The Land of Fire and Ice

Iceland. How did I end up here? The truth is that I wanted to go to the island of fire and ice, but nothing prepared me for the cold weather, the surreal landscapes, the nature wonders and the Northern Lights.
The story begins when one of my professors asked me if I wanted to participate in an agreement between the University of Iceland and my home university. I immediately say yes (Of course! Why not?) Everyone thought I was crazy. They asked me, what a Caribbean girl is going to do in a place called ice-land? I told them; well I’m going to see snow for the first time and go see some Vikings!
I applied, packed by bags and flew to Iceland.
On my second day in Iceland, it snowed. Seeing snow for the first time was not what I expected. I thought it was going to be like in the movies, me walking, the snow falling, and everything beautiful. The truth was that I was cold, wet and it was dark. My only thoughts were “think of the beach, think of the beach”.
A walk through the city and you can notice that there are no skyscrapers or big avenues. The tallest building is also a church, and the best part is that you can go up and see the city from the top.
When the time came, I had to go to the university and take classes. The Icelandic people, even the professors make you feel right at home. In class you meet people from every part of the world, they become your friends and latter when you least expect it, you are driving with a group of them to the Golden Circle and to the south of Iceland.
In one of the trips we went to a coast town named Vík. There we saw a black sand beach, waterfalls and a plane crash in the middle of a black sand dessert. When you are in surrounded by black sand you sometimes forget that you are in planet Earth. The landscape is beautiful and terrifying at the same time. You start to wonder what the Vikings thought when they first arrived at Iceland. There are no trees, but there are snow covered mountains. Is cold, but there are hot rivers. One minute the sun is there and next, it disappears. The nights are long and dark, but they have an amazing spectacle of lights. The Northern Lights, ¡Oh, they are beautiful! No picture or video can prepare you for the beauty of the Northern Lights. You have to see them for yourself.
At the end of your trip in Iceland you forget about the cold unpredictable weather and you forget about the darkness, and you forget it because you are too stunned watching the impossible landscape and thinking “Wow”.