Reflections From The Cold of Iceland and Ann Arbor
2/14/15 to 2/19/15 – Reykjavik – Iceland
Crew – John Orta
Standing outside at 3 AM in the freezing cold staring at the sky was a paradox of intensely miserable and awe-inspiring. After all, when else do you get the chance to see the Northern lights, a view that most people have postcards of but never get the chance to experience.
I’ve mentioned before but will mention again, I’m mild compared to my parents. Sure I’m an unhealthy workaholic with a tendency to try and say yes to every insane idea that crossed my path, but somehow my parents are always one step ahead of me. Which I should have realized when I asked my dad if he would go to Iceland with me in the dead of winter and without missing a beat said, “Sure I’ll book us tickets”. Great.
With those unhealthy tendencies said, I wanted to use this unhealthily planned trip trip to reflect on that trip and my largest unwise financial expense: college. Partially because I just got home from my freshman year, partially because this trip was relatively short which gives me less to write about, and mostly because its my blog and I use it to substitute actual therapy.
Time Efficiency
Due to time, flight prices and wanting to maximize my loss of school time (in Middle School? Seemed a lot more important then) we booked a 6 am flight leaving from the United States and after twelve hours of flying landed at 6 am in Iceland. Was going to be a long day. Especially because five years ago I had not learned how to avoid jetlag or sleep on flights.
In comparison, five years later flying to Michigan I flat out messed up my move-in date, so instead of having two days to buy most of my items, we had about 4 hours. That was fun. For the sake of context, I brought two medium size suitcases which for college plus Michigan winter was not exactly enough.
Taking a Break
The final two days I felt continually work and could not for the life of me figure out why. I thought I just had a fever even when I felt like I was going to puke every time I walked outside. Long-story short eventually my dad bought a thermometer and I had a full on 102 degree fever, far beyond what I was willing to admit. In comparison, I ended up over my head in my first semester of college. Between the musical, class, Baja and a… dramatic living situation I was overwhelmed overworked and too stubborn to quit. Our manufacturing director described it best when he said that the Baja war room (our meeting space/computer lab/apartment above the shop) looked like a meeting for recovering meth addicts by finals week. Odd how I never learn.
Actual Winter
I went to Iceland in the winter. I did an entire winter in Michigan. The best part? Both were completely doable. In Iceland, the global Jetstream, and currents in the Atlantic mean that the country stays *relatively* warm (positive 20s to 30s) when it should be colder. For all the hype it gets it was very doable.
Exceptions include that the wind, in one case strong enough to cause a waterfall to flow into the sky from the sheer power. The middle of the country was called the Badlands because it’s a deathtrap and in the middle ages if you were given a death sentence you were given the option to be hung or go to the badlands. If you survived a winter in the Badlands you were pardoned, I think for sheer badassery. Most people chose hanging.
Also it has been proven that Iceland and Greenland purposefully swapped names because the same people controlled both territories and they wanted to confuse raiders coming from the continent and the United Kingdom. So just keep that in mind.
In comparison, for all the damn hype that Michigan winter got this winter was a *very* mild one with it only hitting -10 a few days and even then, after midnight. For contrast it went down another 30 degrees the winter before. For both places you just grumble and get on with your day. It does make coming home a lot more comfortable which I appreciate.
Welcome to My Future
The first thing we did upon arrival was see some of the waterfalls and geysers of Iceland. The distinct smell of rotten eggs (sulfur) gave away the geysers long before we saw them. The most famous geyser in all of Iceland has the distinct name of “Geyser”. Reason: It was so well-known that when geologists started categorizing different types of geological phenomena in the 15th century they named all geysers after this one. In the old days every twenty minutes it would eject an immense amount of boiling water. Thanks to tourists throwing rocks into it however, it shot a seemingly immense amount of water once every 45 minutes. Apparently, it was nothing compared to its original capabilities but did more than enough to satisfy my expectations and probably give me enough 3rd degree burns to kill me from shock if I was caught in the blast.
Afterward the initial geyser, we attempted to make it to the largest waterfall in Iceland. At this point I met the bane of my trip, not the cold, but the wind. Hiking up an icy path with a headwind of ice in your face and already sleep-deprived was exhausting. Trying to enjoy the view at the top with the exact same headwind was about equal fun. Then repeat for another three waterfalls! My dad might be the best for taking me travelling so many places but I’m still exhausted when I travel with him and I’m nineteen now. I should be outlasting him at this point.
As I write this one though I have officially declared environmental engineering as major(s?) at Michigan with a concentration in water systems and safety! Its really not interesting sounding but my few experiences with this kind of engineering has been incredibly interesting and there are a lot of careers I’m looking into. Plus, I needed to pass organic chemistry to take the class, so I can say I did that.
But seriously, I love my major and the work it does. Iceland represents one of the most inhospitable countries on the planet and humans have thrived there for millennia. Creative farming solutions (aquaponics), anti-soil erosion procedures, innovative smelting techniques and use of monitoring the land to make sure a farmer will not overdraw have all been key to Iceland’s survival. Surprise surprise, those are all parts of my major.
Oh they also created a type of steel called “Damascus Steel”. Extraordinarily strong we still don’t understand how they created such a weapon, we can only make such weapons with global supply chains and post-industrial revolution technology. One of the many mysteries of history.
Monotonous Driving and Terrible Roads
Most of the trip in Iceland was driving, which was not a bad thing! I enjoy having time to reflect on the countryside and being able to do a road trip. Doesn’t change the fact however that the roads were midwinter and were in absolutely terrible condition. There was one section that my dad and I agreed on because it seemed like a quicker route to the next geyser we were attempting to see. Turns out the conditions were so bad that if the car rental company ever discovered we had taken that route they would have taken our security deposit. Whoops.
In comparison, Michigan loves complaining about their roads, which while bad for sure, did their job diligently. One of my friends in Industrial and Operations said that the Michigan bus system (needed for transporting between central, north, medical and other campuses) had to move nearly 8,000 people an hour for eight hours every weekday. That is a hurdle San Francisco still hasn’t solved and they did these with snowstorms, finals and Michigan students who are the worst commuters I’ve ever met. There were multiple occasions where I found another student from an urban city and had to forcefully shove people further into the bus because it was “just too full”.
Spoiler: it was not.
Strange Strange People
To live in Iceland, you either need to be born there, where your parents for whatever reason decided they liked living in this country, or move there, meaning that you decided you liked living in this country. Both of which lead to curious individuals in the country. Not in a bad way, it turned out that nearly everyone we met there loved what they did in the country. After all, if you grow tomatoes in a greenhouse in the middle of the arctic, you are going to really love growing tomatoes instead of going nearly anywhere else. The tomato soup was also delicious and they included free garlic bread!
I would say that my largest man-made mistake in Michigan (or second largest, different story) was that I attempted to hang out with normal people when I got to Michigan. Which was a terrible idea, I did not make friends because I didn’t enjoy what people did most of the time. They are not stupid, boring or anything insulting, they just literally do not enjoy doing the very niche things I enjoy with my time. So, I did a complete reversal and started hanging out only with people at Musical rehearsal, at the machine on Baja and a group of nursing majors. All three groups had serious work-life balance issues (I believe I have met a vampire in my life, and that would be Nishka) but were my type of folks. After all, it’s incredibly fun to work with people who choose to end rehearsal at midnight on a Friday night at the University of Michigan!
Dietary Restrictions
Something that I really often forget while growing up in Northern California is how rare vegetarians and vegans are outside my little bubble. In Iceland I was around three years into the process and it turns out that at the hotel I could eat two main dishes. Which would have been fine IF we weren’t trapped in the middle of nowhere with no other places to eat within two hours by car.
I have raved about every other part of Iceland, but oh my lord the vegetarian food was abysmal. Mostly because supply was expensive and demand was low for salads but they had an entire menu of individual animals at the hotel we stayed at for half the trip. They also found the cutest pictures of every animal possible. Whereas I had two soups (A French onion and a chickpea one) that I would switch between every night. On the bright unlike the British they understood the purpose of spice.
Now turn that into the Midwest where Ann Arbor can be considered the largest hub of vegetarian and vegan food In the Midwest outside of Chicago.. to my disappointment. I did not starve, and I have met plenty of amazing people who don’t inhale steak every meal (yay Chloe!). I also have many times seen Madds (one of my roommates), cook 2 pounds of bacon at once and literally nothing else.
Exploring Culinary Delights
My dad on the 2nd and 3rd day from the tour guides heard about an Icelandic delicacy called “rotten shark”. Everyone has a good picture what this dish was? Fantastic. Of course he *had* to look into it so he asked the waiter that night, struck up a great conversion, probably added him on Facebook and even got a recommendation to pair it with a wine called “Black Death”. First, that’s just how my dad rolls and you get used to it. Second, I still don’t even really like wine and that name was fantastic. Third, the two dishes was awful and my dad did not enjoy the experience, but it was a fun experience which is all that really matters here. His opinion on the matter was when would I have the opportunity to do that again?
I applied that same logic when I drink. Which is funny because it’s never actually hard to find alcohol in college. The first seven roommates I lived with had easy access to alcohol, were 21 or had a fake. To this day, I put no effort into finding ways to forget about the night. On the other hand that means I get a new culinary delight every night. Between being in the North (10 hours north of Umich north) of Michian while the Baja seniors argue over craft brews to my favorite vodka which comes in a gay pride bottle and has a sickly blue color, the finer things of college never disappoint.
Things you Don’t Dare Explain
Hot Air is Useful
This applies to two things, I will discuss them both. The first was that being outright and clear in what you want helps you out in getting to Iceland. First trip that I ever came up with as an idea and I’m still damn proud of it. When you go to a school with 40,000 kids you have to be assertive in getting what you want. No club will find you. There are amazing clubs, but you have to find them. There are amazing people, but if you refuse to introduce yourself no one will find you. I found nearly all my close friends here by telling my anxiety to take a walk and starting a conversation.
Second, the geothermal energy I saw in Iceland represents a case study in environmental energy success. Some of the vents have become natural hot tubs and popular for tourists for that reason. The most famous being the blue lagoon. The vents that are not used for tourists however are used to produce enough energy that Iceland remains to this day carbon negative, the only country on the planet that can consistently do that. Energy prices are incredibly low and they still can have some of the power be used for tourists.
Trust the Locals Opinion
Second day was one long jeep tour of the surrounding area. Which despite seeming like an endless landscape of ice, was incredibly diverse. Crossing the river was a treacherous endeavor, and I don’t mean that to sound cool. The tour guide told us to unbuckle because if the vehicle flipped, we would need to get out (although apparently not quickly he assured us).
We got to hike over icebergs, see underwater life in horrifically cold conditions and see the backside of the country. More importantly, whenever our guide recommended something like “Try their soup” or “Yes this jeep has flipped in this frozen river many times” you better damn believe them.
For comparison I love my academic advisor. But never trust them or god forbid the higher ups at your University who say that all classes are difficult in unique but equal ways and that the University has no large issues. Both are hilariously wrong, trust the upperclassmen instead. Plus you get all the University tea.
Second day of touring was a lot shorter than the first but increase the wind to compensate for the lack of exposure time. The highlight of the day was a waterfall that goes up instead of the boring and conventional down. The water comes out halfway up the cliff and the cliffs make the wind speed so strong that the water flies up and over the cliff. But because we were standing outside, the winds were brutal, and our guide assured us that multiple tourists had been taken off their feet where we were standing.
The second day ended (or third day started) at midnight when we were woken up and told that the Northern lights was outside. So you throw on socks, skiing pants over your pajama pants, put on multiple jackets and run outside to see… not a ton. Slightly disappointed, you could see some gray lines in the sky but that was about it. Back to sleep because we had another long day tomorrow until you’re woken up again at 3 in the morning this time to see it! Repeat the process except grumpier this time and wander outside to see…
The actual northern lights! Far more prominent and dancing across the sky, they look better in person than any justice a video can do. The only downside was that the classic green color never showed up, and was only a light grey in a sky of black.
The third day during sane hours involved us driving back to Reykjavik and a few sites on the way. We ran into a massive greenhouse complex that looked interesting enough that served good food. In the middle of a flat countryside of side they casually grew tomatoes on an industrial scale with the geothermal energy underneath them, trend here. Soon after we ran into a barn that had a dozen horses casually enjoying the outdoors while snowing and not being bothered to care anymore, the door to the barn was open if I remember correctly. Even the horses are apathetic towards the snow.
I… lack a college comparison for this one. Michigan rarely looks beautiful; snow gets old and I thought Big House was fairly underwhelming. Sue me.
Dead Civilizations Are Intriquing
Later that day we arrived in Reykjavik where we had started the trip and it was only noon so we grabbed lunch (which was ramen, because I wanted more soup?) and went to see the Viking museum. I mean lets be frank here, any sort of Viking museum, no matter how poorly designed will be entertaining and interesting if only on a cool mythological level. It surprisingly had a lot of info on ecological collapse due to soil erosion and Viking farming techniques. I did not understand the emphasis for another four years until I read Jared Diamond’s “Collapse” (Great book, recommend to everyone).
There is also an interesting point in historical bias about the Vikings. First, Viking was not a people: it was a profession. That profession was the raiding, pillaging, murdering one you are aware of. And they did all that and even dipped their oars into the slave trader.
Yet contrary to popular belief, there is increasing evidence they lived like that extraordinarily little of the time. It would be like comparing the United States to its role in the Vietnam War and saying that represents the entire country.
Ok it might in our foreign policy bad example BUT I like to hope that it does not represent our entire country’s culture. Anyhow, the Vikings were known for strong-knit families and surprising gender equality. Neat. There is even evidence of the continent (the people who wrote all the stories we read) hating the Vikings because they specifically took baths and attracted women to them.
They also pointed out that the Europeans on the continent were constantly at war, slaves were sold at Venice and Madrid: European ports owned by Catholics and the Europeans multiple times tried to wipe them out.
Honestly, good smelling, jacked and fantastic facial hair game. I can’t blame them.
A more accurate view of them would be goat and sheep herders who on weekends sometimes got a little too rowdy.
I took this to a new level by attempting to get a degree in anthropological archaeology. And I get mixed reviews from a lot of folks. Most think its really cool, some think I’m an idiot. Moot point because I think the classes have good lessons, half of it will be mystery solving and you can take away quite a bit. My classmates are some of the brightest people I’ve met, and I wholeheartedly recommend people who have any interest try and anthropology class.
(Also note: It is nothing like high school history. Like high school curriculum teaches history so badly it should be criminal).
Know When You Need A Break
At this point (day 4) I looked and felt like absolute garbage and my dad finally realized there was no chance this was a simple cold and took me back to the hotel. He went out and bought a cheap thermometer and I promptly returned a 102 degree fever. To which to my credit he pointed out that I kept moving incredibly well but also I’m an idiot and should have mentioned just how bad I felt. So I spent my final night in Iceland in the hotel room playing video games, watching youtube and eating pizza in bed which I won’t lie, was so much fun despite being absolute garbage.
Flight home though? No fun at all. Do not fly when sick, you’ll feel miserable. Not the first, not the last time I would fly miserable. Its not fun but it happens.
In comparison, Michigan has a habit of burning someone out. Particularly idiots like me who enjoy overbooking themselves. Do I love the feeling of finishing a project at 2 am? Yes! Do I love seeing a musical come together? Yes! Do I even find some joy in my classes? Yes! But the point stands that I burned myself out a lot my first semester. Got slightly better my second and hoping to improve here on out. But seriously, I am far from the only one and it can happen in any major. Know your limits, know when you need a break and
Sam’s Sermon Scales:
West Oakland BART similarities? – 10/10. Known worldwide for titles like “The happiest country on the planet”, “Lowest drug use and crime rates on the planet” and “Near richest per-capita on the planet” Iceland really lacked all the main essentials of a good old-fashioned BART station. Plus, almost all of it was rural. I will not complain though, the country was beautiful to see.
“I could make this better!” – N/A. Before I drank coffee, I wasn’t jacked up on bean broth (That description makes me violently shake) consistently until the beginning of 2019.
Folks of Culture? – 6/10. Viking museums are really fun to explore for sure. But out of the entire trip, culture took a backseat on this trip. The architecture of Reykjavik has all been built recently and looks incredibly modern. Most of the trip focused on the views and nature of the country, not the country. A fair excuse considering how breathtaking the nature was.
Golden Hour Opportunities? – 9/10. Iceland in the winter has a beauty in its own unique way. The endless snow-covered countryside for hours in a car followed by massive glaciers that you can climb on I haven’t found anywhere else outside of Alaska. Weirdly enough, the Northern Lights, the thing I came to see in the first place turned out terrible in the photos we took and couldn’t even be seen. Downside of terrible phones.
Did the vegetarian starve? – 4/10. Somehow the worst I have ever fared outside of Boy Scouts when it came to be a vegetarian. Legitimately, I didn’t eat salad at the time but even if I did those were only small starters. For the first four days I had one of two soups as my entire choice on the menu since I was in the countryside which if it was consolation, were pretty good soups. I Had more options when I got back to Reykjavik luckily
“Hey boss, can I work more hours?” – 7/10. I wasn’t running the finances for this trip, but I do remember it not being particularly cheap because it was a European country with multiple all-day tours and an overall nice hotel. But in Iceland the prices of everything drops by near 40% come winter since the vast majority of tourists flock to the country in the summer and aren’t insane enough to go to a country that starts with “Ice” during the winter
Cooler than Middle Earth? – 10/10. The middle of the country was labeled “The Badlands”! If Tolkien wrote that I would call him out for being unrealistically generic. Their country had Vikings! They pissed on English Kings decrees and challenged the pope! Add in the upside-down waterfalls, museums on Vikings and the actual Northern light! Straight fantasy.
Photos are attached below. Credit goes to my dad and the internet
Best,
Sam
Dead Man Travelling 