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Solfrid Cristin TAC 2012 Team Sputnik | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5145 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 185 of 270 25 July 2012 at 12:30am | IP Logged | ||
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@Brun Ugle: Join me in Russian, it is cool!
@Mark: We paid about 1000 dollars for 7 nights for a double room, which is not too bad. @Teango: I had been give an explanation along the lines you suggest :-) @ Tecktight: I'm all for meet ups! DAY ONE IN REYKJAVIK Ok. - I have eaten the best cod I have had in my life - I have seen that all Icelanders speak English, very few speak a Scandinavian language - and I love the place. Iceland was so different from what I expected. The architecture is exciting, the people very friendly, and it is soo cold. God, where are my woollen leotards!? I have worn three layers of clothing and I am still cold. I am dying for a wolf skin hood, but it costs a small fortune, so it will have to wait for another time. I have bought 3 films in Icelandic: The Raven flies, which is supposed to be some Viking film, The Lady and the Tramp, and "Ducktails: The movie, Treasure of the lost lamp "- which is an Indiana Jones inspired Donald Duck thing. In my defence it was really hard to find anything in Icelandic. Everything is just in English with subtitles. I also got an Agatha Christie book in Icelandic and a Swedish/ Icelandic dictionary and a little book called: Xenophobe's guide to Icelanders. It is absolutely hilarious. I also bought a T-shirt with the words: DON'T f**k WITH ICELAND. We may not have cash, but we do have ash. They also, evidently have a sense of humour. I am travelling with three friends, so the chance of making friends with the locals is very slim, going on non- existent, but I am having a blast. I have laughed so hard today my stomach muscles hurt. I' m here on Nordic Rose week end (yes, it is just an excuse to go to Iceland, I doubt that they have many roses). But we'll see this week end. Tomorrow I am going to meet one of my many relatives on Iceland, and I will swim in the Blue Lagoon, so it has the potential of being a very good day. I think I understand about 30% of the language. Some things are too funny for words in Norwegian. A sandwich was announced as "Mini fita" which sounds incredibly rude in Norwegian, but which I think simply means low fat. Ok. It is now 22.30 and still broad daylight which is weird even for a Norwegian. must get some sleep now, have been on my feet for almost 19 hours. Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 25 July 2012 at 12:32am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Tecktight Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States Joined 4787 days ago 227 posts - 327 votes Speaks: English*, Serbian Studies: German, Russian, Estonian | Message 186 of 270 25 July 2012 at 6:49am | IP Logged | ||
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Glad you're having fun!
Any excuse to travel anywhere is a good excuse, in my opinion. That shirt is awesome--I hope you'll actually wear it. And laughing is the best sort of exercise. :) Hope you enjoy the rest of your stay! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4518 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 187 of 270 25 July 2012 at 8:08am | IP Logged | ||
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Ce n'est pas si froid, je pense...
I love iceland. good to see you're having fun. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5145 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 188 of 270 25 July 2012 at 9:21am | IP Logged | ||
Well, when it is July and I am wearing two long sleeved jumpers and a heavy fleece jacket, and I'm still cold, then that is a cold summer even by my Norwegian standards. Actually the temperature is not so bad, I think we are somewhere between 11 and 15, but the wind is chilling. In Norway we say about that kind of wind that it "går gjennom marg og bein -" it goes through marrow and bones". The organisers said that this had been a hot dry summer, but when I saw that the temperatures for the week was somewhere between 11 and 17 I could not help asking myself what their definition of hot was ... One of the guys in the group has been here before, and has had the good sense to bring his wollen leotards. The rest of us who have brought summer clothes are basically freezing our tails off. I am so happy that I brought a fleece jacket, because by combining that with every other piece of warm clothing I have I think I will be ok. It reminds me of my mom who spent a summer on Greenland with 10 degrees every day. I am still so glad I have come though. I really like it here, and I am so much looking forward to meeting my second cousin today. I am the younges daughter of the youngest daughter of the youngest daughter, so I am one generation younger that all my second cousins. This one, Meinert, is 89 and is the oldest one of all the second cousins, and I have just spoken on the phone with him. People of that generation seem to speak and understand a Scandinavian language, but from my generation and downwards they only speak English. Due to the similarity of the languages they do understand a little bit though. Yesterday we asked a young boy in Norwegian "Do you understand Norwegian" and he answered in Icelandic "No I don't, I only speak English and Icelandic", but of course by answering the question correctly he proved that he had a little passive knowledge at least. Oh, and you know how a lot of countries claim to have the most beautiful women? Well I think Iceland would win that contest hands down. Tall blonde, and looking really good with just a hint of make up. I do not normally notice female beauty much, but yesterday I saw one gorgeous girl after the other, and I do not recall having seen a single ugly one. If any of you guys need a good reason to study Icelandic, you got one. Plus the nightlife in Reykjavik is said to be legendary, and everyone here is really friendly and good at English. Now as a Norwegian I do of course take full credit for the beauty of the locals as they are basically undiluted Norwegians, with just a tiny dash Irish into it (due to Vikings " picking up" a few women on their way to Iceland in the more literal sense... ) @ Tecktight: Yes, I am really getting a lot of travelling this month! I am trying to enjoy it to the fullest"! Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 25 July 2012 at 9:53am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4518 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 189 of 270 25 July 2012 at 11:09am | IP Logged | ||
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Ah, I only wear a jacket and a jumper at those temperatures. it was that cold when I was there but I seem
to resist it well. My ex agreed though. Everyone does speak English but I know some who spoke danish when I was there as it is taught. I did not think as much of the women. I am posting this from a cafe in 20s Celsius Bretagne though. the French women here are stunning. But yes I agree on the rest. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4639 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 190 of 270 25 July 2012 at 11:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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If a Norwegian thinks it's cold, it must be cold.
On my (so far) only trip to Oslo, it was between -10 and -15°C, late November, 2010. We thought we had dressed appropriately, but we froze. Lovely place and people though! :-) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5145 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 191 of 270 26 July 2012 at 2:08am | IP Logged | ||
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@ tarvos: I think we'll just name you honorary Viking :-)
@ montmorency : I am glad you liked the place inspite of the cold! DAY TWO IN ICELAND I have had a great day today. In the morning we went to The Blue Lagoon, which is every bit as lovely as it sounds. 37-39 degrees in the water, 12 degrees in the air (this is outdoor bathing) and I was eating licorice ice cream while bathing. Stunning blue water, silver stones (from the minerals in the water) . I think I heard every language under the sun there, as it is quite popular to visit for those who have a long wait for their connecting flight at the airport. I decided there and then that every time I from now on have a FML moment, I will just smile, and think that my life is not so bad after all. In the afternoon my relatives picked me up, and from there on I was on a linguistic merry go round with English, Norwegian and Icelandic. My mother''s cousin spoke Norwegian to me, his son spoke English to me, and the wife spoke spoke mostly Icelandic. It is sort of understandablish at least now and then, but makes for a lot of confusion. So in addition to my mother's cousin and his wife I have met two second cousins, and a lot of other relatives which are too complicated to explain, and I have received so many Icelandic bear hugs that I have hardly any breath left. For being a bunch of people that I have never met, and most of them I had not even heard of until today, they were extremely welcoming. With the exception of the wife, everyone were really good at English. Like us they basically watch English every day at TV, which makes for a lot of training. I actually got to speak a little Russian today. Turns out most of those who clean the hotels are Russian and Polish - it is an international world indeed! Oops. Midnight already, and we are getting up really early tomorrow! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6408 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 192 of 270 26 July 2012 at 3:35am | IP Logged | ||
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Sounds awesome <333
Is it the trip for which you needed to decide what language materials to pack? And if so, what language did you choose? :) Seems like I would freeze in Iceland in my usual yay+15degrees t-shirt with short sleeves :D 1 person has voted this message useful |
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