10 Months!

I've been in Iceland 10 months. TEN. Crazy. Although Iceland and I are at the point in our relationship that I feel comfortable in sweatpants and no makeup, I still feel the same gushy infatuation I did when I first got here. The novelty has not worn off. I'm still in love.

In honor of my 10 month mark, I've decided to write about 10 idiosyncratic things I've started to take for granted since living here (I decided I should probably share them before I forget that I once didn't think they were normal).

1. I have a enormous respect for people who speak another language. It's not that I didn't respect them before living in Iceland, but now I have almost a solemn awe of them. In other news, I suck at learning Icelandic and it makes me want to cry.

2. You always pay for bags at the grocery store and you bag your own items. Icelanders are unworldly in their bagging speed. I'm always the silly foreigner holding up the line while frantically move things out of the way and into my bag. Stress, people, stresssss.

3. Tipping isn't a thing. That's awesome. And you pay at the register as opposed to getting a check at your table.

4. I've seen many a potato peeled after its cooked. It actually makes a ton of sense to do it this way. The skin just slips right off.

5. Cream cheese on pizza is unfairly delicious. And really, pizza in general in Iceland is remarkably good. Apart from Naples, Italy (which shouldn't really count because Italy), Iceland has the best pizza I've ever had.

6. There is an intermission during movies at the theater. I thought I'd hate this, since it would disrupt the storyline and I'm a bit of a movie snob with unrealistic theater preferences, but on the contrary. I love being able to take a pee break, talk about the first half of the movie, get a treat I decided against at the beginning of the movie, or just relax for a little while.

7. It's hard to speak Icelandic and smile at the same time, so I've noticed most people smile before or after and use animated inflections to come across friendly/humorous. This is also another reason I'm bad at speaking Icelandic, I try to smile too much when I speak.

8. Read this about Reykjavik's mayor. And his Reddit AMA here.

9. People's names are cool. Þor (Thor), Ragnar, Freya... everyone's a viking.

10. The Reykjavik Grapevine is where I read up on all my Icelandic news.