Thoughts, One Week In

Grafar, grafar, grọfum, grafa (The plural declension of one of Old Icelandic’s many strong noun paradigms. This word means “graves”—an indication of the kind of optimistic outlook we’re likely to encounter in medieval Icelandic literature? I fear so…)

Well, I’ve been in Reykjavík for over a week now, classes have begun, and I’m taking a break from reading about pre-state arbitration of disputes over murdered slaves to write a post! Honestly, the medieval Icelanders had a terrific sense of humor; it just doesn’t come across so much in critical sources. I blame the critics, not the Icelanders.

There's no reason for the geese; I just like them.


Last week I took a bus tour of Reykjavík with other English-speaking students from the University and learned several interesting things. For example, until the 1980s it was illegal to have a dog in the city (perhaps the reason there are so many cats here today?). It remains illegal to brew your own beer. And remember that oddly un-pious statue of Leifur Eiriksson in front of Hallgrimskirkja? Yeah, the Americans are responsible for that. Go figure. You can't read it, but it says, "The United States of America to the People of Iceland on the 1000th Anniversary of the Althing, A.D. 1930."

This weekend, a group of us from the program took a city bus to Hafnarfjöður, a little town south of Reykjavík that’s supposed to be the home of the most elves in all of Iceland. (The guidebooks say Icelanders frequently still believe that elves exist and interact with the world; I haven’t asked an Icelander about this yet.) The only “huldufólk” we saw were clay lawn gnomes, but the local park is constructed out of lava rock to have lots of hidey places for the elves to live.

A few reflections after a week in Iceland:

1) The Icelanders have a funny tendency to say things like “Yes” or “Umm” on the intake of breath. It makes me a little lightheaded to try to imitate, so I doubt this will become part of my speech pattern, in Icelandic or otherwise.

2) Temperature is relative. When everyone treats 48 degrees like it’s warm (no kidding: T-shirts and open windows everywhere), it starts to feel warm to you. Until it rains, but then you realize that rain is relative too. When everyone treats a drizzle like there’s nothing coming down at all, you feel silly putting up your hood.

3) Americans are way behind the power curve in language learning, as we always have been. Icelanders start learning English at 10 or 12, add Danish a few years later, and in high school choose yet a third foreign language to study. I am the only native English-speaker in my program right now, and everybody else can switch regularly from their native language into English and usually into at least two others at the drop of a hat.

4) Baking soda, when dropped into boiling water, causes an instantaneous and impressive frothing effect. This fact is perhaps not widely known because most people do not generally cook in kitchens stocked with mysterious white powders with Icelandic labels; it turns out that “matar sóði” does not mean “sea salt.”

And on that note, back to Viking Age Iceland for me! Next weekend I hope to go see the annual sheep round-up in the countryside. I shall report back!