Caturday 5/19/2012
This weather is great
People watching in the park
Followed by some darts
Sunday 5/20/2012
Bay to Breakers day
I don't even... what the fuck?
... "The Muppets" was good
Monday 5/21/2012
Last day in S.F.
Spent re-hashing yesterday
Is Blake's dick sunburned?
Tuesday 5/22/2012
Back to work today
It will be a long few months
Busy already
Wednesday 5/23/2012
So much busyness
Baked avocado and egg
What a tasty treat
Thursday 5/24/2012
Poems get boring
When all I do is thesis
I packed for camping?
Friday 5/25/2012
Driving through Vermont
Blaring "History of Rome"
With the windows down
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Friday, May 25, 2012
Iceland Part 2: kthnxbai Iceland
More adventures from Iceland. I wrote in the journal sporadically, but I guess I'll keep everything that happens in one day together. This should help those of you who are keeping along with your calendars, fact checking the history of my life. You're welcome.
Sunday
We had a spectacular Northern Lights show outside the hostel last night. It was a big green strip across the entire sky: much better than the previous night. We wanted to go out again to find a better viewing spot, but we were both feeling a bit shitty, so we called it quits for the night. In case you were wondering, the Northern Lights are one of the coolest things to see. Apparently they look like something about "Balto." I don't understand the reference.
We woke up this morning ready to go explore the city. It turns out there isn't all that much to see. We went to the west coastline and harbor areas of the city, then stomped back to the main road area (whose name I still can't pronounce) and found a little cafe where I got waffles and bacon. We then walked out to a small geothermal pool area called a "Hot Pot." It was interesting and weird. We weren't expecting Blue Lagoon, since this was only $4, but it was nice for what it was. Crowded with kids though, so that sucked. The outdoor facility was a lot like going to the pool in the states, but it was heated geothermally. Still had some people trying to sunbathe in the 45 degree air though...
There was a little hot tub called a "Hot Pot," full to the brim with people. And the entire time we were there, there was some form of entertainment happening on the sides of the pool. A guy banging a drum, a guy on rollerblades skating around, a guy on stilts shooting people with a watergun, some acrobats, and a band comprised of highschoolers playing some actually good music. Something about hearing the Icelandic version of "See You Again" while in a heated pool strikes me as weird/awesome.
After lounging a bit with some beer, we decided to take one more look around town and grab some food. We couldn't find any reasonably priced places, but eventually went to some restaurant that had a soup that sounded good. Turns out they didn't have it, so we got two dishes that were ok for a few bites and then blew ass for the rest of it.
We chilled at the hostel, reading and having some tea as the Sun set. Then we figured that since we still had the car, we might as well try to see the Northern Lights again. We got a pretty good show 45 minutes outside the city: not a bad note to leave on.
Monday
This morning we woke up at fuck o'clock in the morning and drove to the airport. A decent size line for such an early flight at a small airport, but everything went smoothly, and now we're waiting for our layover flight to London.
Oh! I just remembered my favorite part of Iceland. Sarah and I were driving around by the ocean where we could see some distant snow-capped mountains. Sarah turns to me and asks "Do you think that's Greenland?!" excited as a child who found a free bag of candy. With shame and confusion, I could only whisper "... that's not possible." She realized later that we were looking at some mountains on a distant penninsula of Iceland, thousands of miles away from Greenland. I think she was just really excited about being in Europe.
Sunday
We had a spectacular Northern Lights show outside the hostel last night. It was a big green strip across the entire sky: much better than the previous night. We wanted to go out again to find a better viewing spot, but we were both feeling a bit shitty, so we called it quits for the night. In case you were wondering, the Northern Lights are one of the coolest things to see. Apparently they look like something about "Balto." I don't understand the reference.
We woke up this morning ready to go explore the city. It turns out there isn't all that much to see. We went to the west coastline and harbor areas of the city, then stomped back to the main road area (whose name I still can't pronounce) and found a little cafe where I got waffles and bacon. We then walked out to a small geothermal pool area called a "Hot Pot." It was interesting and weird. We weren't expecting Blue Lagoon, since this was only $4, but it was nice for what it was. Crowded with kids though, so that sucked. The outdoor facility was a lot like going to the pool in the states, but it was heated geothermally. Still had some people trying to sunbathe in the 45 degree air though...
There was a little hot tub called a "Hot Pot," full to the brim with people. And the entire time we were there, there was some form of entertainment happening on the sides of the pool. A guy banging a drum, a guy on rollerblades skating around, a guy on stilts shooting people with a watergun, some acrobats, and a band comprised of highschoolers playing some actually good music. Something about hearing the Icelandic version of "See You Again" while in a heated pool strikes me as weird/awesome.
After lounging a bit with some beer, we decided to take one more look around town and grab some food. We couldn't find any reasonably priced places, but eventually went to some restaurant that had a soup that sounded good. Turns out they didn't have it, so we got two dishes that were ok for a few bites and then blew ass for the rest of it.
 |
| "You call yourself a swan???" Reference NSFW video. |
We chilled at the hostel, reading and having some tea as the Sun set. Then we figured that since we still had the car, we might as well try to see the Northern Lights again. We got a pretty good show 45 minutes outside the city: not a bad note to leave on.
 |
| This place is CRAZY |
 |
| Oh this is just a wall covered in pictures of women breastfeeding. |
Monday
This morning we woke up at fuck o'clock in the morning and drove to the airport. A decent size line for such an early flight at a small airport, but everything went smoothly, and now we're waiting for our layover flight to London.
Oh! I just remembered my favorite part of Iceland. Sarah and I were driving around by the ocean where we could see some distant snow-capped mountains. Sarah turns to me and asks "Do you think that's Greenland?!" excited as a child who found a free bag of candy. With shame and confusion, I could only whisper "... that's not possible." She realized later that we were looking at some mountains on a distant penninsula of Iceland, thousands of miles away from Greenland. I think she was just really excited about being in Europe.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Reykjavik Part 1: SO MUCH STUFF
I am required by law to convey the awesomeness of Europe upon you after Sarah and I stomped around for a bit. I'm feeling lazy, so I'm seriously just going to transcribe the journal I wrote in while I was there. When I can't read my own handwriting, I'll make something up. k enjoy.
Saturday
I'm writing this in Reykjavik, Iceland. Sarah and I left on a European adventure to Iceland, Spain, and Portugal: a much needed adventure for her and a much needed break from my thesis for me. We left Thursday night, two days ago, and arrived 4.5 hours later. The day was just beginning and normally I would have been going crazy just thinking about the adventure possibilities, but we are both fairly sick with some kind of deadly cold, detrimented by the flight. Detrimented is a word now.
Luckily customs was nothing like it is in the U.S., and we were at our rental car in no time. We opted to rent a car because it would eventually be cheaper factoring all the bus tours we'd have to take to do all the cool stuff. I started driving, immediately learning that there is a secret trick to switch from drive to reverse, and it is not intuitive at all. Once that was figured out, we drove around treeless southwestern Iceland as natives sped past us, because Icelanders drive one of two ways: semi-retardedly, barely driving and trying to make turns from the middle non-turning lanes, OR crazed psychos driving twice the speed limit. But anyway, we drove our red Chevy station-wagon DIRECTLY to Blue Lagoon.
Unfortunately, our guide book told us it was open an hour before it actually was. No matter. We took a hard coma in the car until it opened.
Blue Lagoon is a large natural hot pool turned "spa." You change and shower, getting little bracelets that unlock your lockers and pay for drinks at the swim-up bar. Then you head into the hot pool... and it is fucking amazing. You can relax, get a message from a waterfall, head into a steam room, or grab a drink at the swim-up bar. We then enjoyed the ridiculous temperature differential of 45 degree air and 97 degree water. And there is this mud silica you can put on your face and look like an asshole, so we obviously did that. After a few sessions in the pool, we actually started to heal healthier. And we had enough power-naps under our belts to fight the jetlag.
We drove to the city, where we found our hostel right by the ocean: awesome view. Then we explored a bit of the area, including HALLGRIMSKIRKJA. It's one of the tallest structures in the city (and possibly the country? Reykjavik makes up 60% of the population of Iceland, at 200,000). The top has an incredible 360 degree view of the city and surrounding mountains.
Also, Hallgrimskirkja kind of sounds like a dragon shout in Skyrim. Actually the Icelandic language is kind of like a mix of dragon shouts, german, and elvish.
After derping around the city for a bit, we had some classic Icelandic food for dinner: "cured" shark ("cured" is an interesting way of saying "semi-decomposed shark, having gone through the process where it is buried underground to give it that delicious 'rotting' taste we all love"). It actually caused my mouth to tingle. I wouldn't say it was "good," but it wasn't bad. More "holy fuck that's weird" than anything. Then we had whale meat (depending on how it was cooked, it was either delicious or nasty), followed by Puffin in a potato pate. My god: Puffin is so good. I want more. Too bad.
We left the restaurant and walked along the ocean to the hostel. There was a huge crowd, some of which was made up by a "Free Tibet" or "Taiwan" protest. We later learned that the Prime Minister of China was visiting (he also checked out the Geysir Geothermal area with us!). The sunset at 10:30 was both beautiful and mind-blowing in how late it was. A band was rocking out back at the hostel, which is actually an awesome place that the locals hang out at. KEX hostel is apparently a great hostel AND a nightclub.
We enjoyed the music until about midnight. It was still somewhat light out, but we wanted to drive out of the city to see Aurora Borealis. We drove out to Thingvellir National Park, where it was mostly dark (the fucking Sun STILL lit some of the nearby glaciers!). The moment we turned the headlights off: BAM - Northern Lights. Pretty faint, but unmistakeable. It was a really amazing thing to see. After a few more minutes of hoping for more of a show (which we didn't get), we realized we were exhausted and sick, so we drove back for some unrestful sleep.
The next morning (today) I woke up feeling like a bag of assholes. I now have a cough and a runny nose. But we pulled ourselves together for our adventure of the day: driving the scenic Golden Circle. First stop was Thingvellir National Park. We immediately realized how beautiful the entire area is in the daylight. We looked down into the valley of the site of the first Icelandic parliament from up on a cliff.
Next up was the Geysir Geothermal area, which reminded me a lot of the Old Faithful area of Yellowstone, with multiple thermal pools and bubbling geysers. The famous geyser, aptly named Geysir, was not feeling up to spouting in our presence, but would normally be a higher eruption than Old Faithful. Unlike rule-heavy USA, Iceland lets people walk almost all the way up to the geyser. The next largest geyser (about half the size as Old Faithful) erupts every 4 minutes, so it was quite entertaining INDEED.
From there, it was just a 10km drive to Gullfoss, an amazing waterfall pouring into a crevis cut out by a river. It was easily way more amazing than Niagara.
We then drove the southern portion of the circle, which isn't quite as impressive as the first half. A church that we skipped, a small town that as far as I know has a few sandwich places and that's it, and a crater lake that used to be a volcano until it blew itself up.
Completing the tour, we decided to see the 360 degree view from the outer top deck of the Perlan, which is a... building... in Reykjavik. We then finished our day with fantastic meat soup in a breadbowl, which is a great meal when you're sick. But now we're back at the hostel, enjoying some Icelandic beer as the Sun is starting to set... at 10:30pm.
Saturday
I'm writing this in Reykjavik, Iceland. Sarah and I left on a European adventure to Iceland, Spain, and Portugal: a much needed adventure for her and a much needed break from my thesis for me. We left Thursday night, two days ago, and arrived 4.5 hours later. The day was just beginning and normally I would have been going crazy just thinking about the adventure possibilities, but we are both fairly sick with some kind of deadly cold, detrimented by the flight. Detrimented is a word now.
Luckily customs was nothing like it is in the U.S., and we were at our rental car in no time. We opted to rent a car because it would eventually be cheaper factoring all the bus tours we'd have to take to do all the cool stuff. I started driving, immediately learning that there is a secret trick to switch from drive to reverse, and it is not intuitive at all. Once that was figured out, we drove around treeless southwestern Iceland as natives sped past us, because Icelanders drive one of two ways: semi-retardedly, barely driving and trying to make turns from the middle non-turning lanes, OR crazed psychos driving twice the speed limit. But anyway, we drove our red Chevy station-wagon DIRECTLY to Blue Lagoon.
 |
| Guess where we went |
Unfortunately, our guide book told us it was open an hour before it actually was. No matter. We took a hard coma in the car until it opened.
Blue Lagoon is a large natural hot pool turned "spa." You change and shower, getting little bracelets that unlock your lockers and pay for drinks at the swim-up bar. Then you head into the hot pool... and it is fucking amazing. You can relax, get a message from a waterfall, head into a steam room, or grab a drink at the swim-up bar. We then enjoyed the ridiculous temperature differential of 45 degree air and 97 degree water. And there is this mud silica you can put on your face and look like an asshole, so we obviously did that. After a few sessions in the pool, we actually started to heal healthier. And we had enough power-naps under our belts to fight the jetlag.
 |
| A natural hot pool with a swim-up bar? I'm sold. |
We drove to the city, where we found our hostel right by the ocean: awesome view. Then we explored a bit of the area, including HALLGRIMSKIRKJA. It's one of the tallest structures in the city (and possibly the country? Reykjavik makes up 60% of the population of Iceland, at 200,000). The top has an incredible 360 degree view of the city and surrounding mountains.
 |
| Sarah presents HALLGRIMSKIRKJA (you have to shout the name) |
Also, Hallgrimskirkja kind of sounds like a dragon shout in Skyrim. Actually the Icelandic language is kind of like a mix of dragon shouts, german, and elvish.
After derping around the city for a bit, we had some classic Icelandic food for dinner: "cured" shark ("cured" is an interesting way of saying "semi-decomposed shark, having gone through the process where it is buried underground to give it that delicious 'rotting' taste we all love"). It actually caused my mouth to tingle. I wouldn't say it was "good," but it wasn't bad. More "holy fuck that's weird" than anything. Then we had whale meat (depending on how it was cooked, it was either delicious or nasty), followed by Puffin in a potato pate. My god: Puffin is so good. I want more. Too bad.
We left the restaurant and walked along the ocean to the hostel. There was a huge crowd, some of which was made up by a "Free Tibet" or "Taiwan" protest. We later learned that the Prime Minister of China was visiting (he also checked out the Geysir Geothermal area with us!). The sunset at 10:30 was both beautiful and mind-blowing in how late it was. A band was rocking out back at the hostel, which is actually an awesome place that the locals hang out at. KEX hostel is apparently a great hostel AND a nightclub.
We enjoyed the music until about midnight. It was still somewhat light out, but we wanted to drive out of the city to see Aurora Borealis. We drove out to Thingvellir National Park, where it was mostly dark (the fucking Sun STILL lit some of the nearby glaciers!). The moment we turned the headlights off: BAM - Northern Lights. Pretty faint, but unmistakeable. It was a really amazing thing to see. After a few more minutes of hoping for more of a show (which we didn't get), we realized we were exhausted and sick, so we drove back for some unrestful sleep.
 |
| Sunset apparently happens at 10:30pm in Iceland at the end of April |
The next morning (today) I woke up feeling like a bag of assholes. I now have a cough and a runny nose. But we pulled ourselves together for our adventure of the day: driving the scenic Golden Circle. First stop was Thingvellir National Park. We immediately realized how beautiful the entire area is in the daylight. We looked down into the valley of the site of the first Icelandic parliament from up on a cliff.
 |
| PRETTY |
Next up was the Geysir Geothermal area, which reminded me a lot of the Old Faithful area of Yellowstone, with multiple thermal pools and bubbling geysers. The famous geyser, aptly named Geysir, was not feeling up to spouting in our presence, but would normally be a higher eruption than Old Faithful. Unlike rule-heavy USA, Iceland lets people walk almost all the way up to the geyser. The next largest geyser (about half the size as Old Faithful) erupts every 4 minutes, so it was quite entertaining INDEED.
 |
| Where are we, Yellowstone? WHY ARE THEY SPEAKING ELVISH HERE?? |
From there, it was just a 10km drive to Gullfoss, an amazing waterfall pouring into a crevis cut out by a river. It was easily way more amazing than Niagara.
 |
| No picture can show how awesome Gullfoss is |
We then drove the southern portion of the circle, which isn't quite as impressive as the first half. A church that we skipped, a small town that as far as I know has a few sandwich places and that's it, and a crater lake that used to be a volcano until it blew itself up.
Completing the tour, we decided to see the 360 degree view from the outer top deck of the Perlan, which is a... building... in Reykjavik. We then finished our day with fantastic meat soup in a breadbowl, which is a great meal when you're sick. But now we're back at the hostel, enjoying some Icelandic beer as the Sun is starting to set... at 10:30pm.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Haiku-a-Day Challenge: Week 45
Caturday 5/12/2012
Let's go look at whales!
I've never been whale watching
We saw a shitload
Sunday 5/13/2012
Watched The Avengers
Perfect schwarma reference
So we schwarm'd after
Monday 5/14/2012
Did nothing but work
Potential house for next year?
Better check that out
Tuesday 5/15/2012
It's tea time with Tai
So much alliteration!
I'm a great poet!
Wednesday 5/16/2012
Intense thesis sesh
Break for some Indian food
My stomach is full
Thursday 5/17/2012
A trip to San Fran!
The best kind of bar ever
is a pirate bar
Friday 5/18/2012
Hiking to the beach
Climbing rocks, getting sunburned
Food truck party time!
Let's go look at whales!
I've never been whale watching
We saw a shitload
Sunday 5/13/2012
Watched The Avengers
Perfect schwarma reference
So we schwarm'd after
Monday 5/14/2012
Did nothing but work
Potential house for next year?
Better check that out
Tuesday 5/15/2012
It's tea time with Tai
So much alliteration!
I'm a great poet!
Wednesday 5/16/2012
Intense thesis sesh
Break for some Indian food
My stomach is full
Thursday 5/17/2012
A trip to San Fran!
The best kind of bar ever
is a pirate bar
Friday 5/18/2012
Hiking to the beach
Climbing rocks, getting sunburned
Food truck party time!
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Haiku-a-Day Challenge: Week 44
Europe is owning it
Caturday 5/5/2012
Sintra trip today
More magic than Disney World
This castle is nuts
Sunday 5/6/2012
More pastries and alcs
Before our long flight back home
Back to the real world
Monday 5/7/2012
Back to my thesis
My hand appointments are done
At least that is good
Tuesday 5/8/2012
Redbones has saved me
The delicious BBQ
Cures my thesis stress
Wednesday 5/9/2012
Thesising all day
This poem will be boring
Since that's all I did
Thursday 5/10/2012
All-nighters blow ass
I'm having a sleepy day
But I got stuff done
Friday 5/11/2012
Thesis all day long
With a tea intermission
Later: dancing time
Caturday 5/5/2012
Sintra trip today
More magic than Disney World
This castle is nuts
 |
| 9th Century Moorish Castle. AYFKMB? |
Sunday 5/6/2012
More pastries and alcs
Before our long flight back home
Back to the real world
 |
| Bye Europe |
Monday 5/7/2012
Back to my thesis
My hand appointments are done
At least that is good
Tuesday 5/8/2012
Redbones has saved me
The delicious BBQ
Cures my thesis stress
Wednesday 5/9/2012
Thesising all day
This poem will be boring
Since that's all I did
Thursday 5/10/2012
All-nighters blow ass
I'm having a sleepy day
But I got stuff done
Friday 5/11/2012
Thesis all day long
With a tea intermission
Later: dancing time
Haiku-a-Day Challenge: Week 43
Europe is owning it
Caturday 4/28/2012
La Alhambra. What?
How can this even exist?
It's so intricate
Sunday 4/29/2012
Went to bed at 8
Discoteca all night long
Also: free tapas
Monday 4/30/2012
Strolling around
Albaicin and trivia
Soccer questions? Ugh.
Tuesday 5/1/2012
Another Bullfight!
What an incredible sport
Sad but amazing
Wednesday 5/2/2012
Early Lisbon flight
Are we in Eastern Europe?
What is this language?
Thursday 5/3/2012
A great night last night
Makes for a rough morning now
Pastries are delish
Friday 5/4/2012
Belem adventure
Monuments and museums
Oh and more pastries
Caturday 4/28/2012
La Alhambra. What?
How can this even exist?
It's so intricate
 |
| Random wall in the Alhambra. What? |
Sunday 4/29/2012
Went to bed at 8
Discoteca all night long
Also: free tapas
 |
| Tapas are the greatest gift to man |
Monday 4/30/2012
Strolling around
Albaicin and trivia
Soccer questions? Ugh.
 |
| View from... somewhere awesome |
Tuesday 5/1/2012
Another Bullfight!
What an incredible sport
Sad but amazing
 |
| Last time to see the Alhambra... |
Wednesday 5/2/2012
Early Lisbon flight
Are we in Eastern Europe?
What is this language?
 |
| Also, awesome museum converted from a destroyed cathedral |
Thursday 5/3/2012
A great night last night
Makes for a rough morning now
Pastries are delish
 |
| Pastel de Belem. SO DELICIOUS. |
Friday 5/4/2012
Belem adventure
Monuments and museums
Oh and more pastries
Haiku-a-Day Challenge: Week 42
These are late, but my excuse is that I was on a different continent.
Caturday 4/21/2012
Golden Circle drive
Huge geysers and waterfalls
Northern lights are nuts
Sunday 4/22/2012
Iceland is quite strange
Expensive and beautiful
Still: northern lights rock
Monday 4/23/2012
Time for Madrid, Spain
Cheap tapas and sangria
This place is awesome
Tuesday 4/24/2012
El Retiro Park
Y U so friggn gorgeous?
Row boats in the pond
Wednesday 4/25/2012
Kebab is the best
Saw Picasso's "Guernica"
Free museum night
Thursday 4/26/2012
Train to Sevilla
Just in time for a bull fight!
Then some Flamenco
Friday 4/27/2012
Giralda today
Then a bus to Granada
Ok, Spain is great
Caturday 4/21/2012
Golden Circle drive
Huge geysers and waterfalls
Northern lights are nuts
|
| Thingvellir National Park |
Sunday 4/22/2012
Iceland is quite strange
Expensive and beautiful
Still: northern lights rock
 |
| HALLGRIMSKIRKJA |
Monday 4/23/2012
Time for Madrid, Spain
Cheap tapas and sangria
This place is awesome
 |
| Also kittehs |
Tuesday 4/24/2012
El Retiro Park
Y U so friggn gorgeous?
Row boats in the pond
Wednesday 4/25/2012
Kebab is the best
Saw Picasso's "Guernica"
Free museum night
 |
| More Retiro Park |
Thursday 4/26/2012
Train to Sevilla
Just in time for a bull fight!
Then some Flamenco
Friday 4/27/2012
Giralda today
Then a bus to Granada
Ok, Spain is great
 |
| We also saw the Plaza de Espana. SO PRETTY HOLY CRAP. |
Haiku-a-Day Challenge: Week 41
I'm going to be in Europe for a bit, so I'm assuming these are going to come out "late."
Caturday 4/14/2012
Nice walk in the Fells
Delicious BBQ meat
Warm days are the shit
Sunday 4/15/2012
Tufts cadaver lab
What a cool experience
The brain is heavy
Monday 4/16/2012
My throat is scratchy
I will not be pleased if I
procure an illness
Tuesday 4/17/2012
Oh man fuck this shit
Going to drown this virus
before it gets me
Wednesday 4/18/2012
Working overtime
Getting ready for Europe
Typing this thesis
Thursday 4/19/2012
Reykjavik tonight
Guess it's time for me to pack
I need lots of socks
Friday 4/20/2012
What time is it here?
Who cares: it's time for swimming
Natural hot spring
Caturday 4/14/2012
Nice walk in the Fells
Delicious BBQ meat
Warm days are the shit
Sunday 4/15/2012
Tufts cadaver lab
What a cool experience
The brain is heavy
Monday 4/16/2012
My throat is scratchy
I will not be pleased if I
procure an illness
Tuesday 4/17/2012
Oh man fuck this shit
Going to drown this virus
before it gets me
Wednesday 4/18/2012
Working overtime
Getting ready for Europe
Typing this thesis
Thursday 4/19/2012
Reykjavik tonight
Guess it's time for me to pack
I need lots of socks
Friday 4/20/2012
What time is it here?
Who cares: it's time for swimming
Natural hot spring
|
| Natural hot spring with a swim-up bar |
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