emme.at.sea: icelandic horses and lagoons

6.24.2005

icelandic horses and lagoons

On Friday, we went on a trip through Semester at Sea that was so much fun. First we drove (by motorcoach) to a small farm outside of the city where we were going to go horseback riding. Upon arriving, they told us we were in for a surprise and escorted us into the barn where an Icelandic woman taught us line dancing! It was absolutely hilarious. We were all tripping over our feet to the sound of techno-electronic-western music.

After over an hour of that, we went riding on Icelandic Viking horses through the countryside. The horses were so incredibly cute- short like ponies (though you get scolded for calling them that), but stocky and loaded with personality. My horse, for example, decided to breakaway and go galloping off at random times to the next cluster of horses… which made conversing with the person on the horse next to you quite difficult, as the conversation could end suddenly at any moment. The only downside of horseback riding was that all of the clothes we were wearing (which was a lot because it was cold) smelled awful afterward… and while we tried to handwash them, most of them are going to have to wait for our next laundry day.

We next drove another hour or so to Blue Lagoon, which is a geothermal spa. In Iceland, there is a huge supply of naturally heated water that is used in public swimming pools, geothermal spas like Blue Lagoon, and also as a general heat source. Blue Lagoon was so nice, especially after riding a horse all afternoon. It’s this big naturally heated lagoon, which is indeed blue in color due to the minerals in the water. They also have pots of a silica compound that everyone puts on their faces because it is a natural exfoliant- so the lagoon is full of white-faced funny looking people! When we got back that night, we stayed in to get rest before our next daytrip, and it felt like we were the only students on the ship who weren't out getting trashed… kind of sad. I also got a note from the registrar, who personally stopped by my cabin to give me information on the makeup work I need to complete for me classes- like I said, the faculty and staff really do go above and beyond for us!