Reykjavik to Skalanes
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Today was a travel-packed day, as we made our way to our research location in Skalanes. Our morning consisted of packing and saying our farewells to the beautiful city of Reykjavik. We then caught a plane to EGS in the smallest (and cutest) airport I have ever seen!

After going to the Bonus grocery store to stock up for the weekend, we finally made our way to Skalanes. 

 

The views from the bus ride alone were enough to take our breath away; with the snowy mountains, vast waterfalls, and tiny rivers. Our bus drove us up the mountain through three gorgeous rivers to reach our final destination. Each of our hearts skipped a beat when we looked out the windows and saw the landscape ahead.

Once at the house, we had a chance to settle in and eat dinner. We ended our day by watching the puffins and reading a couple of chapters of Norse Mythology.

 

 

No camera could capture the magical essence of where we are, although we all took way too many pictures!

Skalanes Day 2
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Today was our second full day in Skalanes! Our task of the day was to collect five soil samples located around the Arctic tern colony next to the house. While most of us went out into the field to collect samples, the rest of the students tagged along with the faculty and our archaeology partner to check out some cool archaeology sites! Both teams met up at the end of our journeys and hiked back to the house. 

Once back at the house, we began lab work with the soil samples. First, we combined each of the four samples from each site and mixed them together. Gary then measured these site samples into small tubes to be vortexed and centrifuged. The last and final step was to pipette the liquid section containing the DNA into new tubes, which will be taken back to Richmond. After placing these completed tubes into the fridge, lab work was concluded for the day!

To kick back and relax, our Icelandic friends were kind enough to invite us to a bonfire on the black sand beach near the house. Some of us even decided to go swimming in the freezing water! Although, most of us did not last longer than a few minutes before our fingers and toes went numb. 

The perfect way to end the day was on the puffin cliff. There was a beautiful sunset with pink skies, and an open view of the ocean. We bird-watched and sat on the cliffs to admire the breathtaking location we are lucky to (temporarily) call home.