It's my dear mom's birthday today. I love her sooo much and miss her beautiful being very much. Thank you, mom, for being the most incredible mom anyone could ever ask for.
Today, Niall and I found a nice cafe downtown Reykjavik with 'new' walls to look at while I try to stay focused even tho the weather is absolutelly brilliant. The Atlantic ocean, clear blue skies & snow-covered (treeless) mntns in view. Niall can eat & play while I read & drink latte's :)
I'm in the middle of a two-week time of exams and presentations, all time-consuming yet incredible topics, i.e. development & detecting planetary atmospheres, monitoring mass balance of glaciers via remote sensing/hydrology, geologic formation & glaciodynamics of flutes, a geological landform not only in Iceland but all throughout Canada from Ice Ages. I actually found a science paper on the landforms and dynamics left in the Okanagan Valley from the glaciers that have been there before - even how AB/Saskatchewan is all carved with landforms that hold 'secrets' of how the ice moved, it's thickness and so on. It's very cool to see home in this new way. One exam is the biology of the origin of life, microbes/bacteria beings that continue to exist in extreme habitats, i.e. alkaline/acidic hot springs, antarctic ice & hydrothermal sea vents - how RNA became DNA, and pretty deep discussions about our former evolution from possibly neandrathals, how human brains have changed size, on and on. My presentations have been prepared & presented as a group of usually 5 of us - it has proven to be the funnest, significant learning to work alongside Icelandic, French, Japanese, Spanish colleagues - they have taught me so much not only of what we are learning but of life, of culture, of our different ways. I've had the biggest fits of laughter while working in these groups, sometimes misunderstanding words and terms. For example, I said "class starts" and one person thought I said 'clusters'. Since I'm the only english-native speaking peron in the group I end up finding how fast I talk and how much each foreign student is adaptingn to the most basic words sometimes But, I've learned more from them I'm sure of that. We also have a volcano conference our class is putting on in the main engineering & natural sciences, Askja, Apr 5th to prepare. If any of you'd like to have copies of the presentations or lectures if it really interests you, just let me know :)
We have a girl, Ruth, from Ireland staying with us since mid-Feb, she's doing her PhD in geothermal energy & sustainability. Today, she baked homeade spelt bread and a soup, and plays guitar and irish flute - really nice to have around! We started talkin about Irish soda bread, as my mom and grandma Massey always made it, nice tradition.
Spring break soon, March 27th -Apr 3rd, hope to stay on an Icelandic farm so Niall and I can volunteer and stay free, do farm chores and get a feel for the country and fresh air.
Today, Niall and I found a nice cafe downtown Reykjavik with 'new' walls to look at while I try to stay focused even tho the weather is absolutelly brilliant. The Atlantic ocean, clear blue skies & snow-covered (treeless) mntns in view. Niall can eat & play while I read & drink latte's :)
I'm in the middle of a two-week time of exams and presentations, all time-consuming yet incredible topics, i.e. development & detecting planetary atmospheres, monitoring mass balance of glaciers via remote sensing/hydrology, geologic formation & glaciodynamics of flutes, a geological landform not only in Iceland but all throughout Canada from Ice Ages. I actually found a science paper on the landforms and dynamics left in the Okanagan Valley from the glaciers that have been there before - even how AB/Saskatchewan is all carved with landforms that hold 'secrets' of how the ice moved, it's thickness and so on. It's very cool to see home in this new way. One exam is the biology of the origin of life, microbes/bacteria beings that continue to exist in extreme habitats, i.e. alkaline/acidic hot springs, antarctic ice & hydrothermal sea vents - how RNA became DNA, and pretty deep discussions about our former evolution from possibly neandrathals, how human brains have changed size, on and on. My presentations have been prepared & presented as a group of usually 5 of us - it has proven to be the funnest, significant learning to work alongside Icelandic, French, Japanese, Spanish colleagues - they have taught me so much not only of what we are learning but of life, of culture, of our different ways. I've had the biggest fits of laughter while working in these groups, sometimes misunderstanding words and terms. For example, I said "class starts" and one person thought I said 'clusters'. Since I'm the only english-native speaking peron in the group I end up finding how fast I talk and how much each foreign student is adaptingn to the most basic words sometimes But, I've learned more from them I'm sure of that. We also have a volcano conference our class is putting on in the main engineering & natural sciences, Askja, Apr 5th to prepare. If any of you'd like to have copies of the presentations or lectures if it really interests you, just let me know :)
We have a girl, Ruth, from Ireland staying with us since mid-Feb, she's doing her PhD in geothermal energy & sustainability. Today, she baked homeade spelt bread and a soup, and plays guitar and irish flute - really nice to have around! We started talkin about Irish soda bread, as my mom and grandma Massey always made it, nice tradition.
Spring break soon, March 27th -Apr 3rd, hope to stay on an Icelandic farm so Niall and I can volunteer and stay free, do farm chores and get a feel for the country and fresh air.