We Have Arrived!

Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport - Departure

We arrived safely, although we all had some difficulty getting internet access in the first 24 hours after our arrival, so we haven’t had a chance to post new blogs about our early adventures in Iceland.  Now that we are beginning to settle in, we should be able to post more entries as there are already many stories to tell!  Travel to the airport from St. Kate’s with our 13 checked bags and containers was amazingly smooth – thanks mostly to Bayley’s family for transporting our 500+ pounds of equipment to the airport and then helping us get it to the check in counter at Iceland Air.   Thank you, thank you!   While the counter attendants were a bit surprised to see so much equipment, they were also extremely helpful and they processed our baggage in what must have been record time.  The whole process was extremely smooth and we were off to great start.  The flight was also extremely smooth and the sights were extraordinary out the window of the airplane.   The lakes in Canada were visible as well as the rugged peaks of Greenland peeking through low lying clouds – it was spectacular!  At one point, I looked out my window on the south side of the plane to see a full moon and dark star-filled sky, and then glanced over to the window on the other side of the plane to see the sun rising quickly and brightly at the very same time.  It was literally night on the south side and morning on the north as we moved northward toward Iceland.  I have never experienced anything quite like it.  Bayley was quick to learn a few Icelandic greetings from the flight attendant, including “takk”, which which means “thank you”, and so far, every time she has used it, it has been appreciated and brought forth many smiles.  Our Icelandic colleagues have encouraged us to ask questions about the language and to try to learn as best we can, although American collaborators who have now been in Iceland for a couple of years now say that it is still very difficult to learn.  But, we are trying and having great fun and everyone we have met has been very supportive!   We went grocery shopping for the first time and I stared at the wealth of dairy options in the cooler for about 20 minutes before asking a few people to help me identify coffee creamer.  Once I asked, several people shopping for dairy got involved and offered several recommendations and helped me to find what I needed.  So, it is Rjómi – but I wouldn’t have had a clue without some help!  With help from Jim Hood and Jon Benstead, both U.S. researchers working on the project here, we were able to get all of our equipment from the airport to the Veiðimálastofnun – the government lab where we are working with collaborators from the U.S. and Iceland, and to begin to get settled into our living quarters.  It was a really long first day and we were 

Keflavik Airport in Reykjavik - Arrival in Iceland with all of our stuff!

definitely feeling the effects of the jet lag and lack of familiarity with our surroundings as we tried to navigate driving in the city our first day.  We definitely got lost –I mean, really lost – but we figured it out (often with some help) and I am so proud of all that we accomplished in our first day here.  Sleep was well deserved once it came!  After some sleep, the road navigation became much easier and we are feeling like pros getting around now.  We have space at the lab where we are currently in the process of setting up our instruments and trying to make sure that everything is working properly after the trip.  We had a couple of setbacks with the gas chromatograph today, but we are hoping that we will be able to troubleshoot that tomorrow, but more updates coming on that soon!  Fingers crossed! Tomorrow, we will make our first visit to the streams in the Hengill with the research team.   We can’t wait to see the streams!!  More stories soon!