Iceland Day 2 - time with the prez

Greetings all,

Today I started the day in true Anna style - I woke up to two alarms and then promptly fell asleep again only to wake up 10 minutes before I was supposed to meet my friends to go to church. I did make it to church in time though - just had to run there up the hills in the chilly wind.

It is a beautiful church with a tall clock tower that sits on the top of the hill above Reyjavik. I regret that I didn't bring my camera connection cord so I will have to post pictures once I get home but it is quite a majestic site, complete with a viking statue fiercely standing out front. It was a beautiful Lutheran service (that is the official "state" chuch) complete with pipe organ and choir in traditional costume and it was confirmation Sunday. Tai and I went up to the top of the tower (via elevator - gotta love Iceland efficiency) and it was amazing view despite how chilly it was with the wind whipping through us. We then went in search of a bargain lunch, but this is a hard feat in Iceland with even the hot dog shop closed on a Sunday.

After our Pronto Pizza we headed back to the hotel for a quick reprieve before our big outing to the official residence of the President of Iceland. After a 20 minute ride from the University main buildings, we found ourselves being welcomed into the official residence of the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. There were no guards, no metal detectors, and we kept our handbags that no one had searched through. Amazing! After waiting for just a bit, we were were individually welcomed (by handshake!) by President Grimsson himself. Crazy!! It was so quick and so casual I was caught a bit off guard, but still lovely. He then spoke to us about Climate Change, the potential consequences as well as potential solutions including, of course, geothermal energy. He is a very well spoken, well read and educated and wonderfully hopeful man and it was a treat to be able to hear him speak. After the speech, he even stood for group pictures with all of the students, even individually if we wished. Very kind! After complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvre, we were allowed to wander around the residence (WITHOUT ANY SUPERVISION!!) to most parts of the home including the basement which has some archiological finds from the very site of his house and the upstairs which is a lovely sunny blue loft style space filled with gifts from heads of state from around the world, including a peace pipe carved out of an antler from former governor Arnie Carlson.

We loaded up back on the bus and returned to the university for a lecture on soil erosion. Fascinating topic. I had often thought about the climate change causing water loss, loss of environment, increasing spread of disease etc but I hadn't thought about how climate change will affect the soil nor how important the soil itself is to sustaining life. More pizza for dinner with a lively discussion about how to enact change, whether it is possible in the US to change mentalities, the need for hope in believing change can happen (yes, that was my input :^) and then the importance and efficacy of global governance was debated. All in all, a fabulous day. Hope everyone is well!

-Anna