Iceland, Day Eight, Newark, New Jersey — A Journey with a Lifetime of Memories

Halló!

Our last day in Iceland was thankfully relatively uneventful. Most of us took the time to check off the last few locations on our sight-seeing bucket list, eat breakfast at one of the many fantastic bakeries in the Reykjavík area, or finish souvenir shopping, but the vast majority of the day was spent either on the bus ride to the airport, at the airport, or flying home.

The emotional goodbye with our driver, friend and soon-to-be Wawa patron, Leifi, was undeniably the most eventful part of our day. Following a noon departure from our original hotel, we arrived at Keflavík International Airport, and after a short five hour flight, we finally made it home. 

The final day of our Icelandic IL experience left many of us hoping we could stay for another week. Although the early mornings and late nights had taken its toll on our sleep schedules, the views, the food, and the people we met made it all more than worth it. And so while the other blog posts are intended to wow you with awesome scenery, food, experiences, and culture, in this entry we hope to make you laugh, because the biggest things that defined this trip were firstly the sheer awe of Iceland, but more importantly the laughter, joy and memories we made along the way, be it the stream of sarcastic “Just like Newark” jokes, the previews we were treated to of Artese and Nasir’s daily rap recordings, or the Norse rune necklaces that we all bought together.

What better thing to start off with than the Icelandic Ponies, I mean horses! (Icelanders are very particular about the fact that they are horses.)

While our beloved Ferð (tour) guide and also soon to be Wawa Patron David (he’s British) bid us farewell one night earlier, we will surely never forget his heroic one-man crusade to get everyone to pronounce Geysir in the way of the ancient Vikings, and the modern Icelandic people. (Gay-Seer) is the Old Norse way of pronouncing Geysir, as opposed to our English pronunciation of (Guy-Zer). Many members of our trip have decided to support or even join him in this crusade, and on behalf of all those members we would ask that you consider adopting it as well. 

It’d also be impossible not to re-mention David’s partner-in-crime, Leifi. While also being our bus driver, he always managed to entertain us with stories of the farm that he worked on with his brother and he never let impossibly snowy roads nor Dacia Dusters slow us down. It is our sincerest hope that both of them eventually take a trip to the United States to understand, in David’s words, “what the *Hekla*  is a Wawa.”

And of course, we can’t forget the positively eld (fire) song (ft. Profe, David, and more) about this trip made by Artese and Nasir, and while it may not be school approved for our younger readers, you all should be anxiously awaiting its release.

One of the final things we’ll mention for now are the Norse Rune Necklaces that we all decided to buy. Each necklace has its own meaning behind it, from good harvests to opportunity to safe travels, but spotting someone wearing one in the halls is a surefire way to identify a member of our IL. 

Of course there were many, many more memories made over the course of the eight days spent in Iceland, some that we would share here if we had the time and others that it’s certainly best we keep to ourselves. One thing is undeniable though, none of us will ever forget the time we spent in Ið Landið að Elds sem og Íss (The Land of Fire and Ice). Our time together confirmed that the synergy we had as a group made our experience truly one-of-a-kind. 

It’d be impossible to properly encapsulate all the knowledge we gained and all the memories we made so we’ll wrap up here, but we, The Iceland IL, would also like to extend our thanks to MFS, Dr. Mosher, and Mr. Ottman for giving us this amazing opportunity.

-Iceland Intensive Learning Group, logging out for our final Blog Post

Skál!

By: Nakul and Landon