My First Week In Iceland
DAY 1: I left Toronto on a 9:00 PM flight to Reykjavik on May first. The flight is just over five hours, so I would be arriving at 2:20 AM, add four hours and it’s actually 6:20 AM local time. I love flying in the evening. It leaves you the whole day to pack and organize and say your goodbyes. The problem is that it was a little early to sleep, even with an extra strength melatonin, so I might have had at best 2.5 hours of real rest.
DAY 2: When we arrived I took a nap at lunch time so I could be functional for the afternoon. The strategy for adjusting to time zones is to not sleep too much so that you can shift, and also to eat on the current country’s schedule. Easier said than done. I nodded off all evening while attempting to watch television and then finally went to sleep at 10:30 PM.
DAY 3: Of course, I only had one night sleep for two nights, so on the on our second day I wasn’t feeling especially perky, but my companion was faring better so she did the driving. Standard transmission, BTW, European rentals are more affordable if you select this option. We drove 4.5 hours north to our home for the next month: Skagaströnd. We drove through a small snow squall and near white out conditions in one section, leading me to joke that the Canadians had brought the cold weather with them but in Iceland the weather is infinately changeable. When we arrived at our distination, there was supposed to be a mountain, but it was hidden behind a bank of cloud and fog. We were met by one of the administrators and were given a tour of the Nes Artist studio and the library where I was going to be working. I was given my own key so I can write at any time of the day. Nice!
DAY 4: I woke in the morning to sunshine and a bright, crisp snow covered day. The mountain was visible in all its glory. We decided to explore the area rather than getting down to work because we were still a bit jet-lagged and felt a need to explore our environment.
We headed north to drive around the peninisula we were on, and hit a dirt road just outside of town. It lasted all the way around and almost to the next town. Not a single person crossed our path. We stopped a lot on the road and took pictures of ponies, snowy rocks, high rocky mountains covered in a layer of white, and various birds such as swans, puffins, some kind of goose, and seagulls. One musn’t forget the lovely shaggy horses!
It was interesting to note that in spite of leaving with the sunshine, we drove through some rain, sleet, snow and hail, at varying points during our tour.
Day 5: Went to the gym for a workout this morning. It’s amazing how important this can be to feeling energetic and creative. Finally got to the library and started writing after that. So far I’m journalling to get my writing juices flowing but not much more. I need to find some locals to talk to about folklore for my project and also to point me to written versions.
We headed off to the local swimming pool where a very vikingesque young man showed us around and we joined some locals in the hot tub, outdoors, of course, surrounded by the hills and the sea. I found out the man I was talking to was actually the person I was suggested to ask for help on some research item, since he works part time at the library.
DAY 6: Woke up late due to some a gathering with the other artists last night. We are definately the senior members of the lot, but there are some very interesting people with some very interesting artistic views. I’m here to rub shoulders with them and learn to think outside my little box. So far so good.
Today I spent the afternoon in the library researching. I’m trying to keep my mind open when I learn things and allow them to tickle me. If I find something engaging, I dig deeper. So far I’ve found the Yule Cat story which is very unusual. If you’d like to learn more see this you tube video. I am leaning towards writing a modern version of this tale with an updated moral.
In addition, I found a version of the moster in the lake (Lake Lagarfljot) story which you can watch here. This relates me back to other lake creatures from other folk traditions. I will have to do some research to find some comparisons. We have one in Canada in British Columbia called the Ogopogo Lake monster. Of course, there’s also the famous Loch Ness monster to add to the list. I’m sure there are others as well.
My next interest to dig into is the story of the Elves of Iceland or Huldufólk (hidden folk). I’ve already found the curiously Christian based story of their creation which feels like it must have pagan roots, so I’ll have to do more excavating to find some inspiration for a story. There must be an Icelandic Elf story in my collection, and maybe a troll or two as well!
