ég að læra!!!!!!!

this means "i am learning" in icelandic!! i think

today was a learning day. i didn't have class until 3, which meant moping and knitting until 2; i biked to tiger to pick up a crochet hook and a bell for my bike. ring ring @tourists staring at your reykjavík city maps on laugavegur!!!!!! isabella is coming through!!!!!!!!!!!

so my single class of the day, environmental impact assessment, has switched lecturers. the first lecturer was a sweet old man who gave us crap tons of information in such a short period of time. this lecturer is younger and very cool and interactive. he's constantly picking on us for not speaking up in class and has a very wry sense of humor. but, i'm not really sure what we're supposed to be getting out of his lectures. he sort of just goes off on tangents. like today we learned that his summer home is near eyjafjallajökull and sometimes very fine ash still gets picked up by the wind and whenever these dust clouds come down from the mountains, he takes his grandkids and leaves. but according to him, his neighbors aren't concerned. okay but back to the point. nothing that he lectures about is very much related to environmental impact assessment. he gives us lengthy, detailed descriptions of case studies, and while these are interesting, i don't think they very much pertain to the central topic of the course.

so during the class today, i found myself angrily knitting, and being very homesick. and then i biked home in the rain and was sort of very sad. and then i got home and was sad for a bit, but today is my landlady's granddaughter's birthday! so she came over for a little birthday celebration--guðbjörg set out her fine china, and had a little tea party set up (except with hot chocolate and chocolate cake). and then dimma came in in a beautiful, beautiful sequinned dress and her hair all done up.

so. back to "læra." while guðbjörg and her daughter were having a chat, dimma barged into my room as per usual and started playing with my jewelry and the cats. but i figured i'd spew some random icelandic phrases at her to make her giggle. and we ended up drawing and writing things and teaching each other words in icelandic/english! google translate was heavily involved. as was pointing. but i think i learned more from her than i have in about a month of formal icelandic classes! also she got a ukulele for her birthday and i attempted to teach her a few chords (that went about as well as you'd expect from a six year old).

and then after dimma and her mother left, my landlady made me drink lots of hot chocolate. in an adorable winnie the pooh mug.

so. the moral of the story is that sometimes being in a foreign country sucks! and you have no clue what anyone is saying and you awkwardly have to ask the cashiers at the grocery store to speak to you in english. and the culture is really different, and it's hard to relate to people, and you miss your family and friends and the beauty that is cornell. and being able to buy a gallon sized jar of peanut butter. but sometimes you learn how to enjoy different things. for example, the lack of trees, and the somewhat utilitarian architecture.

this is a sappy post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! goodnight everyone i have geophysics in the morning and i'm scared as heck!!!! if you are in any math/physics/engineering related field i hope you are ready for me to message you with 10000 questions every day starting at 8:20 am tomorrow!!!!!