A month of festivals: Þorrablót, Winter Lights and Sónar

I've been very lazy at updating this blog recently but I've suddenly realised I actually have a lot to write about. Life feels a little bit quieter and calmer this semester but looking back at the last six weeks, I realise there's been quite a lot going on in Reykjavik (and some trips out of Reykjavik, but I'll write a separate post about that), mostly three festivals; Þorrablót, Winter Lights and Sónar.

At the end of January, some friends and I went to the Icelandic festival of Þorrablót, an evening of eating a huge meal including all the old-fashioned disgusting Icelandic food that no normal person would ever consider eating. There were sheep's heads, sheep's testicles, whale, rotten shark, liver sausage... and shots. Lots of Icelandic shots. Of course I don't normally eat meat and avoided the most vile foods, but I would say that the shots influenced my decision to try a little bit of shark and whale (I draw the line at eating testicles). They were just as disgusting as you'd imagine: reaction shot below. 

Cube-shaped sheep balls...

A dignified moment

Of course, the night I chose to get slightly worse for wear was the night before I had to fly home. Somehow I managed to get the two coaches and plane and had mostly recovered by the time I arrived at my parents' house in the evening (they may disagree). I've written about the reasons I had to go home in my previous post and feel that I should say that everything went as well as it could; my mum arranged a lovely funeral service for my grandma and despite the circumstances, it was nice to go home and see all the family.

Another recent event in Reykjavik was the Winter Lights Festival; a festival which promised to see the whole city lit up like a Christmas tree with all kinds of beautiful colours and light installations. On the opening night we followed a trail around Reykjavik to see installations and buildings lit up. The trail finished at the church and we couldn't wait to see the church lit up; I'd seen pictures from previous years and it looked beautiful. So we walked around Reykjavik... first stop, a woman hula hooping with brightly coloured hoops. Very nice, but we could tell it was just warming up.

Then a walk through brightly-lit trees, a walk across a bright pink bridge outside the city hall and some quite nice glowing jellyfish. But we were still waiting for the main attractions.

And then time for the big finale, we walked up to the church... Ok, by this point, you can tell I'm being bitter and sarcastic. The church wasn't lit up. The final thing to see was an installation by the local design college; it essentially looked like someone had piled up some bin bags and draped fairy lights over them. It was so rubbish I didn't even bother to take a photo. So overall, I'm afraid the Winter Lights Festival was thoroughly underwhelming. 

The final festival I went to was Sónar Reykjavik, an electronic dance music festival held in Harpa, the concert hall. I was expecting it to be a lot like Iceland Airwaves, and there were some similarities and some of the same bands playing. However, Sónar ended up being a lot crazier. The best acts were Bonobo, FM Belfast, Diplo, Exos and the incredible final act: Major Lazer. I don't think I've ever been to a more crazy concert but it was so much fun, despite leaving covered in other people's sweat and beer. 

So, this semester didn't get off to the best start, but it's fair to say things have got much, much better. I love living with my new flatmates and I'm so happy to be back for another few months.