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…
Happy First of Summer! Posted by hulda on Apr 23, 2015
Summer is finally here! I mean it did snow a few times today and the night before was freezing, but that’s just good luck according to old beliefs, it’s said that if winter and summer freeze together the summer will be good. Sumardagurinn fyrsti, The First of Summer, divides the year into its warmer half just like…
Cod Wars. Posted by hulda on Apr 16, 2015
Did you hear about that time when Iceland, a country with no military, beat the British Royal Navy three times in a row with 7 small coast guard vessels? If you ever visit Iceland you probably will hear of it – the Cod Wars, as they’re called, are a source of national pride. Like the name…
Vatnsenda-Rósa: a legendary poet. Posted by hulda on Apr 9, 2015
The most famous love poem of Iceland is written by a woman. Though little is actually known of her the amount of legends that circle around Rósa Guðmundsdóttir, also known as Skáld-Rósa (= Rósa the poet) or Vatnsenda-Rósa (= Rósa of Vatnsendi), would suggest she was a striking and noteworthy person in her time just the same…
Fyrir, or four uses for ‘for’. Posted by hulda on Apr 2, 2015
I’ve recently received two comments regarding the use of the preposition fyrir and since the topic needs quite a bit of elaborating I decided to write a whole blog entry for it. Fyrir is one of those sneaky words that look deceptively easy to use. It’s like the English “for”, right? Yes – and no – and then…
10 steps to becoming an Icelander. Posted by hulda on Mar 26, 2015
Thinking of moving to Iceland? Here’s what you need to know. 1. Forget about punctuality Meeting your deadlines is appreciated but not actually expected. At least no one will meet any that you set, and they’ll act offended if you show any displeasure for the tardiness. As long as things get done that’s close enough is…
Choirs, choirs everywhere! Posted by hulda on Mar 19, 2015
Icelandic is nightmarish to learn to pronounce, so wouldn’t it be awesome if there was a shortcut that allowed you to easily remember how certain letters are pronounced, and maybe even help you out with learning them in the first place? Well, there is! Like I often like to say, singing is the way to…