#cats of downtown Reykjavik

[shannonofthezteam]

7.9.24 Travel Home Day

We're heading back to the US this afternoon. It's a good time to return home (kids are getting on each other's nerves), but we had an awesome time. Here are some pics from today before we returned the rental car.

[umichenginabroad]

Week 1-1: The Lost Levels

þetta reddast, my most favorite 2 words these past few days. An Icelandic phrase roughly meaning “It’s going to be fine and work out”. You might wonder what could I have possibly gotten myself into over these past few days, and oh boy was it a lot of fun. From venturing through weird corners of Reykjavik to getting lost on the buses I went through it all. This is Alex Shamoun and let's get right into it! 

þetta reddast, our first adventure was into the city proper into downtown Reykjavik. This was a really cool adventure and was honestly really fun. We went up into Hallgrimskirkja (the big church) and went all the way into the bell tower. This might not seem like much, but the reason why this was such a big moment was because this is where the hat I was wearing got recognized! A traveler from Canada recognized the hat I was wearing as Monokuma and he was a really nice guy and ended up taking this picture for me.

Picture of me in the bell tower of Hallgrimskirkja

After the church we went down the main shopping street. The first place that we made a stop at was Café Babalú. We went here with Christopher (our guide) and it was well worth it. This cafe is not like a normal café. While yes they do sell coffee and pastries and the normal things it has 2 major distinctions (one much larger) that help set it apart from every other café in Iceland. See Icelandic people take their coffee very seriously, and so for this café to be so renowned it must be special, and after 10 minutes of waiting in a line for the bathroom I realized what was so special. THE BATHROOM WAS STAR WARS THEMED!! The massive smile on my face was immense and it was such a cool experience. They had the Star Wars soundtrack playing the entire time that you are in the bathroom and it is filled with Star Wars decorations and such. Also they have a cute orange cat. Honestly that bathroom may be the peak of this trip, I have yet to find out.

The bathroom in all it's glory

That all was Saturday, there was some more stuff like we went to the Icelandic history museum and we ended up going to the Flea market but for the sake of keeping with the theming let us continue. On Sunday we got to finally go to Reykjavik University, the school that we are studying at for the next 6 weeks. It is absolutely amazing. The school is solar system themed, there is a center of the school called the Sun and each of the wings are named after different planets.

Map showing the current state of Reykjavik University

One of the best things about the university is the free hot chocolate, coffee, and tea that we can drink whenever. It honestly is the thing that is going to keep me there and make me long for the days in Reykjavik drinking hot chocolate in class. We were all enjoying some drinks after receiving orientation when we decided to go outside onto the balcony. All of a sudden, we realized that the door was locked from the inside and we couldn’t get back inside. þetta reddast, It’ll be fine! Thankfully, it was a nice day outside and so it wasn’t actually that unpleasant. Nice by Iceland standards is sunny and 50 degrees. But in fact þetta reddast was correct, it was fine. We got to enjoy the nice view a little longer and then Christopher called security to come and unlock the door for us. 

The view from the balcony

After the University fiasco a group of us decided to go to the Icelandic Costco to get some much needed essentials to survive these next 6 weeks. The Costco is someplace that you have to bus to, and so we were able to test our newly acquired bus cards and see just how smart we all were. In fact, we were not. We ended up turning an hour long bus ride into an almost 2 hour adventure in trying to get to Costco. We first went to our first bus stop and then we realized that the bus we needed to get on was running late. Rather than doing the smart thing and just waiting for that bus to get there, we decided to board another bus and head to the bus station. This was our first mistake as this actually took us further from Costco.

 After that we rerouted and then waited 10 minutes for another bus which would actually get us to our next bus transfer and get us closer to Costco. We then spent that entire drive figuring out which stop to get off and transfer at. þetta reddast, it's going to be fine. We ended up getting off of that bus at another bus station and started walking to the transfer stop. That was when we saw the bus that we actually needed to get on to get to Costco pull up and we thought that it was going to be racing to that bus stop. So, we all started sprinting towards the bus stop to not miss the bus. Then we turned around, and realized that the bus had stopped at the bus station for a driver change. We all just sat at the next stop for like 4 minutes realizing how stupid we all were. In the end, we were able to get on that bus and make it to Costco. Once at Costco, the hard part was carrying everything back, we had kind of figured out the routing the hard way by this point. But yea, þetta reddast, everything is going to be fine. Truly though, everything did work out in the end and everything was fine. 

WE MADE IT TO COSTCO!!!

Moving onto Monday!!!! Nothing interesting really happened Monday. Anyways, I’ll talk more about lectures and normal things in another post, but that’s not for this one.

Today (Tuesday)! While at the University we received a text from Christopher about volcanic fog that was polluting the air and he warned us not to walk home, so as to not breath in the air. We ended up having to stay at the university until 5:45 pm due to our crash course in Icelandic culture. We realized quickly however, that the only route for us to get home would either be walking or to wait until 6:30 for the next bus back home. þetta reddast, it’s going to be fine! We decided to walk back home, in the volcanic fog, and then go get Reykjavik Chips. On our way back we passed through some shady routes and even went over a freeway on a bridge. But, the moment that embodied þetta reddast the most was when we were walking on a half built turf field (underneath was just rock and junk), where on our right was a kid’s soccer match being played and on our left was a field of construction.

The construction to our left

The Soccer game parallel to us

Now if you think that is where the fun from today ends then you would be incorrect. We managed to make it back into town and we were heading on the right way when suddenly someone told us that we should turn and take a different route. They were in the front and so we all just followed them. þetta reddast we said, thinking that it will all just work out eventually. 4 minutes until the place stayed at 4 minutes later for a lot longer than 4 minutes. We eventually ended up just doing a full donut and ended up on the original road we were going to take. We did thankfully make it to Reykjavik Chip, it in fact was fine. But, the process of getting there was definitely something else.

Alex’s Food Corner

I like to cook and eat food so I’m going to talk about different food I cook/eat every week and rate them based on things like price and stuff so I hope you enjoy my really scuffed takes.

Kufta: Middle eastern burger

This was something that I made with ingredients from Bonus (the grocery store). It is pretty much just a burger with some middle eastern spices and cooked in a pan. It came out really good considering that I have actually never made them by myself before. Although, the fact that I accidentally bought sweet instead of sour pickles was a disappointment. Overall 6/10, good for the price but pickles and a little more refinement of the spices could have made it better.

Costco Hotdog:

Ok, I know what you might be thinking, but hear me out, this was fire. Iceland has a really interesting thing in that they put fried onions on their hot dogs and honestly it’s so good. This hot dog honestly was worth the 2 hour long bus ride by itself 9/10. There is nothing really more to say, it was genuinely one of the best things that I have eaten in Iceland so far.

SPAMMICH:

For those of you who don't know what this is, it is a spam sandwich. It is the breakfast for those of many of us who need some quick and easy food. Spam is so good and honestly it weirdly cheaper (and probably healthier) here then America. This it a solid 6/10 though just in that sourdough bread is kinda mid, but honestly was still really good.

Yellow Rice with Costco Chicken:

I made some Yellow rice with basmati rice and turmeric. While it took way longer than it needed to because I was still getting used to the induction stove it actually came out really good. I did make a pound of rice and so I have way more rice then I needed to make and so I’ve just been eating it but with the Costco rotisserie chicken it is really good 7/10. I’m biased towards my rice but I do think the fact that I’ve been eating the same thing for a few days now ( I made A LOT of rice) might take it down a point.

Fish and Chips:

This was the fish and chips that I ended up getting from Reykjavik Chips. I decided to try 2 sauces with it, ketchup and then chives. The chips (fries) were absolutely amazing, maybe a little salty but fantastic overall. I personally am not the biggest fan of fish, but honestly the fish was alright. That mostly comes from the fact it’s battered and fried but like it was still good. It literally was falling apart and at points was a bit lacking in terms of crunch and flavor, but it was really fresh and was good. My only complaint is how little sauce they give you. I would have loved more ketchup, but they charge 300 Kroner ($2) per cup of sauce. Overall, 7/10 is how I would rate this. I’m not going to consider the sauces too much, but the food itself (about $18) was not bad for the price and was a nice and fulfilling dinner. 

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my adventures in Iceland and my food takes. As always, it's 1 am as I finish writing this and I have class at 9 am tomorrow. I will see you for the next post. Good night, and remember

Picture of an Icelandic sunset at midnight from my balcony (it's just pretty that's all)

-Alex Shamoun

Robotics

IPE: Engineering in Iceland

[thenewsart]

Meet the Yule Cat, an Icelandic folklore beast who eats children : NPR

An illuminated cat sculpture in downtown Reykjavik on November 29, 2021. Icelandic folklore tells of a giant cat that eats children who don’t wear their new clothes at Christmas time. Halldor Kolbeins/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Halldor Kolbeins/AFP via Getty Images An illuminated cat sculpture in downtown Reykjavik on November 29, 2021. Icelandic folklore tells of a…

[sixbillionstars]

Before Game of Thrones and the newest Star Wars films, flights to Iceland only left from Denver, Washington DC, Baltimore, or New York. When I learned that the voyage embarks from Port of Hamburg, I figured I’d be flying into Berlin. And after years of watching closely for new United States destinations between the two main Icelandic airlines, this made my heart sing knowing full well St. Louis had recently become a Wow Air destination with cheap flights to many European cities, and of course... stopovers in Iceland on the way.

I won’t go much into how long I had anticipated this experience, however I will say it was a painful wait. First it was celebrities one by one slowly making their way as it grew appealing to more and more travelers suddenly during my freshman year of college and onward. Then it was friends who happened to have stopovers, who could afford it before me, or who were nearer to new departure cities before me... In those ways it was thrilling to feel inches and inches closer all these years. I even had a whole trip planned once to visit Iceland by myself to celebrate the New Year and hang out a week before and after. For a plethora of important reasons I had to cancel that trip, which to this day I still stand behind. So sadly, the most suitable and affordable window of time I had to work with to be in Iceland this time around was twenty hours, since it was a stopover, but a solid twenty hours we spent. An old friend used to joke all the time, “what if you go and absolutely hate it?” which was a possibility I have weighed heavily, even after countless hours over the years reading entire wikipedia pages of tiny, unpronounceable coastal villages with their black sands and fjords, delving into Vimeo videos of Icelandic scenery, and my favorite, the man in a lopapeysa sweater teaching you how to knit. I knew damn well I’d have to come back after such a short time even if it did turn out not so ideal. But after a seven year wait, I am happy to announce that it truly was everything I could have hoped for and even so much more. Maybe because I already knew where to look, or at least where I wanted to look, or maybe it really was calling me all this time.

I was taught a German expression today "Knapp daneben ist auch vorbei” which means, “coming close is the same as missing it.” It’s been circling my mind like an echo of congratulations from the void for just finally being able to do the damn thing.

It is now late into Thursday, our second day in Berlin. Yesterday was spent locating our Airbnb, experiencing jetlag, showering, etc... completely pretty much rebirthing ourselves after twenty hours with none of the checked luggage I truly thought the Keflavik airport would let me access during that amount of time.

I can’t exit this post though without telling a couple of the stories from those hours (and some pictures!) It was by far the most eventful twenty hours of my life...

As soon as we landed, it was time to grab the rental car. I picked out a lovely whatever the car was. At first the reservation said manual shift, which was exciting because I learned to drive on a manual but also I knew the Icelandic roads would be more vulnerable to drivers so I wasn’t sure how revisiting a skill like that there would go. Luckily we ended up with an automatic somehow anyway. Since the Wow air flights are so cheap, they get off by charging passengers for every other thing including meals, so I had not eaten since Missouri by this point (mainly because I wanted to sleep). I felt weak and tired at the rental counter so I asked my friend Alicia to get me something at the cafe nearby. She came back with the first food we were to behold: a caprese panini, but instead of panini bread, it was the body of Christ or something. I apologize to anyone that offends--I mean it in the sense that it was cracker bread meant specifically for religious purposes and not to feed a malnourished traveler. Don’t get me wrong, it tasted good, however the depth of my ketosis and the richness of the pesto was too much. Literally as I stood at the counter facing my first ever Icelandic stranger and transaction, I felt the sudden urge to vomit and ran to the nearest trashcan while Alicia had to sign everything for me in a VERY crowded airport. I don’t think any of us knew how to react honestly, though the woman at the counter was very sweet and brought us bottled waters after seeing my pale sweaty face, despite not totally knowing how to ask if I was okay in English.

Getting to Þingvellir was not an issue, however the drive there involved more of the previous situation sadly. While the girls caught up on sleep, I found our way out of Keflavik onto the highway and quickly back off of it after having tried a couple more bites of the Jesus panini. The first time around I wasn’t entirely sure if it was that was what made me ill or just all of the conditions at once. This time I knew it was that. There was nowhere to even pull over as all of the road space in Iceland is very carefully planned, with roundabouts every few blocks and signs placed not too often or too scarcely. So I stopped in the middle of the road out of sheer desperation -- one of the few very crucial things I had JUST been told you’re not supposed to do with an Icelandic car. I had already begun out the window as I drove simply because my mind was already racing for options. What is the best way here - puking on myself and cleaning that up? No - my luggage I thought I could have today is on its way to Germany. Puking solely into the car? Hell to the no - I don’t care if I bought the insurance, we have the whole route ahead of us and back. Okay well in the time it took to ask myself those questions, all of the above happened anyway. Everywhere. Alicia and Morgan immediately woke up of course and without judgment scrambled into their things for a new shirt and pants for me, helped me clean the car, et cetera, alllllll while locals were angrily and confusedly passing me on this tiny exit I had chosen under the impression it was low-trafficked. Did I mention I chose not to wear underwear on this day of all days? Yes. In my first hour in Iceland I was forced to change BUTT NAKED pretty much on the side of the highway. Needless to say, we threw the Jesus panini away as if it was the one ring to rule them all.

Þingvellir was breathtaking. Every little plant, moss, lichen, dewdrop was so quietly and calmly welcoming. The wall of boxy-looking rocks you may have seen in Games of Thrones was to the left of this photo, with its waterfalls and all. It was confusing finding the dive spot where our snorkel tour was, but once we arrived all of our sorrows were gone. First we met Luis, a cheery Mexican from Cancun, then Manuel the French man who helped us into our dry suits, and then Juan from Madrid was our guide through the crevice of the opening between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.

The moment I entered the water my heartbeat changed for good, not just because of the chilling 2*C temperature, but because it was then I realized I was really, really there. Until that moment, it was all a dream. Simply putting my mask down to see what was below... I still cannot find the words. Our suits were designed to keep us warm, so the crystal clear stream swept us and this rad Australian couple in our group gently along the divide as if it were a lazy river. Silfra is the only spot on Earth where one can touch two plates at once, and I cannot emphasize enough that the land itself gives you that vibe alone, whether you do the tours or not. For as long as I live I don’t think I could forget how it felt to lay completely still on top of the water looking down, like just another little seagull feather or algae, feeling one with the whole damn country.

Finally.

After a pit stop at a petrol station for edible food and something to make the car smell better, we rerouted from planning a drive all the way to Vik (3.5 hrs there and back) to just spending the time comfortably in Reykjavik where we could get back to the airport by 3am, when the rental was due, and for our flight at 6am.

Downtown was as quaint and beautiful as I had imagined, though of course a completely different layout than what I originally pictured. This happened in New Mexico too when I moved there after a year of picturing the places where my friends’ stories from their phone calls were playing out. We found a cute bar to meet locals in called the Smokin’ Puffin, which turned out to have just opened three weeks prior. Made many friends, including Moe the bartender/plant geneticist from Iran, and Joanne, a bubbly expat from the UK.

Hallgrimskirkja and the walk to it however was the crowning jewel of the evening, with apartment windows all open, most of them displaying cute decorations and cats and succulents of all colors and sizes peering out.

I knew it was a rather large church, I suppose I was not prepared for just how large. Walking past the infamous Leifur Eriksson statue to approach the entrance with its tiered architecture and powerfully rhetorical lighting, I lost my breath again. It was a bittersweet goodbye, though I am nearly grateful we did not stay overnight so I couldn’t get too attached to Iceland’s physical presence.

Was honestly just taking a photo of this sweet cat, and realized its owner was behind him drawing. I almost cried.

Moe’s specialty cocktail: coffee martini :)

Me in my very attractive after-puke outfit with this handsome Iranian plant geneticist bartender who was really sweet to me anyway.

<3

[finding--cat]

Hi Cat, so my friend and I are planning on going to Iceland next year! Just wanted to ask around what time of the year did you go? How long were you there for? Places to go? Things to do/see?? Greatest part of the trip? I'm sorry for all the questions. You said everything about Iceland is magical 😍

Yay! So exciting, you’re gonna fall head over heels in love at first sight. Iceland is beautiful and magical and totally, completely out of this world. 

We went in June, which was gorgeous. It was about 17-20 degrees every day and sunny, perfect for hill climbing! We stayed for one week. 

My biggest and MOST IMPORTANT recommendation is to get out of Reykjavik. It’s worth exploring for a day or two, but if you’re really gonna do Iceland, you’re not there for the shopping or the local pubs - you’re there for the motherf*cking nature. And there is so much of it. There are a lot of tour services and buses, but I don’t know any of them specifically so can’t recommend - we rented a car so that we could explore the island at our leisure, and it worked out swimmingly. If I went back (and I hope to), I’d do the same thing and rent a car again.

I would recommend 100% of the places I travelled to in Iceland to anyone. They include: - Seljalandsfoss, a terrific waterfall sitting unsuspectingly on the side of the road. Kind of. Definitely worth a stop on your way by, as it’s fun to walk behind the waterfall! - Vik, a small and breathtakingly gorgeous southern seaside village with black sand beaches. Being here made me feel like I was in Berk (How To Train Your Dragon).- Skaftafell, where you can explore ice caves and go on stunning glacier walks. The water I drank on Skaftafellsjokull was the most refreshing I’ve ever tasted. - Skogafoss, an incredible waterfall (amongst Iceland’s 5,000 incredible waterfalls that seem to pop up everywhere you look). Bring a picnic lunch and eat it once you climb the billion stairs to the top! - Mountains on the side of the road. This sounds ridiculous, but be sure to stop at least once and get out of your car/bus just to admire these. It’s hard to measure how massive things are in Iceland because there are often no trees around to give you a sense of the size in photos. - Gullfoss, which is basically Iceland’s Niagara Falls - very touristy, but still worth the stop. - Geysirs are really not far from Gullfoss, so they’re pretty touristy, too - but you gotta see ‘em! - Thingvellir, an absolutely stunning site of a crazy amount of tectonic activity and the location of Iceland’s first parliament. I took some of my favourite photos here. - Western Peninsula - we took a day trip out here to see the puffins! We stopped in Stykkisholmur, one of the most drop dead gorgeous towns I’ve ever seen and reminiscent of Canada’s east coast. - And of course, the Blue Lagoon! We did this on the last day on our way to the airport. It’s a geothermal hot spot and a must-visit, but dear god, BRING SUNSCREEN. All 4 of us got the worst sunburns of our entire lives… in Iceland. Go figure.

As for things to do in Reykjavik: - Hallgrimskirkja, a beautiful church that offers incredible views of the city.- The Loki Cafe, across the road from the church - we really loved this place! They have some of the best rye bread I’ve ever tasted, and it’s also where we tried Hakarl (which I would not try again, and not just ‘cause I’m vegan... still, if you’re adventurous...) - Phallological Museum (i.e. penis museum). Just do it. If I could do it with 3 idiot boys as my travel buddies, so must you. - Grocery store. We hit up a few of them and were always impressed with the pre-made sandwiches. Also, try Skyr yogurt if you’re not vegan (I wasn’t when I travelled to Iceland). It’s delicious!- Pubs! Downtown Reykjavik is a fun place to wander through, especially if you’re there during the summer months. My pals and I went to a pub one night and were confused when they told us the pub was closing - it was 1 am, but it looked like 8pm at night outside! The sun sets for about 15 minutes in the summer, so it’s perpetually light. - Climb things! There are lots of hills (not just in Reykjavik, but everywhere) and being up high offers the best views :) 

I hope you have an amazing time, and please let me know what else you decide to do and recommend! I’d love to go back in the winter to see the northern lights and explore the ice caves more. 

[soulpups]

Aska is super impressed by downtown Reykjavik and enjoys watching all the people ((And birds and cats))

[canaya96]

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If you think the volcanoes, geysers, and waterfalls in Iceland are amazing, wait until you hear about the Christmas traditions of Icelanders! I admit I am not a big holiday-celebrating person; I stopped decorating once my son was out of the house which coincided with the start my Ph.D. program. But if I permanently lived in Iceland, I would follow the traditions which includes, hiking to the local forest where I would chop down my Christmas tree and don it with the 13 yule lads (the Santa substitutes), the evil Christmas cat, and their mother Grýla. After opening presents on Christmas Eve, I would then snuggle with a cozy blanket and stay up to the wee hours of the morning reading the new books I just received for Christmas while enjoying some novel treat served only at Christmas time. In Iceland, the Christmas season is a bright light during the harsh, dark winters of the northern latitudes where the sun rises and sets just beyond the horizon, only revealing itself for a few hours a day to make spectacular long, drawn out sunrises and sunsets. If the hustle and bustle is what you crave at Christmas time, you can find a multitude of stores vying for your money, thousands of Christmas shoppers, endless carols, and decorations in the capital city of Reykjavik. But where I lived in the less-populated north, Christmas is a time for snow, providing a spectacular landscape, northern lights, and a superfluous amount of Icelandic traditions.

The city view from across Lake Tjornin

The lighted, evil Christmas cat

Sharp teeth!

If you look around the city, you can find the Yule Lads hanging around!

No Virginia, there is no Santa Claus.

There is no Santa Claus in Iceland! That doesn’t mean there are no presents, or even a tree for them to go under—children need incentive to be good. Instead, Icelanders rely on the 13 yule lads to promote good behavior. Unlike Santa Claus, a character of goodness and charm, the yule lads are mischievous old men descended from trolls and named for their bad, mischievous habits. They live in the lava field of Dimmiborgir located in north Iceland with their mother Grýla and her husband, Leppalúði. She is known to find naughty children and devour them after cooking them in her cauldron (yikes!). Then there is the family cat who is also known to eat children. It’s enough to make all children behave for the rest of their lives (which may contribute to Iceland being one of the safest countries in the world)! Grýla is known as a strict parent and only lets her children (grown men who look as old as Santa) leave the house one at a time beginning 13 days before Christmas in search of their favorite treats from the families of Iceland.

Grýla and her cauldron — passerby’s are invited to jump in!

Beginning on Dec. 12, the first-born lad, Sheep Warrior, leads the trail (literally from the mountains) to the towns in search of their treats including cheese, milk, cookies and Iceland’s famous Skyr (a yogurt of sorts). Next is Gully Gawk who is in charge of the mischievous Christmas cat, followed by Stubby, Spoon Licker, Pot Licker, Bowl Licker, Door Slammer, Skyr Glutton, Sausage Stealer, Window Peeper (creepy), Door Sniffer, Meat Hook, and Candle Beggar. Each yule lad sticks around for 13 days with the last leaving on twelfth night (January 6). On Christmas eve, children around Iceland must place a shoe in their window – good children receive a gift from the lads while the naughty children receive a potato. You may catch a glimpse of the yule lads if you visit Dimmiborgir, located in the Lake Mývatn region in north Iceland. You can also catch Dimmiborgir in the 4th season of Game of Thrones, as it was the wildling camp!

Dimmiborgir was the backdrop of the wildling camp on Game of Thrones.

Hidden caves are said to be the homes of the Yule Lads.

The lava formations of Dimmiborgir.

Icelandic Christmas Traditions

A few weeks ago, I returned to Hólar University College where I conducted my research in Iceland during the last year. I sat down with Erla Björk Örnólfsdóttir, Hólar University College’s president and Bjarni Kristjánsson, department head at Hólar’s Aquaculture and Fish Biology department to learn about their Icelandic traditions and if the rumor was true that Icelanders stay up all night reading books on Christmas. So, during our Friday night beer club, I asked my questions and got insight into the lives of two people whom I have come to call my friends. They shared their fond childhood memories and reflected on how Christmas has changed in respect to today’s technological world.

December 23rd (Þorláksmessa) is the day before Christmas–a time to do your final shopping, stroll down the wintery, lighted streets of your local downtown, while sipping hot chocolate with carols like “Dansaðu vindur” and “Jól, jól skínandi skær” in the background and then returning home to finish any last-minute decorations. December 24th is about family and preparation for the evening festivities. Some may visit family, some make almond rice pudding (möndlugrautur), which is itself a gift-giving activity—the pudding has only one almond inside and the lucky winner gets a gift for their find. Christmas begins promptly at 6:00 p.m. on December 24 (known as Aðfangadagur) with a large family dinner that could include the traditional smoked lamb (hangikjöt), boiled potatoes with white sauce (like a sweetened cream gravy), and homemade ice cream. The grown-ups often have after-dinner coffee and then the the reading of all the Christmas cards commences before opening presents. According to Bjarni, the anticipation of waiting for the presents was excruciating as parents made an evening coffee and read, line by line, the Christmas cards! Finally, time to open gifts! But alas, it is not a free for all—everyone takes turns opening their gifts one at a time, showing what they have received. According to Bjarni and Erla, children often received 6-8 gifts, 2-3 from parents, some from other family members and at least one from the yule lads. Gifts such as apples and mandarins were a rarity in Iceland in the 1970s and 80s, and so they were considered treasures by children. Christmas was also a rare occasion to have homemade treats such as ice cream, also not readily available. But today, you can find these rarities in every supermarket in Iceland. Therefore, today’s kids are no longer impressed with receiving exotic fruity or homemade ice cream. While today the number and types of gifts have changed, it is apparent that the spirit of family and tradition have not.

But gifts aside, I got the feeling that the Christmas season is a very special time of year for Icelanders. Erla, reflecting on the holidays said it best, “without the holiday festivities, this time of year would be a boring, dark and dull period because it is the darkest time of year for Icelanders”. She was referring to the few hours of light during the day in the northern latitudes during winter. In fact, in the Hjaltadalur valley where Hólar is located, the sun never shines on the valley due to the large mountains that surround the valley. So, what do Icelanders do during these dark times? Well, they read a lot! Most Icelanders receive several books at Christmas time. I had heard that many Icelanders read on Christmas night and so I asked both Erla and Bjarni if this was true–and it is! Beginning in November, publishers begin printing 1000’s of books for the holiday season known as Jólabókaflóð (Christmas book flood). In 2014, the holiday season saw a flood of 1,400 new titles being printed. In fact, Iceland once held the title for the most book titles printed per capita and only recently did Britain surpass their long-standing record. This is fascinating because Iceland with its 330,000 residents, has a land area the size of Kentucky with 1/12 the population. Our discussion led to some hypotheses about why books became a big deal in Iceland and how the tradition of reading to the wee hours of the morning started. Before modern conveniences, candles used to be a traditional gift for Icelanders, probably stemming from the dark winters—a candle would be a welcomed gift. Without modern conveniences, in the 18th and 19th centuries, reading became a popular pastime with the advent of books. This may have resulted in the relatively high rate of literacy and perhaps why Iceland has so many authors. I can tell you that the beauty of Iceland in all its grandeur is enough to want to make someone put it down on paper and describe the unique landscape.

I am unsure of when I will return to Iceland, but I am currently writing proposals to be able to continue my research there. While I can certainly stay up to the wee hours of the morning reading books here in Oklahoma, where I currently live, I’d rather be in the quaint valley of Hjaltadalur, surrounded by snow-covered table top mountains against the backdrop of the northern lights.

Wintertime in the Hjaltadalur valley.

  It’s a wonderful life in Iceland If you think the volcanoes, geysers, and waterfalls in Iceland are amazing, wait until you hear about the Christmas traditions of Icelanders!

[indigo-a-creeping]

Since my car’s in good shape again, I booked a few nights in Key West,  for my week off in April, which should be a fun road trip and a nice way to see more of my new home state.  Lodging down there is Not Cheap, but I found a hostel bunk for the upper end of what I would normally pay for a cheap motel room, and it’ll do for short time.  The place has excellent reviews, and includes a free continental breakfast.  I want to explore the older downtown district, see the Hemingway cats and the Southernmost Point in the US, swim in the ocean, maybe see if I can hang out with some manatees, sea turtles, or dolphins...  Check out the thrift store scene...  Definitely eat some seafood and key lime pie...

I’m going to make a post at some point about how to go on cool vacations cheaply.  With few exceptions, they still take a good chunk of money, but I’ve stayed in some of the most expensive places on the planet (Tokyo, Reykjavik, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, now Key West) for CHEAP, not to mention more budget-friendly places.

...Of course, part of it is that I’m privileged enough to have started out well in life.  Also, my hobbies aside from traveling are Super Cheap, and I don’t drink or smoke.  I don’t eat out much.  I do all my clothes shopping at thrift stores, and my tastes aren’t expensive.  I don’t have any children, and my pets are as low-maintenance as their species can get.  I don’t have any major health conditions or dietary restrictions.  I live in an area with a pretty low cost of living.  It’s about being fortunate by birth as much as financially responsible, but it’s often doable if you work at it.

[infinitexmadness]

Cat cafe in downtown Reykjavik today 🇮🇸🐱🐾 #catcafe #iceland #reykjavik https://www.instagram.com/p/BohUFloih9N/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=znaodf36g9jf

[vikachuuniverse]

My last adventure was Iceland.  I found a cheap ticket from Paris to Reykjavik, and another cheap(ish) ticket from Reykjavik to Phoenix.  It cost me about $600 for both, which was a pretty good deal.  I booked them on a whim halfway through studying abroad, and I must admit I was a bit nervous about the whole thing.  All my plans for getting home revolved around spending the holidays with my girlfriend, and if we broke up I’d not only be sad to lose her but I’d be stranded in Europe.  My money was nearly gone, and I certainly wouldn’t be able to absorb the financial hit of re-booking a whole other flight back to the US.

Luckily, everything went according to plan, and on the morning of January 6th I was on the train to the Charles de Gaulle airport.  My flight to Reykjavik (which means “Smoky Bay” in Icelandic) was about three hours and went smoothly.  I was a little worried about my wardrobe mostly because I didn’t have my snow boots with me, and before I even got on the plane I slipped in a puddle of water in the airport bathroom and wiped out.  If I was going to be that clumsy in non-icy conditions, I could only imagine the trouble I’d encounter in a country that literally has “ice” in its name.

That morning I struggled to get all my luggage (which was so heavy I was afraid they’d charge me for an over-sized bag) on and off the train by myself.  You had to leave the bags in a designated luggage area before you took your seat, and I wasn’t even worried about it being stolen.  If I could barely lift it, I doubted a thief would be determined enough to steal it.  It made me nervous that the train only stopped for a few minutes at each platform.  What if the doors started to close before I could drag my stuff out of the car?  I was thankful that I only had one big suitcase.  Between that, my backpack, my carry on, and two big plastic shopping bags full of souvenirs, I had more than I could handle.

The plastic shopping bags worried me as well, because what if the flight attendants counted that as carry on baggage and told me I had too much to take on the plane?  Never in my life had I seen anyone get denied their right to board on account of too much luggage.  Sometimes it would’ve made sense for passengers to get pulled aside and informed that no, three carry on bags per person is not allowed.  Even in these instances, all of the people I’d witnessed who were obviously bringing too much with them only got side-eyed by displeased airline personnel as they wrestled with their luggage.

This time it was the same, and I boarded my plane with (relative) ease.  In three hours we were touching down on a tarmac only a few minutes away from beautiful exotic-looking black sand beaches.  I’d never seen anything like it.  I couldn’t wait to explore the next day.

The express buses from the airport to Reykjavik were the most expensive airport transportation I’d taken thus far (excluding the cab I took in Venice, Italy of course).  It was nearly $40 for a round trip.  Actually, everything in Iceland was ridiculously expensive.  I ate at Subway for lunch one day, and a 6-inch spicy Italian sub with a bottle of water cost me almost $15.

I guess technically, it was a bottle of flavored fizzy water, but you get my point.  I asked for a bottle of water and that’s what the cashier handed me.  You’re encouraged not to pay for water in Iceland because its just as pure straight out of the tap, but I mostly just bought it for the container.  Oh, fun fact: the hot water smells like sulfur.  After I took a shower my hair smelled really funky.

By some incredible stroke of luck, my Airbnb happened to be right across the street from the Grayline bus station.  I hauled my giant suitcase through a veritable snowstorm before arriving at the correct apartment building.  I texted my host and tried to cool off.  It was freezing and snowing but the amount of effort it took to move my stuff made my coat into a suffocating furnace.

“Hey!”

I looked around, confused.

“Up here!  Come up!”

A woman was leaning out the window of the fourth floor.

“It’s open, come in!”

My heart sank as I opened the door and looked at the stairs.  One by one, I took my suitcase, my carry on, and my shopping bags up each flight.  By the time I got to the top, my arms felt like they’d been ripped out of their sockets.

The host was very nice and welcoming.  I especially appreciated it when she gave me three bus tickets that had been left behind by previous travelers.  I was worried that I’d have to buy a whole book of them for another $40 because online I couldn’t find a single ride option.

Her cat, Lolli, was friendly and always wanted to cuddle.  I shared the bed with him one night, and he made it so warm that I had a hard time falling asleep!  My room in Iceland was warmer than my room in Spain.  Go figure.

I booked two tours of the island during the two full days I was there.  I wasn’t about to try to rent a car in the treacherous winter weather, and definitely not while I was by myself.  I did both through Arctic Adventures, and both were by bus.  I wanted to see as much as possible while spending as little as possible, so I selected a Golden Circle express afternoon tour and an all-day tour of several waterfalls and a black sand beach.

For the first tour, I had a guide who was born and raised in Iceland.  He was an upbeat, self-proclaimed “Viking” whose name I can’t remember.  Apparently he had the same name as Game of Thrones character, and in English it translated to “hairy pants.”  The weather was bad, and as soon as we passed the city limits of Reykjavik the world turned pure white.  Visibility was terrible, but the guide said that he was more than accustomed to driving in such weather.

Right after he gave a long lecture about the dangers of driving through snowstorms if you didn’t have much experience with snow, we passed a van that was on its side in a snow bank.  We stopped and someone kicked open the back door of the van and crawled out to talk to our guide.  Thankfully, everyone involved in the wreck was all right and a tow truck was on its way.  Shortly after that encounter, we passed a billboard with two mangled cars on top.  It displayed a count of the number of people killed in car accidents that year.  With it being only January 7th, the count was currently at one.  I shivered thinking about how the count could’ve jumped up a few more if those people in the van weren’t so fortunate.

That day we visited the site of the oldest Parliament in Europe, the partially frozen waterfall Gulfoss, and the geyser Geysir.  Not surprisingly, the English word “geyser” is derived from Geysir.

I decided to save $12 on renting hiking boots and take the risk of wearing my Nike’s again.  That morning, I walked all the way from my Airbnb to the bus pickup location in downtown Reykjavik, which took over an hour.  It was icy and the roads were full of puddles that soaked through the shoes and three pairs of socks I’d put on for good measure.  Still, I was able to make it all the way there without slipping.  The Nike’s were fine once I got into the heart of downtown; they must have had heated sidewalks or some sort of maintenance, because the difference between downtown and the area around my Airbnb was like night and day.

Here are some photos from my trek downtown:

“The best way is to follow your heart”

If you look closely, you can see the bay at the end of the street, and then a mountain on the other side of the bay,

A mural found in down town Reykjavik.

Only when I’d made it to the bus and we started picking everyone else up did I realize that there was a pickup point located at the Grayline station right next to my Airbnb.

I didn’t use a bus ticket because I had booked two tours, and both of the pickup points were at the same place downtown.  I figured that I’d have to walk once, and when I did it might as well be during the day.  Thank goodness I did, because at night there was no chance of me getting to downtown without a few nasty bruises and possibly a concussion.

This was what a bus ticket looked like.  It was so small; if I had to use them often I’d be sure to lose them.

Anyways, I was wearing my Nike’s on the tour, and despite the ice and bone-chilling high winds, I shuffled through with no issues.  The Parliament site had some pretty views, but the wind made it hard to walk without getting pushed around.  It really did feel like someone was shoving you with a moderate amount of force.

Even underneath my hat, my hair was going crazy.

A gorge next to the Parliament site.

To me, Gullfoss was more exciting.  Unfortunately the path to get closer to the waterfall had been roped off due to icy conditions, but the view I had was breathtaking nonetheless.  I’d never seen so many shades of white and blue in my life.  The light was already fading (the sun started to rise around 10:30 am and by 4 pm) and it made everything seem like a landscape in a fantasy world.  I half expected an ice dragon to crawl out of the misty waters.

The blue was as brilliant in person as it is in this photo.

This picture shows how dark it was at 10:20 am.

By the time we got to Geysir, it was almost dark.  Everything smelled of sulfur and each pool of crystal clear water burbled quietly in the twilight.  Only one geyser was actually erupting, and did so quite frequently.  We were warned not to touch the water because it was extremely hot.  I thought that was kind of self explanatory, and I wondered how many tourists got nasty burns because they thought it’d be a good idea to warm up their hands.

The darker it got, the worse my photos were.

On the way to Geysir, we got to meet some Icelandic horses.  Don’t call them ponies; the locals will be offended.

On our way back to town, our guide told us that there was a rigorous process for civilians to buy and own firearms in Iceland.  Even the police don’t carry guns while on duty.  After the terrorist attack in Manchester, the police started carrying guns and the public outcry was so intense that this security measure was abandoned.  The only places that have armed security, said the guide, is the American embassy and maybe the Chinese embassy.

The number of gun deaths in Icelandic history?  One.  Just some food for thought.

The next day, I splurged on a hiking boot rental for my all-day tour.  At 7 am sharp, I left the Airbnb and trudged through slush over to the (way more convenient) Grayline pickup point.  This time, my guide was a Greek man who split his time between Italy and Iceland.

I was mostly excited about visiting a black sand beach on this tour, and I wasn’t disappointed.  After dropping off some tourists who’d purchased the glacier hiking package, we drove to the beach.  When we arrived the sun had not yet risen, so we mingled around the shore in the soft dawn light.  The waves seemed to push thick ribbons of sea foam onto the sand rather than water, and I marveled at how if you touched the foam, your hand came out soaking wet as if you’d just plunged it into the sea.  Which, I guess you had, but the foam was just so light and airy that it surprised me every time.

This picture really shows the foam.

Our guide warned us to be careful and to avoid venturing past a rocky cliff because the waves were wild and unpredictable today.  He told the story of how one day, a girl who was sitting in the parking lot got hit by a massive wave, and the parking lot’s a whole five minute walk from the shore.  Past that cliff there were huge rocks that made the beach a lot smaller, and therefore you had a bigger chance of getting swept up by a rogue wave.  Apparently people die on that beach every year.

I was keeping an eye on the waves during this picture.

Sure enough, one man on our tour got a little too close to the ocean while taking pictures, and when a particularly large wave rushed onto the sand he turned to run away and tripped, getting drenched in the process.  He wasn’t hurt except for his pride, maybe, and his camera didn’t do so well either.  Soaked and sullen, he didn’t get out of the warm bus for the rest of the stops we made that day.

We visited a small town that didn’t have much to offer save for a church on a hill and a restaurant, we returned to the glacier to pick up the rest of our group, and we hit two waterfalls on the way back.  They both had names I’ll probably never be able to pronounce.  Each were partially frozen and one you could walk right up to the pool of water at the base.  If you’d wanted to, you could’ve gone swimming.  Several people almost did as they scooted out on the ice to get a good picture.  I hiked up to the top of one waterfall and my phone shut down as I was taking a photo because it was so cold.

The small town

The beach by the small town

Skógafoss

Skógafoss

Skógafoss

Top of Skógafoss

Seljalandsfoss

Seljalandsfoss

The water was so clear

Surprisingly, the cold didn’t really bother me while I was in Iceland.  I wore a lot of socks and a lot of layers along with a hat and scarf and I did just fine.  The bus I was in was warm, and the stops we made were never more than an hour long.  Usually by the time I was back in the bus my hands were starting to go numb, but it didn’t bother me too much.  My hands are always cold anyways.

I didn’t do a northern lights tour.  I really wanted to, but it was cloudy and stormy for the few nights that I was there and I figured it wouldn’t be worth it.  I’d hoped that I’d see the lights while exploring the downtown area at night, or maybe even from my bedroom window, but I had no such luck.

I lived off of instant noodles and Belvita biscuits while I was there.  The food was so expensive that I just couldn’t bring myself to buy anything.  For dinner one night I scarfed down two Icelandic hot dogs from the famous Baejarins Beztu Pylsur hot dog stand for $5 each.  They were by far the cheapest food I’d seen, and they were amazing.  As I ordered, I noticed a photo of Bill Clinton (I think that’s who it was, but now that I think about it, it could’ve been George Bush) holding a hot dog.

Photo from downtown Reykjavik

Photo from downtown Reykjavik

Photo from downtown Reykjavik

My time in Iceland was great, and I headed to the airport really early on the day of my departure to the US.  My flight was supposed to leave around 4, but almost as soon as I arrived at the airport I got an email that said my flight would be delayed two hours.  This was irritating but fine, except I now I had less than an hour to catch my flight.  I sat down, worried, and got yet another email delaying my flight even more.  There was no way I’d be able to make my connecting flight to Phoenix.

I went to the customer support desk and argued with them for a while.  The woman insisted that I would be able to make my flight and it took me a minute to make her understand that no, I would arrive well after my connecting flight was supposed to be in the air.

I was switched to a later connecting flight that gave me about one hour to get to my gate.

The wait at the airport was excruciating.  My flight was delayed by two hours and 55 minutes, just five minutes short of getting a free meal ticket.  European flights, if delayed by three hours or more, are required by law to give passengers free meals.  I was tired and hungry and anxious.  I had someone who would be waiting for me at the airport, so if I didn’t get there on time they would be left stranded.

Finally, we were called to board.  We were already late.  Slowly, we scanned our passes and were forced to wait in a hallway.  Then we were slowly loaded into buses that sat on the tarmac in front of the plane for who knows how long before they finally allowed us to get on the plane.  We sat in our seats for an hour before the doors even closed.  I spent the whole flight sobbing because I knew that I had no chance of making my connecting flight.  Concerned flight attendants kept kneeling beside me to ask what was wrong, but I’m pretty sure they were more concerned that I was scared of planes than anything else.

During the long flight, I didn’t sleep at all.  My anxiety kept me awake as I tracked our flight through the air.  We managed to make up some time, and when we landed in Seattle I’d accumulated an hour gap between the landing and my next flight.  After consulting with the flight attendants, they simply gave me the decidedly not-helpful advice of, “Run, and see what happens.”

And so I did, I ran.  I ran through the passport checkpoint, I ran through customs (which was an absolute joke) after waiting 15 minutes to reclaim my bag, and I ran to the airport metro.

I was doomed from the start.

Seattle is a huge airport, and even though the flight attendants assured me that I wouldn’t have to go through airport security again, that’s exactly what I had to do.  I couldn’t afford the 20 minutes it took to wait in line, kick off my shoes, and hastily dump everything out of my bag.  When I arrived at my gate, I was disappointed but not surprised to see “gate closed” on the monitor.

It was 9 pm but to me it felt like 5 am, I was jet-lagged, exhausted, and starving.  When I saw “gate closed,” I knew that I’d have no choice but to stay in the airport overnight.

I dramatically collapsed on the ground in front of my gate, inches from a seat but too lazy to make the extra effort to sit in one.  Sobbing loudly, I hunched over my carry on and took off my glasses.  I’m sure everyone heard, but no one cared except for this sweet Middle Eastern lady in a hijab.

“Are you okay?  Hey!  Are you all right, dear?”

I looked up with red, puffy eyes and sniffled.

“What happened?  You miss your flight?”  She sat next to me and patted me on the back.  “Everyone is so mean in this country, they are all so cold!  They all walk by but they don’t say anything to someone who cries.”

I hiccuped a bit and she directed me over to the front desk for my airline.  I was grateful for her kindness, but nothing could really make me feel better.  The last thing I wanted to do was be stuck in an airport over night.

The women at the front desk were irritating as could be, but I was too drained to say much to them.  I simply shoved my ticket and passport over to them and mumbled something about Phoenix.  They talked among themselves in stage whispers so loud it was almost comical.

“How old is she?  If she’s a minor…”

“She’s… 20, so no…”

“Isn’t there another flight to Phoenix?  Sometimes they do a late one…”

“Next one is at 6 am…”

“Too early to put her up in a hotel…”

I wondered to myself how a 6 am flight was too early to put me up in a hotel when it wasn’t even 10 pm yet, but I didn’t have the energy to argue.

After breaking out of their huddle, one asked me if I was hungry.

“Yes…” I said in a pitiful, congested voice.

“Do you have money to buy something to eat?

I shook my head.

“Come on, Rhonda, give at least give her a meal ticket or something!”

Rhonda was a tiny woman who looked like she’d woken up on the wrong side of the bed.

“A meal ticket?  There’s nothing open at this time of night, it’s not worth it to give her a meal ticket.”

“Oh come on,” said the other lady, who I now consider my guardian angel along with the Middle Eastern lady.  “Let me do it.”

I was sent on my way with another boarding pass for a 6 am flight to Phoenix, a meal ticket, and a snack ticket.  After having a chicken walnut salad from one of the few places that were open I felt considerably better.  At least, I felt better until I tried to find my way back to my gate and ended up in baggage claim, which forced me to go through security for a third time that day.  At long last, I was at my gate and I tried to sleep with no success.  The airport was freezing and what sounded like a fire alarm went off for a whole hour.  I stayed in my seat, eye squeezed shut, and decided that if I was going to die in a fire that night, so be it.

My friend was forced to get a hotel for the night since I obviously wasn’t going to be able to meet her at the airport.

Finally, finally, 5:30 rolled around and I boarded my last flight.  (Well, last flight for a few months.)

In three hours, I was back in Phoenix, and that concluded my study abroad experience.

Thanks for reading,

V

Iceland My last adventure was Iceland.  I found a cheap ticket from Paris to Reykjavik, and another cheap(ish) ticket from Reykjavik to Phoenix. 

[alexandallieabroad]

Iceland, Days 9 & 10

Iceland, Day 9 Allie got a cold and it was raining a lot. Stayed at Kidafell and relaxed. Iceland, Day 10 Our last day in Iceland! We talked to a friendly French couple over breakfast in the farmhouse we'd stayed the night in. They were just starting their trip around Iceland, so we traded stories / experiences for a while. We packed up and made the comparatively short drive into Reykjavik. The wind roared in off the coast and buffered the car for a good portion of the drive down; we made one stop to look for seals near a rocky stretch at which we'd successfully seen them before, but no luck. Once in Reykjavík, we made our first stop at Hallgrímskirkja, the imposing church near downtown. The tower has an observation deck, so we paid the $9 each and rode the elevator up. From the top we could see most of them the city as well as the ocean and bay. We came back down just as the Sunday mass was starting, so we paused to listen to the choir for a bit. They were few in number but assisted by a large organ and excellent acoustics. Leaving the church, we walked generally toward the harbor. It was sort of a shock to be back in a city of 120,000 people after traveling for over a week through towns and villages that averaged less than 100. Along the way we saw some cat-print leggings Allie wanted, but the store is apparently closed on Sundays. This area has a few streets of shops, alternating between the standard tacky gift shops you find in any area frequented by tourists, a few local shops, and some high end clothing retailers. Stopping in for a couple coffees, we made our next plan to walk along the windy shoreline, seeing both the concert hall and Sólfarið (Sun Voyager), a sculpture of a Viking long boat that sits adjacent to the harbor. We also saw a small steam engine that we'd return to later. A waffle with caramel and cream made a delightful treat as we returned to the car.

We then moved on to the National Icelandic Museum, which details the progression of Iceland's populace from Viking men who kindly and in complete agreement with all parties, picked up some British gals along the way to the country it is today. These tickets also came with tickets to the Culture House, which is apparently an art museum. Like many, it could have been skipped. We were off by about a day and a half from being able to meet up with Bret in Reykjavík. So, we returned to the locomotive that was used to move gravel from the harbor, and stashed a small thing that hopefully he will be able to find. Alex panicked about stopping in a vacant construction area while Allie wedged her raincoat in a crevice that will hopefully go unnoticed for a few days. We got another hotdog after a stop in a local place for happy hour, washed the car, and found our hotel on what might be the windiest street in Reykjavíc. We'd seen a beer garden at a hotel across the street as we'd walked into our hotel, so after unloading the car, we headed over, and were not disappointed. The small area had an excellent atmosphere, goodly beer selection, and both free popcorn and free flavored water. We sampled all of them, showered, and retired for the evening, as we were getting up at 4:15 the next morning to get to Keflavík for our first leg of the journey home. A biting cold wind saw us off on our walk from the car rental building to the terminal. See y'all stateside. Cheers, A&A

[connorrenwick]

Design Milk Travels to: Reykjavík

This capital city of Iceland is proof that what they say about tiny packages is true. Reykjavík packs quite a mean design punch. (The population of the whole island is just over 330,000 and nearly half of them call Reykjavík home.) Luckily, Icelandair makes it easy to check out the city with their stop-over program. (If you book a ticket to another European city through the airline, you can (for free!) include a stop-over in Reykjavík.) If you’re scheduling a trip just to Iceland, you can aim to hit one of the many festivals: Airwaves Music Festival (October), Secret Solstice Festival (June), or DesignMarch design week (March). But anytime is a great time for Iceland, I prefer to visit in the summer when the sun just bounces on the horizon and the 21 hours of daily sunlight mean you can pack a big agenda into each day.  But winter can be equally fun (for New Year’s, there are bonfires in every front yard).

While this guide is focused on the city of Reykjavík, there’s a lot of natural beauty just outside the city. Iceland is quite literally the most breathtaking place I’ve ever traveled to. After my first visit to the country, not only did I make a return trip a few years later (this tiny place has a lot to see!), but I also named my two cats after Norse gods in honor of the country (Loki and Freya). And after talking to some design savvy Icelanders, to make sure that we had all the design hits on this list, I’m feeling about ready for a return trip.

Where to Stay

Kex Hostel

When I was last in Reykjavík, I stayed at Kex Hostel, a 215-room hostel housed in an old biscuit factory in downtown. With a downstairs bar furnished completely with secondhand furniture (and where they serve breakfast in the morning!), it’s more social than an apartment rental option. There’s a barbershop, a gym (called box) and a restaurant (featuring a menu created by the chef from Dill) that’s popular with both hostel guests and locals. And as if that’s not enough, the hostel organizes a concert series throughout the year and showcases live jazz every Tuesday. (And if you’re not into hostel living, just ask for a private room. You’ll get the social without the nighttime noise) A second hostel option is Oddsson, a newly opened hostel with an Italian restaurant. For a little bigger budget, Ingibj��rg Hanna of Ihanna Home recommends the personality-filled Hotel Marina near the Reykjavík harbor (a sign in one of the hotel’s smaller bathrooms reads, “Yes, this bathroom is tiny! So just finish your business and come hang with us at the bar.”) And if you’re looking to impress, then the spare, glossy boutique 101 Hotel, one of Reykjavík’s most high-end options, located in a refurbished 1930s office building, is your ticket.

Where to Play

Árbæjarsafn

On the museum circuit, Helga Mogensen of Kirsuberjatréð, a fantastic shop that features the work of local artists, recommended the museum of Iceland’s first sculptor Einars Jónssonar, saying that it’s small but mesmerizing (and the sculpture garden alone is worth a look.) For a look into how Icelandic people traditionally lived, worked and played, the open-air museum Árbæjarsafn is a must stop. If you’re willing to venture a bit outside the city (7 minutes), Ingibjörg Hanna of Ihanna Home, recommends the small Museum of Design and Applied Art in Garðabær. Just check the exhibition schedule before you make the trek. The Reykjavik Art Museum has three locations in the city, according to Sari Peltone of the Iceland Design Centre if you only have time for one, make it Hafnarhús, the most recent addition (and before your trip, sign up for the Centre’s mailing list to get news on exhibits and events).

Walking around Reykjavík, you won’t be able to miss the Hallgrímskirkja church. It’s the tallest building in the city and all the guidebooks will tell you to check it out. And you should. Climb to the top and get that iconic shot of the city (it’s the image at the top of the page). Then head over to Safnahúsið (the Culture House) designed by Danish architect Johannes Magdahl Nielsen in 1906 to house the National Library, it now hosts rotating exhibitions as well as a permanent one on the history of Iceland. Sari Peltone also suggested that you leave time to stop by The Nordic House, one of Finnish architect’s Alvar Aalto’s lesser known works.

One of my favorite things to do while traveling is to see a movie. In Iceland, I was surprised when mid-way through the feature, the lights went up. Intermission! Everyone shuffled back to the concession stand for a snack re-up. (If you haven’t yet sampled some Icelandic licorice, this moment is your chance!) Bíó Parad��s is a favorite film house that screens films from all over the world.

Sundhöllin

You can not visit Iceland without visiting a pool. Icelanders know how to take full advantage of that geothermal water and nearly every town in Iceland has one. (In fact, it’s probably not considered a town without a pool.) There are seven in Reykjavík. They open early and close late. This is where Icelanders do their after work socializing. In addition to the pool for laps, there are usually a smattering of hot tubs (or as Icelanders call them ‘hot pots’), all set to different temperatures. Helga Mogensen’s Reykjavík favorite is Sundhöll, which opened in 1937 and is the oldest pool in Iceland. The pool was designed by state architect Guðjón Samúelsson (who also designed Hallgrímskirkja church) and still has the original tiled dressing rooms and hot pots are on the balcony.

The Blue Lagoon

I have to admit, that I loved the local Icelandic pools even more than the Blue Lagoon, but you might not feel you visited Iceland unless you pay a visit here (and it is pretty surreal). It was designed by Sigrid Sigthórsdottir and the structure completely blends into the landscape. The best way to visit is to take advantage of the shuttle buses that make the stop between the airport and the Blue Lagoon and either visit right before you come into the country or right before you catch your flight home. And before you head out the door, snap up some of those Blue Lagoon beauty products. They’re pretty great.

Where to Shop

Farmers Market sweaters

Nearly everyone I spoke to recommended Kiosk, a boutique run by local fashion designers (the owners/designers all take turns behind the counter so you’re almost guaranteed to meet one of them). Kirsuberjatréð is a small shop that also sells the work of local Icelandic artists and designers, and Ihanna Home features Icelandic designs for the interior space. On my last trip, I purchased an Icelandic sweater that I still trot out every winter. Farmer’s Market is an Icelandic brand that turns all that sheep’s wool into some pretty trendy sweaters with an Icelandic flair.

Opal Licorice via Iceland Magazine’s A Rough Guide to Icelandic Sweets and Soda

While you’re doing all that shopping, you might work up a sweet tooth. Icelanders are licorice-crazed. Salty licorice, sweet licorice, chocolate-covered licorice. Licorice is the sweet of choice. Helga Mogensen suggested that those really wanting to explore the world of licorice check out the Sambo factory store where you can sample licorice cut-offs. And if you’re more into package design than licorice eating, keep an eye out for Opal, with its op-art packaging designed in 1946 by painter Atli Mar, it’s hard to miss. For the chocolate + licorice variety that is an Icelandic favorite look for Omnom, an Icelandic bean-to-bar producer. To really get a feel of the variety of Icelandic licorice and more, Sari Peltone suggests popping into Vínberið, a candy shop right in the center of Reykjavík.

Omnom licorice

Final Words

Dill Restaurant

If it’s not already on your travel bucket list, I hope you’re now convinced that Reykjavík deserves a spot. I’ve yet to meet anyone who regretted their trip to this magical city. To congratulate yourself for making the journey to the tiny island, splurge on a final meal at Dill Restaurant. This is the place to try New Nordic cuisine — classic Nordic food (meatballs and seafood) served with a twist. The restaurant makes its own salt by boiling ocean water. That’s a mic drop situation.

via http://design-milk.com/

from WordPress https://connorrenwickblog.wordpress.com/2017/06/30/design-milk-travels-to-reykjavik/

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include a classic Deus Ex postmortem, making Steam games successful in China, and the surprise smash hit Lineage 2 mobile game, among other things.

In particular, I was taken by that piece on the success of Lineage 2: Revolution for mobile - $176 million in a month in South Korea alone? Wow. It's a good reminder that when franchises have fans - and Lineage is gaming royalty in Korea - then startling things can happen.

Oh, and FYI - we opened up registration for our standalone Virtual Reality Developers Conference this week - happening this September in San Francisco. We've added board members from ILMxLAB and HTC to a stellar set of advisors from Valve, Oculus, Sony, Magic Leap, Microsoft & more. Lots going on in the VR, AR, and mixed reality space, and it's good to have a truly platform-independent show to explore it...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

Highlighting History's First Female Game Designers (Manon Hume / Game Informer) "Though it might be difficult today to imagine Uncharted without Amy Hennig or Journey without Robin Hunicke, women in the early days of video games rarely had their time in the limelight. Carol Shaw and Dona Bailey, creators of River Raid and Centipede respectively, were two of the first female game designers in video game history, yet their contributions have often been overlooked… Until now."

Building Worlds in No Man's Sky Using Math(s) (Sean Murray / GDC / YouTube) "No Man's Sky is a science fiction game set in a near infinite procedurally generated universe. In this 2017 GDC talk, Hello Games' Sean Murray describes some of the most important technologies and interesting challenges behind generating both realistic and alien terrains without artistic input, using mathematics."

College Esports Programs Are Growing, But Can They Field a Winning Team? (Will Partin / Glixel) "The doors to University of Nevada Las Vegas’ Cox Arena and Pavilion open at 12, and every seat inside is filled by 12:30. If it weren't for the occasional StarCraft cosplayer or the elaborate apparatus of club lighting enveloping the stage, you could be forgiven for mistaking Heroes of the Dorm for a division one basketball game."

Making Horizon Zero Dawn's Machines feel like living creatures (Willie Clark / Gamasutra) "One of the most memorable features of the recent PlayStation 4 title Horizon Zero Dawn are the sophisticated robots, known as Machines, that wander the game world like a natural part of the landscape. How were these distinctive robot/creatures conceived of and designed? We talked with several devs from Guerrilla Games, the studio behind HZD, to see just what went into the making of the Machines."

Persona 5 deserved better: a translator's take on a subpar script (Molly Lee / Polygon) "I found myself mentally rewriting A LOT of Persona 5. What should be a gripping tale of outcast kids became an outright chore to parse … and I was barely a few hours in. The start of every game is the part that's meant to hook you."

The 15 year quest to mod the mainland into The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Luke Winkie / PC Gamer) "It has been said that everyone’s favorite Bethesda game is the first one they play, as if stepping into that freedom for the first time is far more powerful and resonant than any prospective gameplay upgrades or graphical bumps. There’s probably no better proof than the community at Tamriel Rebuilt—a mod that’s been in development since Morrowind’s original release date."

A No Bullshit Conversation With The Authors Behind The Witcher and Metro 2033 (Piotr Bajda / Waypoint) "Witcher novelist Andrzej Sapkowski says he doesn't owe games anything, but Metro 2033 author Dmitry Glukhovsky thinks games made them both."

Unleashing the Benefits of Coviewing With Minecraft Videos (Matthew Farber / Joan Ganz Cooney Center) "Both Minecraft and YouTube are ubiquitous in today’s children’s media culture. And like millions of other children, my six-year-old son loves to watch Minecraft videos on YouTube. He frequently watches Grian’s how-to-build-it Minecraft videos. He enjoys the silly antics from Pat and Jen of Gaming with Jen, the husband-and-wife team who produce PopularMMOs. And he loves Stampy Cat—but more on Stampy later."

SU&SD Presents: British Board Games 1800-1920, By Holly Nielsen (Holly Nielsen / Shut Up & Sit Down) "Continuing our collection of talks filmed during the V&A’s Board Game Study Day, here’s 15 minutes from journalist and historian Holly Nielsen on the hilarious, horrifying history of British board games."

Steam games in China: Making the most of a lucrative opportunity (Chris Priestman / Gamasutra) "There are now over 15 million Steam users based in China (according to SteamSpy). That makes it the country with the third largest number of Steam account holders, behind only Russia and the USA. Numbers like that should be enough to convince any game developer to make efforts to appeal to the Chinese audience. Yet many don’t."

How Ghosts ’N Goblins helped video games find comedy in failure (Anthony John Agnello / AV Club) "Most games tried to lighten up your failure to soothe the loss. Pac-Man touches a ghost, the music stops, and the game bloops as the little semicircle winks out of existence, vanishing with the last of your extra lives. The sounds are disappointing in tone but fun in execution, enough to make another quarter seem worth it. And in 1985, Ghosts ’N Goblins made failure infuriating but also hilarious, giving video games their very own comedic language."

"Creating an MMORPG that anyone can play": The making of Lineage 2 Revolution (Matt Suckley / PocketGamer.biz) "It's safe to say that Lineage 2 Revolution has been a huge success for Netmarble. On the face of it, this hardcore MMORPG based on a PC title is one that caters to a relatively niche audience. But despite only being available in South Korea, the game hit $100 million in revenues within 18 days - $176 million in a month - powering its developer to an 81% leap in profits."

Clark Tank: Steam user review changes and SimAirport! (Ryan Clark / YouTube) "I'm veteran indie game developer Ryan Clark, and this is the Clark Tank! Every second Friday at 1pm Pacific time we stay on top of the latest game industry trends by examining the Steam top 50, scrutinizing the latest Kickstarted games, and by playing the most prominent recent releases. [SIMON'S NOTE: this is the second YouTube stream compilation, and is still catching up, but the commentary and analysis in here is still super helpful for devs & interesting to others!]"

From Squadron To Ringleader (Jimmy Maher / The Digital Antiquarian) "European developers remained European, American developers remained American, and the days of a truly globalized games industry remained far in the future. The exceptions to these rules stand out all the more thanks to their rarity. And one of these notable exceptions was Chris Roberts, the young man who would change Origin Systems forever."

The Virtual Life – The Unsettling Humanity Of Nina Freeman's Kimmy (Javy Gwaltney / Game Informer) "Kimmy is a different kind of game from the rest of developer Nina Freeman’s works. Freeman, who now works at Fullbright as a designer on Tacoma, has released a number of personal vignette-like games throughout her career."

The Metal World: Horizon Zero Dawn (Matt Margini / Heterotopias) "In the sleepy suburb of Sydenham, south-east of London, the statues of the Crystal Palace Dinosaur Park stand watch over nothing in particular. By today’s standards they look hilariously inaccurate: the Iguanodon is little more than a fat alligator, while the Megalosaurus looks like one of No Man’s Sky’s misshapen dog-like quadrupeds. [SIMON'S NOTE: watch out for Heterotopias, it's a super-promising new outlet about game worlds - its first zine was in my recent Storybundle, and more zines & more web-exclusive articles are coming!]"

Classic Game Postmortem: Deus Ex (Warren Spector / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC postmortem, acclaimed game designer Warren Spector walks through the development of the 2000 hit game Deus Ex and reflects on some of the key lessons from launching the critically-acclaimed immersive sim."

The Field of Dreams Approach: On Writing About Video Games (Graham Oliver / Electric Lit) "Every year, more and more great essays are published on literary sites concerning video games. In the past year I’ve especially loved entries like Janet Frishberg’s “On Playing Games, Productivity, and Right Livelihood,”Joseph Spece’s “A Harvest of Ice,” and Adam Fleming Petty’s “The Spatial Poetics of Nintendo: Architecture, Dennis Cooper, and Video Games.” But for each great essay there are a handful of others written like apologies, seemingly perennial pleas to take video games seriously as a form of meaningful narrative."

Meet the most honest man in EVE Online (Steven Messner / PC Gamer) "When you're the most trusted person in EVE Online, your reputation has a way of preceding you. For years, the name 'Chribba' felt like an urban legend to me—a man you can trust in a galaxy where the first rule is to trust no one. Inside the Harpa convention center in downtown Reykjavik, I meet Chribba amid the bustle of players gathering for EVE Online's annual Fanfest."

How An Offbeat Video Game Got 100 Japanese Bands To Write Its Soundtrack (Jared Newman / Fast Company) "Let It Die is a game about a mysterious tower in post-apocalyptic Tokyo, where players control an emotionless, reanimated corpse, and are guided by a cheery, skateboard-riding grim reaper named Uncle Death. Strange as that sounds, the story behind Let It Die‘s soundtrack is even more unusual."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

[dennonthemove]

Day 17 - New Year's Eve

Day 17 December 31, 2016 New Year's Eve Hyderabad, India Since Leo and Elise got in late last night from the movie--I think around 2--Radhe and I went in search of coffee on our own this morning. Possibly because it's a Saturday AND New Year's Eve, the streets here were almost deserted. As mentioned earlier, this area is a high-tech neighborhood (although, you wouldn't know that to look at our street--see photo). In fact, there's a part of town near here (maybe we're in it) that's called Cyberabad. Hyderabad and Bangalore are sort of the Silicon Valleys of India. Anyway, due to the holiday and weekend, our favorite coffee shop on the corner wasn't open. So, we went down to the shop next to the juice place for an Iranian chai. As we walked back to the hotel, we splurged on a fresh coconut water (it's $0.35 per coconut). The chai cost about the same. Of course, we're not getting 12 or 16 oz. cups--more like a demitasse cup full--out of metal cups. Nope, doesn't make any sense to me serving hot coffee/chai/tea in a metal cup with no handles. For those of us who like their coffee blazing, it's a bit of a hiccup having to wait until the drink is cool enough to hold. After everyone was up and moving, we made our way, via rickshaw, to the old section of town. Today was market day and the place was unbelievably jammed-packed!!!! We contracted with our driver to take us in and bring us out of downtown. He ended up being with us the entire afternoon. Not sure of his name, so I'll just call him Joe. Joe was extremely patient with us--practically a saint! The bustling streets were almost TOO bustling--even for the hardened shopper like Elise. From where we landed in the old section of the town, it appeared to be the fabric market. It was a costumer's paradise!!! Every kind of fabric, lace, bead, notion (as my grandmother would say) could be found here. It was like a 5-acre "Dolly's" of Hyderabad (for those of you from old-school Elkhart). Trying to find a lunch place wasn't easy. As mentioned before, trying to find a restaurant/cafe/street vendor who ONLY cooked veg and could do so WITHOUT onions and/or garlic is not for the faint-hearted. We marched around for a good 30 minutes--ironically, through the dental market (which, too, is not for the faint-hearted dental-phobes)--before we found a hotel restaurant to suit our needs. Sadly, Joe wouldn't join us. But, like a faithful watchdog, stood across the street until we had finished. From here, Joe kept trying to get us to go back to the rickshaw so he could take us back to our hotel, but the four of us together is worse than herding cats. We're like a four-headed hydra--and not one head among us is able to take the lead. And, poor Joe had no idea that he'd bargained away his soul for the entire afternoon. (In the end, I gave him an extra 300 rupees for his patience). Even though it was fascinating to watch all the people out and about shopping for bangles and beads and beaded sarees in more colors than a rainbow, a few hours is more than enough time to see it all--particularly if you're NOT in the market for new wedding apparel. Yes, I got a little bored. I should have struck out on my own to see the older buildings--which really isn't as easy as it may appear--will explain later. But, we finally headed home--much to Joe's relief. Besides, we had a New Year's Eve party to attend. Of course, once freed of Joe's company, we had to have a juice before walking back down our street to the hotel (one thing is most certain with our foursome--detours are the rule, a straight line is forbidden). Besides, fresh juice (or coconut water) on the street really is most addicting! ************ Day 17.1 Yes, we freshened up!!! . . . which means a glorified spit-bath (as Mom-mom would probably describe it--and, in homage to her travel habit, I have worn the same trousers three days in a row). If you haven't spilled curry on your clothes, they can last 2-3 days before needing to rinse out the dust. But, we all put on fresh clothes for the party. After all, it was a New Year's Eve party--though, tuxes were not required (though I wouldn't have been surprised if you could have found someone to make one this afternoon while we waited)! Radhe had chosen not to go with us this evening because alcohol and meats would be served. Besides, he had hoped to make contact with some friends of his in town. So, he stayed behind. The party was at the couple who lived and worked in Hyderabad and who we'd gone with us the previous day to Golconda Fort. They had probably worked all day putting together the feast for the evening. Even though they had prepared all sorts of chicken and mutton kabobs, there was also a plate of nachos and chips and a baked cheese dish for the veg-eaters in the group. We splurged on all sorts of foods even before the main course was served. We were so engrossed in the edibles, we almost missed midnight! So, 2016 closed out with a bit of whimper instead of a bang--which was alright. It's been a busy year, a challenging year, a fun year. Last New Year's I was celebrating the fireworks in Reykjavik, Iceland, and this year I was celebrating the food, the music and culture of India--I'll need to start planning next New Year's as soon as I get back!

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include a classic Deus Ex postmortem, making Steam games successful in China, and the surprise smash hit Lineage 2 mobile game, among other things.

In particular, I was taken by that piece on the success of Lineage 2: Revolution for mobile - $176 million in a month in South Korea alone? Wow. It's a good reminder that when franchises have fans - and Lineage is gaming royalty in Korea - then startling things can happen.

Oh, and FYI - we opened up registration for our standalone Virtual Reality Developers Conference this week - happening this September in San Francisco. We've added board members from ILMxLAB and HTC to a stellar set of advisors from Valve, Oculus, Sony, Magic Leap, Microsoft & more. Lots going on in the VR, AR, and mixed reality space, and it's good to have a truly platform-independent show to explore it...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

Highlighting History's First Female Game Designers (Manon Hume / Game Informer) "Though it might be difficult today to imagine Uncharted without Amy Hennig or Journey without Robin Hunicke, women in the early days of video games rarely had their time in the limelight. Carol Shaw and Dona Bailey, creators of River Raid and Centipede respectively, were two of the first female game designers in video game history, yet their contributions have often been overlooked… Until now."

Building Worlds in No Man's Sky Using Math(s) (Sean Murray / GDC / YouTube) "No Man's Sky is a science fiction game set in a near infinite procedurally generated universe. In this 2017 GDC talk, Hello Games' Sean Murray describes some of the most important technologies and interesting challenges behind generating both realistic and alien terrains without artistic input, using mathematics."

College Esports Programs Are Growing, But Can They Field a Winning Team? (Will Partin / Glixel) "The doors to University of Nevada Las Vegas’ Cox Arena and Pavilion open at 12, and every seat inside is filled by 12:30. If it weren't for the occasional StarCraft cosplayer or the elaborate apparatus of club lighting enveloping the stage, you could be forgiven for mistaking Heroes of the Dorm for a division one basketball game."

Making Horizon Zero Dawn's Machines feel like living creatures (Willie Clark / Gamasutra) "One of the most memorable features of the recent PlayStation 4 title Horizon Zero Dawn are the sophisticated robots, known as Machines, that wander the game world like a natural part of the landscape. How were these distinctive robot/creatures conceived of and designed? We talked with several devs from Guerrilla Games, the studio behind HZD, to see just what went into the making of the Machines."

Persona 5 deserved better: a translator's take on a subpar script (Molly Lee / Polygon) "I found myself mentally rewriting A LOT of Persona 5. What should be a gripping tale of outcast kids became an outright chore to parse … and I was barely a few hours in. The start of every game is the part that's meant to hook you."

The 15 year quest to mod the mainland into The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Luke Winkie / PC Gamer) "It has been said that everyone’s favorite Bethesda game is the first one they play, as if stepping into that freedom for the first time is far more powerful and resonant than any prospective gameplay upgrades or graphical bumps. There’s probably no better proof than the community at Tamriel Rebuilt—a mod that’s been in development since Morrowind’s original release date."

A No Bullshit Conversation With The Authors Behind The Witcher and Metro 2033 (Piotr Bajda / Waypoint) "Witcher novelist Andrzej Sapkowski says he doesn't owe games anything, but Metro 2033 author Dmitry Glukhovsky thinks games made them both."

Unleashing the Benefits of Coviewing With Minecraft Videos (Matthew Farber / Joan Ganz Cooney Center) "Both Minecraft and YouTube are ubiquitous in today’s children’s media culture. And like millions of other children, my six-year-old son loves to watch Minecraft videos on YouTube. He frequently watches Grian’s how-to-build-it Minecraft videos. He enjoys the silly antics from Pat and Jen of Gaming with Jen, the husband-and-wife team who produce PopularMMOs. And he loves Stampy Cat—but more on Stampy later."

SU&SD Presents: British Board Games 1800-1920, By Holly Nielsen (Holly Nielsen / Shut Up & Sit Down) "Continuing our collection of talks filmed during the V&A’s Board Game Study Day, here’s 15 minutes from journalist and historian Holly Nielsen on the hilarious, horrifying history of British board games."

Steam games in China: Making the most of a lucrative opportunity (Chris Priestman / Gamasutra) "There are now over 15 million Steam users based in China (according to SteamSpy). That makes it the country with the third largest number of Steam account holders, behind only Russia and the USA. Numbers like that should be enough to convince any game developer to make efforts to appeal to the Chinese audience. Yet many don’t."

How Ghosts ’N Goblins helped video games find comedy in failure (Anthony John Agnello / AV Club) "Most games tried to lighten up your failure to soothe the loss. Pac-Man touches a ghost, the music stops, and the game bloops as the little semicircle winks out of existence, vanishing with the last of your extra lives. The sounds are disappointing in tone but fun in execution, enough to make another quarter seem worth it. And in 1985, Ghosts ’N Goblins made failure infuriating but also hilarious, giving video games their very own comedic language."

"Creating an MMORPG that anyone can play": The making of Lineage 2 Revolution (Matt Suckley / PocketGamer.biz) "It's safe to say that Lineage 2 Revolution has been a huge success for Netmarble. On the face of it, this hardcore MMORPG based on a PC title is one that caters to a relatively niche audience. But despite only being available in South Korea, the game hit $100 million in revenues within 18 days - $176 million in a month - powering its developer to an 81% leap in profits."

Clark Tank: Steam user review changes and SimAirport! (Ryan Clark / YouTube) "I'm veteran indie game developer Ryan Clark, and this is the Clark Tank! Every second Friday at 1pm Pacific time we stay on top of the latest game industry trends by examining the Steam top 50, scrutinizing the latest Kickstarted games, and by playing the most prominent recent releases. [SIMON'S NOTE: this is the second YouTube stream compilation, and is still catching up, but the commentary and analysis in here is still super helpful for devs & interesting to others!]"

From Squadron To Ringleader (Jimmy Maher / The Digital Antiquarian) "European developers remained European, American developers remained American, and the days of a truly globalized games industry remained far in the future. The exceptions to these rules stand out all the more thanks to their rarity. And one of these notable exceptions was Chris Roberts, the young man who would change Origin Systems forever."

The Virtual Life – The Unsettling Humanity Of Nina Freeman's Kimmy (Javy Gwaltney / Game Informer) "Kimmy is a different kind of game from the rest of developer Nina Freeman’s works. Freeman, who now works at Fullbright as a designer on Tacoma, has released a number of personal vignette-like games throughout her career."

The Metal World: Horizon Zero Dawn (Matt Margini / Heterotopias) "In the sleepy suburb of Sydenham, south-east of London, the statues of the Crystal Palace Dinosaur Park stand watch over nothing in particular. By today’s standards they look hilariously inaccurate: the Iguanodon is little more than a fat alligator, while the Megalosaurus looks like one of No Man’s Sky’s misshapen dog-like quadrupeds. [SIMON'S NOTE: watch out for Heterotopias, it's a super-promising new outlet about game worlds - its first zine was in my recent Storybundle, and more zines & more web-exclusive articles are coming!]"

Classic Game Postmortem: Deus Ex (Warren Spector / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC postmortem, acclaimed game designer Warren Spector walks through the development of the 2000 hit game Deus Ex and reflects on some of the key lessons from launching the critically-acclaimed immersive sim."

The Field of Dreams Approach: On Writing About Video Games (Graham Oliver / Electric Lit) "Every year, more and more great essays are published on literary sites concerning video games. In the past year I’ve especially loved entries like Janet Frishberg’s “On Playing Games, Productivity, and Right Livelihood,”Joseph Spece’s “A Harvest of Ice,” and Adam Fleming Petty’s “The Spatial Poetics of Nintendo: Architecture, Dennis Cooper, and Video Games.” But for each great essay there are a handful of others written like apologies, seemingly perennial pleas to take video games seriously as a form of meaningful narrative."

Meet the most honest man in EVE Online (Steven Messner / PC Gamer) "When you're the most trusted person in EVE Online, your reputation has a way of preceding you. For years, the name 'Chribba' felt like an urban legend to me—a man you can trust in a galaxy where the first rule is to trust no one. Inside the Harpa convention center in downtown Reykjavik, I meet Chribba amid the bustle of players gathering for EVE Online's annual Fanfest."

How An Offbeat Video Game Got 100 Japanese Bands To Write Its Soundtrack (Jared Newman / Fast Company) "Let It Die is a game about a mysterious tower in post-apocalyptic Tokyo, where players control an emotionless, reanimated corpse, and are guided by a cheery, skateboard-riding grim reaper named Uncle Death. Strange as that sounds, the story behind Let It Die‘s soundtrack is even more unusual."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include a classic Deus Ex postmortem, making Steam games successful in China, and the surprise smash hit Lineage 2 mobile game, among other things.

In particular, I was taken by that piece on the success of Lineage 2: Revolution for mobile - $176 million in a month in South Korea alone? Wow. It's a good reminder that when franchises have fans - and Lineage is gaming royalty in Korea - then startling things can happen.

Oh, and FYI - we opened up registration for our standalone Virtual Reality Developers Conference this week - happening this September in San Francisco. We've added board members from ILMxLAB and HTC to a stellar set of advisors from Valve, Oculus, Sony, Magic Leap, Microsoft & more. Lots going on in the VR, AR, and mixed reality space, and it's good to have a truly platform-independent show to explore it...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

Highlighting History's First Female Game Designers (Manon Hume / Game Informer) "Though it might be difficult today to imagine Uncharted without Amy Hennig or Journey without Robin Hunicke, women in the early days of video games rarely had their time in the limelight. Carol Shaw and Dona Bailey, creators of River Raid and Centipede respectively, were two of the first female game designers in video game history, yet their contributions have often been overlooked… Until now."

Building Worlds in No Man's Sky Using Math(s) (Sean Murray / GDC / YouTube) "No Man's Sky is a science fiction game set in a near infinite procedurally generated universe. In this 2017 GDC talk, Hello Games' Sean Murray describes some of the most important technologies and interesting challenges behind generating both realistic and alien terrains without artistic input, using mathematics."

College Esports Programs Are Growing, But Can They Field a Winning Team? (Will Partin / Glixel) "The doors to University of Nevada Las Vegas’ Cox Arena and Pavilion open at 12, and every seat inside is filled by 12:30. If it weren't for the occasional StarCraft cosplayer or the elaborate apparatus of club lighting enveloping the stage, you could be forgiven for mistaking Heroes of the Dorm for a division one basketball game."

Making Horizon Zero Dawn's Machines feel like living creatures (Willie Clark / Gamasutra) "One of the most memorable features of the recent PlayStation 4 title Horizon Zero Dawn are the sophisticated robots, known as Machines, that wander the game world like a natural part of the landscape. How were these distinctive robot/creatures conceived of and designed? We talked with several devs from Guerrilla Games, the studio behind HZD, to see just what went into the making of the Machines."

Persona 5 deserved better: a translator's take on a subpar script (Molly Lee / Polygon) "I found myself mentally rewriting A LOT of Persona 5. What should be a gripping tale of outcast kids became an outright chore to parse … and I was barely a few hours in. The start of every game is the part that's meant to hook you."

The 15 year quest to mod the mainland into The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Luke Winkie / PC Gamer) "It has been said that everyone’s favorite Bethesda game is the first one they play, as if stepping into that freedom for the first time is far more powerful and resonant than any prospective gameplay upgrades or graphical bumps. There’s probably no better proof than the community at Tamriel Rebuilt—a mod that’s been in development since Morrowind’s original release date."

A No Bullshit Conversation With The Authors Behind The Witcher and Metro 2033 (Piotr Bajda / Waypoint) "Witcher novelist Andrzej Sapkowski says he doesn't owe games anything, but Metro 2033 author Dmitry Glukhovsky thinks games made them both."

Unleashing the Benefits of Coviewing With Minecraft Videos (Matthew Farber / Joan Ganz Cooney Center) "Both Minecraft and YouTube are ubiquitous in today’s children’s media culture. And like millions of other children, my six-year-old son loves to watch Minecraft videos on YouTube. He frequently watches Grian’s how-to-build-it Minecraft videos. He enjoys the silly antics from Pat and Jen of Gaming with Jen, the husband-and-wife team who produce PopularMMOs. And he loves Stampy Cat—but more on Stampy later."

SU&SD Presents: British Board Games 1800-1920, By Holly Nielsen (Holly Nielsen / Shut Up & Sit Down) "Continuing our collection of talks filmed during the V&A’s Board Game Study Day, here’s 15 minutes from journalist and historian Holly Nielsen on the hilarious, horrifying history of British board games."

Steam games in China: Making the most of a lucrative opportunity (Chris Priestman / Gamasutra) "There are now over 15 million Steam users based in China (according to SteamSpy). That makes it the country with the third largest number of Steam account holders, behind only Russia and the USA. Numbers like that should be enough to convince any game developer to make efforts to appeal to the Chinese audience. Yet many don’t."

How Ghosts ’N Goblins helped video games find comedy in failure (Anthony John Agnello / AV Club) "Most games tried to lighten up your failure to soothe the loss. Pac-Man touches a ghost, the music stops, and the game bloops as the little semicircle winks out of existence, vanishing with the last of your extra lives. The sounds are disappointing in tone but fun in execution, enough to make another quarter seem worth it. And in 1985, Ghosts ’N Goblins made failure infuriating but also hilarious, giving video games their very own comedic language."

"Creating an MMORPG that anyone can play": The making of Lineage 2 Revolution (Matt Suckley / PocketGamer.biz) "It's safe to say that Lineage 2 Revolution has been a huge success for Netmarble. On the face of it, this hardcore MMORPG based on a PC title is one that caters to a relatively niche audience. But despite only being available in South Korea, the game hit $100 million in revenues within 18 days - $176 million in a month - powering its developer to an 81% leap in profits."

Clark Tank: Steam user review changes and SimAirport! (Ryan Clark / YouTube) "I'm veteran indie game developer Ryan Clark, and this is the Clark Tank! Every second Friday at 1pm Pacific time we stay on top of the latest game industry trends by examining the Steam top 50, scrutinizing the latest Kickstarted games, and by playing the most prominent recent releases. [SIMON'S NOTE: this is the second YouTube stream compilation, and is still catching up, but the commentary and analysis in here is still super helpful for devs & interesting to others!]"

From Squadron To Ringleader (Jimmy Maher / The Digital Antiquarian) "European developers remained European, American developers remained American, and the days of a truly globalized games industry remained far in the future. The exceptions to these rules stand out all the more thanks to their rarity. And one of these notable exceptions was Chris Roberts, the young man who would change Origin Systems forever."

The Virtual Life – The Unsettling Humanity Of Nina Freeman's Kimmy (Javy Gwaltney / Game Informer) "Kimmy is a different kind of game from the rest of developer Nina Freeman’s works. Freeman, who now works at Fullbright as a designer on Tacoma, has released a number of personal vignette-like games throughout her career."

The Metal World: Horizon Zero Dawn (Matt Margini / Heterotopias) "In the sleepy suburb of Sydenham, south-east of London, the statues of the Crystal Palace Dinosaur Park stand watch over nothing in particular. By today’s standards they look hilariously inaccurate: the Iguanodon is little more than a fat alligator, while the Megalosaurus looks like one of No Man’s Sky’s misshapen dog-like quadrupeds. [SIMON'S NOTE: watch out for Heterotopias, it's a super-promising new outlet about game worlds - its first zine was in my recent Storybundle, and more zines & more web-exclusive articles are coming!]"

Classic Game Postmortem: Deus Ex (Warren Spector / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC postmortem, acclaimed game designer Warren Spector walks through the development of the 2000 hit game Deus Ex and reflects on some of the key lessons from launching the critically-acclaimed immersive sim."

The Field of Dreams Approach: On Writing About Video Games (Graham Oliver / Electric Lit) "Every year, more and more great essays are published on literary sites concerning video games. In the past year I’ve especially loved entries like Janet Frishberg’s “On Playing Games, Productivity, and Right Livelihood,”Joseph Spece’s “A Harvest of Ice,” and Adam Fleming Petty’s “The Spatial Poetics of Nintendo: Architecture, Dennis Cooper, and Video Games.” But for each great essay there are a handful of others written like apologies, seemingly perennial pleas to take video games seriously as a form of meaningful narrative."

Meet the most honest man in EVE Online (Steven Messner / PC Gamer) "When you're the most trusted person in EVE Online, your reputation has a way of preceding you. For years, the name 'Chribba' felt like an urban legend to me—a man you can trust in a galaxy where the first rule is to trust no one. Inside the Harpa convention center in downtown Reykjavik, I meet Chribba amid the bustle of players gathering for EVE Online's annual Fanfest."

How An Offbeat Video Game Got 100 Japanese Bands To Write Its Soundtrack (Jared Newman / Fast Company) "Let It Die is a game about a mysterious tower in post-apocalyptic Tokyo, where players control an emotionless, reanimated corpse, and are guided by a cheery, skateboard-riding grim reaper named Uncle Death. Strange as that sounds, the story behind Let It Die‘s soundtrack is even more unusual."

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[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]