Is this what is to come

+15°C / 59°F
This is as warm as it gets in Iceland, so we'll start here.
People in Spain wear winter-coats and gloves.
The Icelanders are out in the sun, getting a tan.
+10°C / 50°F
The French are trying in vain to start their central heating.
The Icelanders plant flowers in their gardens.
+5°C / 41°F
Italian cars won't start.
The Icelanders are cruising in Saab cabriolets.
0°C / 32°F
Distilled water freezes.
The water in Hvita river gets a little thicker.
-5°C / 23°F
People in California almost freeze to death.
The Icelanders have their final barbecue before winter.
-10°C / 14°F
The Brits start the heat in their houses.
The Icelanders start using long sleeves.
-20°C / -4°F
The Aussies flee from Mallorca.
The Icelanders end their Midsummer celebrations. Autumn is here.
-30°C / -22°F
People in Greece die from the cold and disappear from the face of the earth.
The Icelanders start drying their laundry indoors.
-40°C / -40°F
Paris start cracking in the cold.
The Icelanders stand in line at the hotdog stands.
-50°C / -58°F
Polar bears start evacuating the North Pole.
The Icelanders navy postpones their winter survival training awaiting real winter weather.
-60°C / -76°F
Myvatn freezes.
The Icelanders rent a movie and stay indoors.
-70°C / -94°F
Santa moves south.
The Icelanders get frustrated since they can't store their Brennavinn outdoors.
The Icelanders navy goes out on winter survival training.
-183°C / -297.4°F
Microbes in food don't survive.
The Icelandic cows complain that the farmers' hands are cold.
-273°C / -459.4°F
ALL atom-based movement halts.
The Icelanders start saying "it's cold outside today."
-300°C / -508°F
Hell freezes over,
Iceland wins the Eurovision Song Contest.

Going / Coming home

Finally, this academic year is finished or at least close to a finish. I still have to recieve my grades and graduate (hopefully). But I am going home tomorrow. I finished my exams on Wednesday and have been working my way up to packing and moving home for the summer. There isn't a whole lot to blog about here, not that much has happened while I was studying for exams and a whole lot less when actually taking them. Except it was quite thrilling when a studen's phone went off an hour into my last exam!!! Almost every single day I was studying for my exams the sun was shining outside my window and for a few days I even skived off studying. That was when my mom and dad dropped in for a few days to celebrate my dads birthday on April 13th. Yup, Friday 13th, and the date of the exam I dreaded the most, but actually turned out to be not so bad. It was truly nice to have them here and be able to assist them and do stuff with them and it was also very nice for them to be able to have a change of scenery for a while.
So I am going home tomorrow and I am unemployed for the moment as well. Possibly I even have to crawl back to my former boss and ask for a summer job if the job I was hoping for turns out to be a dead end for the next forseeable future although I do not doubt that it will become what it was meant to be someday. Until I have talked the to guy in charge I won't know if I will be going to work in the middle of nowhere at the post office. Stay tuned for updates.
I fly home tomorrow and should land sometime around noon. Can't wait to see my bed ... uuuh, family ... again.

Loosening tension

My final exam is tomorrow and trying to relieve some of the tension for it I went on the interent to check for a few QI episodes and I found one so hilarious that I have to share it with you.

part 1


part 2


part 3


part 4


Enjoy!

Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day!

Yes, I think I am in a pretty good mood today. Although I do have a mountain of work ahead of me. I am back in Glasgow after two weeks back home, and boy it has been interesting. Almost every single day I spent at home it snowed, blizzard conditions and worse sometimes. Now that I am back in Glasgow, I am roasting. The sun has been shining like crazy since I came here and the temperature has been 12°c and above. Beautiful, except that the sun pays me a rather roasting visit later in the day, which means that if I am trying to study I have to block it out with heavy curtains.
But the reason I am in this lovely mood today is the news I recieved yesterday in my inbox. I got an e-mail from the Postgraduate Service at the University where they were informing me that they have accepted my application for M.Litt in Scottish Medieval Studies for next year, which means: One more year of 'wha gie's it!, and 'hughie-ing' and 'haggis, neeps and tatties'
Anyways, I am thrilled, ecstatic, floating on air.

A few highlights from back home;
March 20th - Had a wonderful dinner at my friends, Hrafnhildur's place, where I had the chance of seeing my friend Guðný Stellu, who is the busiest freak I know. I also met Bryndísi and Þurý, the two chicks that came for a shopping trip in Glasgow, with Hrafnhildi, before Christmas and who are still paying their visa bills from then! Brilliant guys.
March 23rd - I went to the movies, even though I had to pay the exorbitant fee of 950kr (7 pounds+)for the ticket. Went to see 300 and oh, my god, I loved it. I got so caught up in it, I wasn't aware of anything around me. I want to see it again soon.
March 30th - Then last friday was the pinnacle of my stay back home, where I went with my friends, Hrafnhildi, Bryndísi and Þurý for a girls night out. We started by going to a Witch shop in the city center where we had two hour lecture on various methods of 'the craft', we had lovely chocolate cake and herbal tea, along with the 'elixir of love' brewed especially for us, Bryndís and I imbibed 2 shots of that brew, just for extra ooompf. Then we were let loose in the store, where I bought a sack of runes and instruction manual, plus a dreamsymbol. Something that is quite appropriate for me. The friends were mostly into buying the herbal tea stuff, which is not me, although I did enjoy the tea they offered us with the cake. Well, after this experience we made our way to Austur-Indía félagið (The East-India company) where we had the most scruptious dinner ever, loved it. I was near to bursting but I still refused to leave a morsel left on my plate. Oooh, it was good. Then, as if this wasn't enough we went to The Celtic Cross, appropriate isn't it, a lovely wee pub on Hverfisgata where we had one cocktail. Again, I nearly had a heart attack because of the price, I was expected to pay for a wee (although wonderful) cocktail; 1300kr (10 pounds!), yikes. I just find it amazing that anyone ever goes out in Iceland to get sloshed. It's almost cheaper to just be a tea-totaller, although that can be expensive as well. But I had a lovely time, and my friends assured me that we will try something else and something just as fun during the summer. Can't wait. Guys, thanks for a lovely time, it was wonderful.

I'm home!

Oh, it is soooo gooood to be home again. Can't wait to go to sleep in my own bed again, because I am dead tired. When I came home Iceland was covered with snow. Beautiful to see from the airplane but not so nice when you had to drive through it, with cars zig-zagging in front of you, splashing the windscreen with slush. But we made it home in one piece. +
I am writing this blog on my mom's computer because mine is at my brother's. He is transferring all of my data from my old computer over to my new one. So I feel sort of alone right now. I sort of don't really know what to do, I want to start studying, because I have become so used to being studying all the time that I don't know how to do anything else anymore. But I really should also learn to take a well deserved break for a while now. I will still have enough time to study for my exams.
I am also trying to get used to my new glasses, there are still a few kinks I have to work out about them. I have to take them in for fine tuning soon, because they sit quite low on my nose, so that it irritates me and later in the day I get tired wearing them, because they sit to tight at my right temple. So right now I am sitting in my room with my sunglasses on because they don't hurt. It sounds so crazy writing about wearing sunglasses when it is snowing outside, but sometimes it is necessary.
Anyways, am thrilled to be back home. Hope I get the chance to see as many as possible and managed to study hard as well.

My exam timetable

It is finally here and it is a good one.

Medieval Welsh literature in translation - Tuesday 10.April, 9:30 - 11:30 in Hunter Hall East

Advanced Early Gaelic texts - Friday 13.April, 9:30 - 11:30 in Hunter Hall West

Medieval Welsh texts: Poetry - Monday 15.April 9:30 - 11:30 in The Bute Hall

Introduction to Medieval Welsh - Wednesday 18.April 9:30 - 11:30 in Hunter Hall West

What an irony it is that the exam I am most dreading is on the Friday 13th, but I am hoping that becuase it also happens to be my dads birthday that it will counter every bad thing ever said about this day. But this also means that I will be extra early home this year!!! I can't wait.

Breathing again

I almost feel like I am able to breath again. This past week has just been getting weirder and weirder, but finally I am seeing for the end of it. I must stay, I am so thankful for having friends here in Glasgow, I don't know how I would have been yesterday if it hadn't been for my friend Árdísi. We had gone for a walk to Byres road for just a short shopping. On the way we had a bit of rain so when we reached Subway I was trying to wipe my glasses ... and they broke. I was blind. If she hadn't been there I would probably have sat down on the middle of the floor and howled. We managed to walk back home, she had to almost guide me across streets, because I wasn't too sure about up's and down's and un-evens, but we made it. Because I couldnt' see anything I couldn't find my spare glasses at my flat. But I obviuosly needed new glasses or at least try to get these ones fixed so I headed into the city center and luckyly Árdís came with me. They couldn't fix my glasses so I needed to have a new pair made. So I ended up being blind for up to four hours, and boy does it hurt. Thankfully, when I had picked out glasses and frames it only took just over half an hour to have them made so I just took a nap in the store because my eyes and head were hurting something bad at that stage. So now I have new specs, kind of cool, but I am still getting used to them, and I will probably try to have my old pair repaired. The company is still making them and they have a lifetime guarantee on them so it should be possible.
So you can probably guess that at that stage I was stressed and panicked out of my head, because I had only intended for an hour break from study yesterday and then this happened. So I had to rush home and finish two essays and my M.Litt application form and organize to do all sorts of things for the next few days, because I am coming home on Friday.
Boy am I rambling, you should all get a degree if you have understood a thing I have just written down.
But today, everything has been going according to plan. I did my laundry, made inquiries about my accommodations offer for next year, printed out my last essay, walked to Uni, handed in 1 homework and 2 essays, went to get my transcripts from the previous years to hand in with my applicaiton for M.Litt next year, did that, returned my library books and then headed into the cinty center.
Finally then am I getting my bearings and starting to de-stress a bit. Now the fun stuff begins, as in exams period.

Conclusion

How the hell am I supposed to be able to write a conclusion for an essay, that I don't even understand. I don't even know how I managed to write the crap I did. I won't promise that it makes any sense, but I just so want this to be over. It is supposed to be 2000 words plus, that is not the problem. I reached 2000 words no biggie, but not going over 3000 is going to be. If I start one subject, I feel I can write a book about it, or at least more than I need and want in my essay, and if I leave stuff out I just feel that the essay isn't long enough. Arrrgh! This is hairpullingly frustrating. Ah ha! I am such a sad person, now I am inovating and using rhetoric, but writing about it is crap. Sometimes it is no fun being a nerd.

But I shouldn't be fealing like this. I am going home in a week and I just got a new computer. I named her Delline, which I think is just right. My little baby. As some of you might guess it is a Dell computer and all cute and cuddly. See, this is my idea of a pet. I don't need a dog or a cat. When I am an old lady I will be the one across the street with all those weird gadgets and not the one with the collection of cats.

Anway, I should get back to my essay, I promised myself I would try to finish the essay tonight so that I could try to finish some of the other stuff I have lying about waiting for my attention. Also I am thinking of staying up late to watch two episodes of the old Star Trek episodes. They are hilarious .... in a sort of sad way.

Tell me my fortune

Sometimes you can't help but go over your horscope. Most of the time it is complete crap, but this time it was just brilliant. Now I am going to do my damndest to translate it into english; because this should be shared with as many as possible. Taken from Morgunblaðið, March 5th 2007.
Gemini (21.may - 20.june)

'You have been spending quite a lot of money recently.

But if you had bought everything you wanted

and done everything you wished to do,

you would have spent a lot more.

So, in fact, you come out richer!'

Soemthing like that anyway.
Here is the Icelandic version:
Tvíburi (21. maí - 20. júní)

'Þú hefur verið svolítil eyðslukló nýverið.

En ef þú hefðir eytt í allt sem þig langaði til að kaupa

eða gera hefðir þú eytt miklu meira.

Þannig að í raun kemur þú út í plús!.

How can you argue with such logic.
So no matter what I buy, because I always want to buy more than I do, I should not feel bad for spending all that money, because I will always be better off anyway. That works for me.

Maybe there is no wonder why I am a bachelorette

The funny thing is that a while ago a friend of mine hoodwinked me into joining a blog-group of single women. It must be said that the blog is not working terribly well, as no one has written anything there for months. Now, I thought me being a bachelorette was because I am just too preoccupied with myself and my studying, last night I got a strange feeling it is not just that. My friend Árdís and I, went to a party last night hosted at the Central Service building for those living at Queen Margaret Halls and Winton Drive. It was quite good, and at the bar you got two drinks for the price of one. Not bad at all.
A small joke in Icelandic following; Árdís þurfti náttúrulega að reyna að vera fyndin og sagði að af því að ég væri búin með tvo Smirnoff Ice-a þá gæti ég sagt öllum að ég hefði dottið í það. Hún er alltaf að gera gys að mér að ég drekk ekki nóg, eða allavegana ekki mikið.
Anyways, back to english. My friend ran out of cigaretts so, because I am such a kind person decided to take a walk with her to the corner 24h shop on Byres road. On they way there I was moaning about the fact that I really wanted a new computer. I actually need a new computer, but it was all about delivery time, if I ordered a new one on the internet it would take 10 working days for it to be delivered and I will be leaving before that, therefor not a good option, so I didn't want to take the chance. Well the conversation faded away into something else. And on the way back she was telling me about a new guy her friend had in her sights, good for her. But, I, at apparently not the right moment burst out saying; 'but I really really want a new computer!'
My friend had a laughing fit over the fact that while she was discussing guys, I was obsessing about a computer. So maybe, there is a reason why I am still a bachelorette. I just hope that there is some hope for me, and that when I finally get my new computer will maybe look more around about me and see if any cute guy is sitting near me with a fancy computer too.
What a nerd!

Amazing and exciting

I did a pretty amazing thing on Monday, or so I think at any rate. I sat down around noon and started my second essay and around dinner time I had actually finished it. 2000 words ... no biggie! It was actually a pretty interesting essay that I felt just clicked. Amazing ... since handing in that dissertation horror of 10.000 words, writing 2000, now, seems almost like not enough.
Today, I went to an M.Litt information meeting and boy, am I excited. I really, really want to take Medieval Scottish Studies, and I have possibly the opportunity to take Old Norse with it. That should be fun and strange. But I am just so interested in it and Dauvit Brown is just the nicest man ever to talk to. He was very interested in my ambition of going back home to Iceland to spread the word and translate old irish and welsh tales. I must say I am very interested in it as well, and can hardly wait for my opportunity to really dig into it for real. It is like my motto ought to say; A rof i a Duw, mi yw da! [Between me and God, I am good!] Ok, a small inside joke. That A rof i a Duw is a very popular sentence in Welsh tales! And I mean VERY POPULAR.

Þorrablót

Oh, boy, it was sooooo good to be able to go out yesterday and not worry about work. Although I do worry about school work continually these days, I decided to leave all that behind at home. No time for that now. My friend Árdís and I made our way to Edinburgh yesterday to attend the Icelandic Society's yearly Þorrablót festival, with good food (depends on your taste) and good people (also depends on your taste). It was amazing to get Icelandic food again, it is not long since I was at home for a short stop, about two weeks, but in those two weeks I had worked up an appetite. And for dessert they gave us Skyr, ooo it was like being in heaven. I couldn't resist munching on a bit of dried fish but it didn't go well with my stomach so I grabbed the nearest bottle of Brennivín and after a short while my stomach was fine again. Brennivin cures everything (if taken in moderation). And then the singing started and all the fun that went with it. Also, there was quite a bit of dancing, and even I joined in. Imagine that. Although, the only music I actually moved at all to was the music that had enough beat and rythm for my to move my hips, which are almost the only moveable bodyparts I possess. But it was oh so much fun, but almost inevitably my leg did give out in the end and I didn't move much after that. During the evening we did part-take of the traditional Brennivín but didn't imbibe on it, so no worries there, only managed about 6 shots during the whole evening, but I still made it back to Glasgow in one piece. Because we stayed so late, we had to take the bus back to Glasgow and didn't arrive back until shortly after 1 o'clock in the morning. I didn't go to bed until 3 o'clock.

Guilt

If I didn't know better I would think I was Catholic. I am riddled with guilt. I can not go out of the house without suffering from pangs of guilt of not staying at home studying. I can not watch television or read a book without regretting my few minutes of escape from studying. Even when I go to sleep I am constantly thinking about school work. This is so un-characteristic of me it is frightful. Usually I have no problem of talking myself into doing stuff other than studying. All of a sudden I am Hermione Granger. Help!
I nearly finished a Welsh Poetry work on Friday and I finished an essay for Old Irish today. Managed to find and read sources for it on Friday and Saturday and I started writing the actual essay yesterday, although the main body of the essay arrived today. Boy was it difficult. At one moment I actually felt like I was going to faint, so I ran outside for some air. Not a pleasant fealing.
I can not wait until I can convince myself that I can very easily not do anything school related work for a few hours. Which will probably be on Wedensday, hopefully I will be going to the cinema then and I know that I will not be working too long on Saturday because I have to go to Edinburgh for the annual Þorrablót at the Icelandic society.
Well, I am thinking of hitting the sack right now. It is just 11pm which will give me about an hour to shut my brains off and get to sleep. Hopefully!

An interesting discovery

It is Sunday night and I am bored. So I made an interesting discovery. Since my computer crashed just before I came back to Glasgow in January I have had a very difficult time playing any sort of internet games, so I have stopped trying. Which clears up a lot of my time. I have since been concentrating on my studies and I found this out. Old Irish gives me a headache! It really literally and physically gives me a headache. Middle Welsh does not and now I know why. When I am translating Middle Welsh I know where to find the words in the glossary. When I see a word that starts with a o, I know that it doesn't necessarily begin with an o, but it only has three possibilities. It can either be an o, or c or g and nothing else. A word that begins with a u most likely doesn't start with a u, it could start with either a b or a m. Same as with the afore mentioned word. Not much trouble. And that is the extent of the headachy thing about Welsh everything else is quite straight forward. Old Irish not so clearcut. You find the word nírbo and you would think to look under n, but no that doesn't work. You either have to look it up under a:tá or is. The word do*raga is under do*tét and dos*fucaid you can find that under do*beir. There is no set rule on where to find a word in Old Irish, because it can go through so many changes depending on compound particles (words, or letters from more than one word, added to a word) to make up a new one. If almost every other word you are looking up in a dictionary gives you this kind of trouble wouldn't most people be suffering from a migrane.

Not bad!

You scored as Blue. Your heart is blue. You are a very calm and relaxed person. You are very caring and like helping others. You're grateful for what you have in life, even if it's not perfect. People love you for who you are, don\'t ever change that- it's what makes you the great person that you are. Blue 82% Yellow 82% Pink 79% Purple 36% Green 21% Black 11% Red 11% White 7% Orange 0% ~What colour is your heart?~ created with QuizFarm.com

In shock

I am in shock right now. At least I think I am. I am apparently too numb to actually be aware of the shock. I think I just finished my dissertation. I don't know what to do now.
I have been working on it and thinking about it constantly for more than a year now, so I feel almost like an orphin now. I don't know where I belong. I just finished putting on the finishing touches to it. I probably have something more to do, but at the moment I don't know what. I have been working on it from 8 o'clock tonight and I didn't even realize what time it was until I closed the draft12.doc, 10 minutes to 12 o'clock. I was so absorbed in my work I hardly even took notice of Mock the Week, even though I specifically put my alarm clock on so that I wouldn't miss it. Now that is bad.
My dissertation ended up being 9670 words + bibliography of about 300 words. That is not bad.
I came home today in another shock. Clarie and I were almost reduced to tears in Medieval Welsh Poetry class today, when we realised what amount of homework we face for next week. But I feel a bit better now that I have finished the dissertation. That clears a lot of space from my calander. But for Tuesday I have to translate a page (about 40 lines) of middle Welsh text, for Wednesday I have to translate a page (ca. 40 lines as well) of Old Irish text and Thursday is the killer. I have to translate a poem Y Dref Wen (The white town), thankfully a short poem, but the teacher is actually wanting us to do some work on it of our own, and refused to give us a wordlist. How can I put this delicately. SHIT!

A note on the poem! The first line looks like this;
Y dref wenn ym bronn y coet
Now we know that y dref whenn means the white town, but also, from today I know that bronn means chest or breast. I am almost certain that the line is not 'The white town in the breast of the forest'. So I am hoping that bronn can be a middle of something as well, as in 'The white town in the middle of the forest'. We will see.

Burns Night

"Tae a Fert"

Oh what a sleekit horrible beastie.
Lurks in yer belly efter a feastie.
Just as you sit doon among yer kin,
There starts to stir an enormous wind.

The neeps and tatties and mushy peas,
Stert workin like a gentle breeze.
But soon the puddin' wi the sauncie face,
Will have you blawin all over the place.

Nae matter whit ye try tae dae,
A'bodys gonnae have to pay.
Even if ye try to stifle,
It's like a bullet oot a rifle.

Hawd yer bum tight tae the chair,
Tae try and stp the leakin' air.
Shift yersel frae cheek to cheek,
Pray tae God it doesnae reek.

But aw yer efforts go assunder,
Oot it comes - a clap o' thunder.
Ricochets around the room,
Michty me, a sonic boom!

God almighty it fairly reeks,
Hope I huvnae pooed ma breeks!
Tae the loo I better scurry,
Aw who cares, its no ma worry.

A'body roon about me chokin,
Wan or two are nearly bokin.
I'll feel better for a while,
Cannae help but raise a smile.

"Wis him!" I shout with accusin glower,
Alas too late, he's just keeled ower!
"Ye dirty thing!" they shout and stare,
I don't feel welcome any mair.

Where ere you go let yer wind gang free,
Sounds like just the job fur me.
Whit a fuss at Rabbie's party,
Ower the sake o' wan wee ferty!!

I am going to a Burns night and ceilidh! Ligga ligga lái!!!

Detta mér nú allar dauðar lýs úr höfði

!Bara láta vita ég er ekki með lús!
This is going to be a rant about Americans, or at least a particular American. But not Bush. Probably someone related to him though.
Yesterday I woke up to Glasgow covered in snow. Nothing much in Glasgow, it faded quite quickly into slush But around Glasgow it a bit different and it made it difficult for a lot of people to reach Glasgow. A few days earlier during the evening it snowed a wee bit, but nothing that stuck. That didn't matter to the people outside my window who shrieked and shouted and stuck their tounges out to try to catch the snow. It was so funny to vitness this extreme reaction to snow.
But what I heard yesterday, breaks all records.
One of my classmates is from America and she was telling me about her flatmates reaction to the snow. Her flatmat is from the southern states and has never seen snow before. What she said shocked me, to say the least.
She said that they had been in the kitchen talking and that all of a sudden her friend had gone silent. She looked up to see her friend staring outside the window. My classmate then commented that it had started snowing and her friend looked at her and said; 'snowing, that's snow? I thought it was a volcano!'
A VOLCANO!!!
How in Gods green earth is that the most rational conclusion to get to when seeing why flakes flutter by your window.
I think that it is obvious that this girl has been watching Volcano way too often and never seen The Day After Tomorrow.

How can I not include these ads

These are probably the most funniest I have ever seen, usually Icelandic ads are no laughing matter but these just take the cake.

Ad #1


Ad #2

A friendly reminder ...

A special part of going to the cinema is the ads that run before the movie. My mom and I are in the agreement that ads before movies at Scottish cinemas are among the most funniest you ever will see. Now a new thing has been added to the list of fun things to watch at the cinema, not just the film. This bit runs just before the film starts as a friendly reminder to shut your phones off. It is hilarious!

I should start charging taxi drivers

Today I became convinced I should start charging taxi drivers for my service. Usually, when a person takes a taxi, they expect to be transported to whatever destination they desire and I am fine with that. But, here a wee situation presents itself. Quite often when using the service taxis provide the drivers strike up a chat with the passenger, namely me. Now, I have not been back in Glasgow a week, but already I have held 3 presentatoins and open discussion on Celtic history and civilization. In a way it is good, because it keeps the material fresh for me, but it does become a wee bit annoying when you are battling "weekend historians" or taxidrivers who "I was always very intrested in history" start filling you in of all the historical or scientific knowledge they "don't" have just because they read a book. Well hooray, they read a book, and all of a sudden they are experts. They talk about stuff that makes no sense and I don't even know how such rubbish ever got into print what some of them are spouting at me ... and I have to pay them for taking me places. A lecturer at the University of Glasgow gets about 40.000 pounds a year, I wonder if I couldn't charge them about 10 pounds for my servic of correcting them.

In memoriam

Magnus Magnusson, a great British / Icelandic broadcaster died today. He was born in Iceland and never gave up his citizenship although he had been living in Scotland from when he was very young. He was educated in Oxford and Copenhagen in Icelandic sagas and truly a great scholar with a vast knowledge about the viking era and the sagas. In Britain he is mostly known for being the presenter on the popular Mastermind quiz show.
Magnus Magnusson was a great inspiriation for me in regards to what I wanted to study. His works helped and guided me in what I hope is going the be the right direction. I am now in my final year of Masters degree from the University of Glasgow in Celtic Medieval studies, including civilisation and languages. For my dissertation I looked at the work of Magnus Magnusson along with his late friend Hermann Pálsson who truly were the great scholars of their time regarding the Icelandic sagas and the age of writing in Iceland. My essay; Celtic influence on Icelandic medieval literature; with special attetion to Laxdæla saga I rely a lot of Magnus Magnussons thoughts and research on Irish influence on Icelandic culture and his work is truly worth noting.
There truly is a want of scholars of his caliber, especially in the field of the Icelandic sagas and the Irish literature. He leaves a great void behind, a void that will take a very long time to fill.
God bless you and your family.

The 14th santa clause has gone ...

to Glasgow. Left Iceland early in the morning and am now (sing-a-long) All by myself in Glasgow. And I am cold. There is no hot water in the building ... that I have found so far. Even though my window is closed and my radiator on full, the floor is still icy.
I'm gonna let them know tomorrow so that I will hopefully get some hot water in the very near future. I will not survive winter in Scotland without it. I don't want to be flying home every weekend to have a bath... heheheh.
Will write more on my progress here when relevant.

All kinds of news

During my stay here in Iceland I have enjoyed all types of weather, and today is no exception. The Christmas snow is finally here and already everything has gone white that can. And these are big flakes and it must be said, it is a beautiful sight although not so much a welcome one.
Yesterday sure turned out to be a surprise. I stayed home studying and am now on the final meters of my essay. But there are some things that have to wait until I go back to Glasgow (incidentally which is tomorrow) because some of the sources I need for the essay are there. And then I decided to send a copy to my teacher as well as take a copy of the files. Thank God I did. My brother came over with his family around dinner time and they stayed for dinner and then he was trying to install a new virus protection program on my computer and after 3 hours of one thing after another failing, the computer went dead in the water! (A few years ago my computer got a bad case of the virus and some eenybeeny little bits that got left behind were wreaking havoc with the computer now). But I just spoke to my brother and he managed to move all my files from the old harddrive over onto a new one (and a bigger one) so I am just totally happy, right now. I only had about 2gb left on my old harddrive. I have a considerably more to spend now. But this just shows how important it is to take backups of all your files, I have a backup of my files on two other locations as well as a backup of my essay on four locations. So no matter what goes wrong I wont suffer too heavily. But it doesn't lessen the severity of not having the computer near you for a few hours, it is agonising, I feel almost like I lost a limb. But it is being returned to me today, which leaves me totally happy.

BACKUP!!!!! YOUR FILES

New Year Photos

Here to the left I have put up a link (or here) to my photoalbum on the net for you to see photos of New Years Eve. My brother took these photos (with one or two taken by me) last night when Iceland was busy celebrating the coming of the New Year and buring out the old. There are photos taken at the bonfire in Kópavogur and the firework display. Then we are at my place on the balcony taking photos of Reyjavík loosing itself celebrating the new year. These photos are incredible and I promise you they have not been photoshopped in any way, directly from camera to computer to the internet. Hope you enjoy them and please leave a comment either on the photo page or here if you liked them.

Happy New Year

Well, I guess I can start wishing you all a happy new year, because it already is 2007 in Australia, we are just a little behind here in Iceland. Hope you enjoy the future!

'Allo 'Allo

I have been home now for three weeks, and hardly done anything that I meant to do but done a lot of things that I hadn't planned on doing. Before Christmas I was too busy to even think about my essay, although I managed to squeeze in a three hour session where a few hundred words got added to the text. But except for that I was busy with preparation for Christmas as well as two days I spent working at my old job.
My Christmas was wonderful. Full of good food and prezzies and family. Boxing Day (Annan í jólum) I spent with my family at my uncle's house, again enjoying good food and playing Trivial Pursuit with my brother and two cousins. My brother won us this time. We also played a little Monopoly although at that time we were exhausted and stopped before it really started.
Since then I have been spending my days struggling over the essay. Two days, 500 words a day, and now the essay has reached 6700 words. I am quite pleased with myself, especially since I have been watching 'Allo 'Allo series 1 - 4 during the time I have been writing the essay. It always manages to lift my spirit. It is simply spectacular. But today I finished the series and am now finishing the last episode of Le comte de Monte Cristo. And I am beginning to find it strange the way every time I watch a film in a foreign language I start thinking in said language, like now, the thing that I most want to do is speak French.
I got a book from Amazon yesterday. It's the first Harry Potter book but it is in Irish. It is Harry Potter agus an Órchlach (or the Philosopher's stone). I can read it, I understand the words but not the sentences, because I have never learned modern Irish, so I am not always sure of the meaning, but I get the gist of it. Soon I will be getting the Welsh version of it as well. The Gaelic version will be added as soon as possible but the scheduled date for publication is not until summer of 2008.

The Yuletide lads - part 15 - THE END

On Christmas night itself
- so a wise man writes
- the lads were all restraint
and just stared at the lights.


Then one by one they trotted off
into the frost and snow.
On Twelfth Night the last
of the lads used to go.


Their footprints in the highlands
are effaced now for long,
the memories have all turned
to image and song

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson
Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 14

Candle beggar

( Kertasníkir )

The thirteenth was Candle Beggar

- ´twas cold, I believe,

if he was not the last

of the lot on Christmas Eve.

He trailed after the little ones

who, like happy sprites,

ran about the farm with

their fine tallow lights.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 13

Meat Hook

( Kjötkrækir )

Meat Hook, the twelfth one,

his talent would display

as soon as he arrived

on Saint Thorlak´s Day.

He snagged himself a morsel

of meat of any sort,

although his hook at times was

a tiny bit short.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 12

Door Sniffer

( Gáttaþefur )

Eleventh was Door Sniffer,

a doltish lad and gross.

He never got a cold, yet had

a huge, sensitive nose.

He caught the scent of lace bread

while leagues away still

and ran toward it weightless

as wind over dale and hill.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 11

Window Peeper

( Gluggagæjir )

The tenth was Window Peeper,

a weird little twit,

who stepped up to the window

and stole a peek through it.

And whatever was inside

to which his eye was drawn,

he most likely attempted

to take later on.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

S.O.S work

An exhilarating day ... I am dead.  I got a call today from my old workplace, begging me to come to work.  Since there are so few that know how to do the job, they phoned me, because one of the girls was home sick today.  And since I am as good a person as I am, I couldn't say no, so I ran back home from the store we were at got ready and got the keys to the car from dad and ran out.  Got to work just after 2 o'clock.  I had brought comfortable shoes and my mobile charger with me, because my phone went dead, but as soon as I came in through the door at work, I was busy.  Couldn't even change shoes and couldn't start charging my mobile until just before six.  I didn't even get the chance to say hello to people before five o'clock and then not everyone.  And the few others that I passed on the way, barely noticed me because they were so busy, and others were so busy they didn't stop to think that it was a bit weird that I was there.  But it was soooo coool, being back there.  Seeing allt he guys, my boss couldn't stop hugging me for coming to their rescue.  And I didn't even do that much or so I felt, but no matter that because I feel beat tonight.  I met Þorgeir, Helga, Björk, Halla, Ásu, Ingibjörgu and my good old buddies Siggu and Brynju, it really was a reunion of old friends.  Loads of fun, and maybe I will get to experience it again if possible.  And even better I got a prezzie when I left, because I had been working there.  I did open it up when I came home but I can't say what it was because I don't want to ruin the surprise for others, but my advice, if you are not going to open it when you get it, put it in the fridge before Christmas Eve.

The Yuletide lads - part 10

Sausage Swiper
( Bjúgna krækir )

The ninth was Sausage Swiper,

a shifty pilferer.

He climbed up to the rafters

and raided food from there.

Sitting on a crossbeamin

soot and in smoke,

he fed himself on sausage

fit for gentlefolk.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 9

Skyr Gobbler

( Skyr gámur)

Skyr Gobbler, the eighth,

was an awful stupid bloke.

He lambasted the skyr tub

till the lid on it broke.

Then he stood there gobbling

- his greed was well known -

until, about to burst,

he would bleat, howl and groan.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 8

Door Slammer
( Hurðaskellir )

The seventh was Door Slammer,
a sorry, vulgar chap:
When people in the twilight
would take a little nap,

he was happy as a lark
with the havoc he could wreak,
slamming doors and hearing
the hinges on them sqeak.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 7

Bowl Licker

( Askasleikir )

Bowl Licker, the sixth one,

was shockingly ill bred.

From underneath the bedsteads

he stuck his ugly head.

And when the bowls were left

to be licked by dog or cat,

he snatched them for himself

- he was sure good at that!

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translation by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 6

Pot Scraper

( Pottasleikir )

Pot Scraper, the fifth one,

was a funny sort of chap.

When kids were given scrapings,

he´d come to the door and tap.

And they would rush to see

if there really was a guest.

Then he hurried to the pot

and had a scrapingfest.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translation by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

Spoon Licker

( Þvörusleikir )

The fourth was Spoon Licker;

like spindle he was thin.

He felt himself in clover

when the cook wasn´t in.

Then stepping up, he grappled

the stirring spoon with glee,

holding it with both hands

for it was slippery.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translation by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 4

Stubby
( Stúfur )

Stubby was the third called,
a stunted little man,
who watched for every chance
to whisk off a pan.

And scurrying away with it,
he scraped off the bits
that stuck to the bottom
and brims - his favorites.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translation by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

I look like a lamb and I got shot

Yesterday I got a perm, so now I look as cute and curly as a lamb.  But I like it, it's all bouncy and nice, and give's me a kind of stupid cherub-y look as well.  And now, today I got shot ... well, I got A shot.  I went to see my orthopedic surgeon about my knee and he gave me a shot in an attempt to delay further surgery.  It should help but he felt that it would be inevitable that I will be having surgery possibly sometime next year.  The issue is to postpone it as long as possible for me to complete my year at Uni and gratuate before it becomes an issue.  My leg is a bit numb now, around the knee, it is to be expected and it is also a bit sore, which he told me it might, but that it was a good indicator that the medicine was working.  Hope so, because getting a shot underneath your kneecap, is not the most pleasant experience, am just thankful there weren't more shots, although I should be accustomed being treated like a pincushion.  But I am willing to do anything if it helps.

The Yuletide lads - part 3

Gully Gawk

( Giljagaur )

The second was Gully Gawk,
gray his head and mien.
He snuck into the cow barn
from his craggy ravine.

Hiding in the stalls,
he would steal the milk,
while the milkmaid gave the cowherd
a meaningful smile.

by Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translation by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 2

Tonight the first Yuletide lad comes to town.

Sheep Cote-Clod

( Stekkjastaur )

The first of them was Sheep-Cote Clod.

He came stiff as wood,

to pray upon the farmer´s sheep

as far as he could.

He wished to suck the ewes,

but it was no accident

he couldn´t; he had stiff knees

- not to convenient.

by Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translation by Hallberg Hallmundsson
Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

Yuletide lads - part 1

Let me tell the story
of the lads of few charms,
who once upon a time
used to visit our farms.

They came from the mountains,
as many of you know,
in a long single file
to the farmsteads below.

Grýla was their mother
- she gave them ogre milk
-and the father Leppalúdi;
a loathsome ilk.

They were called the Yuletide lads
- at Yuletide they were due
-and always came one by one,
not ever two by two.

Thirteen altogether,
these gents in their prime
didn´t want to irk people
all at one time.

Creeping up, all stealth,
they unlocked the door.
The kitchen and the pantry
they came looking for.

They hid where they could,
with a cunning look or sneer,
ready with their pranks
when people weren´t near.

And even when they were seen,
they weren´t loath to roam
and play their tricks - disturbing
the peace of the home.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translation by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Home

I arrived home on Friday, but I am sick. I woke up early on Friday morning with blocked nose, coughing and feeling rahter poorly. But I was going home, and nothing could stop me. My bags were heavier than hell, but I managed to bring them down the two flights of stairs by laying the bigger and more heavier one on the stairs flat and dragging it down. I arrived at the airport at 8 am, and luckily there weren't many checking in before me and it later turned out that there weren't that many on the flight either. My two luggage bags were in all 53kg and I also had to check in a smaller one that was almost empty, so a few extra kgs can be added. My flight was delayed but only for a short while, and I arrived home just a few minutes later than originally scheduled. I was so glad to be finally home. It was amazing, and I fell asleep shortly after arriving at the flat. A few hours later I was woken up by my niece, she was sooooo happy to see me finally. She didn't let me go anywhere she didn't follow. After they left I unpacked my suitcases and then I just left everything where it was and went to sleep, the rest could wait until I felt better.
So for the last few days I haven't been doing everything I planned. So this is me trying to make it all better.
My dear friend, Claire. Wish you all the best for your birthday ... that was yesterday.
And I am going to start my Yule tide lads program again, because of popular demand ;)
Well, happy holidays to you all, and rest assured you will be hearing from me again soon.

Coming home for Christmas

I am coming home tomorrow, in less than 12 hours my flight leaves.  I am soo looking forward to it.  I finished school just before four o'clock this afternoon and came home to pack my bags and tidy my room.  Dear God, it was difficult.  I actually had to re-pack at least twice, because I had to take stuff out, so that I could get more important stuff home for Christmas ... like Christmas presents!  That still wasn't enough I still had to pack a parcel with stuff for my friend Árdísi to ship home for me, because there was no way in h$%& that I could take it all with me.  This comes from letting me loose at a shopping mall.

But who cares, I am coming home weather Icelandair likes it or not.  I really think they should give me a blank card when it comes to baggage allowance, since I fly so often with them.  But anyway, I am getting tired, have to wake up at 7am tomorrow and I will be seeing some friendly faces around twoish tomorrow.  See you then.

Cinema blog continue

I am coming home the day after tomorrow.  So Árdís and I used the opportunity to go for a good meal, a cocktail and a movie.  So I want to add to the list of movies I have been to see at the cinema since october 26th.

27/10/2006 - Don.  A Bollywood film with my favorite actor Shah Rukh Khan.  It was amazing, thrilling and surprising.  Can't wait to get it on DVD.  And it was quite fun to go see a Bollywood film at the cinema, firstly you get loads of strange ads, about matchmaking websites and how to transfer money home to India and secondly, it's not easy to sit still in a cinema when you want to go boogie with the music.

22/11/2006 - Casino Royal.  Hadn't meant to go see it, not because I didn't believe it was any good, but because I just didn't feel compelled to go.  But since plans changed for my friend Árdísi, we decided to go see it.  It was really good, surprised me how good it actually was.  Liked it, and recomend it.

26/11/2006 - Pan's Labyrinth.  In Spanish, which I don't think many realised, but it was very good.  But I am a person that when it comes to something looking gruesome I tend to laugh out loud at the absurdity of it and I don't think it was quite appropriate with this film.  But it is very .... undescribable, I just have to tell you to go see it, then you know what I mean.

29/11/2006 - Stranger than fiction.  What do you expect when you see the name Will Farrell as lead act in a movie.  Something spoofy.  Not this, it was a very sweet movie in a quirky sort of way.  So you get this lovable goofy Will Farrell, but he doesn't over-act like so many other 'comedians' when trying to do more serious roles.  Seriously good, go see it before Christmas, it might just surprise you.

6/12/2006 - Flushed Away.  Who doesn't love cartoon.  Well, this is from the creators of Wallace and Gromit, and I just love them.  This isn't the plasticine characters but a computer animation but they still manage to retain that sort of plasticinie-y feel to them.  And the humor just cracks you up every time. Scrabble!

There was a tiny period where I didn't go to the movies, because I was busy with Uni work and also there wasn't anything that special I wanted to go see.  But this means, that I have gone to see eleven movies in the three months I have been here this term.

Good girl!

Shipwrecked

Can someone explain this to me?

A submarine is called a boat, but other boats are called ships.  Why?

Confusing!

Television is dangerous

Be careful; Watching QI while drinking coke at the same time can be leathal, you could drown.

Note! I could have said water, but then you would think I'd be lying, because you know me.

The Merchants of Bollywood

It has been a while since I have really blogged, but that is because I have been swamped at Uni, and not had much of what you could call a social life. Had my nose burried in books for three weeks or more. But yesterday I looked up out of my books and I got a visit from Iceland. A friend of mine, Hrafnhildur arrived in Glasgow on Thursday with a couple of her friends and they came to see me and spend the day with me. I showed them my school and my neighbourhood, then we went out for a wonderful dinner at Ashöka, before going to SECC to see The Merchants of Bollywood, a Bollywood musical, portraying famous Bollywood scores from films.


For two hours I had terrible time of sitting still and not break out in a sing-a-long. I knew almost all of the songs by heart. It was amazing, and so thrilling, and my shoulders were going crazy along with my head swinging back and forth to the beat of the drum... not advicable though, because now my neck and shoulders are inflamed and they hurt.
I bought the cd with the show's music, just for the hell of it. It was really funny at times and really cool and wonderful to watch, most of the time my head was swinging from left to right, up and down, because there was so much to be seen and notice. With all the hand and finger movements that were at times really difficult to see, it was just so mesmerizing.

Why don't you people grow up!

ps. Árdís manaði mig í þetta!

No chocolate covered bananas ... yet

I felt it was time to let people know that I haven't kicked the bucket yet.  You might consider me to be a basket case but otherwise I am fine .. mostly.  My stress levels are up by a few hundred percent, I have never felt myself under as much stress in the last three years as I do know.  I blame the dissertation for that mostly.  And this month seems to be taking my stress levels through the roof (although since I am on the second floor it hasn't a long way to go).  I am hoping to be going to see Cats at the King's Theatre tomorrow.  The only cats I can tolerate and am not allergic to are the theatrical variety.  Then I have to finish my work on a presentation I am giving in Medieval Welsh Literature for Thursday.  I will be talking about the oral tradition and how the views of Kenneth Jackson and Sioned Davies clash on their interpretation of the oral tradition regarding the Pedeir Keinc Y Mabinogi (or the four branches of the Mabinogyon).  Lost of fun stuff there.  Then I have to start my essay, that I have to hand in on December 4th, but I want to get it out of the way as soon as possible.  Especially since I will be getting a visit from my friend Hrafnhildi and a two of her friends as well with her.  I will be going with them to see the Merchants of Bollywood on the 24th, a very colourful Bollywood musical, the first of its kind.  For every Monday morning I have to translate from Old Irish a page of Fingal Rónáin (or Rónan's kinslaying) for the Advanced Early Gaelic texts course and I usually have a translation assignment from Middle Welsh to contend with as well before Monday or Thursday in the latest.  The funny thing is that I am actually quite enjoying this all.  On top of this I am doing my best to strenghten the economy of Britain with my christmas shopping.  The good news is that this week the St. Enoch's square Christmas fair opened up, and I went to take a look at it today.  It was a bit windy and rainy today so I didn't take a very good look at everything, found the most exciting part in seeing one of the vendors trying to eat a croissant while holding onto the tent over his stall from blowing over.  Who says men can't multitask.  But I will definitely be going back and taking a better look at the wares.  I am also waiting to see if I will be getting any chocolate covered bananas again.

6 weeks and 3 days

It has been six weeks and three days since I came to Scotland again, and during that time I have gone to the cinema six times. Lets start at the beginning;

20/9/2006 - Snakes on a Plane. Not what you would normally think to go see. But turned out to be stupidly entertaining, not least in watching the audience reaction to it. Yes, there were other people there than just Árdís and me.

27/9/2006 - The Sentinel. Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland ... oh, and don't forget Eva Longaria. Oh, sorry, already forgotten. Don't know what she was doing there, taking a vacation I think, at least there was no acting involved here. The movie itself, quite forgettable.

4/10/2006 - World Trade Center. Never in my life would I have thought to go see this one in a cinema. Strange what you do when you can go to a cinema cheaply. It was actually very good ... in a bad sort of way, since this was based on real life accounts of people who survived 9/11 at the towers. A sweet film and not what you would expect with Oliver Stone at the helm.

11/10/2006 - The Devil Wears Prada. Never liked Meryl Streep, so it was ok to see this film. You are sort of supposed to hate her. Worked for me. Liked the film, the casting was good. Wouldn't mind seeing again. But a very conventional and the ending forseeable as always in films such as this.

18/10/2006 - The History Boys. A film based on a play by Alan Bennett. All right, it was very funny in the beginning, and the end was quite interesting but it is sort of what I call a pointless thing. Doesn't really have a purpose, not in the beginning, the middle or the end. It just is.

25/10/2006 - Marie Antoinette. A very grand film, and for a lack of a better word 'flott!'. Entertaining, but on some instances it just seemed endless, but that was done on purpose and you figured out what the purpose of it was, so it wasn't very annoying. The only thing to remember here is that it is a film and not a documentary. I liked it.

This is turning out to be the Grandest Movie Year of all four.

Ikea

A new Ikea store is opening back home in Iceland, huge monstrosity of a building in the middle of the lavafield between Hafnarfjörður and Garðabæ. Said to be around 20.600 square metres and the largest in Iceland at the moment. Now, since I went to Ikea here in Glasgow, I felt that I should in honour of the opening of the store at home, put a picture of the store here on the web, although I must say, I didn't quite manage to fit it all in on the photo, so there is something missing from both sides. And it is has a ground floor and a first floor as well, so take that into account.

Continued online tests rant

Well, I have to admit it, I just can't get enough of these fun online web test.  Now I have discovered a new one, highly entertaining and quite interesting as well.  This site calculates how well you are matched to someone according to name, I must say the outcome is just interesting to say the least.

http://www.crushcalculator.com/content/love/585878527

Try it just for gags.

Nerd tests

I don't know why, I always fall for these tests.  I like taking them, but I hardly ever publish the results.  Why!  Well, I think of myself as quite nerdy but when I take these tests I never come out nerdy enough for me to want to publish it.  It is obviously not enough to by all the Star Trek series except the Original one or study Gaelic and finding it fun.  Well, I probably broke the record for nerdyness on Saturday.  Or even if it wasn't nerdyness it was lazyness that promted me to buy this contrivance (ísl: apparat).  This is just brilliant and it is a Can Cooler.  It actually cools for you one can at a time, takes some time but it still works perfectly well.  Perfect for coke or beer cans and the perfect epitome of lazyness on my behalf of not wanting to bother with getting up and going to the kitchen to get a cool can of coke.  Now instead, I need to wait for at least an hour for the can to have cooled sufficiently for me to drink the beverage.  Still, I couldn't help myself when I saw it in the shop, sitting there at a lousy 10 pounds.  Who knows, maybe this will be the Christmas Present this year?

In other news, apparently Glasgow is again mentioned on the news as being the most dangerous city in Britain and that's where all the drunks are as well.  Sort of understandable the latter one, it's Monday and I am back at Uni after the weekend and where was I most likely to be found during that time, yes at class.  No, really, last week I spent 2 and a half hours at Uni and 4 hours at the pub.  Today it was, 2 and a half hours at Uni and 2 hours at the pub, see, it's balancing itself out.  And makes Welsh so much more fun.

Life on campus

My fourth year is beginning at Uni and that means that I have been staying in halls for as long.  Through these three years and now for the fourth year beginning I have lived with many interesting and strange people.  Unforgettable peopel really, like first year flatmates,  Hamza, which is not his real name, but the name he gave us in case he didn't like any of us.  Laura, my friend and future doctor.  Lewis my friend who invited me to his wedding this summer and Dinesh.  I lived with Dinesh the longest, he had the room next to me for three years.  He just moved out this summer and I don't really know where he moved to, he is a bit tricky to keep taps on.  Must find out though.  But well, since he moved out and him not being a person for cleaning much, has left more than three years of accumulative stuff in the kitchen that has not been cleared out by the professional cleaners gotten in during the summer, even though they say they will throw anything left out.  Two more years, and seven more different occupants mean that they left things as well.  Well, finally something was done about it.  The new Senior Resident in the flat is Gemma and she got boxes for all the stuff to take out.  Now we just needed to get dirty and sort out what we were going to ship to Dinesh and what we were going to throw out.  We dug in one Saturday afternoon and boy was there a lot that was thrown out yuk.  We even went through the fridge, since we had been finding stuff in the cupboards that had expired a few ... well I was going to say months but I can just as easily say years.  The fridge was a frightening place to visit.  We threw out eggs since May 2006 and an undated half opened can of tuna in a box, we threw the box out as well.  Not to leave out the ham from 2005 and some interesting stuff from 2004 that we didn't even recognize any longer.  But finally we were done, and now we can actually use the kitchen without being afraid of creepy crawlies and other much scarier things. 

First day at school

This must be the strangest first day of school I have ever had.  I had my first class at ten in the morning, where I met my good pals, Jo and Claire.  The class was Advanced Early Gaelic Texts, which as you can assume involves old Irish stories, much fun.  Especially since all our old irish knowledge went flying out the window, which was not easy since we were sitting in a windowless room.  After class we headed over to the QM Union where we had light lunch.  Then an hour later Jo left us to go to class.  Claire and I, decided to move and went over to Jim's bar where we sat for the next hour chatting away about all or nothing, waiting for Jo to return.  She finally found us and we continued to sit there drinking and making merry for another hour, before Claire and I had to face our next challenge of the day.  Introduction to Medieval Welsh, sounds as exciting as the title of the course.  I think I actually got a wee cultur shock while listening to my teacher reading up a few sentences.  How in the world am I going to be able to lisp like that without sounding like drunk.  Well, after we staggered out of our first introduction of medieval welsh, me and Claire met up with Anne and went directly to the next pub.  We kind of needed it then, and there we sat for two hours just talking about everything and strange things, some stranger than others.  So the day ends with me having been to class for two hours and to the pub for four hours.  Productive day, wouldn't you say.  A good beginning of the year ahead.

This is one brilliant ad

Good girls go to heaven, Bad girls go to Govan, and Breahead and IKEA

I just have to blog about my day, even though it is almost 2am in the morning.  Árdís had obviously seen my blog since last night because she texted me this morning, asking if she couldn't come with me to Breahead.  Of course she could, it is always fun to have someone to shop with.  So we decided to take a taxi to Breahead, but when we saw how many were waiting for a taxi, we decided to go on to Byres Road and hail a taxi from there instead.  When we came out of the Botanic Gardens we saw this huge line of people waiting for taxis, so there went our brilliant plan for the day.  I finally realized what was going on, a game between Celtic and Glasgow Rangers, not a good day to rely on taxis.  We ended up outside the subway station and Árdís was clever enough to go and ask them how they thought we might have the best chance of getting to Breahead.  She told us to go to Govan and take a bus from there, there were frequent bus trips to Breahead.  Both Árdís and I weren't quite sure if we wanted to go to Govan, not really the best place to be in, but since it was daylight we said what the hell and got on the subway.  Thankfully the bus station was just right outside the subway entrace so now we only had to find the right bus to take us the rest of the way to Breahead.  It worked, we went even past IKEA superstore, which I must say, is quite bigger than the IKEA store back home.  Finally, we were at Breahead, and we could begin shopping.  We had lunch and then we did some massive shopping, .... well, Árdís did so a bit more than I did, although not by much, for now anyway.  Well, we had finished going through all the interesting stores in Breahead and were heading home, when Árdís wanted to stop by in IKEA as well and buy some much needed items for ther room.  So we took a little walk over to IKEA, and entered a huge, massive building on two floors.  We had to take a number of turns around the store for her to find what she needed and some of the stuff wasn't even in stock, that's frustrating, especially when you are unlikely to come here again (at least not right away).  But in the end everything worked out for her, and I even bought myself a new lamp for my desk, much smaller and lighter than the monstrocity that I had before it, ... and it is pink.  And finally we found our way out.  Took a taxi home and got home just after 7pm.  Which means we were walking and shopping for almost eight hours.  Not bad, you might say I have lost a few (quite a few) pounds today ;) It truly was a brilliant day, and I was so proud of us with our bags scattered over the floor of tha taxi on our way home.  This is what I call shopping.

Collision course

"Ég fékk flugu í höfuðið í dag"  I got a fly in my head today.  Doesn't mean that I got a bright idea, but that I actually got a big waspy buzzing fly in my head.  Collision course with a big black noisy thing.  Luckily it didn't stick to my head and flew away afterwards ... I think.  But damn I nearly got a concussion from it.  Flies, are remarkably noticeable when they fly into you.  And the feeling is quite revolting and disgusting, almost felt like I had to go home and take a bath.  Creeepy.  Luckily I didn't meet up with my neighbour "the squirrel" in the garden on my way into city center.  Lord knows what he might have done since a fly was bugging me.  Probably he would have eaten my shoe.  Scots ... strange beings.

I must say I haven't been doing much since I came to Glasgow.  Been a real cow really, because I haven't even gotten in contact with any of my friends yet.  I am just sooo lazy, I can not be bothered.  Right now I just feel like I need my space before the hassle of school and essays starts.  It's sort of like one of the headlines in one of the newspapers today "I have the spirit of a lie-in", brilliant quote.  But I have been spending like crazy, although I do feel the prizes here have been going up.  Scotlands economy is obviously doing so well since I came here, they think people can actually afford to spend now, so they have increased prizes to line their pockets.  Are they in for a surprise next year, I think.  Actually it is quite disturbing what I saw on the news last night, apparently if you are a Scot and want to buy your own home, it's not going to be that easy.  A home (not necessarily a house, could be a flat) today in Scotland costs more than 4 - 6 times more than the average wage in Scotland.  (4 - 6 sinnum meira en meaðllaun Skota yfir árið er).  Shocking!

Tomorrow I am thinking of breaking out of habit and actually do something I haven't done since my first year of studying here.  And that is to go to Breahead.  It is a huge shopping center just out of city center, near the airport, which means the taxi fare is going to be steap, but I really want to go there.  I sort of decided that I would go there this year, sometime this summer and I feel like I should go before school starts for real, so that I don't feel like I am slagging off.

Well, now I am off to watch the telly. 

It pays to be early

Well, I am back in Glasgow now.  Left home very early this morning and got to the airport among the first travellers.  It truly does pay to be early.  Mom and I spent last night trying to fit everything I was going to take with me into one suitcase, but in the end we decided to distrubte things rather evenly in two suitcases.  And it turned out that I was fifteen kilos over in luggage, and at any other time it would have cost me a fortune but thankfully the office was closed so she let me through without paying for the excess weight.  She was also very understanding when I said to her that I was going abroad as a student.

I arrived at my room around 11:30 and sort of managed to plug the computer in and let mom know that everything went as it should have.  I also saw Árdísi for a few minutes before I crashed.  Now, usually I don't have a problem with the time zone difference, but somehow today I was totally out of it.  I put the alarm for two o'clock so I wouldn't sleep through the day and wake up tomorrow.  But of course I hadn't thought of the time difference, which meant that I would be waking up at three o'clock instead of two.  Fortunately Árdís woke me up half past two with a message.  So I managed to drag myself out of bed and into town with her to shop for the most necessary things until tomorrow.  I really hope that I will be more lucid tomorrow.  There is still so much that I have to do.

I have glimpsed one of the new guys that will be staying with us.  He doesn't seem to be very ... social.  But that might change, once we get to know each other ... maybe.  Also, I think the French guy is still here, not to pleased, because he seems to be hogging the fridge and many of the cabinets in the kitchen, the problem when you are left alone here for the summer you tend to spread out.  And Dinesh is gone, he has moved out and a girl has replaced him in his room.  I don't know yet, who or where from or anything or if she is a Senior Resident like Dee was.  So, all in all, this seems to be the start of a quite interesting summer.

This is going to be it for now, the food just arrived.  I am going to see how much I can manage, my stomach hasn't quite landed yet, and I am sort of queasy right now, but I think it might be because of lack of food.  Write you later...

I love comments

I just love reading the comments about Rockstar:Supernova.  It has the most hilarious spelling of words ever.  I know people are in a hurry to get their points of view across the message board and some are not as good in english as others, but it is still funny.  I have three comments here that I read sometime last night and tonight about the show and especially about Magni's performance.

This one obviously from Iceland ,,I watched the Vake"  which is just brilliant, and thankfully not written with a w because that would mean Magni was dead and we were watching his coffin on live television (wake = líkvaka).  But this is actually a reference to the tv channel Skjár 1 who had a "Support Magni" theme episode before the episode was aired.

I have no idea where this one came from, but funny none the less; "the hole of Iceland", and some fellow commentator asked if that was anything like the black holes found in the galaxy.  Could be a spelling mistake (the whole of Iceland) or something more.  A classic!

And now, last but not least. ,,He was just as grate as ever"  well... I truly hope his voice doesn't grate, I think he sings great!  He is after all Magni-ficent!

Saying goodbye to old friends

I don't know what to do anymore, last night I finished watching all seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  I was watching the final minutes of the last episode and the tears just came and came, I cried a whole river.  It's just one of those shows you wish you could still be able to watch, like, what came next, how does this turn out and so on and so forth.  It just doesn't stop after seven years.  But I must confess, due to my watching Star Trek, I sort of missed watching Rockstar:Supernova ... but I still managed to vote.  I voted for an hour and managed to vote 150 times.  I know, I truly am that weird, that I would actually count how many times I voted.  But it will be curious to know if the power of Iceland has reached America again.  Iceland might not be big but it is powerful, go by a geyser and we will blow you away! 

But the funny thing is, I have heard it from more than one, that they won't vote for Magni in the final episode (if we even can) because, they don't want Magni to win and leave Iceland.  Rock on!

My croissants ... beautiful aren't they

 

Half-baked

Oh'boy, what a day this has been. It started early, to say the least, well at least it started early on my scale. Some idiot had ordered a telephone wakeup call that was put through to our telephone instead of his, so I truly hope the (adjective too foul to write down) slept in. Then I got barely an hour or so more of sleep before I had to get up and get ready for the first appointment of the day. A documentary about genealogy and I was in it. There are some German guys here making a documentary about Icelandic genealogy and family gatherings. I was only there for about two hours where I was in the background while they were filming and photographing the genealogist I work with, Oddur. Just before I arrived at Odd, I got a phone call from the location of my next appointment ... THE DENTIST! Dreaded word in my vocabulary. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing my dentist, he is a wonderful man, I just hate going to see him in the official capacity, although that is the only time I see him. He's been my dentist since forever, has seen my best and my worst, well ... mostly my worst. I am quite skittish around dentists, or the drill, actually. Yes, well, back to the phone call. I had to reschedule today so I was quite pressed for time, so I had to run from Odd, back home, have some lunch, brush my teeth and then get to the dentist. I spent nearly an hour at his office, thankfully most of the time in the waiting lounge and only about ten minutes with him. He had to remove some tartar that had gathered around my teeth, it was so much I felt like he had removed my teeth and not just the tartar. Took some pictures of my teeth and said that I was getting away for now, I just have to be a good girl and keep my teeth happy and healthy until the next time he sees me.
After the dentist I hurried back home, and then later took mom to the doctor, because she was feeling very poorly as a tendon had knotted or clamped together in her lower back and it led straight down her leg so it was very difficult for her to sit or walk or do anything really. The doctor fixed her, or at least he stuck her with a needle a few times with a muscle relaxant and a small amount of local anaesthesia so she is feeling better.
When we arrived home I got the very bright idea to save todays dinner and bake. I baked croissants with beikon-cheese, ham, and chive filling. Just brilliant.

Ps. Now the plan is to stay awake ... AGAIN and watch Magni on Rockstar: Supernova. I am also going to do my part and vote for the guy. Then we will see what happens tomorrow night. This is getting quite exciting.

Something to blog about

Just came hom from the cinemas and now I have something to blog about.  Last night I stayed awake until 3 am to vote for Magni on Rockstar, like any true Icelander should have been doing last night.  And then, of course, it was buisness as usual ... work! at ten in the morning so I was not sleeping beauty this morning when mom woke me up.  Shortly after coming home from work the sms messages started pouring in.  My friend Árdís had two tickets for the opening film for the Icelandic Film Festival, it was to be a gala event.  Two big Hollywood movie stars were going to be there along with two guys responsible for the movie being made.  So, now I can say have rubbed elbows with some pretty big names, or more like been back to back with one of them.  The film was Factotum starring Matt Dillon ... and Marissa Tomei (although she is only about five minutes in the whole of the film) they were the ones that showed up ... nice PR job.  Lily Tomlin was also in the film, a much bigger part than Marissas but she wasn't there.  A few of the Icelandic film and acting elite were there as well, Friðrik Þór director and producer and then Randver Þorláksson from Spaugstofan was in the row in front of us.  For me that's like meeting Robin Williams so I was more impressed with him than the big Hollywood names. Now my friend loved the film, couldn't find a fault, loved it to pieces and noticed every little detail.  Me! I am not so deep thinking about films .. and can sum up critisism in three words IT IS CRAP, and a good way to prove that I should never ever go to anything that is labeled as a film festival, it just doesn't agree with me.  But Árdís my friend, thank you for the invitation, I always enjoy going to the cinemas with you even though it is sometimes not really my cup of tea we are viewing.  You can drag me along anytime, and this evening was a good start to what is to come this winter.

 

For now I am staying awake to find out how the voting went and see if we (the whole population of Iceland) managed to keep Magni from the bottom three and see who is really going to be sent home.  This is getting interesting people1

Strange dreams

I don't know what to think anymore. Last night I had the weirdest dream of all. I was going camping! Yup, it just doesn't get any stranger than that. That is something anyone who knows me will know that will never ever happen. And it didn't happen in this dream either. I had the camping equipment ready... I thought. Went to the spot with the people I was camping with, but as it turned out some parts of the tent was missing and all sort of stupid idiotic thing that could go wrong when camping. So I was in some strange way always rushing back and forth trying to get all the right things for this durn camping, with not so much luck. I was getting frustrated as hell and was mumbling all through my dream, that I was never ever going through this again. I think I was almost home, having forsaken going camping that I finally woke up from this nightmarish dream. Me ... camping, not until hell freezes over.
I like to think of myself as one of the few humans that evolved from sleeping on the cave floor to sleeping in a bed. It's like ... progress! The of survival of the smartest.
And if ever I go camping, I will not accept anything less than this sort of thing: