Back to Reykjavik (and Culture Night)

I have emerged from the bubble that is Hotel Nupur! Yesterday we had an eight hour bus journey back to Reykjavik and it feels so strange to be back in civilisation. I would also say it's so strange to be away from all the people I met on the language course but I've already bumped into half of them walking round Reykjavik! I gave up blogging the last week because the internet was so bad so I'll write a little about my last week in the Westfjords and my first night back in Reykjavik.

On Wednesday we went on a trip to a nearby village to watch the Saga of Gisli performed as a one man play. The show was performed in a village hall by a man who wore a stripper-style break away suit (to reveal a viking outfit, thank god) and used puppets and wooden toys to act out the story. It was a bizarre experience and if I'm honest it just looked a bit like the actor was having a mental breakdown on stage. After the show we had to complete an orienteering task - except that a group of us were never given anything to do so we wandered aimlessly in the rain for an hour instead. It wasn't my best afternoon so far!

On Friday we had our final exam. The writing part went well for me but I fell to pieces in the speaking part. In the evening we had our final dinner and ceremony and we were all called to the front one by one to collect our results. I was pretty shocked to find out I finished the course with a mark of 80%! The final night was a lot of fun and a great way to say goodbye to everyone. 

It means something a bit rude, sorry.

One final thing about Nupur: it's been a tradition for the boarding school to take photos of the students and frame them since the school was founded, like this:

The owners of the hotel have decided to carry on this tradition, so here is the class of 2013!

We got back to Reykjavik yesterday evening and all went off to our various hostels/houses. Yesterday was Culture Night in Reykjavik (a mix of music, food, exhibitions, etc all over the city) and although that made it an exciting time to come back, it also meant the city was manic. I got to the hostel I'd stayed in before and wasn't that happy to be put in a much worse dorm that the one I'd been in previously: it's really messy, there were a couple in the bed next to me who'd clearly just... you know, and there's nowhere for me to straighten my hair (I realise how spoilt that last bit sounds)! I considered upgrading but after checking my bank balance today I don't think that's an option.

Anyway, I had a walk round the city and heard all kinds of strange music along the main street. I met some people from the language course and we watched a concert in the city centre, then had a walk around Harpa (the concert hall) and finally watched the fireworks at the harbour. There was something very special about standing by the sea watching spectacular fireworks flying over the ships and Harpa.

It was a fantastic 'welcome back' from Reykjavik and, although I will miss being in the Westfjords, I'm so happy to be back here!