1 - First day In Reykjavík

Reykjavík, 29.12.2018

Dear readers,

So, the big adventure has begun. From today onwards I am going to live and study in the capital city of Iceland: Reykjavík. I arrived on the 28th of december in the evening and I will probably fly back to the Netherlands in May (that is, if I am ready to go back. You never know what will happen ;)). But that is when the spring semester ends.

At my home university, Wageningen University, us students are lucky enough to have the opportunity to go and study abroad in our third year. I am studying Health and Nutrition (Bachelor) and I have chosen to study in Iceland for 5 months. Making this choice wasn't hard: I don't like extremely hot weather, the eastern part of europe doesn't really attract me to live in and lastly, Iceland is on the top of my must-see list.

My trip from the airport started good. We got picked up by the buscompany 'Grayline', which we booked in advance. It is really recommended to do this, as it is a 40 min drive to Reykjavík city centre and a taxi would costs you loads of money (Iceland is extremely expensive). As it is almost new year, people were already trying out their fireworks, this resulted in a free firework show on the way to the city! Me and my dad are staying in an apartment for the first few days (Stay apartment Bolholt - I would recommend this!). It is really nice that he has travelled with me, as it is nicer to settle down while you're not starting off alone. He will be leaving on the 2nd of january, and the introduction days of the university start the day after so then I can start meeting new people, which I really look forward to.

We have had a lovely day exploring Reykjavík today, altough I already noticed it is true what they say about the Icelandic weather: it can turn from sunshine into rain and the otherway round in just a matter of minutes.

After breakfast we headed of to the city centre. The first place we wanted to visit was th enormous church which I had read about and seen a lot on the internet. It was stunning! The church is named 'Hallgrímskirkja' and it is the tallest building in it's surrounding area: 74 meters tall. We also took the lift to the top of the church which gave us a stunning view of Reykjavík. What a great opportunity to see the city in which I will live in for the coming months! The queue was quite long (20-30 mins) but I thought it was worth it.

After the visit to the church we wanted a break and something warm to drink as it was pretty freezing at the top of the tower. We went to Café Loki and after a five minutes wait we had the best place in the

café with an amazing view of the Hallgrímskirkja. Lucky! Here we enjoyed a nice big cup of hot chocolate and cream which gave us energy to explore some more of Reykjavík. As I was sitting in the café I noticed the name of the street we were sitting at and that was by coincidence the street of my new house where I am going to stay from january till the end of may! So, we decided to go and take a look. I was so grateful that the location of my new house is so perfect: with a view of the stunning church and it is in the centre of the city. Luckily the owner was there so I also got to check out my new room, which was nice. I will be living there with about 4 other girls and we have a nice kitchen and a bath! (I am so excited about this as I love taking baths, especially after a walk in the cold). After looking at my future room we decided to walk to the park nearby, which is also on the route to my new university. So this will be my daily walk, from my house, through the lovely park, to the uni. It only takes about 15 mins.
When we arrived, we decided to go into the National Museum of Iceland. This was nice, although I am more fan of contemporary art.

We were finished in the museum at 16:00 and still had some time to kill before dinner so we went on a bit of a shopping spree. We both

bought a sweater, an Icelandic tea towel (sounds random, I know), and a map of Iceland for on my wall in my new room. I call this the perks of taking your parents with you abroad: they feel sorry for leaving you and spoil you with unnecessary (nice) stuff ;) (Sorry dad, I really appreciate it). When we felt it was time to eat something we went to a nice vegetarian / vegan place called Gló. This is definitely a recommendation: the food isn't expensive and tastes really good! Also, it doesn't take long before the food arrives, the staff was friendly and there were plenty of seats.

This was an impression of my first day in Iceland. I hope you enjoyed reading it and if you notice any mistakes, have a question or a recommendation: please let me know!

Love,

Camille

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