Spring Break

Spring Break I spent spring break in Iceland, mostly in the backseat of a white car on the asphalt roads of Route 1 but also behind a waterfall and atop a glacier and in a cabin on the black sand beaches of Vík.   Heres a quick post about that experience, written as I continue to deny the fact that school has resumed. After landing in the Keflavík airport at 4 AM on Tuesday, we spent the first day driving along the Golden Circle, a route that loops from Reykjavík into central Iceland and back. It hits a few prime tourist attractions, such as the Þingvellir national park, Gullfoss waterfall, the Geysir field, and the Kerið crater. Meet the fam: Here we are at Gullfoss! From left to right: Ryan B. 18, Mitchell G. 18, me, Crystal W. 18, Prafulla D. 17. The Kerið volcanic crater lake. On the second day we drove to the village Vík, where our hotel for the second night was located. We explored the area south of Reykjavík, making stops along the way to see waterfalls and to catch our first glimpse of Víks beaches. (1) Me enjoying myself at a stop en route to Vík, feeling very happy and enthusiastic about the rainbow in the background!! (2) The view from behind the Seljalandsfoss waterfall. The black sand beach in Vík. That night, at the hotel, we sat in a geothermal hot tub for several hoursthere was a power outage, it was cold out, no one wanted to move. At around 1 AM, we finally got out of the hot tub, shivered all the way back to our room, and went to sleep, preparing for another long day of exploration. The third day was packed with adventurewe spent the morning ascending the 221 meters of Hjörleifshöfði (a tuff promontory). We were caught in extreme winds and a painful hailstorm, but fortunately, all of us made it back to the car unscathed. We were driving toward the town Höfn, where our hostel for the night was located; about halfway between Vík and Höfn, we visited the Skaftafell preservation region. Skaftafell contains Svartifoss, a famous waterfall surrounded by basalt columns, as well as the Hundafoss waterfall and the Sjónarnípa viewpoint. (1) Hiking Hjörleifshöfði in heavy hail. (2) The resting place of the second settler of Iceland, atop Hjörleifshöfð. (3) A casual photo taken of the scenery outside the window during our drive. (1) Abbey River: Recreating Beatles album art in the Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon. (2) The Hundafoss waterfallwere the tiny figures to the left of the top of the waterfall. The Svartifoss waterfall. A panorama from the Sjónarnípa viewpoint. After a busy third day, we enjoyed a relatively relaxed Day 4we visited a glacier lagoon and returned to Vík to stay in a cabin on the beach (fun fact: the cabin was built by our talented Airbnb host). 5 buffoons and a lagoon. (1) Yoga on the beach!! (2) Standing on the basalt columns of Víks beach. Our cabin was a five-minute walk from this area. On Day 5, we backtracked to Skaftafell, where wed registered to take part in a glacier walk/tour. On the way, we visited the Skögafoss waterfall. Skögafoss and a rainbow. (1) Conquering the Svínafellsjökull glacier, where scenes from Interstellar and Game of Thrones were filmed. (2) Ascending a ~*~very tall, very real~*~ mountain!!!!!! We returned to Reykjavík that evening to explore the nightlife. Though I unfortunately have no good photos of that night, I do remember having a good time dancing to 80s music at the Lebowski bar. We intended to spend Day 6 exploring Reykjavík, but we realized too late that it was Easter Sunday, which meant that many attractions (notably, this museum) were closed. We were, however, still able to visit a church, eat lunch at a hip laundromat-café, visit an exhibit in the Saga Museum, and enjoy a gourmet (by which i mean absurdly expensive/bougie/wallet-emptying but incredibly delicious) Icelandic seafood dinner. The Hallgrímskirkja church. The main event of that day occurred after nightfall, when we drove to the lawn of the Icelandic presidents house to view the northern lights. We were worried that we wouldnt catch the aurora on our trip, and this was our final opportunity to do sofortunately, we got lucky with clear skies through which the lights were visible! The photos are a bit blurry because theyre long-exposure shots taken without a tripod, but in any case, the sky was beautiful that night. The aurora! Day 7 was our last day in Iceland. Our final destination was the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, which we visited on our way back to the airport. Silica mud masks at Blue Lagoon. When I was trying to recruit friends to go on the trip with me, I sent an email that said there is a geothermal spa and waterfalls and a stark, breathtaking landscape. Ive never been, but Ive been to Norway, and based on that experience, Scandinavia is not just really photogenic; it is even more striking in person. I still stand by these statements (except, of course, Ive never been). With the exception of the northern lights, the real thing is better than the photos. Anyway, Im now convinced that Iceland is the country with the highest concentration of beautiful sights, and I would highly recommend traveling there to anyone who can stand cold weatherplane tickets are cheap and the landscape is gorgeous. I was grateful for the opportunity to escape the MIT bubble and the professional world, to really relax for the first time in many months. My only regret about the trip is that it couldnt be longer, and I would happily visit again someday! A final, unrelated note: now that were in the season of college decisions and CPWif youll be on campus for CPW and want to meet up, email me and Ill see what I can do! I unfortunately wont be at many scheduled events because Ill be spending a lot of time with my parents, who are visiting that weekend, but Im always interested in meeting yall. :~) Spring Break This past week was, hands down, the best spring break of my college career. It didnt seem that way at first. I was scheduled to fly out last Friday: Boston New York Houston. I managed to get to New York, but then my flight got canceled, leaving me frustrated and with an intense craving for home/family/my moms food none of which Id had in nearly a year. Things perked up slightly when I walked into my Delta-provided hotel room and saw a beautiful queen size bed. I curled up and (1) watched Finding Nemo, and (2) started reading Hunger Games. At some point, I fell into a dreamless sleep, and eight hours later, woke up to catch my flight and arrive safely in the ever-humid city of Houston, Texas. Enter: sleep, food, an absence of psets, and the realization that my younger brother is way taller than I am. I spent the first few days of Spring Break lazing about the house, taking four-hour naps a little too often and relishing the taste of home-cooked food. I dragged my mom and brother to the theater to watch Hunger Games (go watch it its awesome!) and finished the rest of the book series. I glanced briefly at homework but only to tell myself that it didnt look too bad and fully qualified for procrastination. On Tuesday, I joined three of my favorite 12s (Vidya, Helen, and Yun) on a mini-roadtrip to the small town of Brenham, home of Blue Bell ice cream. We took a tour of the ice cream factory + got free ice cream! Yummmmm :) Here are some pics from our Brenham trip (some of which are heavily edited since Vidya and Yun got a little excited about Picasas new editing features, loll): (L-R: Yun 12, Vidya 12 Imitating the owls!) (Me: freaking out about flowers) (Helen 12: reliving her childhood) (L-R: Yun 12, me bluebonnets!!) On Wednesday, Yun and I made our way to the 2012 Livestrong Assembly, held in Austin, Texas. As co-chairs for Camp Kesem MIT this year, we joined Ram 13 in repping our Camp Kesem chapter at the Assembly. Last year, Livestrong made Camp Kesem one of their community impact projects, allowing 12 new Camp Kesem chapters to be created all over the nation all of which will launch their first camps this upcoming summer. At the Assembly, we had a chance to meet Livestrong leaders and community partners from all over the world (Africa, Pakistan, Canada, and more). It was incredibly inspiring and the best part? WE GOT TO MEET LANCE ARMSTRONG!!!!! Check out this vid from the Assembly: Awesome, right??? :) Other cool things from the conference: networking with Livestrong affiliates in the Boston area, reuniting with CK people from other chapters, eating amazing food, and snuggling into queen-size beds at night. Im back in Boston now and missing Texas big-timeespecially since I have a lotttt of work to do between now and Monday. Regardless, I wouldnt have given up this Spring Break for anything. I hope all of you had fantastic Spring Breaks as well! Comment below what did you do over break?