Charlie vs. Iceland 2017: Socks and Larry

Since yesterday and until tomorrow morning, we are stationed at an eco village called Solheimar. It is a small little village, there's not much around us, and only 100 people live here. 43 of those people have disabilities, but Solheimar offers all of their community members jobs, projects, and housing while they are here. Since it is an eco village, a lot of the buildings are made from sustainable and renewable resources, they have their own geothermal power plant on site, and they also have a beautiful greenhouse which (fun fact!) supplies the country with over 50 percent of its tomatoes.

Last night we took a late night walk to the glacial river about half an hour away. It was still light out, don't worry. But I put some pictures of the area at the bottom if you want to check those out!

Also something I've learned about Icelandic culture (and the reason for the title of this post) is that you always have to take your shoes off whenever you go inside a building and leave them at the front door. So I've been seeing and smelling a lot of socks lately. Which also brings me to the next part of this post: Larry and his socks.

Since we have 7 weeks together, I figured I should start introducing some of the other characters on my trip. Larry was the first person I met on my journey, plus his story has a sock tie-in, so it's perfect.

Larry (Laurence) is from New York City (ish) and goes to school at University of Virginia for biology (NOT PREMED EVERYBODY!). He likes 2000's R&B, all kinds of social media, and selfies that he looks good in. Normally when you meet a new person, they fit a certain category in your brain so that you at least have a sense of what to expect from them or what they are like. Larry fits no category in my brain, probably because I have met no one else like him in my entire life.

I was standing in the JFK airport when this 5'5" random person (Larry) walked up to me and said, "Are you studying abroad?" Fortunately for him, the answer was yes, because Larry is quite awkward in new situations and would have started panicking. Larry was quick to inform me that he had done NONE of his required pre-departure assignments. We all know those people who say the most ridiculous things and then miraculously pull out 100's on their chem exams. I thought Larry was one of those people at first. But as I got to know him on our trip through the Keflavik airport in Iceland and in the days since, I've realized that he's not a disaster and he definitely has his s*** together; he's just a really really funny person.

So here are 2 stories about Larry and socks:

1. You remember in a previous post how I told you we saw 2 geothermal power plants a couple of days ago? So we did that, and at the second one, there was a very cute gift shop (almost got you a key chain, Meg, but I didn't want to buy you something so early on without seeing what else was out there). Everything was really expensive, so most of us just glanced around and kept walking as we were leaving the place. We get back to the bus, take our seats, and realize that Larry, who we thought had been right behind us, wasn't there. Couple minutes later he gets on the bus holding the most ridiculous pair of socks you've ever seen in your life. They are baby blue, probably about knee-high on him, have a sheepy looking wool rim at the top, those grip pad dot things on the bottom, have little puffins (or something bird-related) all over them, and probably cost around 30 dollars. "Guys, I bought socks," he says.

He puts them on as we are driving to the next stop, and once we get there he realizes that there is zero chance his new-sock feet will fit inside his tennis shoes. Haven't seen him wear them since.

2. Yesterday we went on that late-night hike to the glacial river that I mentioned above. Let's play a game: if it was rainy outside, it had been raining all day long, it was cold, and you were going on a hike, which of the following would you NOT wear?

a. grey cotton sweatpants
b. new tennis shoes
c. bright red knee-length boxers
d. all of the above

If you chose (d), you would be correct. Choice (a) is bad because they would get soaked and the water would show up all over you. Choice (b) is bad because your shoes would get destroyed and wouldn't dry very fast. And choice (c) is bad because no one should ever wear that.

Well, our friend Larry also chose (d), but instead he chose TO wear, yes, all of the above. Which means some very wet socks indeed. But...how did I know what underwear he was wearing? Because at the turn-around point he removed choice (a) and walked the rest of the way home in choice (c) instead.

So that's Larry :) He cracks me up.

And now for some pictures!