Vestmannaeyjar

This past weekend I went to Vestmannaejyar (Westman Islands) and it was an amazing time. The weather was very nice, sunny and fairly warm Friday and Saturday. We took a ferry to Heimaey (the main island) and then were bussed to the house (though it was like a chalet) on the south edge of town. It was a nice place, and they supplied us with mattresses to sleep on the floor so it was fairly comfortable. After dropping our things off we were bussed back into town then walked to the grocery store and liquor store (and I even asked the bus driver how to get there in Icelandic). There were two barbeques at our place so we all bought some hotdogs (pylsa), hamburgers (hamborgari) and lamb steaks (lærisneið). After eating a few of us took a walk towards the coast. The place is quite beautiful. There are mountains, volcanoes, steep cliffs into the ocean and scattered islands in the distance. We sat at the coast looking at the puffins dive in and out of the water and circle around trying to find the entrance to their caves and watched the sunset. We also saw the wheels and axel of an old tractor or truck in the side of the cliff (I hope the driver survived). When we got back to the chalet more people were back and were drinking and partying outside. Leif, Mads and Magnus rotated playing guitar (spila gítar) and a few people joined in singing. In side people were dancing and blaring loud music on the stereo (that later ended up breaking). Once the music died the party started slowing down and people went to sleep.

I ended up freezing in the night because I didn´t have a sleeping bag or blanket, thinking I would be warm in my sweater and jacket, so I didn´t get much sleep and my cold was getting worse. Nicola had the same problem so Saturday morning we walked all over town trying to find a place that had sleeping bags (svefnpoki). After asking someone in a store ''hvar finnst svefnpoki'' we managed to buy two and some cold medicine. On our way back we bumped into a bunch of our friends heading to the liquor store and then to the volcano. So we dropped our things off and caught up with them. It was a fun hike, though I was exhausted (I didn´t think I was going to make it). We hiked up Eldfell, the world´s newest mountain, and some parts you could feel the warmth. I was really nervous walking along the top of the volcano, because the edges were pretty steep and you were walking on about a foot of flat surface. So what do I do? I slide down the volcano. We decided to take the more direct route back and went down the side of the volcano without a path. I decided it was more fun and felt safer sliding down on my butt than my feet and slid all the way down, only scratching up my hands a bit. After that we walked towards the coast to see if you could find any puffins. We saw a few and some seagulls that were circling close over our heads. I found an opening in the cliff that looked like you could climb all the way down to the beach but wasn´t sure if I´d be able to get back up again. So instead we just layed in the soft grass on the edge watching the sea.
We were getting hungry and tired so headed back home. We had another bbq and then a football match (I actually get annoyed when the europeans call it soccer to me now, because it is football to all of them), of the Nordic countries against the rest of Europe (and me). It was a lot of fun, though I haven´t played soccer in a long time, and was never really good but I did ok. At first we were winning but then the Nordic team gained two more players and won I think by one goal.
After that we partied inside with candles and again guitar playing and attempting to sing along.

On Sunday it rained. It was cold, windy and wet. So we all pretty much stayed inside until we had to walk to the ferry (and we got soaked) and then ferried back to the mainland. It was an amazing time and both Nicola and I said we´d love to live there. It almost reminded me of Prince Edward Island, but with mountains and black sand. It was very quiet and peaceful.