Well the day has finally come.. our last day in the states! I can't believe it's here.. that in only few hours we actually leave the U$A and head over to England to spend some time there with friends before heading to Iceland again!
We've been on the rode for almost 2 months now and still it seem to me like it was only yesterday that I spent my last night in Iceland at Kristjana's new home.. yet I know it can't be when I think of all the wonderful memories I've made in these last month and all the amazing people I've shared them with!
I feel very blessed! In these last months I have gained so many friends.. made friendships that I know will last me a life time! I'm so thankful to have met all these people but now that I'm leaving the states I must say that I'm feeling really sad.. at least while I was here you guys were only a busride away but soon the Atlantic ocean (my biggest enemy) will separate us once more.. just thinking about it makes my eyes fill with tears.. I'm going to miss you guys so much!
To Jessica, James, Shelly, Seth, Ryan, Sherri, Justin, Bill, Dan, Rachel, Sean and the rest of the wonderful people that took me in and made this trip so awesome I want to say thanks! from the bottom of my heart! I will miss you all soo much and I can't wait to have you guys over to Iceland this spring/summer! and for the few of you who aren't coming to visit (yet) I'll see you guys when I come over this summer/fall! In the meanwhile.. stay in touch!!! Send me your addresses so I can send you stuff and convince you to come to Iceland or get you more excited about coming at least! o and phonenumbers.. so I can bother you guys via phone too!
o man.. I wish I could just move you all to Iceland.. but well I guess this is the second best.. having you guys over soon! I can't wait!!!
I love you all soo much!
<3
For the people back home..
Eg kem heim eftir 6 daga! Eg fer strax nidur a Bergstadastraeti i nyja heimili mitt svo ef ykkur langar ad hitta mig tha er eg i frii a manudeginum og mer thaetti endalaust vaent um ad sja ykkur oll! Svo verid i bandi eda bara litid vid! eg lofa ad taka vel a moti ykkur! :o)

Well I better get ready.. I have a train, a subway, a flight, a subway and another train to catch before I reach my next destination; Dave's place, Leeds, England, UK!
I'll let you know how things are going.. until then..
I know I keep saying it.. but I really mean it..
I love you guys!!!
<3

Last weekend I went to DC with my friend Jess, another intern James and Tryggvi of course.. it was the best weekend ever! I honestly haven't had as much fun and laughed as much in sooo long!
My friend wrote a blog about it and with her permission (not really though.. hehehe..) I'm posting the weekend here seen through my friend's Jessica's eyes:

"So I had the best weekend ever! My friend Hanna (without an h at the end) and her awesome brother Trigger (ice kid) are in town visiting and everything is so much fun with the 2 of them around. but this weekend was hands down one of the best weekends i've ever had. I went to DC with Hanna, Trigger, and James and we got in on Saturday and we went straight to sticky fingers. We ate some good stuff and then found a KFC to leaflet at. Hanna made an awesome dancing chicken! after that we walked around and tried to find a place to eat (I got us lost a little) we ended up eating at this chinese place that didn't look too good but was actually great!

Saturday night we stayed at this church with some of James' friends and everyone was so nice and so welcoming and just really great. I met a ton of really awesome people!
Hanna and James played soccer with 2 other people (I can't remember any names! ) and we finally got to sleep...well nap. it was freezing and none of us brought blankets but everyone shared stuff with us which was really cool of them. the floor wasn't very comfortable either but it was a small price to pay for such a fun day and night.

On Sunday we walked around DC for a few hours. played some air sports (air soccer rules) pretty much we walked around DC looking stupid but it was way too much fun. Hanna got hurt playing air soccer though and I dont remember when this happened but at some point during the day Hanna hit Trigger in the head with a stick. He is now claiming to have head trauma. but anyway moving on. We stopped by the White House and asked George to come play kickball with us but the guy at the gate said that he was in meetings or golfing or something. I can't remember. anyway after exploring all that stuff we took a nap in the park and then we went to Sticky Fingers again to stock up and bring goodies back to some friends.

Hanna, Trigger, and myself went to pangea and got a few things (ok Hanna got like, the whole store!) but I limited myself to just a few things. including 2 bumper stickers "friends don't let friends drink milk" and "How can you be pro-LIFE and eat DEAD animals?" that was my favorite one but I gave it to a friend at work today.

hmm then we just drove around for a while, tried to figure out what we were doing, if we were waiting and having dinner with some of Hanna's friends or if we were going to leave and stop in Richmond for dinner. so we parked while we waited to hear back from Hanna's friends and took a nap in the car (oh yeah sleep!) and we ended up just picking up James from Union station (where I accidently went into the parking garage and they made us pay $6) then we pretty much got on the road and left.
We stopped in Richmond and ate dinner at Panda Veg which is a great place to eat there! vegan buffet! we all ate too much and then drove the rest of the way back home to Norfolk.

Anywho I just can't get over how much fun I had with all 3 of them. I wish Hanna and Trigger could stay forever but I guess I'll just have to go visit them in Iceland. oh ice people are so awesome! and I guess James is pretty cool too.

Ok now I'm done. back to work.

Thanks Hanna, Trigger, and James for making it such a fun weekend and to James' friends for letting us stay with them and for being so nice to all of us."

I love my friend Jess way too much! She is awesome! If you ever have the change to meet her (my Icelandic friends will when she comes over this spring) then you should definitely cause she is one of the silliest and bestest people in the world! for serious!
<3

I was terrorizing NYC on my birthday.. just wanted to share it! :o)
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Time is flying by us now.. the last weeks of our trip are upon us and the only thing we can do is to enjoy them the best we can and start looking forward to heading home!
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We're in Norfolk, VA now.. took a bus down here on Sunday instead of Saturday cause we ended up missing the one on Saturday (surpriced?) but it was alright.. actually worked out better cause we got to spend more time with DanP in Jersey which we always like!
Anyways so we got to Norfolk on Sunday and my friend Jessica came and picked us up at the bus station.. it was and has been sooo great seeing her again! I can't believe how well we get along.. especially since we've spent more time apart than together for the time we have known each other! well that's what true friends are like!

But yeah we're in Norfolk.. I'm interning at PETA again and Tryggvi is volunateering for the most part while we're here.. we both like it here a lot! Especially I cause I'm seeing all these people I haven't seen in soo long and it's been great! almost everybody remembers me which I think is crazy seeing how big this organisation is and how many people intern here every year! But it's cool. It's been great seeing everybody again (well everybody that's still here) and hanging out.. we've also been hanging out with the other interns who are all very nice people and completely drama free which is a nice relief from the time when I was interning last.. hehehe..

o and before I forget.. my friend Jessica has a cell which you guys can use to get a hold on me for the next week and a half.. it's 505-681-8121 and you can call us anytime after 5:30 our time (Iceland is 4 hours ahead) cause that's when we finish work.. and we'll be staying with Jessica until the 28th so anytime between now and then if fine!

Next weekend (or tomorrow most likely) we're going to Washington DC to explore the big city! I'm really excited! Hopefully one of the intern James will join us too.. he's really cool! Such an awesome guy! like the american version of Paul from Scotland! super cool guy!
But yeah we want to go to DC and see the White house, eat at Sticky fingers (a bakary in DC that sells vegan stuff like Doughnuts.. mmmm.. can't wait!) and see our friend Ryan from Bloomington who's coming down to see his friend Orion in DC! so hopefully we'll be able to hangout with them a little!

Well this is all for now.. I'm going to KB's custard to buy some vegan ice cream with the guys and then hanging out at the Gordon house tonight (the intern house) which is always fun!

Hope you guys are enjoying life without us cause soon we'll be back and then there's no getting rid of us! well at least not yet.. hehehe..

<3

I am soooo sorry for all those who tried to call yesterday and got the message that I was lost in NYC and nobody knew where we were! I didn't mean to worry anybody.. it was actually amazing that we managed to miss Rachel at the station.. well here's how it happened and then the story about my birthday..
Ok so Rachel decided to come with us to NYC but instead of just meeting here at Dan's house we decided to meet on the train so she didn't have to get of and then on again (she twisted her ankle really bad and is on crutches).. when we got on the train we couldn't find her though so we decided to just sit down and we'd look for her in Penn station in NYC.
When we got there we got of the train and looked around and couldn't see her anywhere! We went to the nearest pay phone and I tried calling her but it didn't work.. we called Dan but he was at work.. so we called Rachel again but for some reason it didn't work.. meanwhile Rachel was apperantly hopping around Penn station looking for us! How we missed each other is beyond me?!?
Well in the end I decided that I didn't want to spend my birthday in Penn station seeing we just thought that Rachel had missed the train and wouldn't be joining us.. we got a subway map and some credit on our subway card and tried to figure out the subway system by ourselves.. we went to the Canal st and then tried calling Rachel again.. it didn't work so we walked around Chinatown and to Brooklyn bridge cause it was my birthday and I really really wanted to see it and walk across it! and we did just that! Then we took the subway to Empire state building and I manage to trick Trigger into going to the observatory with me and have a look at New York from above! The weather was sooo nice and it was a clear day so we could see so far! It was amazing! o and we also saw a famous person! Biran Krause! He's the guy that playes Leo in Charmed! you know the show with the three witches and all.. well anyway it used to be the show Trigger and I never missed and always watched together so seeing him there in the elevator going up to Empire state building was pretty funny to us! hehehe..
but yeah then after exploring the deck and NYC we went and decided to walk all the way down to Red bamboo which is mine and Trigger's favorite vegan restaurant in NYC! we made a "tiny" stop on the way.. hehehe.. I hopped into Victoria's secret and got myself a little birthday present from me to me.. they had a sale going on so I ended up spending a lot more than I planned to begin with but hey how often do you get an opportunity like this when you live in Iceland! never! so I ended up with a couble of bras, something to sleep in and something special for me and my future someone.. hehe.. all very nice!
Then we kept walking down 5th street until we got to Washington square (where the fight scene in Kids was filmed at mind you!) there we saw some Icelanders walking past us.. hehe.. that was funny!
Then we ate at Red bamboo (soooo good!) where my wonderful sister payed for my dinner even though she was in a whole other country and Trigger sand happy birthday to me! Then we hopped back on the subway to Penn station, saw a rat (finally!) on the trian tracks and took the train back to New Brunswick!
Overall it was a really really great day! we had so much fun together just hanging out Tryggvi and I! I'm really happy that I got to spend my day just with him and even happier when I think about how we've been traveling for 5 weeks now and we still have so much fun together! I'm really lucky to have a kid brother like him!
O and before I forget thanks so much for all the emails, phonecalls (even though I didn't get them seeing I didn't hangout with Rachel after all), messages, comments here and on my myspace site.. It really made me happy that so many remembered my birthday and took the time to wish me happy birthday! thanks you guys! You are the best!
Well I better be off.. I have to grab a shower and then Tryggvi and I are heading to Trenton to meet up with Rachel and then we're going to Philly in PA! pretty excited about that! o so if you want to try again calling I promise I'll be hanging out with Rachel today! I'll be meeting her probably around 1 or 2 pm our time and we'll be hanging out until late tonight so if you want you can call today! I promise I'll be there with her! so please please try again!
<3

Hey so tomorrow the 12th of January is my birthday.. I'm turning 24! I almost can't believe it.. when was I 23 or 22 or even 21.. time is really flying by fast! Well I guess I've done a lot in the past year so it's not like I'm wasting my time doing nothing or anything like that.. still feels wierd how fast time seems to be going! Seems to me that time actually moves faster the older you get.. anybody agree with me here?
But yeah the reason I'm posting this is because there might be certain someones out there that really want to call me on my birthday and so I'm leaving my friend's number here in case.. her name is Rachel and she'll be hanging out with us all day so you can call anytime after 10:30 am our time (we're meeting her at that time).. we'll be exploring a little bit more of NYC with her that day and that night we'll be having dinner with her and maybe a few more friends! So just feel free to call.. she doesn't mind at all!
Her number is:
(001) 215 359 8176
Hope to hear from some of you!
With love from the birthday girl herself!

Yay! we made it!
The 17 hour greyhound ride is over and we're in New Brunswick, NJ at Dan's place once again!
The ride went amazingly well compared to.. well everything. It was hard for us both to say goodbye to Ryan in Indianapolis.. he really didn't want us to leave and apart of us just wanted to stay in that little town with him and Sherri forever! but all good things must come to an end plus Ryan is coming to Iceland soon and we'll be seeing him in Bloomington (at least I will) by the summer so.. even though it was hard saying goodbye it felt good to know we had had this time together and there was plenty more to come now that we were all so close!
We left Indianapolis at 12:40 am so we both either slept or were half asleep for the first 8 or 9 hours of the trip.. there were some stops made in the middle of the night were everybody had to get of the bus so it was basicly naptime for like 2 hours then a stop so we went out to stretched our legs then back on the bus and sleep some more and so on.. then when we got too tired of sitting and sleeping we both read loads.. yes that's right.. both of us! Even Tryggvi is reading a book! amazing! Bill recommended to us to read this book called Choke by the same guy that wrote Fight club and Tryggvi is reading that now and I'm going to read it when he's done because I'm almost finished with Harry Potter..
but yeah that was our busride.. we didn't really try to keep to ourselves but in the end I guess it just turned out that way.. the only really interesting people on the bus was the "parents" as we called them.. two people my age that had two babies and were traveling from Indianapolis to NYC.. other than that the bus was full of the wierdest bunch of people I've ever seen! hehehe..
But like I said it's over and we're at Dan's now! He came and picked us up at Newark and then we met up with Rachel and her husband Sean and made dinner together and watched an old Miyashaki movie.. he's one of my favorite directors and I hadn't seen this movie so it was nice even though I did fall asleep the last 30 minutes or so..
O yeah b.t.w. we got tickets back home to Iceland finally! so yeah we're coming home! hehehe.. iceland express had one of their sale going on so I woke up at 4 am (not something I was glad to do) and bought to tickets for us from London to Iceland the 5th of Feburary! so there you have it. the date we'll be returning to Iceland! I'm sure there are a few that will be glad now that we have a certain date.. hehehe.. just gotta make sure we don't miss our flight ;o)
<3

So tonight we have a 17 hour ride on a greyhound ahead of us.. We've finally managed to find a way to leave this magical punk town in the middle of Indiana.. we're coming back here.. soon! I'm thinking late summer.. early fall! definitely!
But so tonight we'll be heading from Indiana to the great New Jersey again.. we're both not really looking forward to this trip mainly because it will take waaaay too long and both Trigger and I are excited about having to sit still on a bus for all that time.. but well it will be an experience since we've only once been on a greyhound before and that was from Chicago to Indianapolis a week ago but that was only like 3 hours so even though it was interesting in a way it wont be anything compared to the trip tonight.. I guess if you are traveling in the states this is something you really have to experience at least once.. it's the ultimate of the ultimate.. the greyhound!
Yesterday was a pretty nice day and night.. we hungout in Bloomington during the day cause the weather was sooo nice! like really sunny and warm! not like January at all! felt like the same as late May in Iceland actually! really nice!
Then last night Ryan went with his friend to Lexington but we stayed behind and went with Sherri, BZ and Marty (BZ's boyfriend) to go midnight hiking! It was waaaay awesome! We all put on our hiking boots.. well I only had converse so.. hey they're made for climbing right!?! hehehe.. well we all got our "hiking" stuff and some flashlights and left probably around 10sh from Ryan's and Sherri's place.. we headed out of town to explore the surroundings of Bloomington which are I might say pretty cool! Marty had lived here is whole life so he knew exactly where to take us and all.. it was really awesome and plus it was a pretty warm night so we ended up not coming back until around 2sh! all pretty exhausted after all the hiking! plus we had found this really really cool playground for kids that is probably opening soon but we snuck in there and played in this really huge castle that they had made with these really aweome slides! It was pretty wicked! We had the best time hanging out with the guys last night!
We didn't really wake up early this morning but early enough so we'll be well tired for the bus ride tonight.. our bus leaves at 12:40 am.. and we should be getting into Newark at 6 pm.. I'm not excited about it but I am excited about seeing my friends in NJ again so I guess I just have to suck it in..
well wish us luck on our trip on the greyhound!
I'll let you know when we're save and sound in NJ!
<3

So there was another change in our plans..
On Friday we went hiking with Ryan.. We went to this really tall fire tower and climbed to the top.. it was amazing the view from up there! Then we took a long walk in the woods around the tower to explored the nature in Indiana sort of speak.. hehehe..
After the hike there was a show in Hannah's and Mike's basement so we went there.. it was a really great show plus we had been meeting a lot of people in the last few days so there were a lot of people at the show that we had either met at least once or twice and others that we had hungout a lot more with.. there were three bands playing but we only cought two cause we had gone to dinner at this nice Indian restaurant before the show with Ryan, Sherri and one of Ryan's friend.. the bands were good and the people at the show were all really nice to us so we felt at home! Well we felt so at home that we didn't want to leave this town just yet.. so..
We didn't!
We're still in Bloomington!
We decided to stay an extra 3 days seeing that Ryan doesn't want us to leave ever.. hehehe.. I think if it were up to him he'd make us move in with them! hehehe.. but so yeah we really like it here and hanging out with Ryan and Sherri and just all these punk kids has been so much fun that we don't want to leave.. at least not yet.. we've decided to stay until Monday night.. we're taking the greyhound that should leave Indianapolis around midnight and we should be getting into Newark, NJ around 6 pm on Tuesday..
but for now it's Bloomington, Indiana!

We found it! the dream town of any punk kid! It's in Indiana and it's awesome! they have it all.. small independent record stores that sell their stuff as cheap as possible and bookstore with zines and crimethink books.. they have nice coffee houses and good health food stores.. they have a good scene with nice people and good bands.. it's sooo cheap to rent here and live..
what more could a punk kid such as myself ask for?!?
I don't want to leave.. serioucly.. and the guys don't want us to leave so it works out fine! I'm staying you guys.. if you want to see me you'll have to find me in Bloomington, Indiana! I'll send you the address when I find a place to rent and such.. have a great year cause I won't be coming back!
hehehehe..
no I'm just kidding.. though I really wish I was staying here.. I really like it! We've been staying with our friend Ryan and his roommate and band member Sherri that we also met when their band Defiance, Ohio came in April and played in Iceland.. they have been super nice to us and we've really enjoyed being here in this sweet little town of theirs!
They (Ryan and Sherri) are opening a record store here right beneath the appartment they're renting and we've helped a little out with that plus we had the privilege to be their first ever costumers but mainly we've just had a good time cooking dinner and eating together, seeing the rest of the Defiance, Ohio crew and exploring this punk town!
Tonight there's a show in town that we're going to and then tomorrow we are leaving Bloomington (buhuhuhu!).. We have the longest busride ever ahead of us! We're taking a greyhound from Indianapolis, Indiana to Newark, New Jersey! It will take about 18 hours sooo not looking forward to that! still it's the cheapest way to travel and we both are running out of money so it will have to do!
We should be in New Jersey at 10:40 on Sunday morning and Dan (of course who else is that incredibly nice to us!) is picking us up! Unfortunately there is no room for us to stay at his house at the moment so we'll be heading down to Pennsylvania to stay with our friend Rachel there! It's cool cause Dan is going to hangout with us as much as he can and we'll get to explore some of Pennsylvania while we're at it! Then the plan is to see if we can't stay with my friend Lia in NYC before heading on yet another bus to Norfolk, Virgina! I really want to try to get some people out to dinner on my birthday which is only in a week now so if you live in the New Jersey area please join me for dinner the 12th of January! pretty please!
Well this is all for now.. I'll put up more when there is more to tell!
love you all!
<3

So here we are.. back in Chicago once more.. but this time not for long since we're leaving today.. actually in like 4 hours!
We got back from Galesburg last night and we spent the night on Seth's and Mishelle's floor.. it was fun! we really like them!
New Years was spent in Galesburg, IL of all places.. the plan of heading to NY to spend the New years there on times square fell apart after we missed our flight back to NJ.. hehehe.. we weren't bummed about it.. we got to spend more alone time with Shelly in Chicago and then we heading down to Galesburg to meet up with Bill and Seth and the others down there!
Bill had a party on New years in his huge basement and all the people we had been meeting while we were there showed up, some that we had only met once or twice but some that we had been hanging out with while we were there, which was pretty cool! We knew everybody at the party and both had a really great time! It was a pretty fun night! it was no times square obviously but that will just have to wait another time!
But yeah so now we're back in chicago and today were heading to Indiana.. not somewhere we planned on going the first place but we met up with our friend Ryan since we missed our flight and he really wants us to come hangout with him in his home town Bloomington.. he came over to Iceland with his band Defiance, Ohio in April last year and we hungout with him and the rest of the defiance, ohio crew then.. they all (except one) live in Bloomington so we're going to go down there and hangout with them for a few days.. well at least until saturday but then we're heading to NJ probably in a Greyhound (it will take FOREVER!!!) to spend more time with our very own DanP and Rachel and the others there! see more of Pennsylvania and NYC!
Well this is all for now.. I have to go take a shower and get ready and stuff.. just wanted to let you guys know what's going on with us.. what the plans are and such..
soooooo...
Happy new years everybody!
I hope you're new years was as good as mine.. thanks for all the wonderful time spent together in 2005! I hope there will be plenty more in the new year cause I can't wait spend more with you guys in 2006!
mwahh!
<3