Adios, Winter

February 3, 2018

8:30am (written on a plane somewhere between Greenville and San Jose, CR)

Today is the big day! I enjoyed the recent snow in Greenville, but I am ready to leave the cold behind and bask in the sun with a melting ice cream cone!  I have visited Sweden, Norway, and Iceland, but I have never been anywhere south of Texas/Florida, so I am thrilled to have this opportunity to visit Central America! I have been taking Spanish classes since sixth grade, and I am looking forward to language and cultural immersion!


4:00pm (San Jose, Costa Rica)

I’m currently settling into my dorm room at the Universidad Biblica Latinoamericana (UBL) in San, José, Costa Rica.   I’m doing a Latin America study away program with Furman University, and we are scheduled to visit Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Cuba!  I studied on campus for the first three weeks this semester, and now we’re beginning the travel portion. I’m enrolled in four classes this semester: Sociology: Global Health Inequalities, Political Science: U.S. Foreign Policy in L.A., History of Latin America, and Latin American Studies.

Dorm building at Universidad Biblica Latinoamericana

Before boarding my flight at Greenville-Spartanburg Airport (GSP), I made a last minute Walmart run at 6:00am to buy some last-minute things from my packing list (Yes, I packed everything the night before & yes, I know that probably wasn’t the smartest plan of action).  I was wearing chacos and short sleeves in 27 degree weather, but I was just being practical! I could endure the cold for a half hour if it meant that I could kiss winter goodbye and enjoy the longest summer of my life!

As I exited the plane, I was greeted with a beautiful mountain view and air conditioning! Through a haze of excitement and sleep deprivation, we all claimed our baggage and walked out into a thick wall of heat and humidity. It was wonderful. We bought bottled water outside from a vendor (since most tap water here is not clean), and we met our trip coordinators/translators, Susan and Cesar. We all boarded a bus that can seat as many as thirty people, and we drove off through San José to the UBL  This was the opposite of my arrival in Reykjavik, Iceland where I was met with sleet and a cold, rocky landscape (don't get me wrong though...I loved the wintry weather in Iceland and I would be 100% okay with living there).

Each dorm room has a name, and I have the pleasure of living in "Chandra" for about a week and a half.  Each bed is graced with a homemade quilt and my window overlooks a mosaic bird bath.  I can already tell that my favorite spot on campus is going to be inside the bamboo!

Until next time,

~HET

FYI: I had very limited access to WiFi while abroad, so I am in the process of transcribing my personal journal entries into blog posts so that you all can have more of an inside perspective that goes a lot deeper than my Instagram & Facebook posts! I hope you enjoy them despite the long delay😊

Personal Instagram: @harmony.thomas
Travel Instagram: @harmonious.adventures

Final Reflection

It's so crazy to think that this trip is coming to an end.

At the beginning I thought that three weeks would go by pretty slowly. I was wrong. When you're meeting new people, visiting new places, eating every meal together, cooking together, working together, sharing the same hostel rooms, and riding the bus everywhere together, time flies. I didn't have any time to be homesick or to be bored. I have been surrounded by the most eager, adventurous and caring group of people ever. We have experienced more in three short weeks than some would experience in over a month. Yeah, we had to get super cozy at times and we didn't have a lot of personal space, but it was wonderful all the same. We have basically become a family and we will always share the bond of this experience. I came into this only knowing Jessie Wheeler and Emily Ritz, but I have come out of this with fifteen new friends.

We have hiked until our legs and feet ache, we have explored a glacial ice cave, eaten putrefied shark, hiked behind a waterfall, hiked up volcanoes, slid down patches of snow and ice, visited lots of glaciers, watched seals swimming through icebergs, leaned over the sides of cliffs to see puffins, and so much more. We all ate too many cookies and napped too much, but we were always up for a new adventure. You knew that you had a real friend when they let you have the last ballerina, bourbon cookie, crème cake, or digestive cookie.

It's going to be so strange next year to see everyone in clean clothes and any shoes besides hiking boots. We'll all be heading back to the real world soon and this will seem like a good dream. It still hasn't completely sunk in for me that we are in Iceland right now. Maybe once I get home I'll be like, "Wow, I was actually in Iceland yesterday." I'll probably accidently refer to the restroom as the "WC" and no one will know what I'm talking about. I'll miss the pristine Icelandic tap water that is better than just about any bottled water. I'll miss all the yohoos and how excited we would all get whenever we saw any cat, dog, horse, or sheep. I'll miss the random geological stops and sketching different rock and glacial formations in my field notebook. I came into this knowing next to nothing about geology, but now I feel so much more knowledgeable about glaciation, volcanics, plate techtonics, types of rocks, and interpreting past geological events. I have been very fortunate to experience these things firsthand, not just from a geology book or lectures in a classroom. The world is our classroom and the earth is our teacher.

This trip has shaped me in many ways, and it has changed my perspective on many things. I would not trade these experiences for anything, and I cannot think of any better group of people to have had these experiences with.

Love you guys!

-HET

Heimaey Island

May 29, 2016

Today was bittersweet. It was our last official day in the field, but definitely one of my favorites. We made a quick stop to Seljalandsfoss on the way to the ferry. It had been raining a bit earlier, but it had turned into mist by the time we arrived. Even so, we wore all of our rain gear since the water from the falls has a tendency to spray upwards. This was my first time ever walking behind a waterfall, and it was surreal. According to one of the information boards, on sunny days visitors often see rainbows in the falls.

Our next stop was the ferry. I found a nice comfy sofa to nap on while many others went out onto the deck for some beautiful views of the mainland and the Vestmannaeyjar Islands. We docked at Heimaey around 10:20 and walked around the harbor and through the town. The fishing industry dominates the island, as well as the noxious smell that accompanies it. It was especially pungent when we walked by the Langa Fish Factory.

Back when I was in Dr. Ranson's writing seminar, "To Walk the Land", we read about the 1973 eruption of Eldfell. In a battle of man vs. nature, the people were able to save the harbor from being closed off by the lava flows. At the time, I thought it was a very interesting story. However, I never would have expected to actually visit the island of Heimaey and the very volcano that erupted! I did not even realize the connection until Dr. Ranson mentioned it during our first hike of the day on Heimaklettur, an old volcanic formation.

This hike proved to be a bit challenging with the steep ladders and the ropes and chains that we used to safely guide our footsteps. Many of the paths we walked on were little more than sheep paths. I had to walk gingerly in many places to avoid stepping in sheep droppings. The views of the island got progressively better as we ascended. I reached the peak a little before 12:20. I had a full view of the entire island, including a landing strip on the far side. Looking down on the island, it was easy to see where the destroyed part of the town used to be. Not much has been rebuilt in that area and the terrain appears to be wild and untamed. We enjoyed the views as we consumed our packed lunches. I had a ham and cheese sandwich and an apple. As usual, we passed around the ballerinas and digestives (European cookies that are beyond delicious). A plane took off and flew right over our heads at one point, so we all waved at it just in case anyone happened to be watching us.

Next came the easy part—the descent. We went down the same way we went up. The only difference was that instead of climbing up the ladders, we had to climb down them backwards. I absolutely love ladders, so I enjoyed climbing them immensely. It would have made the hike a lot easier had there been more of them, but I am glad that the trail had a variety of interesting features. While I was waiting on the other half of the group to complete their decent, I went near the ocean to observe some of the rocks. Jessie and I each found pieces of obsidian. This obsidian probably formed during the quick cooling of the lava flows from the Eldfell eruption. Icelanders used American pumps to pump over 1.6 million tons of cold seawater onto the lava flows, thus saving the harbor. It will be nice to hold onto this little piece of history.

Many of us were in desperate need of the WC, so we quickly made our way to a local gas station. Dr. Suresh bought us all ice cream and drinks. He also bought a humongous bag full of hot French fries that he generously shared with the group. We walked all the way across town on our way to Eldfell. We passed through the part of the town that got completely destroyed by the '73 eruption. Many of the lots had signs with the name of the house on them. Some homes have been excavated, including one that is showcased in the Eldheimar Museum that we visited later in the day.

We began our Eldfell hike around 3:30. It was much easier than our previous one; my calves were very happy about that. It took us less than half an hour to reach the top. I had never seen any rocks quite as reddish orange as these. The coloration makes me think of a sunburst. Dr. Suresh and Dr. Ranson told us to be on the lookout for fumaroles at the top of the crater. I stuck my hand in one of them to gauge the temperature, quickly jerking it back upon the realization that it was as hot as on oven inside. Speaking of ovens, Dr. Suresh stuck the bag of leftover fries in one of the larger fumaroles to reheat them. Who knew geothermally heated fries could be so tasty? Some of the reddish rocks were chalky, so the pigment could be easily rubbed off. I took advantage of the opportunity and applied it on my face as Native American war paint. Several others did the same.

Our next stop was the Eldheimar Museum. The tour was self-guided, so I took my time and absorbed a lot of interesting information about the eruption. It made me very happy to hear that 5,072 of the inhabitants were able to be safely evacuated from the island (one man of the 5,073 was killed by toxic fumes). Due to a storm at sea, the entire fishing fleet was anchored in the harbor. The sick and elderly were flown out, and everyone else was ferried to the mainland in the fishing vessels. The eruption lasted for over five months, from January 23, 1973 until July 3, 1973. Volunteers from all over the world came to help with the post eruption cleanup. A thick layer of ash and tephra covered everything on the island, and they had to be shoveled away manually. Heavy winds often brought in more ash during the months following the end of the eruption. Some participated in a restoration project that sought to repopulate the native vegetation to prevent erosion and bring back the natural habitat. About two thirds of the original population returned to the island with the intent of rebuilding and recovering.

After the museum we all headed over to a restaurant called Gott. Everything on the menu looked delicious, so I had an extremely hard time deciding what to order. Dr. Suresh ordered an appetizer platter for each table with olives, lobster, bread, chicken, salted ham, pesto, guacamole, chopped apples, yogurt sauce, gravy, and some delicious cheese and arugula. I eventually settled on a chicken wrap with pesto, rice, and melted cheese, a salad, and half of a sweet potato for my meal. Amanda generously gave me her yogurt salad dressing. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. In fact, there was so much food that I ended up sharing my sweet potato and half of my wrap with Dr. Ranson, Brightin, Lettie, Lauren, and Dr. Suresh.

In order to catch the 9:00 ferry we had to eat pretty quickly. As we left the harbor the sun came out from behind the clouds, creating the perfect panorama to end a perfect day.

Glacier Hopping

May 27, 2016

I started out my day with a slice of my usual toast and jam at 8:40 a.m. We planned a hike for today, so we also made sandwiches this morning to take with us. My sandwich was ham, cheese, and delicious. We also packed some crisp, juicy apples and some delectable European sweets. The weather in Iceland tends to be a bit unpredictable, so I made sure to pack my rain pants, gloves, scarf, and hat. It will seem really strange to have higher temperatures and shorter daylight hours when I return to the U.S. I have really grown used to wearing my eye mask every night to block out the light. Plus, I absolutely love sweater weather and dressing in layers.

Everyone looks to me as the professional hair braider, so naturally two of my classmates, Lauren and Jessie, put in requests for today. I gave Lauren a French braid, Jessie double French braids, and I did a side braid for myself. We have learned that it is not a good idea to hike with our hair down due to strong winds and split ends.

We made our first stop at Fjallsálón around 10:15. The lagoon is full of icebergs, and the shore is composed of volcanic rocks and sediments. We walked on the terminal moraine to get to the edge of the lagoon. In contrast to the blue water in the Jokulsarla Glacial Lagoon that we saw yesterday, this water has a milky appearance. This is due to glacial debris, referred to as "glacial flour" by Dr. Ranson and Dr. Suresh. As we were making observations, we spotted a distant tour boat weaving through the icebergs. That gave us an idea of just how large the lagoon actually is. Towards the end of our stop, we all competed to see who could skip rocks the farthest. I quickly found that skipping rocks is not in my skill set. However, I did improve slightly by the end.

Fjallsálón Glacier and Lagoon

Our main destination for the day was Vatnajökull National Park, the largest national park in Western Europe. At 5,300 square miles, it covers 13% of Iceland. The park is home to Vatnajökull, the world's largest glacier outside of the Arctics. There are ten volcanic systems in the area. They periodically release torrents of sediment-rich waters into the lowlands, causing major flooding and erosion.

We stopped at a beautiful waterfall about two miles into our hike. We had a nice lunch there, and we also took lots of pictures. Right after we finished eating it started to rain! We donned our rain gear in record time. Most of us have rain covers for our backpacks, but some got creative with ponchos and grocery bags. We experienced low visibility throughout the remainder of our hike to Skaftafellsjökull Glacier. When we reached the overlook, we could hardly see anything through the thick fog. The longer we stayed, the more it cleared up. Our patience was rewarded with an amazing view of Skaftafellsjökull and the surrounding area. The glacier is covered in cracks and crevices due to glacial melting. We could hear the roar of meltwater rushing through and out of the glacier. Many depressions and kettles are apparent on the surface. They are created when glaciers hollow out, causing some surface areas to cave in.

After the hike we stopped at a gas station for dinner. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but a buffet was definitely not it. My "casual" gas station dinner consisted of a rosemary and garlic salad, gourmet Icelandic potatoes, rice with gravy, trout, and beef. For dessert I had a cappuccino and a good sized chocolate chip cookie. We're leaving our hostel in Vagnstadir tomorrow morning, so I'm looking forward to new adventures!

 

Pictured: Jessie Wheeler & Me

Puddles & Clean Socks

May 25, 2016

Today we left Solheimer for Eastern horizons. This morning I grabbed my usual toast with jam and coffee.☕️ It was mostly sugar and milk, so it was perfectly delightful. I am so glad that I was able to do my laundry yesterday; it sure makes packing up a lot easier. Now my "dirty, but may wear again" and "too filthy to wear" laundry bags are empty. Plus, clean hiking socks are such a luxury!

We got off to a pretty late start due to interesting circumstances. First off, when we began to board the bus, we quickly realized that there were puddles of water under many of the seats. To avoid the wet areas, many of us got super cozy in the back of the bus. I am glad that the bad weather is on our travel day instead of a field day. It's the perfect weather for napping, reading, and snacking. According to Lettie Woods, I am the "snack queen." All I have are raisins, chocolate covered raisins, ballerina cookies, double chocolate muffins, leftover pizza🍕, sour cream and onion crackers, mints, and a doughnut🍩, so I don't really see the connection...

Solheimer Eco Village

May 24, 2016

(May add later. Not part of graded blog.)

Of Muffins & Puffins

May 19, 2016

Today I had the pleasure of visiting Latrabjarag, the westernmost part of Europe known for its high cliffs and massive bird populations. On the way over, I ate my fourth double chocolate muffin of the trip, a tasty treat that I have gradually become addicted to. We arrived a little after 11:00. At the height of migration, the cliffs can be occupied by over a million birds. The cliffs are the perfect nesting grounds for migratory birds, offering protection and access to the sea for hunting. As I walked along the cliff's edge, I saw many egg shells and lots of bird droppings.

Puffins, in my opinion, are the cutest things ever. It was so much fun to see them up close in their natural habit. They did not even seem to be nervous that I was there. They seemed to be more curious than anything. If I were afraid of heights, this experience would be truly terrifying. As it was, I felt very comfortable on the cliffs, simply observing the antics of the birds. I took the time to do a detailed sketch of a puffin in my field notebook after thoroughly exploring the cliffs and taking lots of photos.

Towards the end of our visit, Mitchell told me about some seals that he had spotted on some distant rocks. I took my time observing them through the binoculars until it was time to depart.

We stopped at an aircraft museum around 1:45 to use the WC and shop for souvenirs. I purchased a decorative wooden ship for my mother (spoiler alert) and some other gifts for friends.

We stopped at the small fishing village of Patreksfjördur to stock up on groceries and to grab some dinner. To our dismay, the restaurant did not officially open until later in the evening. While we were grocery shopping, our bus driver, Thor came across the owner of Heimsendi Bistro. After talking it over, the owner (who was also the chef) said that he would open the restaurant early for us. All he had to do was run a few errands, including picking up fresh fish from the harbor and purchasing some fresh lamb meat from a nearby farm.

The bistro was tastefully decorated with bright colors and wall art. Most of the group ordered the halibut, but I decided to be adventurous and try out the lamb. This has been the most appetizing meal of the trip by far. The presentation was excellent and the cuisine was a true work of art. The lamb was tender, juicy, and flavorful. The mushroom sauce was a welcome addition to the already perfect pallet. Always the sustainable one, Brightin prevented food waste by eating half of my vegetables. Towards the end of the meal the chef served us coffee "on the house."

We got back to the hostel a little after 7:30, so I took the opportunity to take a much needed shower and fill in my field notebook.

-HET