Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The Joys of Public Transportation

If I wanted to I could hear English all day. You get on a five hour flight to New York, another five hour flight to Reykjavik, you expect the exotic, and the guy checking you in to the hostel is from...Cleveland. What gives? And to top it off the hostel costs 3,800 krona for a dorm bed. A dorm bed! Thats like 35 dollars, and the guy checking me in isnt even Icelandic -- his name is Michael and he's from the Buckeye State.

But anyway. Luckily I am not confined to the confines of my ever so chic hostel where the breakfast looks delicious but costs 10 dollars. I can roam where I please, which is exactly what I did today, taking two buses to scale a mountain on the north side of the bay just north or Reykjavik. The buses were great. It seems standard in Iceland that at every three stops or so the bus let on about 50 kindergartners accompanied by about 5 chaperons. But this is the best part. The kids whistle in Icelandic. The kids play in Icelandic. And the kids sing in Icelandic. On the way back from the mountain a gaggle of kids burst into song and were singing songs I had grown up singing, albeit with Icelandic lyrics. It was perfect.

Back in Reykjavik I'm at an internet cafe that looks like it's frequented by people who would otherwise be hanging out in their parents' basements. It's almost empty and 35 minutes of internet cost me just over 3 dollars. I have actually no idea what the exchange rate is but I'm pretty sure it's around 100 krona to the dollar.

I had no idea what to expect with Iceland, but I'm enjoying it so far. It reminds me of a combination of Scotland and Alaska. Or Washington and Alaska. Or basically just the coast of Washington because it's always cold and windy and the air smells of salt. The people have been very nice so far. I asked the bus driver how to get to the center of town and he looked at my feet and said "You take that one and put it in front of the other one..." before bursting out laughing and grabbing my arm jovially.

I just bought what I thought was going to be Apple pop but it turned out to be Orange pop. I think I really really need a nap.

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