Verslunarmannahelgin coming up!

Icelanders are easy going and friendly. Icelanders like to party. Might be because we don't really have a dating culture in Iceland, which is sad. People get introduced to new acquaintances while out drinking, and sometimes through friends. Iceland is small. You have to be careful who you decide to get close with, it might even be your cousin! And yes we have an app for that in Iceland, and NO I don't have that app on my phone.

I believe the easy going party culture is one of the reasons adventurous people seek coming to Iceland. Because partying is "easy" here. Beer might be expensive, but at least you don´t need to take a very expensive cab to be able to party, and you don´t need to get a cab to go between bars. As well none of the bars have entrance fees. You can start your drinking downtown at a house party. Then even go downtown very late in the night, cause most clubs are open to 4-6 in the morning!  

Not this weekend, but the next is kind of a summer finale in Iceland, the so called "Verslunarmannahelgin". Whenever Icelanders have a "long" weekend off, like this weekend cause almost everyone have the Monday off, people tend to take off and travel somewhere inside Iceland. We have all kinds of festivals. Big outside concerts! No matter how the weather turns out to be. The biggest is in Vestmannaeyjar and called "Þjóðhátíð í Vestmannaeyjum". 

Fjallhalla Adventurers is going to Mýrarboltinn in Isafjörður. That is a big swamp football tournament in the town Isafjörður in northwest of Iceland. Most people tent in the valley, eat by their tent and then play games during the day and go out to any of the many concerts in Isafjörður during the night.

There are plenty of nice trekking routes as well in the camping surrounding, which is a great activity during the day. If you say that you are a good soccer player, I'm sorry that doesn't help you at all for a great success in the games. You are seriously lucky if you are able to touch the ball once. Cause you get stuck in the swamp, and can´t really move, and start laughing hysterically. Players are switched every minute, cause you just get exhausted running in deep mud. But it is SO much fun!!! :) SO who's joining?? 

People that live in big cities, get impervious to all the crazy noise and people running around all the time. You only need to get an hour away from the city and a couple of metres altitude to not hear any exposure anymore. While hiking in Iceland you really can feel what it felt like for hundreds of years ago, when big cities didn't exist and we were less stressed, but does that mean better quality of life? I believe so, and a proof is the movie "Home" which you can watch in HD quality on youtube. 

Enjoy the free things in live: peacefulness and smell of nature, especially after raining. 

All the best,

Erla Þórdís Traustadóttir.