individuals in iceland

A great part of hostels is meeting other travellers. I met David, a Swiss guy, who started chatting with me about his hiking endeavours. He was an electrician in Switzerland and told me about how they speak German and French and old languages, too, and how he travels to remote homes to help people with their televisions and appliances and such. He was travelling alone and was about to embark on 16 days hiking alone throughout the area around Reykjavik. He was so nice to converse with.

I met Jules and Gayle, too. We really bonded over travelling alone as females, being a little lost in life, and, of course, boy troubles. We all happened to be around the same age, too. We had fun the three of us, and when Jules left for her road trip, I went to the pool and observatory with Gayle, who was from Australia. We had great talks about how much we cared for our friends and family and loved being there for them, but also felt the need to get away and travel and find ourselves a bit, even if it feels a little selfish, it seems to be the best thing for us right now. We swapped travel stories about living in the moment, putting positive vibes into the universe, and always being amazed and how well things work out.

I saw Jules the next day, who was from Germany, and we sat and smoked and talked on a Saturday night about boys and finding love, while still wanting to see the world and not fit into traditional gender roles or relationship norms. Its nice to find someone who views things similarly and to be able to bounce ideas off the other, relate experiences, and offer advice. Sometimes you need someone else, who you don’t even know that well, to say, maybe he’s just not that into you.

I know Jules and Gayle hung out again too, and Gayle went onto Montreal from Iceland, which was funny since I had just come from there. Jules invited to me to Berlin, so I will see her again, soon. It was really nice to establish an international connection with these lovely ladies!

I also made a great acquaintance in Dan, from the Czech Republic. I was jet lagged when I first arrived in Iceland, so I went out at about 2am to get some tea. He was working the desk/bar and offered me a bunch of tips about the ring road because he had just done it the week before. He had been working in the hostel for about 2 months, but really would love to find a zoo to work in, particularly in the states, because he grew up with a zoo keeper mother and wanted to work with elephants. He had interned in Pittsburgh and would love to get over there to work with an elephant whisperer. He was such a sweet guy and it was really fun to hang out with him. He had a really cute accent and a really adorable sense of humour. Maybe if he comes to the States, I will see him again!