Nice emails reached us two days ago, offering a fairly cheap boat trip out in the fjord.
And then we sam them: minkewhales and humpbacks… the 15m humpacks surfacing about 8 meters from the boat.
Discussions arose about whaling and the whale watching industry in Iceland. Interesting aspects came up and it is up to the individual to form an opinion about that. Clearly, there is no ‘right’ nor ‘wrong’.
The beauty of nature’s creation is stunning nevertheless!
Today our Polar Law class headed out to the Mývatn area. We stopped by some utterly marvellous sights.
Inter alia the Goðafoss, the Waterfall of the Gods, where the local chieftain Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði some hundreds of years ago threw his heathen gods into the water as a sure sign that he had now converted to Christianity.
After Goðafoss we continued our way on the shores of the Mývatn lake, a lake marked by lava formations, crates and pseudocraters…
… to Dimmuborgir, the Dark Castles, the remains of massive volcanic eruptions in the area…
… just to reach Námafjall, a marsian geothermal site of constant bubbling and boiling. The air is satiated with the smell of sulphur – rotten eggs.
In order to wash off the stench of sulphur, we went to the local geothermal natural bath! a wonderful chill-out after an exhausting yet wonderful day!
By the way, some shots from Akureyri from the other side of the fjord, from in and around Akureyri and from one of the stages on Akureyri-Day, the celebration of good-ol’ Aku’s birthday.
Yesterday I enjoyed my first class of the master’s program. Environmental Law is the topic of the week which is party very hard to understand, but which is of fundamental importance for the polar regions.
My class consists of thirteen people so far of which the majority are Icelanders, followed by Canadians, including me two Germans, a Polish and a Russian girl. International so to speak.
The university is a tiny tiny university, modern and friendly – except for the high prices in the cafeteria! I’m looking forward to more interesting classes and people. To find out about the Polar Law program, go to www.polarlaw.com
Some photos from Akureyri – our home for the next months! 
We were welcomed by a very sunny and utterly hot day (18°C in the sun, about 12°C in the shade), which made the surroundings and the town itself just marvellous.
Unfortunately, the „Aida“ anchored in the harbour, flooding the town with Germans. But its gone now, so Akureyri is empty again!
Here you go with some pictures from the busride from Reykjavík to Akureyri. The last five pictures are the view from our apartment!
After the journey Berlin – Hamburg – Reykjavík – Akureyri we have finally moved into our flat. The journey was very tiring and very exciting. Our first Icelandic accommodation was a private guesthouse in central Reykjavík where we spent about 6 hours: we arrived there at about 1.30 at night and and left at about 7.30 in the morning in order to get the bus to Akureyri (6 hours ride). The Icelandic landscape was just… without words: barren lava fields, snow-capped mountains, fields, tundras, horses, sheep, cows, elf-houses, troll-paths and a shimmering grey-green-black. And the bus driver was a crazy maniac who seemed to like overtaking cars… with a 45 persons coach!
Now our view from the balcony unveils a stunning fjord, barren, treeless mountains covered in mist, clouds and snow and very rapidly changing weather. First visual impressions will be uploaded soon as the internet connection is still very slow. The weariness after 24 hours of travelling is a little overwhelming, too.
Iceland, here we are.
…is what you might think, but would you be interested in what i write about every day? how i take my bike and go to the arcitc centre, be there, write, read, go back and then at some point go to bed? There is simply not much interesting to write about right now. that will change in august when i go to iceland to do my master’s in polar law in this little place called akureyri. then there will be photos and news.
if you want to know what i do apart from writing my thesis, check out www.uarctic.org and read the news there. that’s part of my work. enjoy!
I don’t know why clicking the photos does not lead to a large version anymore… Working on that…
After having been in the North for more than one month, I finally get the chance to continue my blog again. I don’t have internet at home (nor do I have a digital camera…), so please forgive my sloppy blog-updating.
Anyhow, I arrived in Rovaniemi and started my internship at NIEM. I’m currently also writing my thesis and working for UArctic. But that doesn’t prevent me from doing all the awesome things one can do up here. For example, in early March I was asked whether I’d like to go to Lofoten Islands for a few days… what a question!The distance to the very tip of the Lofoten Islands (a village called simply Å) is approx. 920km and we stopped by in Gällivare and Kiruna on the way. Also the capital of the Lofoten, Svolvær, enjoyed us visiting it. Since we left pretty late in the afternoon, it was completely dark when we visited the northern Swedish towns, but after a looooooooooooong journey, Svolvær and later on Å welcomed us in shimmering sunlight and a cold breeze of Atlantic winter air. We basically chilled, ate and hiked in and around Å, which was a very neat experience… like I’d never do that. But the landscape, the people, the weather and the ocean have a very peaceful and calming influence on the psyche and you feel like having reached the very end of the world… wonderful and i can only recommend everyone reading this to go there eventually.
So here you go with some pictures from the trip:
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