Vamos a playa!
There´s a large group of spanish people in the course so I try and practise my spanish but I have forgotten most of it. I understand a bit when they talk but can´t think of what to say.
But swimming is very popular here. They have many pools and hot tubs (I think they´re called hotpots) around. I went last night with a few friends (Mads, Hannes, Christian and Paco -Paco the Lover! (jonny.. ;). We did some laps and then played a bit of water volleyball and the fútbol though it was more like basketball, trying to get the ball in a tube. It was a lot of fun. At first it was 3 on 2 but Paco asked a guy in the pool if he wanted to join us and he said alright, but then their team won. The guy we met was named Eill, or Egll (I don´t know how it´s spelt) but he was from Iceland and was really nice.
It was the Pride Parade in Reykjavik on Saturday so a bunch of us went to that. I´ve never been to a pride parade before so it was kind of neat to experience that but it was pretty short. It was very colourful though and I think most of Reykjavik was in the streets to watch it. Afterwards there was a concert with many bands from Iceland playing. I couldn´t understand what they were singing but they were pretty good (don´t know any of the band names) but they were pretty poppy sounding. I didn´t stay too long before it was getting cold and we were suppose to meet later to go to the bars that night. I ended up going to the Sirkus with some friends, a really small bar, that´s in a house and it took about 30 mins to get into it. Once you got in there though it was packed, but they played some cool Euro dance music. Upstairs in the place they had a lounge area with bus-type seats to sit in, it was less crowded up there so we hung out there for most of the time. It was only 3am (haha) when we got out and tried finding another place to go but everywhere was packed with long line-ups to get it. Everyone here parties until like 7-8am in the morning. I haven´t attempted doing that yet but the night really only lasts from maybe 11 to 3 and even then its not completely dark.
Well this weekend most of the class is going on a trip to the Westmen Islands, in the southern part of Iceland. It´s named the Westmen islands after Irish men who were living in Iceland that stole the women of some village and tried hiding on these islands, but the leader of Iceland at the time found out their whereabouts and killed them and brought their women back to the main land. And Ireland at the time were known as the Westmen, being the western most place that they knew about. There will be some tours of the islands planned, and apparently they can bake bread in the lava fields. There are also a few museums on their folklore and culture and swimming pools as well. Saturday night there will be karaoke, haha so that should be fun as well.
Next week will be the whale watching and horse back riding, which I´m looking forward to as well.
One thing interesting about spending time with people all over who speak other languages and may not speak english very well you start talking differently, well I´ve noticed I do. You talk slower and more precise perhaps, so my blog entries might sound very formal but its how my brain has been functioning lately. I also find I get a bit of an accent from just hearing so many other accents its hard to talk in my normal Canadian accent. I don´t know if anyone else finds that happen when in other countries. It´s kind of amusing though because many of the exchange students chose Iceland to actually learn English, because a lot of people here do speak English. Friends of mine from Germany ended up being housed together with other Germans and they were frustrated because they didn´t come all this way to speak German so they decided they´re only allowed to talk in English. That´s the thing with most of the people here. So I think what I´ll try is to speak only French with my roommate Nicola and perhaps with Leif so I´m working at a language as well. I think soon we´ll be trying to speak in Icelandic though which will be better. My problem though with learning other languages is I´m shy to begin with and horrible with small talk so I don´t even know what I would say to a person in English, let alone trying to think of something to say in another language, so I tend to sit and listen to people mostly. That´s why I think I have a lot of trouble learning language just because of my timidness. I hope I can kill that part of me and be more outgoing but its hard to stop very old and unconscious habits.
Well I think I have said enough for now.
Sjáumst!
But swimming is very popular here. They have many pools and hot tubs (I think they´re called hotpots) around. I went last night with a few friends (Mads, Hannes, Christian and Paco -Paco the Lover! (jonny.. ;). We did some laps and then played a bit of water volleyball and the fútbol though it was more like basketball, trying to get the ball in a tube. It was a lot of fun. At first it was 3 on 2 but Paco asked a guy in the pool if he wanted to join us and he said alright, but then their team won. The guy we met was named Eill, or Egll (I don´t know how it´s spelt) but he was from Iceland and was really nice.
It was the Pride Parade in Reykjavik on Saturday so a bunch of us went to that. I´ve never been to a pride parade before so it was kind of neat to experience that but it was pretty short. It was very colourful though and I think most of Reykjavik was in the streets to watch it. Afterwards there was a concert with many bands from Iceland playing. I couldn´t understand what they were singing but they were pretty good (don´t know any of the band names) but they were pretty poppy sounding. I didn´t stay too long before it was getting cold and we were suppose to meet later to go to the bars that night. I ended up going to the Sirkus with some friends, a really small bar, that´s in a house and it took about 30 mins to get into it. Once you got in there though it was packed, but they played some cool Euro dance music. Upstairs in the place they had a lounge area with bus-type seats to sit in, it was less crowded up there so we hung out there for most of the time. It was only 3am (haha) when we got out and tried finding another place to go but everywhere was packed with long line-ups to get it. Everyone here parties until like 7-8am in the morning. I haven´t attempted doing that yet but the night really only lasts from maybe 11 to 3 and even then its not completely dark.
Well this weekend most of the class is going on a trip to the Westmen Islands, in the southern part of Iceland. It´s named the Westmen islands after Irish men who were living in Iceland that stole the women of some village and tried hiding on these islands, but the leader of Iceland at the time found out their whereabouts and killed them and brought their women back to the main land. And Ireland at the time were known as the Westmen, being the western most place that they knew about. There will be some tours of the islands planned, and apparently they can bake bread in the lava fields. There are also a few museums on their folklore and culture and swimming pools as well. Saturday night there will be karaoke, haha so that should be fun as well.
Next week will be the whale watching and horse back riding, which I´m looking forward to as well.
One thing interesting about spending time with people all over who speak other languages and may not speak english very well you start talking differently, well I´ve noticed I do. You talk slower and more precise perhaps, so my blog entries might sound very formal but its how my brain has been functioning lately. I also find I get a bit of an accent from just hearing so many other accents its hard to talk in my normal Canadian accent. I don´t know if anyone else finds that happen when in other countries. It´s kind of amusing though because many of the exchange students chose Iceland to actually learn English, because a lot of people here do speak English. Friends of mine from Germany ended up being housed together with other Germans and they were frustrated because they didn´t come all this way to speak German so they decided they´re only allowed to talk in English. That´s the thing with most of the people here. So I think what I´ll try is to speak only French with my roommate Nicola and perhaps with Leif so I´m working at a language as well. I think soon we´ll be trying to speak in Icelandic though which will be better. My problem though with learning other languages is I´m shy to begin with and horrible with small talk so I don´t even know what I would say to a person in English, let alone trying to think of something to say in another language, so I tend to sit and listen to people mostly. That´s why I think I have a lot of trouble learning language just because of my timidness. I hope I can kill that part of me and be more outgoing but its hard to stop very old and unconscious habits.
Well I think I have said enough for now.
Sjáumst!
posted by Kelly @ 1:00 PM
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