New Day, New Year, New Start, New Post!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have returned from the Great White North to the Land of the Ice and Snow. The Two Week Break* was not too bad at all - many good times were had, many friends were seen, a new blend of tobacco was discovered, and much liquor was consumed - and despite some stresses due to the hectic schedule of the holiday, a good time was had by most.

I got my last mark back during the Break and I'm pleased to note that I didn't fail! My average went from a 9.0/10 to an 8.0/10, but that's still pretty damned good. I should also hear from Cambridge shortly about whether or not I'm going there next academic year, which would be simultaneously awesome and surreal.

When I returned to Iceland on the morning of the 31st, I unwittingly re-enacted my arrival in August; landed during the wee hours of the morning, arrived in town ahead of schedule, caught a ride to my place, woke up my housemates, ate something, then slept for approximately five hours. After that, I greeted Ryder and David properly, saluted Jonas' departure (he moved out two days after I returned to Canada), and then we went out and partied until the wee hours of the morning.

A bit of a digression is in order here: I love fireworks. Absolutely adore them. There's something impressively majestic about tiny amounts of potassium nitrate, sulphur, charcoal, and a mix of metals combining to make a spectacle that lasts only for a few brief seconds before fading into blackness, never to be seen again, even if the next projectile in sequence has the exact same chemical composition. That fleeting glimpse of technical mastery is just...Well, it's impressive.  Anyway, back to the post.

Why the digression above? Well, allow me to explain; Icelanders apparently love their fireworks. In fact, they appear to love them to the point where the entire day sounded like the Reykjavik Capital Region Air Defence Grid was desperately fending off an airborne invasion. Seriously. The constant popping, howling, and bursting of fireworks was simultaneously unnerving and comforting, almost like a tidal rhythm that could lull you to sleep or wash up over the shore and leave your home utterly devastated.

As it was, we returned home around 3am after consuming beer, champagne, and a bottle of Kazakh vodka. Despite a valiant attempt to stay up to wish my friends and family in Canada a Happy Happy, I was unconscious by 4:45. Curse this body, with it's susceptibility to exhaustion!

Sunday was filled with reading and playing Fallout, as was Monday.   Today was the first of four lectures by Neil Price on The Viking Mind, and it was awesome.  I'm still hurting from the lack of coherent sleeping schedule, so I had a couple of moments when I nearly nodded off, which would have been awkward - I once fell asleep in a Poli Sci lecture during my first second year** and I still remember the unpleasantness that followed.

Anyway, the rest of the week promises to be full of awesome Viking-related learning, Fallout, and planning a Pathfinder game I'm going to be running for people come February. Hope you all had a Happy Happy, and I'll be updating again soon!

*The seemingly unnecessary capitalization was explained in my previous post.
**That's not a typo - I changed majors midway through my third year of Poli Sci and, as such, I needed to restart from scratch, so I had two first years, two second years, two first semesters of third year, one second semester of third year, and one fourth year.  Which explains my advanced age compared to my classmates, and my relative lack of academic success.