Tuesday, July 26, 2011

A whirlwind of activity

Hi everyone.

My apologies, blog readers. As I mentioned to a few of you, I had fully intended to send out a blog entry every day of the expedition. Well, my best intentions have quickly fallen to the wayside through the whirlwind of activity that is a typical SOI adventure.

Saturday the 23rd was the arrival day for most of the students. As a member of the meet and greet team, I was tasked with greeting all of the students arriving by plane at Pearson International Airport. As you might imagine, getting 70-some teenagers and 50-some adult staff to the airport at one scheduled departure time is not an easy task. But there we were, at 6pm all gathered at the Icelandic Air counter, checking in. Well, minus two students from Tennessee who were re-routed due to flash floods in Chicago. (UPDATE: they both caught flights and have joined us safe and sound!)

The flight to Reykjavik, Iceland was relatively quiet (except we never really seemed to fly through darkness) and we arrived early Sunday morning. Admittedly, it was my first time in a foreign country (other than the US) in a LONG time, and it didn't take long for culture shock to set in. Different style washrooms, different traffic signs, different daily habits - it all took getting used to. And if I had trouble, I can only imagine what it felt like for some of the students who were travelling out of their home town for the very first time!

We got through Customs easily enough, and stepped outside into the cool Icelandic air (a balmy 12 degrees, although the strong wind made it feel much colder!). Strangely enough, even though it was 8:30am (3:30am Winnipeg time), we headed for the Blue Lagoon spa - a geothermally-heated outdoor mineral spa. This was a strange experience to say the least. Even though it was a chilly day, the temperature of the water was beautifully warm. But the winds were so strong, they actually created whitecaps on the water! And there was something slightly unnerving about the lifeguard wearing a full-body haz-mat suit while patrolling. You can check out a picture of me in the spa on the Daily Journey Updates on the SOI website.

After breakfast, we headed to the Keflavik Viking Museum for lunch and an overview of Viking history. They had a replica of a Viking longboat that sailed on a recreation of the Viking expeditions across the Atlantic. It reminded me (in some ways) of the Nonsuch at my Museum. The smell of the pine tar was like a soothing reminder of home. The Museum itself was fascinating, and definitely worth the visit.

With our first Museum visit behind us, we headed to the main part of Reykjavik, capital of Iceland. Our hotel was sparse, but comfortable (communal showers and toilets). Since we were given some free time, some of the students asked to walk to the center of Reykjavik. I came along as a chaperone plus the chance to check out the city.

Following our informal tour, the group got back together for some more presentations and talks before heading to bed for some much needed sleep.

And that ended Day One in Iceland. Obviously more has happened since then, but the hour is late and it's time for me to catch up on sleep. If I do some more updates, they'll be coming from our ship, the Clipper Adventurer!

Thanks for reading!



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