Archive for 'Icelandic culture'
Who hit Bam Margera? Posted by hulda on Jun 25, 2015
Icelandic rap scene received some questionable fame last week when a fight broke out at the Secret Solstice music festival: headlines were made all the way to Europe and USA, stating that Bam Margera had been beaten up by three or four “popular Icelandic rappers”. Basics To put it in as simple and truthful terms…
Hi ho yippee yay, Iceland! Posted by hulda on Jun 18, 2015
…or as we say it in Icelandic, hæ hó jibbi jei! Anyone who’s been in the country for the past week has no doubt both seen this line and heard the song it’s from (link) countless times because yesterday was Iceland’s National Day and Sautjándi Júní is actually far more popular song for the day…
Icelandic – unchangeable? Posted by hulda on Jun 11, 2015
At some point or another anyone interested in Icelandic will come across the popular idea that Icelandic is being kept unchanged, or at least that it has changed very little with time. Occasionally you’ll even hear people claim that Icelandic is so close to Old Norse that Icelanders can still understand it. Alas, all of…
No dogs, TV, beer or Spaniards allowed. Posted by hulda on May 28, 2015
Icelanders of the Westfjords area are no longer allowed to kill Basque people on sight. The law was revoked just last month and very, very quietly too – you’d almost think someone didn’t want anyone to notice anything. In any case it’s now a fact, Basque people are no longer outlawed by default! It may sound like…
Eurovision – Iceland loves it! Posted by hulda on May 21, 2015
It’s that time of the year again. People are slowly migrating towards the magic box in the living room, beers are cooling and grills are almost hot enough for the first course. There may be flags of each person’s favourite country, if the viewers are young there may well be a drinking game as well…
Five culture shocks of Iceland. Posted by hulda on May 14, 2015
A culture shock will always catch you by surprise no matter how well you thought you had prepared yourself. Here are some that have given people big jumps before. 1. No ice hockey The ice hockey world championship games are in full swing and the whole world is watching, holding its breath. The whole world? No! One…
Elliðarárdalur, Reykjavík’s Central Park Posted by hulda on Apr 30, 2015
A secret oasis of Reykjavík, Elliðarárdalur, can be found only a short bus drive away from downtown. Well, when I say secret it actually means something more like “this is a place the locals certainly know of but visitors barely ever visit and that’s a shame”. It’s a popular place for walking, jogging, biking, horse…