More from today...

So after the wonderful poster session and "buffet dinner" (that's all dripping with sarcasm btw), a group of us decided to go get some real food. We headed around the corner from our hotel, which is smack in the middle of a busy area so there are a lot of options, and grabbed some dinner. It's so strange to be sitting on a street corner at 10:30 at night in bright sunshine with the place packed and full of little kids! I just had a burger (though they come standard with cucumber, lettuce, onions, and some unidentifiable sauce I'd say is similar to mayo and ketchup mixed together. It was cheap by Icelandic standards - ~$12.
Their money is so strange...it's all brightly colored and in such large denominations it makes me think of monopoly money. Possibly not a good thing! Though the idea of spending 5000 krona on something makes you stop and think... until you realize it's only about $35!
The center plaza in front of our hotel is apparently a hangout for bikers in the evening. Jen, one of the other American's and I both had the same thought...that in America, there was no way we'd walk through a plaza surrounded by bikers at 11:00 a night! Here, it's normal and they're all really nice.
We had another "American moment" this afternoon that I forgot to mention. This random Icelandic student wandered into our lectures today, sat down after making a huge scene, and when the lecturer was talking about our galaxy being fairly empty, he yelled "no it's completely empty, there are no planets." He was escorted out. This evening we were talking about it and the Norwegians all thought it was hysterical that Jen and I both were afraid that he was going to come back in and shoot us. Not so much a problem here when no one has guns!
Back in my room now. I'll try to post some pictures of it at some point. It's a decent room...it has 3 twin beds (though we only need 2), 2 nightstands, a wardrobe, desk, chair, bench near the door, and minibar. The bathroom is interesting. It's a corner glass shower which leaks EVERYWHERE when you take a show. The entire bathroom floods and that's apparently normal. The water reeks of sulfur, which is fun for us microbiologists but leaves the room smelling pretty nasty afterwards! The toilets here are a bit weird. They are all very small and attached to the walls. Kind of like a semi-circle coming out of the wall. They all have two buttons above them, one labeled with a I and the other with a II. You can probably figure that one out on your own. The beds are Scandanavian beds. Low to the ground and just a base (not a big deal since that's what I have at home) and a supersoft "mattress"...kind of like a big pillow to sleep on. The comforter is kind of strange but I guess normal for here. It fits the bed exactly. Nothing hangs over the sides at all, which obviously means that not all of you is covered at once. It's fine though, I had it on me last night and it's a thick comforter, down filled I think, so I was sweating in the middle of the night. It's a really nice hotel, none the less.
Anyways, going to head to bed now, or try to at least. It's been a long day and we have a morning of lectures tomorrow and an afternoon of computer modeling. One or the other should make me fall asleep :) Then our big, fancy Welcome Dinner, at a really nice restaurant.

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Part of trip: Iceland

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