March the 4th
After a day in Reykjavík, the guests from Finland arrived at Hotel Skaftafell near the national park on Tuesday. They were supposed to catch up with us there at 15:00, but the weather made that impossible for them, but their trip from Reykjavík to Skaftafell took eight hours. We came to Skaftafell at 17:30, when the Finnish people had just arrived.
The first thing we did was to get our room keys, and “move in”. We decided to take a quick trip to the shop in Freysnes, and buy some candy.
At 19:00 we had mushroom soup and lasagna for dinner. An hour later we went upstairs for a remarkable “night of fun”, which we shall always remember. The night started when we played the rare and amazing “Super name-game”, which we could all learn so much from. We continued on the same level, by playing very educating games; such as “the amazing whisper game”. There we both whispered along Finish-, and Icelandic words, such as “saltkjöt”, which actually changed into “achlaminatz”. We also divided us into 4 groups and competed in “actionary”. Everybody had the greatest night of their lives, and went early too sleep with a big smile on their faces, because they knew that the next day would bring nothing but joy and happiness to their peaceful hearts.
Written by Hörður
March the 5th
In the morning of March the 5th, the Icelandic and the Finnish group woke up in Hotel Skaftafell. As soon as everyone had eaten breakfast we went hiking to the Skaftafells glacier and the Finnish people seemed to be really fascinated by its amazing appearance.
When the hike was over, we sat into the bus and began driving towards Hornafjörður, our hometown. On the way there we, of course, showed the Finnish people some of South-Iceland’s interesting sights. For example we showed them the famous tourist attraction “Jökulsárlón”, and Atli Már who has worked there recent summer spoke a little about its history. Also we showed them a fish farm, where the owners are manufacturing fish from the starting point of letting them grow and reproduce to selling them to the stores – that is, doing everything without help.
In Höfn the Finnish people went to the guesthouse were they slept in Höfn. In the evening they went to Eyjólfur’s summerhouse where the trout wich we got from the fish farm were put on the barbecue.
Written by Hrafn
March the 6th
Everyone gathered at the school at 9:00 except the Finnish students who arrived at 8:30 to have breakfast. The plan for the day was to measure Heinabergsjökull glacier but due to weather conditions that was not possible, so instead the Icelandic students decided to show the Finnish people their school and all the other things that are in the school building, for example the entrepreneur centre, the local university centre and the town’s culture centre.
Then we all went to the glacier exhibition, which is located just a few meters from the school. There we watched and learned a lot about glaciers and climate changes. After the glacier exhibition we all had lunch and reconvened at the school at 1:00. After lunch we had planned to take a walk around Höfn but again, due to weather conditions we had to reschedule that so we went to the local history museum instead where we saw a lot of interesting things.
After the museum everyone had a bit of time off until 17:00 when we all had planned to go swimming. The Icelandic people all got stuck in the bad weather so only the Finnish people went swimming that day.
Written by Elías
March the 7th
On Thursday morning we met in Nýheimar and had a breakfast all together. After that we walked to the harbor to “Björn lóðs”(it’s a guiding boat) and took a boat trip around the fjord Hornafjörður. That was very interesting, that took about one and a half hour. The weather was rather cold, but it was okay.
Next thing we do was taking a walking circle around Höfn. We saw all the interesting places in Höfn like; the restaurant Víkin, Hótelið, The Slauterhause, The church and so on. We also stopped in “Freyja” the candy factory, and they gave us some candy, that was great.
After lunch we listened to presentations, that was very interesting, it was e.g. about entrepreneurship.
In the evening we had a food festival in an old warehouse “Pakkhúsið” where the Icelandic people introduced the Finnish people to Icelandic traditional food, like e.g. sheep head and a shark. The Icelandic people liked the food very well, but the Finnish people were quite shy to eat it. After the dinner we had some time together and talked and singed. This was a great day.
Written by Sindri and Svava
March the 8th
The day started for the students at 08:30. Then everybody woke up and ate with the teachers at the teacher’s room. After that did Hörður and Atli made a presentation about “Global warming” and that was really interesting for everybody. After that the Finnish students showed us a movie about Global warming and that was really interesting for everybody, but we noticed that it was not that much of fun. Then it was lunch time and everybody ate like they could.
After the lunch the group headed on to Hoffell, home of Siffi. There Siffi and his father, Dúddi, waited on two trucks to drive the people towards the mountain but on our way we stopped where our horses where. Typical Icelandic horse and everybody really liked that and of course there where many horse riders in the group. We stopped there for about 15 minutes, then we went back into the cars and headed on to the glacier.
The guide (Dúddi), decided to drive off the road but we drove mainly just off the road because of the snow. We drove next to the glacier for a little while until the guide gott his big four wheeler truck stuck. Everybody went out of the cars because it was a great view at the glacier. There we got into a snow fight, Iceland vs Finland and of course the Icelanders won the first one but surrendered in the second one. We made a snowman, but I can’t remember what his name because it was a Finish name.
Then the guys pushed the big truck to get it unstuck and then we went back in the cars and drove away. We went to another place where everybody could enjoy the view over the beautiful land. It was also a great photo opportunity.
We went back into the cars and drove into a small valley but there was not so much to see, except some natural tables from stone and campfire places. Then the group walked a short way to a place where they could take a look at a rock mine.
When we came back to the farm we went to the small church in Hoffell, and Dúddi told us the history about it.
The last thing we did in Hoffell was to relax in the natural hot tubes. We also got muffins and milk to drink and we can say for sure, that was a really great.
In the evening we met in Nýheimar were we ate a real Icelandic-lamb. Everybody ate as much as they could. After the dinner we went into the auditorium of the school and Hjördís showed us the pictures from the trip. Everybody laughed really much because there were some “not so good” pictures, some in unexpected positions that you wouldn’t like to have a picture of you in. The evening ended when we went upstairs and ate some Easter egg’s and also cake and milk.
Just to inform people, this was the day everybody choosed as the best day. 😉
Written by Sigfinnur
9th of March
Most of us woke up at 9 ´o clock, and after the breakfast we took a trip to Stokksnes to explore the nature there and take a walk on the beach. Some of us were really tired and honestly we looked like wrinkly old people, like Hjördís said: “You should have filled up the holes on their face(s)”.
After a good trip of exploring were we e.g. got wet feets in the Atlantic ocean, we went back to Höfn and had lunch at the local hotel, Hótel Höfn. Before we started eating, we realized that this glorious day was Hörður’s and Auvo’s birthdays, so it was our duty to honor them by singing the marvelous and amazing “Happy Birthday Song”. We had three delicious dishes; Smoked goose, lamb (askanski) and “Skyr “cake with mango-ice cream. The food was really good. When the meal was over, we went back to Nýheimar and the groups made the last posters, about the past days, including the good-, and the bad things. Each group presented their posters before we said goodbye and our ways parted.
Written by Hörður |
