Iceland

So I was anxious travelling by myself to Iceland, but I had to go for my mom. In the end it wasn’t as complicated as I thought, just crowded. After I finally understood why three hours prior to my flight I didn’t have a designated gate and successfully passed through security, I turn up the jams and continue reading The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo in some random airport lounge. However, as my boarding time approached my gate number still hadn’t shown up. Nervous? Well, yes I was. With roughly fifteen minutes till the designated boarding time, my gate finally showed up and was announced fifty times over the speaker system. Rushed, I forgot my rain jacket in the airport lounge… which I didn’t realize until I was in Iceland and it was raining. Winner!

My brother was the first to hug me, followed by my dad snapping multiple repulsive photos of myself. Typical for my dad, he was extremely proud. My mom was the happiest to see me and very thankful I could come and see them. My sisters were nowhere in sight…surprise, surprise. I thought I would be exhausted landing in Iceland but with it looking pretty much like 6 o’clock at 2 am, I was surprisingly awake. For the forty-minute ride, my mom and brother drilled me with questions as my dad made me look through the 200 photos he had already taken. He was most proud of his latest project, capturing the Smith family while asleep. I believe Greta, my youngest sister, takes the gold for this new photo album. As we pull up to the apartment my family had rented out for the last few days they were in Iceland, my family goes on and on about how much better the other one was because it was so close to town. However, I didn’t really mind, we had no time to go into town anyways.

Unfortunately, those that rented us the apartment lied when they said it could sleep six, resulting in my mom and I had to sleep on the living room couch. That night my dad and I stayed up pretty late chatting and making fun of my mom. The thing is, the sun is out twenty-four hours a day. My dad and I had the kitchen light on and chatting and my mom, who may or may not have been a little cranky, asked us to turn off the light. We did as she requested, however it made no difference. Haha

The following day I woke up early with my mom to go into town with her, my aunt and my cousin. My grandmother had passed away in October and the trip was mostly to have a service for her family. I had missed it on Monday, but I wanted to go see the gravesite and just in general be with my mom. It was interesting to be there because I haven’t been to Iceland in eight years. At the gravesite owned by my family I saw my great, great – grandparents and other members of the clan my grandmother had talked about while we were growing up. For the rest of the day we were Blue Lagoon bound, which is a pretty cool place. However, Icelanders have a pretty weird custom of having open showers where you have to shower butt-naked before you can put on your suit and go into the pool or lagoon. Not an American thing by any means. My sister and I remembering this from our youth, were not soo happy. My sister begged my mom to tell us how to say, “We are American. I am not showering naked.” My mother refused, leaving Britt with a strange Spanish accent attempting to be Icelandic. Needless to say, we survived and found private showers. We spent hours there with our cousins and their children. I started the “who can be the pruniest person”, my cousin Kirk, who is nine, was the most competitive. However, in the end I won...as usual.

That night we had a family dinner at one of our cousins homes, where I saw family from both Norway and Iceland. It is funny to remember how I have a selective memory of who these people were when I was twelve years old. It was nice to catch up and really nice to enjoy delicious foods that I have grown up with. Also my cousin Dora is engaged! So EXCITING!!

The following day I woke up at what felt like the crack of dawn, however it was really 7:30 am. We were horseback riding bound which was a lot of fun. Mostly to see people mount a horse or watch Britt's horse trot and her body bounce around uncontrollably. It was quite the sight to see.

That night we went to my great aunt's home for dinner. She made Swedish meatballs which were absolutely delicious! We took out old photo albums and found pictures of my mom and aunt when they were young, which was hilarious to say the least. My great aunt, Sigrun was telling us stories of our great-grandparents and from what I already know they sound like incredible people. My great-grandparents were Sigrun's foster parents after her mother had passed away when she was only seven. The majority of their children were already grown up, but they took her in, no questions asked. Iceland has such a different culture. We would walk into places and my cousin would just start chatting up anybody as if they were old friends even though they had just met. It was a relaxed atmosphere where everyone seem just genuinely nice.

After Sigrun's we headed to a rock sculpture garden where me and my siblings went on to climb and romp around like five year olds. My mom managed to get some Christmas card photos but in the end was only impressed with the ones she managed to capture of the sun. My dad and brother were leaving early the next day to go salmon fishing in a large river for a "men" outing, whatever that means. So before I went to sleep, resisting to say goodbye I asked my dad to wake me up in the morning before he left. Big mistake. My dad woke me up at lets say 5:30? Maybe? If that late? When my mom and I ignored him, he just sat there complaining how boring we were.

Later, the girls had a nice brunch with Icelandic pastries and tea. My mom later took me into town to buy a few things and we were off to the airport. For some reason, I thought I would cry. But shocker, I didn't. I finished my book while in transit and then proceeded to get lost trying to find the tube in Heathrow (not so easy). Whatever I made it and had time to relax until the rest of the rowdy crew of 14 Bedford Place got home from Amsterdam.

**pictures to come**