Cliffhanger - Bjargstykki

I'm a few days in and feeling a little guilty that I haven't blogged in a bit. Maybe I'll start at the beginning, or at least from where I left off in Toronto.

So after I finished blog #2, I closed my computer and made a few last ditch cellular phone transmissions. It's an odd thing to put your phone back in your purse and know that you're not going to use it for seven weeks. I must tell you - I feel as free as a bird. I puffin you might say (international bird of Iceland). A puffin without a phone or a care in the world.... and every other convenience know to man.  So I step on the plane and give the flight attendant my ticket. It says 6C. Strangely, I can only see the seventh row and so I am perplexed. She looks at my ticket and then looks at me. Looks at my ticket and looks at me again... and then opens the magic curtain that leads to the first class area. The place that dreams are made of. I stand there stunned for a moment and then scurry through the opening, hoping that she doesn't notice my haste. I've never been to first class before and this is obviously some sort of mix up. But my ticket stub said 6C - fair and square. And no one was taking this chance of a life time away from me. I felt like I had won the Willy Wonka golden ticket. First class! You don't say. I always knew that I belonged up there. The universe threw me a bone. Did you know that in first class, all of the seats are rimmed with diamonds? Oh yeah, you know. There was a fountain that had continuous stream of sparkling champagne and a bounty of food that never ended. They don't have sewards up there. They have servants. I had one giving me a manicure and another ashing my cigarettes for me. Oh the promised land. At last, I was home.

.....Okay, the first class thing really happened but almost all of that was a little indulged. I actually slept in my slightly larger seat for the entire flight. But I was there. Oh yes. I was there. And it apparently was a mistake. A wonderful wonderful mistake.

And then the plane landed..... I was here. I collected my baggage and float through the ext way where I am greeted by my new family - a collection of 11 people from across Canada and the US. All of whom have taken the leap of faith and come on their own to explore Iceland. It's about 7am in Iceland at the time and we'd all been traveling all night, but some how all decide to go on a walk to explore our new home. The sun was shining and it was a rare day that was 20 degrees. During that walk, I could finally exhale. I was here...and happy...and loving the people that I would spend so much time with.


Cliffhanger - Bjargstykki
I'm going to fast forward a little bit because the next few days were not the kind of content that I think would be entertaining to read about. Don't get me wrong - I was having a great time. Studying at the university and spending with the other Snorri's - laughing loudly. We have a great time together. I'll just leave it there for now. More on that later.

After a solid day of classes at the university yesterday, we had a hike scheduled. I hate to be too honest, as I could easily tell a fib right now, but I am not the most enthusiast hiker. Now that doesn't mean that I wasn't somewhat looking forward to the experience of it, but I was feeling a little nervous. And maybe a little inadequate. What I can say is that what I lack in skill I make up for in fortitude. I was going on that hike if it killed me (a strong possibility).

All of us hop on a series of buses and off we went to the trail. Stepping out of the bus, I almost had a stroke. I was standing before an unbelievable majestic mountain and to my terror, the group was walking towards it..... to catch the next bus maybe? Because it wouldn't be possible to walk around there. That's crazy. Only crazy people would go there. And maybe mountain goats. The crazy ones.

But it was the location. We received some info before leaving that indicated that there were two trails. One "easier" trail and then it's more aggressive counter part. Naturally, the guys had planned for a balls out adventure and opted for the aggressive trail: going essentially straight up and with more "mountain climbing" like qualities. In many other circumstances, I would do what the boys are doing to prove a point. However, I would also fancy myself a realistic thinker and know enough to know when to draw that line. Me and the gals chose to enjoy a nice relaxing stroll on the easier trail.

The problem with bringing a Manitoban to Iceland is that when you tell them that they are going on a hike, they have a mental image of a low impact walk down a Bird's Hill bunny trail. Which is exactly what I had. Before I knew it I was up to my eyeballs in climbing a mountain. And I mean climbing. I felt like god damn Sylvester Stallone. Or spider man climbing a wall (with no super powers). The brutality of the climb was more than I could bare. Fortunately, I was in the good company of four other rocking ladies who helped my poor little feet to feel motivated. We took many breaks, perhaps a few too many pictures, and laughed/complained sarcastically as a means to cope with the overly vigorous hike that we were on. But we stuck together....

                    

      and we climbed....

                        

and climbed......

Up. 

Waaaaaaaay up.

And that's how "Lady Hike" came to be. During one of our laugh marathons, we started to refer to our less excessive hiking experience as the Lady Hike. The natural slogan that followed was "No crying, no dying". Having those two rules really helped me to keep moving. That and our intermittent conversations about how slim and toned we were sure to be after the trek. Trim and fit baby. Nothing beats hiking with the gals. 

Aren't we magnificent? And you know something? We did it. Well not the top top. There are apparently even Icelanders that don't make it up there. To put it into perspective, you can clip in for the 100m (essentially vertical) section of the climb. We made it to the reasonable person summit. I am very proud of that. Especially because I didn't think that I would. In fact, there were a few times that I figured that I would stop. But it was soo worth it in the end. I will never forget standing so high up - like you could almost see the ends of the earth and if you looked down you felt like you just might fall forever. But working hard to get up that mountain and then taking that pause to see, feel, and be present in that moment took my breath away. The feeling of pure joy. The kind that you can only get from being in the exact right place at the exact right time. With the exact right friends. 

I think that what I can gain from this experience is that the hard things in life are worth doing. Maybe more precise would be to say that it is important to challenge yourself to do things that are hard, especially when you think that you can't. However, the other important piece of doing work that is hard is surrounding yourself with the resources that you need to be successful: A good sandwich, warm clothes, incredible friends, and the sense of adventure that you get from going out on a climb and traveling to another country on your own.

From first class to the top of the world. This trip is right on schedule..... and I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

Sarah's Additional Viking Rules - Viðbótarupplýsingar Víkingur Sarah's Rules

-Take the time to climb mountains, especially when you think that you can't

-Appreciate good friends and loud laughter