Changes in Latitudes

I finally got around to editing my footage from when we went to Iceland last September. We rented a car and drove the Golden Circle, and the next day we visited the Blue Lagoon.  I'm not too happy with the quality of it, but maybe it means my GoPro is outdated. GoPro even has a new editor to make a sort of 30-second teaser. Pretty cool! Iceland 2016 teaser from Justine Diaz on Vimeo . The Golden Circle and Blue Lagoon from Justine Diaz on Vimeo .

This past weekend we revisited Iceland three years after my first visit. This time the reason was to visit Katrine who has been studying there this month. I really enjoy the relaxed vibe of Reykjavik. No one is in a hurry, and it's very quiet considering it is the largest city in Iceland. We got in very late on Friday night - rented a car and drove it to our AirBnB. We finally got to bed at 2:30AM local time (4:30AM Norwegian time), and had 6 hours to sleep before we were expected to be at Katrine's place for breakfast. When our alarms went off we threw on our hiking clothes and packed our bags for our daytrip. We were greeted with a great breakfast (including Skyr!! - Icelandic style yoghurt - my favorite). [Natural skyr with warmed up (frozen) berries] [I love breakfast] Saturday's itinerary was the Golden Circle. Without stopping it takes a little over three hours to drive the route. We started around 10 and got back by 6-ish. The highlights of the driv...

A rather delayed post of my last day in Iceland - sorry about that. Well, Marius and I were staying at a hostel that was not optimal for our trip, called Capital Inn, located 30 mins outside of town (by foot). And our room smelled soooo bad because the other two guesrs in our room had drank alcohol the night before so the B.O. was TERRIBLE! So we got up relatively early on Sunday and brought our things to the city to have breakfast where we had eaten dinner a couple night before called Glætan - not the best food, but a good value and atmosphere.  We knew we wanted to squeeze in the Blue Lagoon before we left and it turned out that the bus only goes from the Lagoon to the airport twice a day: noon and 2pm. But we were still going to do it even though we only got lne hour there. It was a bit hectic but we made it and got relaxed once we entered the water. It was definitely a place we will have to visit again! So a tip for anyone going to Iceland and want to squeeze in the Blue Lagoon...

Saturday (the 28th), I took Marius for a day trip for an early birthday present. It was an 11 hour excursion which included a soak in a hot spring, some waterfalls, and a hike on a glacier. The guide had some intersting stories and we even saw the infamous volcano that erupted in 2010 (and nearly ruined our Thailand trip).  It was a pricey trip, but for me it was worth it since our guide could tell us more about the eruption and the glacier, as well as some Icelandic history. Oh and a big thing to mention - the weather was FANTASTIC! --> a geyser on the way to the hot spring --> he was excited to warm up in the river --> the glacier we walked on; looked dirty due to all of the ash

Long day of talks, some very interesting an others not really my interest, but Marius arrived Thursday night. My talk was on Friday, the last day of the conference. I was nervous because the room was massive. I tried to keep it shorter than 15 minutes for any questions but there were none. Another recent Master grad also wasn't asked questions, so we believe the older guys perhaps didn't want to scare us -- and it was also the last day of the conference.  The weather was very nice on Friday, so Marius and I walked around the coty a little bit before the log walk to a hostel I booked for the weekend. Glad I took part in the conference as it was a valuable experience and was able to make some contacts at NOAA. I was also told that my talk was a highlight for one pf the sessions :)

Wednesday began with my 7am scandinavian high carb breakfast (all they eat is bread), and was followed by a talk by keynote speaker Doug Butterworth from South Africa. He talked fishery quotas in terms of a bank account.  I left earlier to explore the shops while they were open. Bought myself some Icelandic wool yarn - maybe for a nice pair of socks? After I took a 10km joggig trip around the city to find the spots for Marius and I to see the next couple of days. It was great! And finished the night with a pizza that was called the Americana but with ground lamb meat! Not a very nice taste for pizza.  --> "I don't speak Icelandic" -->yarn! --> the old harbor --> best view of the city --> interesting fellow

Today I sat in a session that is called Responses of living organisms to climate change and variability. It sounds very interesting, and some of it is...but I don't know how many more abbreviations I can remember for these talks using models.  Guess I should write these things down ... --> 8am walk to Harpa

Photos from my first 2 hours in Reykjavik --> "The Sun Voyager" statue by the harbor --> Harpa Conference center  --> inside Harpa, waiting for the session on marine litter --> I may as well be a Norwegian

I flew to Reykjavik this morning for the long anticipated ICES Annual Science Conference. I will not present until Friday, but I'm looking forward to the talks and hope to make connections for potential employment.  It is about 50 degrees F and overcast, but looking out I can see clear blue sky to the north. Marius will join me on Thursday and listen to my presentation.  I'm staying at the Best Western, which is fairly pricey but it is near the conference - Harpa Concert Centre.  --> the Blue Lagoon featured in the inflight magazine.  --> Statues at Keflavik airport --> Statues on the drive to Reykjavik