Reykjavik: Day 1

My flight went very well, everything worked out perfectly. Except the beautiful French boy sitting next to me moved because the seat didn't recline and he had a bad back. Details. Anyway, the airport is ridiculously beautiful, clean, and modern. I got in to the apartment about 1:30 local time, which was fine. It's a very nice place, very small, modest, but with quirky decorations that liven up the place. And plenty of light. Speaking of light. It is currently 10:30PM and the sun is just barely setting. Ah, the wonders of living two tiny degrees south of the Arctic Circle.

Anyway. This morning I went to the Directorate of Immigration to be photographed; I was out the door before I realized they didn't return my passport. Good save, Isabella. Afterwards, I went to the University of Iceland to figure out how to register for classes... but I can't do that until I get my "kennitala" (Icelandic ID number), which I can't do until I get my housing document signed. Ho hum. I had seafood stew in the cafeteria. The school is very beautiful and new, and there's a coffee shop next to it, which I plan to inhabit during the semester.

Afterwards, I went to the like, downtown area I guess, to look for a bike, but apparently selling used bikes isn't a thing in Reykjavik. I was advised to look online.

This picture is of Hallgrímskirkja, which is the sixth largest structure in Iceland, the five ahead of it being mostly communications towers. It's absolutely stunning, and the architecture, seems to be very fitting of the city. The view from the top is really something else--you can see the mountains in the distance, the sea, and the entire city. The streets are laid out in a somewhat nonsensical pattern. Its like a bunch of urban planners wanted to do grid patterns, then said "fuck it," and did whatever they felt like.

I stopped at a grocery store on the way home to pick up some food..... which is........ so............ expensive................................ But I grabbed some skyr (think Greek yoghurt, but somehow amazingly creamy without any fat) and muesli. So hopefully that will last a while.

Some non-sequiturs: the weather was akin to a blustery October day in Ithaca, which is pleasant so long as you have nice boots and a warm jacket. I need to get a rain jacket; it's raining all this week. The Icelandic word for "yes" is "já," which is pronounced as "yow" which is probably the coolest thing ever. The yarn here is amazing and also very cheap. I will be purchasing loads. Dogs do not abound in this country which makes me very sad. Apparently there's a very strict process of registering them. The owner of the apartment is in Norway right now, so I have not met her yet, but there's a woman from Austria here renting another room here through airbnb. She is very nice and probably six inches taller than me. The hot water smells like sulfur, which is unpleasant, though I suppose I'll get used to it. All of the doors in shops push open from the outside instead of pull. So I've just made a dumbass of myself all day.

I think that's the end of my thoughts.