4 - Introduction days

Dear readers,

I have started to really settle down in my new home in Reykjavík. I now know my way around Reykjavík quite well and it is already starting to feel like home. I'll start of with a stunning fact which I heard today: Iceland is one of the few countries without a Mc Donalds! I don't think I have ever been in a country without a Mc Donalds so I was quite surprised when I heard this.

The introduction days at my new University have started. On the first day I already met some really nice international people. It started of with meeting some girls on our way to the University: we were all lost! This created a bond between us of course as we all felt the same. The first meeting was at 0930 and we got to meet some of the people who work at the university and they gave us some useful

information. After an hour, all of us (the international students) followed a crash course in Icelandic! It was really interesting to get to know some basic words and I have already used them at my trips to the supermarket ;).
Some basic words which are useful for when you are staying in Iceland:
Jao = Yes
Ney = No
Takk feryr = Thank you

After the crash course we had some free time and me and some other girls (mostly German and one girl from Switzerland) went into town to get some coffee. It was really nice that we had made friends with eachother, it makes your stay so much nicer to have lovely people around you. When we got back to the university, we got some soup and bread for dinner and after that there was a Welcome Party. At this party we mingled with the others some more and I played a lot of table football with the others. It was a great first night with the exchange students.

The next day was the last day of the introduction days (the 4th of january). We got some more information on our courses and faculties and I spent some more time with my new friends. We have decided to plan a trip to New York! As it is much cheaper to fly from Reykjavík. I am so excited about this, can't wait!

Also, one of my best friends from Holland is coming to visit me soon, Sophie, and I have also started to plan some fun stuff to do when she is here! I want to show her around Reykjavík and I am planning a road trip to the South of Iceland, to a place called Vík. On the way to Vík there are many places to stop and look at some beautiful sites. There are waterfalls, mountains and also a black sand beach. The black sand of the beach was formed when the volcano was still active—the lava floated across the beach, cooled down when it came into contact with the icy seawater and broke apart. As you can probably imagine, I am really looking forward to this trip!

Next week the university courses will officially start. I am so glad that I have already met some lovely people here and I look forward to learning about and seeing more of this beautiful country!

Love,

Camille