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