Iceland and Sweden!

So, I've just gotten to Sweden and met Josefin.

Anyways. We arrived at Iceland about 6:05 in the morning on Monday. We took a taxi to our hotel from there, noticing that the landscape was essentially treeless, and waited for Sigrun to come pick us up. She did so at about 9 o' clock, and we left off to the Blue Lagoon.

We arrived there, and got in the water. It was nice, but it got a little too hot as we went farther in. The water was a perfect blue. However, I learned Icelandic people are not nearly as prudishas I am. I had to change in the changeroom, but everyone else, including Sigrun, just changed in front of everyone else. LOL PRUDERY LOL. We put a mask of silica mud on our faces, which looked TERRIBLE, and stayed for a good long while. My face is a lot softer today!

After that, Sigrun took us and drove us around downtown Reykjavik. We drove around looking for a bit, then stopped at Kringlan, where I called a few friends and we met up. It was awesome.

We bummed around RVK for a bit more. I bought some stickers for my suitcase, I bought a shirt hat says I don't speak Icelandic in Icelandic, I bought a real Icelandic wool sweater... It was awesome.

I got pretty sick, though. Dad says it's because of the time changes, lack of sleep, etc. Nevertheless, we went to eat at Perlan with Sigrun and her boyfriend, Tryggvi. The food was really good! Dad tried whale and everything! They had the best bread, too, really. After we ate, we got gelato and went home.

We woke up this morning at 5 (did the sun even set?). Left for Sweden. Got to Stockholm at 1-ish, left on the Arlandaexpress at 2-ish, got to our train (WHICH HAD WI-FI), and then we showed up in Gothenburg. Josefin walked RIGHT past us; this is how I will remember the first thing I ever said to her in person for the rest of my life.

OI!

So she turned around, and we met her parents. They're so adorable! Her mom speaks English and German, and her dad doesn't really speak English very well, but that's cool; I don't speak Swedish all that well. They drove us to the hotel. We checked in, and went upstairs. That's when I told Josefin I've been learning Swedish for the past year and a half.

Well, the Swedes I've talked to thusfar seem to understand me as well as I understand them. Very well. The first person I talked to was the girl at the currency exchange counter. She talked to me in English at first, and I didn't really mean to do it, it was sort of a ridiculous knee-jerk reaction, but I asked her how her day was going in Swedish. She apologised, and we didn't really talk anymore. Then, I asked an older woman which was the train going to Stockholm; she told me it was coming in seven minutes. That was alright. So, I was confident in my abilities. I told her! She was SO SHOCKED. She may have excreted an entire house onto the hotel carpet, hugged me... it was crazy. She told her parents, who were just as excited (this later got to me when her mom kept asking me to pronounce things on the street but I got all enbarrassed!), and we went to dinner at the movie theatre? Bergakungen? Yeah.

It's pretty great so far; I am having an AMAZING time. I will definitely go to Iceland again, and I will definitely be returning to Sweden.

Now if I get to Australia, my life will totally be complete, at least when it comes to my priority travel destinations.

vi ses!
~m