I have been reunited with my beloved skyr haha - that can only mean one thing - I have landed in good old Iceland. I am so exhausted... already haha, but I had a fantastic day =) I landed in Keflavik to find out that today is Iceland’s Independence Day - partyyyyy. Oy. Too bad I’m running on fumes as is… otherwise I could’ve enjoyed more of the “festivities”. I arrived at the hostel at the same time as 3 other girls from Canada, so we walked around a bit and went for breakfast. (Flights arriving at 6:30am are so not cool.) After that I headed off the BSI to make sure my tickets were confirmed for Ishestar (horseback riding) for the afternoon. I was sad/impressed that I remember the layout of the city so well ... read more

I'm currently sitting by the window watching a lovely thunderstorm. There is nothing better than reading a good book, sitting curled up on the couch, and listening to the rain. It's not quite as good as the one we had the other day (where we lost power, about 10 screen windows blew out into the backyard etc), but it's still a good storm. It's a nice break in the weather too - it's not boiling for once. I can't believe the camps already half done... these volunteer stints always go by so fast, it's sad. Yesterday afternoon we ended up bringing the kids some balloons which they love. It's funny when they pop - there's 3-4 that shriek w/ excitement. And I mean shriek. The younger brother came up to me and asked for the "pictures". ... read more

So, first off a bit about our schedule - first week we're with 15 orphans, aged around 6-10yrs, all with either physical or mental disabilities. Second week we're with older kids (11-15ish), but we don't know how many, or if they're disabled. Our daily schedule is usually 9:30-11:30am outside w/ the kids (sometimes 30-60min inside on the comp as well), a well deserved break where we literally eat and then flop out in our rooms, and then 4-6pm we play inside w/ the kids trying to get them to do crafts or stuff like that. Plovdiv is quite warm - and be quite, I mean boiling. I think the lowest it's been here is 30 since we arrived, plus the humidity... so it's toasty. It's fine in the shade I suppose, but we don't often have ... read more

I had the most bizarre encounter as I left Frankfurt. I truly have skill. Bus ride last night was alright - I didn’t sleep much b/c I’m so excited/nervous about Bulgaria, but I still managed to get 2-3 hours. I hate passport control… again, at 12:30am as we pass into Germany we get the guards. At least they were friendly… but we got stuck there for an hour. Sigh. Rest of the bus ride was uneventful (I talked to 2 American boys for a bit while stuck in controls), and then I had breakfast at the train station before taking the S-bahn to the airport. And that’s where my story begins. I need to stop smiling to strangers in Europe, it doesn’t do me any good. This guy smiles at me, so I smile back. He ... read more