A day in the life...

Out at a club one weekend with the usual suspects!

The view across the pond by my building

I don't really have anything major to report, but I decided that I would take this opportunity to give a little description of what my life is like on a day to day basis. Be warned-- since I haven't written it yet, it could be that my typical day will be a boring thing to read about; we shall see!!

Here is a blow by blow of Tuesday, February 10th:

9:00: I wake up to my little travel alarm clock, which dangerously sits within reach of my bed. Because it is still dark outside at this time, it is pretty easy to pretend that it is still the middle of the night and not time to get up for class. On this particular morning, however, I successfully wrangled myself out of bed. I get ready in my room while quietly listening to one of my Seeqpod playlists on my computer.

9:30: I grab my box of Euro Shopper brand puffed wheat cereal and head into the kitchen. The hallway is dark and all the doors are shut. I wonder if anyone else has managed to get out of bed for class. The kitchen is deserted as well and stays that way while I make my breakfast. Lately, I have been eating a bowl of puffed wheat mixed with this thin, milky, sour yogurt stuff (liet mjolk), and a few frozen strawberries. Since the kitchen is empty, I take my bowl back to my room and eat while reading all of the emails I got while I was sleeping. This bit is one of my favorite parts of getting ready in the morning. Since I am sleeping during prime evening email time at home, I usually have a nice little accumulation of fun emails and facebook messages to read. They typically get my day off to a good start.

9:50: I take my bowl back into the kitchen and check on the progress of the other kids who have 10 o'clock volcanology with me. Usually they are just sitting down for breakfast. I dangle around in the kitchen, feeling progressively more anxious about being late for class (it's a 6.5 min walk to the class from our door, 5.5 when it isn't snowy). Eventually, I give up on most of them and head out.

10:00- 10:40: I sit in volcanology with a look of dismay on my face. I still can't get over how boring and slllooowwwwwwwww this professor is. He will mumble around about one slide for 20 min when he could have said what he needed to say in under two minutes. I attempt to attentively take notes for awhile, but even if I write down everything on the slides, draw all of the figures, and write down everything he says, I still somehow manage to get ahead.

10:40- 10:50: We get a 10 min break in the middle of the lecture. I usually take this time to walk over to the little cafe area located a few steps from the class room. They always have several glass pitchers of cold water set out on a metal cart that we all cluster around. After we finish our glasses (the same type of glasses we have at home!) we put them on the bottom tray on the cart and head back into the dark classroom. By this time it is pretty light, which makes the room a little bit less of a sleep chamber.

10:50- 11:30: I listen with renewed enthusiasm for a bit, but am pretty quickly lulled back into boredom by his monotone voice and perpetual fuh mmm ahhh hmmm search for the right word. I do have to cut him some slack, as English is not his first language. I actually feel sort of sad for him. He always dresses up for class in a suit, but there is usually something a little bit crooked about his shirt, which actually goes pretty well with his tousled hair. He seems like he is probably an incredibly nice and caring man, but just doesn't have the public speaking thing down. I always try to smile at him encouragingly!

11:30: We all make a bee line back to Gamli to get out of the cold and back into our warm kitchen.

11:36.5: About 5 of us gather in the kitchen for lunch. I usually eat some sort of sandwich type deal. PB & J or purple cabbage and cheese.

12-3: This is the time that I tend to spend in my room reading, looking around on the internet, writing emails, or doing some homework (if I can somehow manage to cobble some together). Otherwise, I go downtown to grocery shop, go to a cafe, look around, etc.

3:00: Because my knee has been hurting lately, I usually head to the gym at 3 to workout on the elliptical machine or stationary bike. Sometimes I lift weights and do core work as well. When my knee isn't hurting, I run out along the coast.

4:00: I go to aerobics or yoga. I am a regular attendee at yoga (which is on Tuesdays and Thursdays) but I tend to go to aerobics about once per week. They are pretty hilarious classes. They are taught in Icelandic, which means I always have to be craning to figure out what we are supposed to be doing. It's a lot of fun, however!

5:00: If I am on dinner duty, I begin cooking. Otherwise, I find out the tentative plan for when our dinner club is planning on eating and adjust my schedule accordingly. Unfortunately, we often don't end up eating until 8:30 or so, which really throws my 6:00 programmed stomach for a loop!

6:00- bedtime (12-3 am): I usually spend the rest of the night in either the second or third floor kitchen hanging out with a bunch of people from both floors. We sometimes watch a movie, but it usually takes us until about 11 to actually decide on movie that we all want to watch.

There we have it!

We are currently working on plans to go to Snaefellsnes peninsula for the weekend. I think we are going to attempt to "couch surf" to save money-- we shall see! Tonight I am going to race in a 10k, which I am excited about! As I look out my window, I see horizontal, blowing snow, so I think it might be a little bit on the chilly side! Ah well! I'm sure it will be great!

I miss you all and hope you are well!!