Maulers and Ponies and Cake, Oh My!

Plane Ride:
We left the Raleigh airport at 11:19pm. All ten students: Me, Anne, Amanda, Michelle, Julia P., Reagan, Kaelyn, Coley, Julia S., and Kate-Noel. Also our two wonderful professors - Dr. Novak and Dr. Grawthwohl. We were crowded onto a three seat wide plane- the smallest plane I've every been on in my whole life. I could read the newspaper the guy across the asile was reading. Most of us turned on our Ipods and relaxed since it was only an hour and a half flight. Most of us were dreading the lay-over in Boston. We arrived in Boston around 130pm and settled in near International Security - it wasn't going to open till five in the afternoon. With computers, cards, and Bananagrams we managed to survive the 8 hour lay over (also the book store in the airport entertained us for a long while). During our trip through security we were asked by people why we were in Boston. At first I told the guard we were a football team, undefeated. But later we came up with the elaborate story that we are the "Meredith Maulers" Extreme Cage Fighting Team. So far we've come up with a few nicknames of each other and some of us are wanting to do a tshirt design. Once I get a design down I'll put some pictures up. (So far some names are BGOD(me, apprivating my own name is awesome enough ROFL), Riddler(Coley - she wore purple pants and green one day haha), Gunter (Julia P), Jewelbecca (Julia S), and MadHatter (Kate-noel sat in class with a tea pot and tea cup among other tea making items today so she got that nickname). Look forward to that! I'm thinking Lime Green, Black, and Hot Pink colors.
Next came a bit pain and discomfort. A five hour flight from Boston to Iceland. All I can say is I'm SUPER happy that I'll be in first class when I fly to Japan this winter. My butt hurt so bad I could hardly stand it. But I finally got to finish the Sherlock Holmes movie - a predictable end. Still not fully satisfied with Downy Jr. as Sherlock but thats because I was spoiled with Jeremy Bretts FANTASTIC job at playing the mysterious sluth. With that only taking up an hour I decided to watch The Transporter (again)(after much difficulty with the lil tv screen). Jason Statham is just amazing at acting, not to mention his accent is to die for. haha. After finishing the movie I tossed and turned about trying to get some shut eye but it just wasn't going to happen. At least not until the last ten minutes of the flight at which time the flight attendent woke me up because my ipod had fallen. -.-; bugger! So I ended up going the whole 38 (or more) hours without a wink of sleep. Don't worry. I drank coke, ate beef jerky and chocolate - yes, the ones you gave me mom and dad, they were a life saver! <3

Car Ride and Settling In at Skalholt - Not to mention ponies and cake:
I was SOOOOOO glad when we finally got in to the bus-car because I was soooo tired. I crawled into the back, with three others. Everyone chatted and laughed, myself including at first. But once we got past the 'troll rocks' and down the long, endless roads we started to feel the weight of our journey thus far. I think I was the first one to dose off, only coming to when the bus-car made a turn about. Apparently we had gotten lost while I was slumbering for five minutes. We ended up stopping at a gas station (yes, they are like ours. Remarkably so.) and some Icelandic bikers helped Dr. G and Dr. N figure out how to get to Skalholt.Once we were packed back in the van all snuggly (it was tight, we had 12 suitcases and 24 carry on items plus 12 people to fit into the bus-car) we started to get warm and comfortable. Head started bobbing and heavy eye lids started fluttering. Before anyone knew it we (the students) had dosed off - well at least the whole back row. Everyone piling heads on top of each other and mouths hanging open - luckily no drooling. The turn into Skalholt was the only reason we woke up; woke up grumbling.

It was the only chance we'd get to sleep that day. Apparently its easier to adjust to time difference if you 'hit-the-ground-running' when you arrive somewhere. Dr. N was concerned we wouldn't sleep through the night if he let us rest the first day - he obviously isn't aware of what I am capable of! I could sleep through a 24 hour hail storm without a problem. I could sleep for a week if people would leave me alone. hahahaha. No but seriously, no lie. I can sleep any time, anywhere, for however long.
But anyways.

We got to the hostel and immediately when to lunch first. Thank Goodness! And there was WARM soup waiting for us. It tasted amazing! Absolutely wonderful. I'm surprised no one dropped their head into their soup the way we were supporting such dark bags under our eyes. haha. But after lunch we headed down to the rooms and cabins. Everyone gets their own room - LUCKY! Our professors stay at the two cabins up this lil hill - they try to give us our space. Although we have no problem with hanging around them. Dr. N and Dr. G are awesome and always funny. Our 'settling' in wasn't long (only long enough for me to throw my stuff on the bed and wash my hair in the sink). They had us movin' and grovin' before we knew it.

Off to hike 2 1/2 miles over ROUGH terrain to see the wild horses - through the pouring rain. And while seeing the beautiful horses was worth it, it didn't help our low level of energy and our growing exhaustion. But that was as far as they pushed us the first day. The only other thing we did was walk up the path to dinner where another warm and delicious meal was waiting for us. How wonderful <3. (The cake is awesome!)

Let The Good Times Roll.