Baby its cold outside

Every day brings some new form of adventure at the moment, which is truly wonderful. I've met some great people, done some memorable things and have an awful lot of stories to regale you all with!

The 8th started out absolutely brilliantly. It was Mustafa's last day, so I joined him heading up to the observatory at Perlan. It gave stunning views of all of Reykjavik, although it was very, very windy on the observatory deck. Well worth doing if you ever visit Reykjavik, and probably the best place in the city to see the Northern Lights, if you can get a clear night! After this, we went to Nautholsvik, a beach with a thermal pool. Now this, you simply HAVE to do in Reykjavik! It was by far the highlight of my time so far. it will sound crazy, but jump in the sea first, splash around for a few seconds, then very quickly run back to the hot tub! As the Icelanders told me, it's both very good for your skin and provides an endorphin rush. To be honest, I became something of a junkie for it! Mustafa and I ended up doing dares, which culminated in me making a snow angel on the beach before I ran back into the tub. After this I ran around the beach once, and I felt crazily good afterwards, pure and total bliss. There was a sauna to go into afterwards, there were men swimming in the sea, Snow Buntings and Ravens kept flying overhead, and I felt like I'd truly discovered a secret of why Icelanders seem so content and kind. If you did this everyday, you would be too! 

I didn't really do much birding that day, though I did see a Merlin fly over. We had a great night chilling out with new friends from Australia, Canada, Brazil and Sweden, and about seven of us crammed into a taxi in the end to head out into town. We went to a club called Kiki, but it was almost dead on a Thursday, and I headed home fairly early. I think I was somewhat disappointed, as the lack of atmosphere simply couldn't compare to spending 500kr for the most blissful, enjoyable two hours imaginable. 

James and I attempted to go birding on Friday 10th, but a theme of the last few days has been very heavy snow cover, and we were almost constantly entrapped in blizzards today, giving up and going home by about half 1. I then slept for a while, before we headed out again. 

Kiki was a bit more lively, but I will remember the night more vividly for what happened when I left. Anyone with any concern for my welfare may choose to skip the next few paragraphs, as it illustrates beguiling stupidity that damn near killed me. 

I was drunk enough to allow myself to be slightly roughly accosted by three guys who took me into a different bar. Realising by the time I was in there that this might not have been the best idea, I pretended to go and order a drink, then walked out of the bar. The guys were probably nothing more than friendly, but I was probably too intoxicated to handle myself or judge the situation well enough that my safety would be guaranteed. Although I can't imagine any scenario could have worked out much worse than what transpired. 

I attempted to get back to Kiki, but it was about 2am now, and an ID guy was at the door. I then decided to walk home, drunk and, I should add, wearing a jumper, a shirt and a thermal layer. I almost well up with shame when I think how moronic it was, but I feel like I should write everything in here, the good and the bad. It will come as no surprise that I got lost. I know enough about hypothermia to recognise the symptons though, so I found my way into a hotel lobby. It was nowhere near warm enough for my liking though, and all the doors were locked. I was so desperate I half-heartedly attempted to kick a window a few times, but it was quite a tough one. So that was where I spent the next hour or so. 

The one thing I know about hypothermia is that falling asleep in the cold is a truly awful idea. Therefore I stayed awake any way possible, sobbing, terrified and screaming for help. When it became abundantly clear nobody was getting anywhere near, I just started gibbering. I tried to barter with a God (incidentally, the first and hopefully last time in my life I'll ever pray), and I believed there was CCTV in the lobby, so I started preparing my last words, in the hope the police would then pass on what I'd said to my family. I can honestly say I have never been so terrified, so aware of my own mortality and so alone in all my life. Although I think that awareness , which also manifested itself in my rudimentary knowledge of how to look after myself once I knew I was in trouble, is probably what saved my life. Eventually I caused enough noise that someone called the police complaining about a disturbance, when the officer found a sobbing british tourist with chattering teeth he took pity and drove me home, rather than doing anything else. 

It's easy to get a bit cocky about the cold, especially once you realise that you can cope with something as freezing as seawater for a short period of time. And not only that, but that it can give you an adrenaline/endorphin rush that it very enjoyable. But if you're coming here, or any other country with this weather, I beg you not to take as many stupid risks as I took. I was lucky, you might not be. 

After that rather sombre note, I can safely report that the next few days have been a lot happier. I basically spent the morning/afternoon of Saturday recovering from my dice with death, but I was feeling happy enough to go out again that night with some fantstic people I've met at the hostel. Andres is a Swedish journalist with a remarkable lifestyle I'm in awe of, while Aiden and Emma are two Americans studying in Ohio, though from opposite corners of the country. I'd given up on keeping a budget for drinks by this stage, so I may well gasp in horror when I see my debit card bill, but I've had several months of near constant working, so I've got a lot more money saved away than what I took to Iceland in Kronor. And I don't know when I'll next get the chance to experience a place as incredible as this, so I see no harm in blowing a bit more cash. 

Saturday night was fantastic. Wrapped up properly against the elements, and with some lovely people, we trawled as many bars as we could, had some drunken snowball fights (one was on a frozen lake with five Filipino tourists), danced a lot, and decided it would be a great idea to dip our feet in the one section of the lake that wasn't frozen. Don't worry though, I have learnt from my previous mistakes. I'll never get into a situation where I'm that out of control with the cold again, as the next story can testify!

Andres, Emma and I decided to go down to the thermal beach, as neither of them had seen it. Unfortunately it was shut, but Andres and eventually Emma dived into the sea to experience it anyway. I'm afraid I was having none of it this time! Doing crazy stuff like that is fun, and totally recommended by this traveller, but not if you're unsure whether you'll be safe. It was a long walk back to the hostel, and if either of them were in trouble they'd have needed someone to look after them. Fortunately everyone was fine and a wonderful experience was had however, and I can leave Iceland, when I eventually do, a lot wiser than I was before. I'm more aware of my own mortality, which is probably a healthy thing in the long run. And I've now got three more days to squeeze as much joy out of this country as I can possibly manage. I'll write soon with how successful I am.