Weighing in and Charging up

The second day of Iceland was absolutely gorgeous. We traveled the golden circle tour and got to see the standard tourist elements like the Gullfoss, Geyser and the national park which I’m not even going to try to spell because I will definitely mess it up. During the tour I also learned how much geothermal energy makes an impact on Iceland. Most houses use hot water for heat and electricity. Ever wonder why their streets are so clear of ice and snow? They heat all the streets and sidewalks so that ice doesn’t accumulate with the excess hot water they have. An absolutely beautiful country to visit for sure!

I continued my journey on to London where we did the tourist thing for another three days, you know the museums, Buckingham palace, Harrods (so beautiful but priced to match), and concluded our stop with the Tower of London. The history there is phenomenal! We came at the right time too, they had thousands and thousands of metal poppies placed where the mote used to be in memorial of the soldiers who died in the war and some of the proceeds they get from selling the pieces will go to a few different charities. So cool! When we entered the tower we hooked on to a beefeater tour which was definitely the way to go, he led us around the tower telling us history about the architecture and some of the people who forcibly and voluntarily resided in its walls.

From London we continued on to Bristol which I enjoyed more than London. I’m a small town girl and London, while beautiful and thriving, grates on my nerves after a while. Bristol is far smaller with still enough historical architecture to keep my camera on and the shutter clicking, but not give me a headache.

Only two days in Bristol before we were off to my school by train. We arrived safely and I’m still settling into my new room and getting used to using the communal showers and bathroom. Thankfully I have a few days to settle in with the other international students before the rest of the students arrive. Which was great because I didn’t want anyone to witness my huffing and puffing as I pulled my huge suitcase up the four flights of stairs.

I went for a large suitcase instead of two smaller ones when I was packing, with a large collapsible duffel packed away for my return trip luggage expansion. How has that worked out?

 Alright.

 Its heavy, but I then have a hand free to open doors. I had stuffed a few things into my parents bags so I wouldn’t be overweight and then when they dropped me off I inherited all the stuff back again. I figure I will be using up and throwing away a lot of things before the return trip, like my old pjs I brought, the toiletries as I use them up, and my clothes as they wear out. So I should be fine for the return trip, plus I have the extra duffel just in case.

One thing I did oops on was toiletries. I brought half empty bottles of shampoo so I would have something familiar to use, which worked out fine. What got me into trouble was the excessive amount of travel sized bottles of stuff I brought thinking ‘hey I know this brand and the hotel is giving them away for free!’.

Big mistake. The few handy bottles turned into half a gallon Ziploc bag of space and weight. A few would have been awesome if I had stopped there, but I couldn’t say no and brought way too many.

One thing that is working well is the adapter/converter I bought. It has worked great! It’s made by a company called Bestek and has everything I need. It has plug adapters for Europe, England, the United States and a few others in case I decide to travel. There is room for three 3pronged plugs and 4 usb slots for charging iPods, kindles and anything else (except hairdryers and straighteners! Those will blow up no matter what you do and they might take your converter down with it) you could think of. I chose mine because it had three pronged plugs instead of just two which is the norm and I would need three pronged anyway to use my laptop.

Oh by the way if anyone is shaking their heads on what I’m talking about, don’t worry I was the same way. An adapter fits on the end of the plug so it can use the outlets with a foreign countries prong arrangement and a converter charges the electrical cycles that come out of the wall so your foreign tech won’t be overloaded.

I think that’s in for now, but expect another post pretty soon as I settle in.

Flight of fancy

Well my own personal journey has begun, we took off from Colorado yesterday night on an eight hour flight to Iceland on Icelandair.

An airline I highly recommend by the way. A flight to England can be quite an undertaking and a bad flight can be extremely stressful. A few years ago I was on American airlines in a flight to France and it was absolutely horrid. The air-conditioning wasn’t really working and the space between seat rows was absolutely tiny.

                Iceland air however was really nice. It had only one stop over and it was a free stop in Iceland. Which is were we are going to stay for a few days. With all the upsides, Iceland air does have a downside,  very strict carry on rules with both weight restrictions and odd size restrictions make it tough to only fly with a carry on, but that was the only down side I could find. There was plenty of seat room and the seats were very comfortable, even in the lowest section, economy class. As it’s the off season, the plane wasn’t crowded and many rows had an empty seat. The plane also had a nice feature that I really enjoyed. When the lights turned down the overhead aisle lights were a beautiful shifting aura borealis of blue, green and purple. A very nice touch.

We got to Iceland just as the sun slipped above the horizon, so not much of a view from the plane window, but as we rode the bus from the airport to Reykjavik, the capital, which was about an hour’s drive. The new sun slowly revealed the landscape to us.

The Icelandic landscape is like nothing I’ve ever seen before, As Iceland is the epicenter of geothermic activity the ground is covered in layers of black volcanic rock that flow along the ground in jumbled hills.

On top of this there are splatters of moss in every shade of green. It is awe inspiring to say the least.

Right after touch down we decided to walk around Reykjavik and enjoy the sights before heading to the blue lagoon. The town was different than I expected. When you think of England it’s easy to picture old architecture, but the same can’t be said for Reykjavik. Reykjavik holds a very industrial aesthetic with a modern twist. Many of the buildings are very simple and blocky with brightly colored veneers and roofs. The architecture on most buildings isn’t very interesting, however what’s on them is. There were very many brightly colored roofs in red, green and blue that matched very well with the colored paint on the houses.

Here graffiti has become an art form.

 It’s common to see graffiti logos and names on buildings, but the large murals found at least once on every block were a completely new experience for me. Huge graffiti murals covering the sides of buildings, walkways, and sidewalks are everywhere!

After touring the town we headed to the blue lagoon which is a natural hot springs outside of the city. The mixture of minerals and silica gives the saltwater an amazing baby blue color.  The spa provides large tubs of mud to pat on your face, which is why everyone looks like a mud monster, but it does feel nice. When in Rome, you know.

The water felt wonderful after a six hour flight and walking around town. We had to drift around a bit because some areas in the springs are hotter than others and the hot spots don’t seem to stick in one place for very long. However we found an amazing hotspot at the back of the pool next to a jutting honey comb formation that has formed over the years. A wonderful beginning to my study abroad I have to say.

I have three travel tips I learned today

1)      Check the airplane luggage guidelines very carefully because they might slip something very unexpected in there.

2)      In Iceland fur is very in fashion and found in all the shops so be careful what you touch if that kind of thing gives you the heeby jebbies. We found all kinds from the more common sheep’s and rabbit fur to fox and wolf. Usually on the label it will tell you so know before you touch. Rabbit fur can be on anything but it is almost always lining hats so be in the know. We also found more unusual ones than even that varying from cod scale necklaces to chicken foot leather!

3)      The front desk lady gave us great advice concerning the hot springs, rinse your hair beforehand and apply a liberal coating of conditioner before putting it in a bun (for longer hair). This will keep it from drying out because of the minerals while you are relaxing.

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”

-Mother Teresa

Clothes, clothes everywhere and not enough room in my suitcase

One of the essential steps to studying abroad, or going outside the house in general is packing your bag. Which considering I'm leaving for a little more than three months is a tall order.

The best advice I received about packing is this...

-Only pack what you can carry upstairs and down streets by yourself.
-Lay out everything you want to bring and get rid of half of it.
-Find your comfort level, if you are comfortable only bringing a few articles of clothing and buying everything on the road then do it. Or if you’re like me and cringe at spending excessive amounts of money on clothes that I already have at home then bring what you need. Travel is stressful enough and worrying about having too much or too little isn't something you want to be sitting on your shoulders.
-While there are essentials like underwear and the correct foot wear there are also things that fall into I-would-die if-I-left-it-at-home and I-need-this-but-I-know-I-won't-wear-it categories. Leave the second at home and take the things that make you feel comfortable and feel like yourself.

These are my policies anyway. We'll see if they actually work out when I get there.

One thing I do know is that factoring in the weather is essential, and for England that means cold, damp and rainy. So the flip flops and shorts are definitely a leave at home item. I don't know much about England in general so I fell back on a well-known method of research... the internet. 

Searching packing lists for study abroad in your country is a great way to get started. My school has a packing list but definitely not as in depth as I feel is needed. However there are tons of other schools that also do study abroad with packing lists that can be compared and contrasted until I found a happy medium. I highly recommend making your own packing list because you are the only one who knows you and what you are comfortable with doing and what you aren’t.

Another great search option is Pintrest, especially for the more visually inclined people. Pintrest is great for finding pictures of what people in England are wearing and what other students brought with them on their trip.

The next post will be a comprehensive packing list on what I decide to bring and what I leave at home. It won't be final until the very last minute so I'm going to wait so I only publish one post on the list instead of dozens while I waffle back and forth. I'll also keep everyone updated on what worked and what really didn't.

“What are you doing with all those books anyway?" Ron asked.
"Just trying to decide which ones to take with us," said Hermione. When we're looking for the Horcruxes."
"Oh, of course," said Ron, clapping a hand to his forehead. "I forgot we'll be hunting down Voldemort in a mobile library.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows