmly in the beginner's class with Sirrý.

Finally, this gem is Úlfar Bragason.

He is in charge of introducing us to the architecture and history of Reykjavik.  His English is the worst I've heard (most people are effortlessly fluent), but he makes up for it with his tangential tirades against the government.  His vocal patterns are very much like the Russian tour guide in "Eloise in Moscow", for anyone's who's read it.  He cracks us up - stay tuned for the next post for "Things Úlfar says".