Since we don't get all the fancy days off and Thanksgiving Break that we would normally get in the States, they compiled all the days off and give us a week off of school for Fall Break instead of two days. I decided to go to Reykjavik, Iceland the first weekend of Fall Break with Isaac, Sarah, Marlys, Jackie, Bree, and Veronica. There's this really big inside joke running with us about "RayRay" because the night we were all trying to book this deal to go see the Northern Lights, everything was a mess. Veronica and my credit cards were capped so we couldn't book the trip when we tried, Sarah and Jackie ended up buying the last 2 tickets on a particular flight, and we were all on the fence wondering why in the world we were choosing to go to Iceland for Fall Break...what exactly was there to do in Iceland, and why were we choosing to freeze to death? Also, we had looked up the wrong city in Iceland so it was coming back with "Things to do" such as visit the local pub owned by the one hotel in the city, and visit the forest ... At this point, our perception of Iceland was something like 3 people who spoke only Icelandic and we had booked a trip there.
Needless to say everything worked out, Sarah and Jackie caught a flight out at 1ish from London and the rest of us were booked on a flight out of London at 9pm. So, let's kick this trip off right. Isaac, Vero, and I were heading to the airport around 5 because travelling on the Tube during rush hour sucks and we needed to get to the airport with enough time to check in, figure out what we were doing, and go through security/customs. I don't know what the hell Tube engineers were thinking when they decided that the Picadilly line would be the one that ran to Heathrow (the airport) the Tube/train whatever is so narrow and it is ALWAYS packed solid with business people commuting to/from work and people with luggage trying to get to the airport. HORRIBLE DECISION. Vero ended up forcing her way onto a tube that was too crowded, and she had a giant suitcase, so Isaac and I stayed back and waited for the next train which luckily took a few minutes and then we barreled onto the tube. It was so hot and there was too many people in my personal bubble. At one point something got into my contact so my eye started crying, I looked like a hot mess and I'm pretty sure people were looking at me and making up stories as to why I was crying and had luggage ... Isaac made a few stories of his own up, which I imagine were spot on with everyone else.
Eventually, we got to the airport, met up with everyone else, and boarded the plane for Iceland! I had a lot of mixed emotions about this trip, namely, what I got myself into. The same feelings of anticipation, anxiety, and wonder surged back from when I boarded the plane out of Laredo for London. This had to be a good sign that RayRay was going to be fun. Too bad our plane was delayed around 40 minutes, which caused us to land in Iceland at about midnight, then we had to take a bus to the hotel, and we didn't end up getting to check in until 2:30am. Iceland or bust, right?
When we stepped out of the airport I hated my life at that moment. The wind gust was so strong I felt like I was fighting just to take a step forward, mind you this is 2:30am and my contacts are already glued to my eyes because I'm so tired and don't have the will power to suck it up and not find any reason to complain. Things worked out and we all had our own rooms, luckily Vero and I were neighbors.
Breakfast was from 7-10, which meant we were meeting at 9:30. I'm really beginning to believe that no one knows how to do breakfast like America. Of all the places I've gone so far, they have the weirdest things and no protein for breakfast, also they always only serve Corn Flakes for cereal. I love corn flakes, but I feel like there needs to be more substance to my morning, like fruit, that would be great. Conveniently, there was a Subway across the street from our hotel, so we ended up going there for lunch. The coast line was just beyond the subway, and we explored the area a little before we were scheduled to get picked up for horseback ridding!
Needless to say everything worked out, Sarah and Jackie caught a flight out at 1ish from London and the rest of us were booked on a flight out of London at 9pm. So, let's kick this trip off right. Isaac, Vero, and I were heading to the airport around 5 because travelling on the Tube during rush hour sucks and we needed to get to the airport with enough time to check in, figure out what we were doing, and go through security/customs. I don't know what the hell Tube engineers were thinking when they decided that the Picadilly line would be the one that ran to Heathrow (the airport) the Tube/train whatever is so narrow and it is ALWAYS packed solid with business people commuting to/from work and people with luggage trying to get to the airport. HORRIBLE DECISION. Vero ended up forcing her way onto a tube that was too crowded, and she had a giant suitcase, so Isaac and I stayed back and waited for the next train which luckily took a few minutes and then we barreled onto the tube. It was so hot and there was too many people in my personal bubble. At one point something got into my contact so my eye started crying, I looked like a hot mess and I'm pretty sure people were looking at me and making up stories as to why I was crying and had luggage ... Isaac made a few stories of his own up, which I imagine were spot on with everyone else.
Eventually, we got to the airport, met up with everyone else, and boarded the plane for Iceland! I had a lot of mixed emotions about this trip, namely, what I got myself into. The same feelings of anticipation, anxiety, and wonder surged back from when I boarded the plane out of Laredo for London. This had to be a good sign that RayRay was going to be fun. Too bad our plane was delayed around 40 minutes, which caused us to land in Iceland at about midnight, then we had to take a bus to the hotel, and we didn't end up getting to check in until 2:30am. Iceland or bust, right?
When we stepped out of the airport I hated my life at that moment. The wind gust was so strong I felt like I was fighting just to take a step forward, mind you this is 2:30am and my contacts are already glued to my eyes because I'm so tired and don't have the will power to suck it up and not find any reason to complain. Things worked out and we all had our own rooms, luckily Vero and I were neighbors.
Breakfast was from 7-10, which meant we were meeting at 9:30. I'm really beginning to believe that no one knows how to do breakfast like America. Of all the places I've gone so far, they have the weirdest things and no protein for breakfast, also they always only serve Corn Flakes for cereal. I love corn flakes, but I feel like there needs to be more substance to my morning, like fruit, that would be great. Conveniently, there was a Subway across the street from our hotel, so we ended up going there for lunch. The coast line was just beyond the subway, and we explored the area a little before we were scheduled to get picked up for horseback ridding!
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| View from the 5th floor |
Horseback riding was so much fun, you know, when it wasn't raining. We rode Icelandic Horses, which a a bit shorter, and have these very thick manes on them. Since the weather was so unpredictable that day, they offered wellies (rain boots), rain coats, and these super sexy bright orange rain pants to wear if you wanted. We opted for the rain boots and decided that our jackets were all heavy duty enough. No one was prepared for what was about to happen. We each get our horses, I renamed mine "Conchita" or should I say, "Konchita", Isaac named his horse "Hector" and Sarah named hers "Hommie". We were all waiting to saddle up and bonding with our horses, I got up on Konchita and she started doing some weird rebellious things, which triggered Isaac's comment, "Look, you got a horse that has your attitude, taking two steps in the other direction and doing what she wants." It turns out, Konchita was a bit hot an bothered because she had business to attend to. She needed to do her business. She ended up turning around so that she was facing the other horses instead of being in a line, and like a very classy horse lifted her tail and took care of her business. She stopped being so rambunctious after this, and we were off on our 2 hour ride through the elements. The ride wasn't bad at all and it was so much fun when we got past a trot and into a little gallop, but the weather was not our friend. It would go between drizzle, to rain, to sun, and back to pouring rain. Some other guy on our tour ended up falling off his horse because his saddle wasn't tight enough, other people were just really frightened of their horses, and then everyone else seemed fine. We ended up seeing a double rainbow on the way back to the stables, and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous. It was a good experience, minus the soaking wet jeans that we were all wearing.
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| Hommie and Hector |
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| Conchita |
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| Double Rainbows :) |
We got back, showered, and set out on an adventure to find food. There was this delicious hamburger place about a 5 minute walk down the road that we fell in love with. So much in love, that we never bothered to look for another place to eat, and we went there 3 days in a row, haha. They seriously had the best hamburgers and milkshakes that I have ever eaten. It's pretty cool that everyone in Iceland is pretty much bilingual. When first approached, they will speak to you in Icelandic, but once you pull out that "Confused American Face," and awkwardly say "Hi" they smile and speak English to you. There's this American guy that we met who was in the army and met this Icelandic girl and fell in love, they got married, she moved to America, then wanted to move home to be with her family, so now he lives in Iceland with her and speaks Icelandic! Such a cute story. I guess chivalry isn't dead. RayRay was a nice town, with a chill vibe. It was a good break from the bustling London life with compact cars and people quietly hustling about their business. Something that bothers me about London is the choice of car, they're all compact, or either a BMW or Mercedes. RayRay had a nice variety, it was like being home, we even saw some dodge ram trucks and a ford mustang! :) Icelandic people are also EXTREMELY FRIENDLY. Everyone just needs to go experience Iceland.
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| They also had an official count of the population and would ring the bell and change the number for every birth. (What about death? We didn't ask...) |
(but to continue about this trip...)
We were booked for a tour to go see the Northern Lights later that night. The bus picked us up around 9:30 or so, and we were driven about 40 minutes our of town to get away from the city lights to try and see the Lights. Since the weather was so terrible that day, it was cloudy and we didn't have much luck. It was ridiculously windy and late, and our tour guide loved the phrase "we'll be here 30 more minutes". I don't think we got back home until 2:30, again. It was annoying and he was getting excited because he had this high quality camera that would take pictures and come back with pictures of the Lights that you could not even see with your eyes. When he pointed them out, they seemed like 3 streaks of clouds, it was not at all what anyone expected. The tour has a deal where if you don't get to see the Lights one night, they'll take you out the next night for free, because Mother Nature doesn't always guarantee good weather. Since we "saw" the Lights, we did not have the next night for the tour, but Veronica called, gave them a piece of her mind and booked us again for the next night.
The next day we had booked the Blue Lagoon, which is one of the top 10 best natural spas in the world. It did not fall short of any expectations. It was an outdoor spa, which at first seemed like a good way to get pneumonia since it was like 30 degrees out and we were all in bathing suits, but the water was well worth it. There was a swim up bar, exfoliation masks, and we even got to see the Northern Lights from the Blue Lagoon! It definitely turned out to be the best night in Iceland. Isaac bought a water proof camera, so the photos still need to be developed, but one day they'll end up on Facebook, I'm sure.
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| Shadow "RAYRAY." Can you see it? |
The rest of this week I have off from work! Gaby is coming up to London tonight for a few days, and I had originally planned to get a bunch of the touristy stuff that we have left out of the way, but we'll see what happens, because so far I've enjoyed this sleeping in thing. We got back Monday night from Iceland, and Tuesday we went to see Wicked! Okay, we went to happy hour at The Texas Embassy, which is this restaurant that is a place where a whole bunch of homesick Americans end up at looking for good Tex Mex, and end up leaving upset. You can't have expectations, the food isn't bad and the margaritas are delicious, so we like to go there every now and then, not to mention they have chips and salsa! It's this interesting 2 story building that you walk into and expect to see it decked out in Texas/cowboy related items, but instead ... you walk into Mexico. There's a "Cantina" and Corona, Sol, and Tecate posters/slogans everywhere. It's also semi styled like an old town in Mexico, or so I think. The upstairs is more Texan, and they have a bunch of different state school flags up, and there is a wall that you can sign! We all dressed up, went to the embassy, and then went to see Wicked. It was definitely worth it. Wicked just left me speechless. I came out of there feeling exceptionally inspired, so lets hope that momentum carries on into next semester. We wanted to go see the Lion King Wednesday night, but the tickets were just too expensive. We did end up going to China town for lunch and then to Camden Market. I love Camden, it has everything, but every time I go there I end up buying things...and then I wonder where my money goes. Oh well, it's a market, haggling is fun, I guess, and I did walk away with 2 dresses, a shirt, and some souvenirs for you lucky people. I'm going to "Curry Night" on Brick Lane tonight, and well...Thursday is student night! ;)
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| Dolled up for Happy Hour and Wicked! |
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| Signing the wall of Texans...and other Americans... |
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| WICKED! |
This seems like it's been the longest blog ever, haha thanks if you're that invested in my life and have made it this far! (Or were you really bored?) I woke up to 23 emails today, so, I need to go be productive now. Miss you all!
Con Mucho Amor,
Lizette
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