1. I'm still having trouble, but I think it's Satherkrokur. There are 2 "th" sounds in Icelandic, ð (eth) is vocalized and þ (thorn) is unvocalized. It's hard to explain without talking, but it's kind of like th as in that vs. th as in with, if that makes any sense? (There are also people in our group who just pronounce it like a "d".)
2. Icelandic! I don't know any of it, but it's sort of like German in that if you look closely at the long compound words you can sometimes break them down and figure them out! There's only a few people with me that speak it well. And yes, most of the people here speak English as well, so it's pretty easy to get around.
3. The forecast today was from 10-25 degrees Celsius, which is a ridiculously huge range. The sun came out for a few minutes and it was probably about 65 F. And sometimes it rains for a few minutes and gets down to about 45. Normally it's probably around 50ish. But we're working really hard, and it's actually really nice, because we *could* be on a dig in the jungles of Mexico ... The weather changes all the time though. Today it's been foggy and cloudy and sunny and drizzly. I'm not sure exactly how cold it was when we swam, but it was about 7 AM and we'd just got off the plane, so it might have seemed a lot colder than it was! Also it was a couple hundred miles south of where we're staying.
4. It's odd! I woke up at 2 AM the first day and thought it was 7 already. But I actually think it helped with the jet lag, since there's no day/night cycle to mess with our expectations! There is apparently a really cool sunset/sunrise at about 1 AM; hopefully I'll get some pictures of that at some point!
5. For breakfast we have fruit and cereal and milk and coffee and toast and stuff, and we lunches to the site of basically normal sandwiches, fruit, and water. And cookies and coffee. Dinners are catered by a cook in town; every night there's been really yummy bread, local butter, salad (without dressing), macaroni salad with some kind of fish in it, cold spiced rice, water, and coffee. The first night there was rice and meatballs, then fish in some kind of cream sauce, and tonight lamb and brussels sprouts in sauce. Oh and every night there's been a different kind of soup, all of them yummy. I've tried everything, and so far the only thing I haven't been able to eat is the macaroni fish ... They are threatening that one night we'll go out drinking and everyone will have to try fermented shark cubes. D:
6. I haven't wanted to say to much in an unlocked post, but they're all cool! One of my roommates is another incoming grad student. Most of the other people have been to Iceland in previous field seasons, or are starting their second year of school, or other things. There's a range of ages; I'm probably about in the middle, maybe slightly on the old side. But it does feel like everyone else is more experienced than I am! And of the students there are way more girls than guys.
I lived vicariously through your cruise recaps, so it's fair. :D And I like answering questions, so ask away!
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2. Icelandic! I don't know any of it, but it's sort of like German in that if you look closely at the long compound words you can sometimes break them down and figure them out! There's only a few people with me that speak it well. And yes, most of the people here speak English as well, so it's pretty easy to get around.
3. The forecast today was from 10-25 degrees Celsius, which is a ridiculously huge range. The sun came out for a few minutes and it was probably about 65 F. And sometimes it rains for a few minutes and gets down to about 45. Normally it's probably around 50ish. But we're working really hard, and it's actually really nice, because we *could* be on a dig in the jungles of Mexico ... The weather changes all the time though. Today it's been foggy and cloudy and sunny and drizzly. I'm not sure exactly how cold it was when we swam, but it was about 7 AM and we'd just got off the plane, so it might have seemed a lot colder than it was! Also it was a couple hundred miles south of where we're staying.
4. It's odd! I woke up at 2 AM the first day and thought it was 7 already. But I actually think it helped with the jet lag, since there's no day/night cycle to mess with our expectations! There is apparently a really cool sunset/sunrise at about 1 AM; hopefully I'll get some pictures of that at some point!
5. For breakfast we have fruit and cereal and milk and coffee and toast and stuff, and we lunches to the site of basically normal sandwiches, fruit, and water. And cookies and coffee. Dinners are catered by a cook in town; every night there's been really yummy bread, local butter, salad (without dressing), macaroni salad with some kind of fish in it, cold spiced rice, water, and coffee. The first night there was rice and meatballs, then fish in some kind of cream sauce, and tonight lamb and brussels sprouts in sauce. Oh and every night there's been a different kind of soup, all of them yummy. I've tried everything, and so far the only thing I haven't been able to eat is the macaroni fish ... They are threatening that one night we'll go out drinking and everyone will have to try fermented shark cubes. D:
6. I haven't wanted to say to much in an unlocked post, but they're all cool! One of my roommates is another incoming grad student. Most of the other people have been to Iceland in previous field seasons, or are starting their second year of school, or other things. There's a range of ages; I'm probably about in the middle, maybe slightly on the old side. But it does feel like everyone else is more experienced than I am! And of the students there are way more girls than guys.
I lived vicariously through your cruise recaps, so it's fair. :D And I like answering questions, so ask away!