Goodbye Christmas :(

Today is officially the last day of the Christmas season in Iceland. Tonight there will be fireworks and some people might meet for a special meal. I have heard different reasons for celebrating today. Some say it is to finish of the holiday season with a bang (literally! haha...I´m so clever) and others say it is to celebrate the last of those pesky yule lads finally leaving town. If you´ve been reading this blog then you know that starting on Christmas day the 13 "Santas" leave one day at a time in the order they arrived and today the last Santa is gone.

Other than that, I´m just trying to finish everything I have on my plate. I´m looking for a job and after that hopefully an apartment/car. I´m trying to finish my masters thesis, hopefully done around March. In June I´ll have finished a diploma in Icelandic as a 2nd language. I´ll be blogging about this and other things. Hopefully, eventually some travels!

GLEÐILEGT NÝTT ÁR! Happy New Year!

Hello Everyone! GLEÐILEGT NÝTT ÁR (HAPPY NEW YEAR)!

I hope everyone celebrated with lots of fun and partying last night! I know I did :) It was a great New Year celebration in Iceland. It might be one of my favorite celebrations throughout the year in Iceland, along with Gay Pride (it´s awesome) and bolladagur (you eat these yummy pastries). I´m not entirely sure why they celebrate it but I think it´s tasty!

Why is Iceland´s New Year celebration so great you might ask? Well, there is an AMAZING amount of fireworks. No description could truly capture the insanity. It´s not like 4th of July in the States. People start igniting fireworks here and there on the 30th and then starting at around 14:00 they increase exponentially until the skyline is filled with explosions. Every year I just stand there in awe of this amazing 360° display of color. That´s the best I can do to describe it but it´s really something you should see. I recommend it. In fact, it´s very popular for tourist to come for this holiday. I even heard some celebrities were in town.

My night didn´t start out the best. Our dog Stjarna is VERY SCARED of fireworks and she was outside when a bunch went off. When they exploded, she took off and ran away from the house! We searched for her for an hour and then had to stop and eat something. While eating, someone called (thank goodness for her dog tag) and said they were taking the trash out and when they opened the door, Stjarna ran into their house (2 streets away from us). Stjarna is such an awesome dog and loves everyone. The people, after spending 10 minutes with her, adored her and said she is so sweet. After that hiccup, the night was fun and full of REALLY good food, LOTS OF FIREWORKS, champagne and the traditional bonfire. In Iceland there are bonfires throughout the country (I think 8 locations in total). I´m talking about the size of a swimming pools (see picture above)! People gather, light sparklers and drink beers. It´s very fun and relaxed and I like it a lot. We went to a friends party around 1am and got home at a normal time for Iceland´s social scene (5 am). It´s taken me a while to get use to this time table!

I have attached a video taken in Iceland, not by me, that will only give you a taste of what it´s like to experience Iceland´s New Year celebrations. If you cannot see the video then go to this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrOcY-FhHjU