Living the dream...: Giving Thanks...

Happy Thanksgiving, a little belated but better late than never right? Well its been awhile since I have last updated and most of this blame goes to the fact I was entertaining guests for a week in Iceland. Yep you read right I had a couple great friends come out and visit me in the Land of Ice. A couple of my good friends from Iowa State decided to use their Thanksgiving break to come out and spend a week with me. It was so nice to have some friendly faces around and hang out with everyday.

The girls arrived on Friday the 20th at 6:30AM. I decided it would be a good idea to not go to bed that night and instead just stay up until I had to leave at about 6 to head to the airport. It worked out well until about 5:30 when I needed to splash some water on my face to stay awake, but once I started driving to the airport I was wide awake with excitement of their arrival. I actually had no idea that 2 people were coming and was very surprised when I saw both walk out to greet me!

Our adventures for the week started as soon as we were leaving the airport when I tried to pay the short term parking and it wouldn't let me. So after a few tries we had to go back inside and find help and finally we got it all figured out and were able to leave the airport. It was a perfect example of the daily struggles I encounter and we all got a good laugh out of it.

Once we got back to my apartment we all crashed and took a nap for about 4 hours. We then spent the afternoon driving around my town, going to the grocery store and things like that. As for that night my team had planned a big party for all us and then we hit up the downtown night life. Since we were only running on about 4 hours of sleep and the way Icelanders party by 5AM we were all dragging and ready to call it a night. Just when I was about to ask the girls if they wanted to call a cab to head home, I looked around and could only find one. Yep first night in Iceland with my American friends and I lost one. After about 30 minutes of searching the bars up and down the street and looking like a completely idiot she showed back up. I probably sounded like a mom when I told her she can't just run off like that in another Country without a source of communication and with that we called a cab and called it a night.

On Saturday I had practice at 3:30, which we almost over slept for but thank goodness for my default alarm that goes off everyday at 2:30. While I was at practice I let the girls use my car so they could drive around and explore. After practice we all got ready and decided to give an Icelandic Restaurant a try. So we did some research online and decided on one in downtown Reykjavik. I think we made a good choice as well all enjoyed our dinner and left the place stuffed and satisfied. We were unsure on what to do for the rest of the night and at about 11 we just decided to go sit at a bar downtown and have a few drinks. When we got to the first bar it we were 3 of the almost 7 people in the place. Like I have mentioned before, people don't go out over here till about 1:30, so we were about 2 hours early and it definitely showed. But we didn't care we just wanted to relax. We decided we would just have a drink at every bar we came to along the street, this only worked out for about 3 bars and after that is turned into a crazy night that only appropriately ended with me losing my wallet. Yep I got all the way back to my apartment to only realize I lost my wallet so I turned back around and headed back downtown at 7am. After checking every bar that we were in and lastly the pizza place we stopped at not once but twice that night I decided I wasn't going to find it and headed home. It was almost 8am and since my wallet had everything from my Debit cards, credit card, license, visa, etc. I decided to make some phone calls to get some of those things taken care of. I cancelled all my bank cards and got some preliminary information about how to obtain a new visa and with that I finally could relax and go to sleep at 8:45 AM that is.

We decided to take Sunday easy and sleep in. The only thing we really had planned was to go watch Rahshon's basketball game that evening, which he won and played very well. We headed to bed early on Sunday night as we had a big day of sightseeing planned for Monday.

We got up at about 7:30 on Monday morning, which I think that is the earliest I have gotten up since I have been here. It was still pitch black outside and stayed the way till almost 10:30. We decided to take a little sightseeing trip of the southern coast of Iceland. We first drove all the way to a town called Vik. (Look below for pictures) We got to Vik just as the sun was rising which we could have planned any better (even though we didn't plan it) Vik is a town right on the coast with a black sand beach and it was so beautiful to see the sunrise from the beach. Definitely a picture perfect sunrise. There is also some rock like things out in the water that reminds me of Peter Pan every time I see them. I am not sure if anyone else agrees with me but that's ok its my childhood imagination coming out of me.

After Vik we headed back the way we came to catch all the Waterfalls that southern Iceland has to offer, which is a lot (and a lot is an understatement). We stopped at as many as we could and took lots of pictures. We packed a picnic lunch that we enjoyed halfway through the trip and after about 5 stops at waterfalls, 1000 stairs (and thats not an exaggeration, we counted), a couple barb wired fences jumped, and frozen fingers we were ready to head home. The only last stops we made on the way back were to take pictures of the Icelandic horses and sheep, and to stop at the grocery store to pick up something to cook for dinner. Although we did encounter a unexpected stop when the lovely Icelandic police pulled me over for speeding. Losing my wallet was a blessing in disguise because it is practically what got me out of the almost $300 dollar speeding ticket. I would like to make the case that I was only going about 75 MPH, which over here is about 20 MPH over the speed limit, oops.

We finally made it back home at about 4:30. I had practice at 6 and while I was at practice the girls began cooking the big dinner we had planned. We decided to cook our own thanksgiving and I would have to admit we did a pretty damn good job of it. The menu was the following: Mac and Cheese, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Stuffing, Corn, Rolls, Layered Salad, and finally a whole chicken (we tried to find a turkey but didn't have any luck). We definitely had leftovers that we enjoyed the rest of the week.

On Tuesday we slept in a little bit and then hit up the Blue Lagoon. I didn't really know what to expect at the Blue Lagoon but I had heard nothing but good stories and if you don't know what it is check out this Link. The Blue Lagoon was definitely everything it had been talked up to be and it was such a cool experience, something I will always remember.

On Wednesday we decided to go to the restaurant I usually eat at for lunch. As usual the food was very good and I think the girls enjoyed having some more Icelandic food. We then did a little shopping before I had to get back home to get ready for my game that evening. Unfortunately the girls didn't get to see the best game as we lost but it was still nice to have them in the stands at the game. My team even surprised them with some t-shirts for the game that they wore proudly.

Thursday was the day they left and I took them to the airport that afternoon. It was a little sad telling them bye as I had really enjoyed their company the past week, but I was so thankful that they came and visited, it really meant a lot! On Thursday night, what I like to call my Host Family (the family that lives above me and who's daughter plays on the team) cooked me a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner. It was so nice of them, not to mention absolutely delicious. I am very lucky and thankful to have such amazing people surrounding me over here and that would do something like this. On a day like Thanksgiving where I was missing being with my family and my friends had just left, they did a great job of filling a piece of that void and I am internally grateful for that.

Aside from all of that the past few days here have been much more relaxing and uneventful. On Saturday I woke up to a very light blanket of snow on the ground that made me smile when I saw it. But when I woke up this morning that light blanket of know turned into a heavy cover of about 3-4 inches, but it still made me smile. Just something about snow that brings a smile to my face, I think it dates back to my childhood of playing in it and loving snow days! We also had a game today against undefeated and top of the league KR that didn't go so well. And I am currently sitting on the couch icing some very sore knees from it and listening to Christmas music (since officially I can start doing that!)

Well this update has quickly turned in a short novel and if I didn't lose any readers yet I probably will soon so I better end it. I hope you enjoy all the pictures below, they are worth all the reading you just did I promise....

They arrived!