Reykjavík, March 29 Update

First of all, I've stumbled across the most adorable website: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1ZXBBt/thedesigninspiration.com/articles/70-cutie-baby-animals-bring-your-a-good-mood/  If you're ever stressed out, this will fix it!

The past week has been a lot of catching up with... well, sleep mostly, and a little bit of homework. There are only two weeks left of classes, and then about 4 weeks before exams. In the past two days it seems as though spring has finally hit Iceland! Coming from Nova Scotia I know that it could change at the drop of a hat, but as of now most of the snow is gone, and a large amount of the pond is thawed!

One of the biggest events of the past week was Eve Online FanFest 2011. This was an event spanning several days for an online gaming community. I've never played the game, but it drew a huge crowd to Reykjavik! On Friday there was a chessboxing match that we made our way to. What's chessboxing, you ask? Well, it's a little bit of chess and a little bit of boxing! In this match there was an older man who is a great chess player, and then a younger man who was (is?) the champion boxer in Iceland. They play chess for 4 minutes, and then box for 3 minutes, and so on. Each of them has a timer, and has only a total of 12 minutes to make all of their chess moves, and the younger guy eventually ran out of time, so he lost! It was a really really cool event.

Saturday night was the biggest night of the festival, culminating with a great concert with several bands. We streamed the first from our residence and they weren't all that exciting, but showed up just in time for the last two: Iceland's FM Belfast, and Booka Shade! It was a really energetic, sweaty night. It was neat to notice so many people that I knew there, from school/exchange/the city.

The saddest part of the week (well, the saddest part of the entire semester really) was saying goodbye to Sarah. Her boyfriend was visiting and they got in a car accident - they're fine! But she had to go home and heal herself, so we had a tiny pizza party to wish her well. We miss you already Sarah!! xoxo

The sexy couple :)

Today Kris and I went back to the pond to feed the birds (surprise!). We tried all kinds of goodies that he found online that are much healthier for them than the bread everyone usually feeds them. We tried thawed frozen peas, but they didn't go over too well, seems the ducks aren't fond of veggies. The second best was Cornflakes, and the winner was Cheerios! Then I did some reading and discovered that there are Mallards (which we knew), a type of geese that I forget, and Whopping Swans. The city has about 60-100 of each type I do believe, and only 30-50 pigeons. It's mating season right now, so they are super loud (as in, wake-you-up-super-early loud) and the males have become very territorial. We watched one goose "couple" - as the female ate, the male scared off any other geese nearby, it was really really cute.

The ducky couple!

Chasing off the other boys 

He stood like this the whole time, maybe trying to look big & tall? 

Waddling off together

Travels: Days 10 & 11, London

Back in London for the last few days, we decided to take it very easy! Sunday morning we slept till nearly noon, after several days with very little sleep in Cork. We were lazy bums all day, running out to grab wine and then heading to her friends' for supper. They made a wonderful roast dinner, I ate so much that I could barely move! It was really nice to eat healthy after a week of pub food, haha.

On Monday we wandered around Camden Town, in particular the Camden markets. They were really funky! The layout was similar to the old Halifax Farmer's Market - old stalls, random little spaces and hallways - but with mostly clothing and accessories, not food. I bought a few little things, and then got a massage from fish! Tiny carp would swim around my feet and nibble off the dead skin cells. At first I thought I wouldn't be able to take it - my feet are so ticklish! But after a while it just felt similar to the sensation you feel just before a limb goes to sleep, kind of fuzzy.

The sun shining in Camden Town!

Camden Town High Street

Camden Stables market

Camden Market

The fish biting away!

So so strange!

Travels: Days 8 & 9, Ireland

Friday morning we went to the English Market (a sort of farmer's market) and grabbed breakfast. After that, Steph went shopping and I went with a group of the guys from Denmark to Blarney Castle. The weather was gorgeous once again, and we spent lots of time exploring the castle and the house nearby as well. There were a couple of cavern-type spots we crawled into, and endless amounts of little rooms in the castles. The Blarney Stone was at the very top of the castle, and to kiss it we had to lay on our backs and have a man hold us as we slid down towards it! Quite the ordeal, I must say.

Inside a little cave with the longest tunnel to crawl through!

A watch tower outside of the castle

Blarney Castle

Standing in a "window" - that's how this the walls are!

Some of the stairs we had to climb up - stories and stories of this!

View from the top of the castle - you can see the tiny "watch tower" in the background!

Kissing the Blarney Stone!

Blarney House

One of the group taking a little break

Blarney House

On Saturday we got an early start because some of the boys had forgotten to change their watches, which somehow meant we needed to be awake with them. We packed up and checked out of the hostel - Cork International Youth Hostel, great place! - and then headed to the University College Cork. What a stunning campus! We went to a cathedral after that and wandered around, eventually ending up at a restaurant called 14A for lunch. At lunch it started to rain, so we went back to the hostel to relax and stay dry before it was time to head to the airport.

University College Cork

The main building of UCC

A hallway leading to administrative offices

Statues on the campus

We couldn't go in because mass was running late

Stones outside of the cathedral

A street band performing in the rain

Travels: Days 6 & 7, Ireland

On Wednesday at 3am Steph and I caught a bus to Stansted airport, and by 7:30 we were in Cork! Flying in was gorgeous, vivid green fields and wide spaces! My friend Chase was already at our hostel when we got there, with about 15 people he studies with in Aarhus, Denmark. After breakfast, Steph, Chase, Sebastien, Brad and I went to Killarney National Park.  It was about an hour and a half bus ride.

When we got to Killarney we grabbed lunch and then headed for the park. The path we walked was about 5 km in total. we walked across streams and through fields, it was so beautiful and the weather was amazing! There were a couple of pastures with horses in them, and it was a little strange seeing non-Icelandic horses! We ended up at Ross Castle, which was closed, but we could lounge by a lake with the ducks.

In Killarney

A path in Killarney National Park

Ross Castle in the background

Ross Castle with some ducks

Ross Castle

The lake

"Traffic" on the way back 

Thursday was St. Patrick's Day! We headed to the 2 Euro store in the morning to grab our "green" gear and then searched and searched until we found a place that served breakfast before noon! St. Patty's is a national holiday in Ireland, so lots of things were closed. The parade was at about 2pm, and after that were ample amount of green beer and Irish stew (delicious) until the wee hours of the morning.

One of the group posing with a really common scene in Cork

Brad and I

Jeff, Chase and I

One of the groups in the parade

Steph and I in the pub "Door 51"