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.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
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
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
Monday, June 28, 2010
Applying for University, living permit
I applied to the University of Iceland. At that time they didn't have an online application (although they do now) so I downloaded the PDF and filled it in. As I recall it was essentially two pages - asking your personal information, education history, and one paragraph on why you wanted to come to their school. There was no fee before submitting application, and all I did was mail my transcripts along with it. I got an Email a few months later saying they were missing something (a matriculation exam or equivalent) and all I had to do was send in a scan of my high school diploma and they accepted it.
Then in the middle of June I was Emailed notifying me of my acceptance. I had to:
- Bank wire $350 to the school (I was supposed to pay 300 Euros or pay in Icelandic Crowns but the bank couldn't do it, so I had to ask the school's permission about paying them in USD) and scan a copy of my receipt to Email back to the school.
- Get a background check. (I had to go to the police station and get fingerprints, pay a fee, sign a form saying I wanted a notarized background check and mail that).
- Renew my passport.
- Get proof of financial support (a bank or joint bank account with $7,000 in it, $1,000 for each month I'll be in Iceland with the +student permit. I'll have to have this again when I renew the permit for second semester).
- Sign up for housing and get proof of housing (used my friend's address until I got into student housing).
- Apply for Icelandic insurance (Email in a scan of my passport, fill out their form) and an Icelandic Social Security Number (also Email my University acceptance letter).
The information for the permit is here. It's best to call them directly with any questions and when asking about your permit status because they basically don't answer Emails and only contact your "representative" through regular mail.
All this had to be mailed to the Directorate of Immigration (ÚTL) in Iceland. Your local Icelandic embassy can't grant living permits.
My plane ticket is bought. I'm flying with IcelandAir again and I'm leaving the 22nd of August. The flight takes about eight hours.
Then in the middle of June I was Emailed notifying me of my acceptance. I had to:
- Bank wire $350 to the school (I was supposed to pay 300 Euros or pay in Icelandic Crowns but the bank couldn't do it, so I had to ask the school's permission about paying them in USD) and scan a copy of my receipt to Email back to the school.
- Get a background check. (I had to go to the police station and get fingerprints, pay a fee, sign a form saying I wanted a notarized background check and mail that).
- Renew my passport.
- Get proof of financial support (a bank or joint bank account with $7,000 in it, $1,000 for each month I'll be in Iceland with the +student permit. I'll have to have this again when I renew the permit for second semester).
- Sign up for housing and get proof of housing (used my friend's address until I got into student housing).
- Apply for Icelandic insurance (Email in a scan of my passport, fill out their form) and an Icelandic Social Security Number (also Email my University acceptance letter).
The information for the permit is here. It's best to call them directly with any questions and when asking about your permit status because they basically don't answer Emails and only contact your "representative" through regular mail.
All this had to be mailed to the Directorate of Immigration (ÚTL) in Iceland. Your local Icelandic embassy can't grant living permits.
My plane ticket is bought. I'm flying with IcelandAir again and I'm leaving the 22nd of August. The flight takes about eight hours.
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