Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Who, What, Where, When, and Why

Here's a little bit about my trip, before I head off into the abyss without any explanation.

Who: Me (Charlie Kristine Brickner) along with about 20 other people from different schools across the country. Nobody else from WashU though. 

What: The official name of my SIT Study Abroad program is Iceland: Renewable Energy, Technology, and Resource Economics. I'm taking a class on that subject, doing an independent study project, and also taking another class on introductory level Icelandic. 

Where: We fly into Reykjavik, but spend most of our time during the trip in and around the town of Ísafjörður. If you don't know how to say that, neither do I. If you want to know how to pronounce it, check out this video on pronouncing places in Iceland (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVhl4Vk7t_A), and then keep me in your prayers. 

This is Ísafjörður...crazy right??

This is a map of Iceland. It's square mileage is less than the that of the state of Pennsylvania. 

When: I leave on June 13th and come back to the US on August 1st. 


Why: If you haven't seen the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, add that to your list of movies to watch. A significant portion of the movie takes place in Iceland, and once you watch it you're going to want to go there too. Here are some pictures of places where the movie was filmed. All of these are little fishing towns -- the first near Keflavik, the second is Seydhisfjordhur, and the third is on the peninsula on the map below where I'm going to be in Ísafjörður. 






So to sum up the "why" part, Iceland is kinda alright looking and idk maybe I'll get lucky and see something cool? 

(I'm kidding. If I come back with that attitude someone please slap me.)

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

The Build-up

So...in exactly 2 weeks at this time I will be on a plane to Iceland. 

A couple months ago I started thinking about what I wanted my sophomore summer to look like. Internship? That would be great, except at that point I was probably too late in the school year to start looking. Work at home? never again. So, naturally, the only other option was to travel 3000 miles away to study abroad in Iceland. 

Things I didn't think about when I applied that I am thinking about now...constantly:

1. Main food group of Icelanders? seafood. One food group I don't eat? seafood.
2. Greatest amount of time spent overseas before this trip? 3 days. Greatest amount of time away from home ever? about 5 weeks. 
Length of this trip? 7 weeks. 
3. Words of Icelandic I can pronounce? Zero. 

So that makes the score...


Iceland: 3
Charlie: 0

A lot of people have asked me if I am excited, and I definitely am excited. But at this point I'm also very nervous. There are a lot of unknowns, with the most relevant unknown right now being "will all of my crap fit in one suitcase?" 

Until it does...


Iceland: 4
Charlie: 0

I have a lot of work to do.