Film Festival

The Reykjavík Film Festival is going on and some of the movies are shown just a few blocks down from my flat. I went to the festival last year too. So far we've seen:

"Steam of Life" (good)

It's basically filming Finnish men talking about their personal lives while in saunas. It was good and had good music, although I was got really sleepy partway through. I went to the vending machine later and got a drink but instead of water I got "Orka" by accident, an energy drink. I had thought it was water because the label was white and blue but the brand (Egils) is a soda brand so I should have known.

Then we watched a few Icelandic shorts. One was "Try Again" (good), about a man who is about to attempt suicide and gets interrupted, so by various circumstances gets locked out of his flat in only his underwear and has to deal with various neighbours. There were no subtitles but it was easy enough to understand that I got the gist of it. Another was "Knowledgy" (okay) which was great until near the ending, which left me with a "could have been better" feeling. It was about a film student who's late on his rent so the landlord makes him film some things to make up for it.

"Breki" (good)

Based on real life about a fisherman who died at sea. The movie follows his son as he remembers things at a therapy session. The camera was shakey and the picture was the type of thing you would see on a home movie, or memory sequence. Most of it is random memories of the father with his young boy, around five years old. The movie was made as a sort of memorial not just for the son who wrote the script, but for the Director who knew(?) the man as well.

After these and two more shorts which were so terrible it's not worth mentioning, the Directors of a few of them got onstage to answer questions. No one really had any. It would have been much better if they had asked for critique.

Then later, we watched Mamma Gógó (okay) about a lady who gets Alzheimer's and gets sent to a home by her family, while her favourite kid gets worse and worse into debt. I liked the main character, the stuff surrounding her, and the music a lot. But I didn't much care for all the parts that focused on her son. The subtitles were there but they literally flickered on and off, were slow compared to the dialogue, and sometimes turned almost translucent, so it was hard to read.


I had to buy more stuff for school and I need more clothing. My jacket isn't helping much here either because it's too big on me so the wind goes through it anyway. My bus pass was delivered though.

I went to the flea market and got old postcards, but other than that I've just been going to school. I made a study buddy from Britain but we haven't been able to get a study session going yet because he had to go to the eye doctor's, among other things, so his personal errands have become backlogged or something. He has an advantage over me because he studied Danish for at least a year before starting Icelandic, and then he also took formal classes for Icelandic back in the UK.

It's hard finding easy things to study from because even the simplest books for four year olds use all the more complicated grammar. I did find some comics online and I'm going to keep looking for fun stuff, for example these, which you can buy in English in bookstores too.

Uni and culture

Aino, Snorri, Karen, Roxy, and I went to Þingvellir (same place as last year) to do a photoshoot of some dresses Aino had made. It's about forty minutes away. Karen and Roxy modeled, Snorri drove, packed lunch, and took photos, Aino instructed the posing and took photos, I carried bags and took photos. Tourists were blatantly staring at us most of the time even though some of them were wearing much stranger clothing, like neon green boots.

We got coffee and ice cream at a roadside tourist shop which was a few minutes from the actual place. The only restrooms were there - there were some at the site but they were closed. So far the most tourists I've noticed have been German, I've found them in the grocery store at the mall too.

Classes are going alright. I have four classes, all for learning Icelandic (Culture, grammar, pronunciation, self-study, etc.) and have one class Mondays, three on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Aino has signed up for a culture class taught in English where they visit museums and things but I didn't sign up because I was unsure of what my workload would be like.

Most of the teachers are fine except for one who speaks to us as if we're native Icelanders, so I can't understand what she says most of the time. Most of our textbooks are entirely in Icelandic. For classes we follow powerpoints, read aloud from articles and pick out words we don't know, and have group conversations like "When is your birthday? Where do you live?".

There are twice as many foreign students now than before the economic collapse. There is a café on the ground floor of every Uni building. It used to be that annual bus cards were free for students but because of the collapse that isn't true anymore. You can't completely trust the Uni's website because a lot of information, at least on the English version, is outdated. Even so they might change something at the last minute and not tell anyone.

We went to get our bus cards too. There are two windows at the Hlemmur (downtown Reykjavík) bus station, one for regular bus stuff and one for bus cards for students. You have to give them your kennitala (social security number), phone number, Email, a USB with a photo of you on it, and pay them the card fee (either with cash or card). My debit card wasn't accepted for some reason so I had to pay in cash. You can choose to pick the card up in a few days at the bus station or the University, I chose the University and I should be able to pick it up today or tomorrow (after paying for it Monday).

My card also wasn't accepted when I tried to buy more phone credit online, so I had to pay for credit at the 10-11 convenience store a block from my flat. Instead of buying a plastic card you tell the cashier you want phone credit for your brand (mine is Vodafone) and you can get it in 500, 1000, or 2000kr amounts (just round it up to $5, $10, $20). They print a receipt for you and you call the number on the receipt, then you get a text when the credit goes through saying how much you have.

While in town we went to the library and I got a library card. It was somewhere around 1.200kr. I also noticed they don't group books by language like the US does. For example, in the Icelandic history section there was books in Danish, German, English, and Icelandic all on the same shelf. In the US they would probably be in a "foreign language" section then broken down into a History or non-fiction subcategory.

I've noticed in Iceland they use texts for a lot more things. For example, I was texted when the book I reserved at the student bookstore to buy came in. I was Emailed a copy of the receipt they gave me when I bought the bus card. My landlord also contacts me by Email.

Friday Roxy has a party because she just moved into a new apartment so I'll be going to that. I also never had a moving in party so mine will be held next week, it was going to be this Friday until we found out Roxy's was on the same day. My Swedish friend Jox is going to come visit me for a few weeks in December-January and he is also learning Icelandic, it'll be his first time in Iceland.

I live on Eggertsgata instead of Akrasel now and I changed my address with the National Registery, so if you want to mail me something and don't have that address contact me. Remember to mark packages as "gift" or I'll get taxed.

School

Today Aino and I went to the Uni to see if we had passed the entrance exam. We both did, she's in group A and I'm in C. There are three groups that students can be put in and when Snorri's mom went to grade school the first group was for the best/most well behaved students, but I'm not sure if that's still the case. In the orientation I went to, which was for a different Icelandic program (diploma instead of degree) but had some shared information, they said the groups weren't based on test results. So I'm not sure which is correct.

Online we have a list of books needed for each course, so on the school computers we looked that up and wrote down the titles. We needed Embla, Icelandic-English and English-Icelandic dictionaries, "Icelandic for foreigners" and a workbook for that book. The campus bookstore in Háskólatorg had Icelandic for foreigners but not the workbook or Embla. Aino and I reserved copies of the workbook and found out that to buy Embla you had to go to the Uni's actual book printing shop.

The shop was just a block or two down the street, to the left of Háskólatorg. It was small and had books piled everywhere, some computers on the wall to the right, and some tables with random Icelandic magazines. They were out of Embla so they told us to wait fifteen minutes so they could print some copies of it. When we paid for the copies (1.800kr each) the pages were still warm.

The free cake and coffee mentioned in my earlier post, as well as a free bus pass for students, don't exist anymore. The page saying there was free coffee was outdated and the bus passes stopped earlier because of the economy. The school was having a music and drinking party tonight but neither of us wanted to go.

When you buy food at the Háskólatorg food shop (not laid out like a cafeteria but more like a super tiny grocery store) you get a student discount on certain items like coffee and lunches as long as you have your student card. It's either that, or you can't buy those certain items without the card - I forgot which.

I've been eating a lot more in general here than I was at home. I have to keep going back to the grocery store every three days. Tomorrow I'm going to a party and possibly the flea market to look for used dictionaries, and then next week my first classes start.

video of a walk from the school to my apartment.

Random stuff and school

We went to Café Paris and I ate whale. It was good.

I went to an Icelandic bar/grill and had a plate with small servings of traditional food, but didn't get a photo of it. I liked most of it. The drink was the worst part.

I went to the school and set my laptop up so it has internet from them, but it's not wireless. The school is around five minutes walking from my flat, and fifteen minutes from downtown.

Aino and i went to the orientation for foreign students and afterwards there was a scavanger hunt and cheap drinks downtown, but we didn't go because I had to get more furniture before the store closed. Some stores seem to open around eleven or noon and close around six or seven.

There was another orienation the next day specifically for my degree but I missed my stop coming home from the grocery store on the bus and got lost, only returning home right after the meeting ended.

The next day we had our entrance exam for our degree. The instructions on the paper were in Icelandic but a lady told us them in English. There were about 65 multiple choice questions and one short answer question. We weren't told how many we had to pass or how much the short answer versus multiple choice were in points. The multiple choice questions had you fill in the blank with the correct word or phrase in various tenses, genders, and cases, or the right phrase to fit a situation.

For example: There are ____ books. (fill in with "three" in the right gender and case)

There were also multiple choice questions to choose the correct synonym or antonym for a word, and there was one reading paragraph with reading comprehension questions. The short answer questions was ten sentences saying what you want to do in Iceland this winter. You were allotted an hour and a half to finish the test, I finished in about an hour.

Everyone who passed gets put in groups and that group has its courses at certain times. Which group we're in will be put up Friday online and at the school so we'll know if we passed or failed by then.

At the Uni it's "New student days" now so they have some orientations, workshops to improve your study habits and to get you familiar with being in school again, and some activities. For example, tomorrow and the day after there's free coffee and cake due to a shop's 40th anniversary so I might go have some. Most people started classes this week but my classes will start next week.

I haven't been bringing my camera so there aren't many photos, but I'll try to take more over the next few weeks.

Airport and first days

Getting from America to Iceland was no problem, and when going through Iceland's customs they literally asked me a single question, which was "Are you staying in Iceland?". i wanted to buy stuff at the duty free but I had too much luggage to have been able to carry it.

Snorri's mom picked me up at the airport because he was working, and she didn't have work because she was on summer holiday. When we got home Aino was awake, so after breakfast we went to run some errands.

Eventually I registered myself with the government, got my apartment keys from the school (I'm in student housing), and found my apartment. The flat was disgusting. There were newspapers piled up from months ago, the kitchen window couldn't close, the latch on the oven door had broke so the oven was unopenable, the freezer had frozen over, the bedroom heater couldn't turn on even halfway to maximum, there was volcanic ash from May covering the balcony, kitchen door, windowsill, and the kitchen shelves closest to that window...

It took four of us the first day and two the second to get the flat mostly cleaned. I submitted my list of complaints and just today they came in and fixed the windows so they can close now, but didn't fix anything else.

There's trash bins, a bicycle storage room, and laundry room downstairs in the complex. I'm in room 201 and it seems foreigners are paired with foreigners, Icelanders with Icelanders.

My flatmate is from Sri Lanka and is finishing her thesis paper for her Doctorate(?) in Fisheries. She's been here since January and she seems to be staying for at least another year. She knows zero Icelandic and her English isn't the best, she's 36 and is married. The only friend she sees is also from Sri Lanka and is studying the same subject as her. She doesn't like Icelandic food because it isn't spicy, she stays in her room all day and only goes out to buy groceries on the weekend.

My flatmate has no real kitchen supplies (baking dishes, measuring cups, tea kettle, cleaning supplies) so I had to buy all of that. I also had to get a desk, chair, bed, cutlery and dishes, curtains for the windows, et cetera. We seem to be the only flat without curtains in the kitchen, too. Snorri and his family drove them to my place and set them up for me.

The rent, according to my flatmate, will come for me as a slip in the mail around the 5th of each month and I'll have unil around the 20th to pay it. She's set up her bank account to pay it automatically so she doesn't get a slip. Rent is a base cost of around $350 and utilities are on top of that. The rent cost changes monthly from the index rate.

You can't put holes, glue, or paint on the walls. Those are basically the rules of the apartment complex. There are ridge-like things on top of the bedroom and entryway walls, so you can hook framed photos up that way without making holes.

Photos

Videos:
Tour of flat during cleaning
Volcanic ash on the balcony
Melting ice from the defrosting freezer with tap water
The laundry room downstairs