Hostel Life
Instead of staying in dorm rooms at the University, our group is all staying together at hostels. These first two weeks we are staying in the Bus Hostel. The hostel is a 15-20 minute walk from the University, the closest we could be. Inside, we are all staying in either 2 or 4 bed rooms and I am in the only girl 4 bed room with two other wonderful people from the trip. Unlike what I thought it was going to be like, the bathrooms are singles and have a toilet, sink, and shower all in one room. There are 5 on our floor for about 15 rooms. There is also a communal kitchen with two fridges which have labeled shelves for each room, a shelf with labeled baskets for the rooms as well, a panini maker, toaster, oven, stove, microwave, and sink. Everything you could ever need!
The lobby is where the magic happens. If you go down to the lobby at any point during the day, especially around happy hour, people will come sit down and start talking to you. It’s great to hear about other people staying at the hostel and their experiences. They usually give advice about where in Iceland they’ve been and where are good places to go and explore. It is also interesting to hear about where they are from and their lives. I love to just sit down and chat with them, but it’s not conducive to doing homework!
After the first two weeks, the group will be staying in homestays and living with an Icelandic family for a weekend. After that, we will be traveling around the island, staying in hostels and hotels along the way. Then, the last week we will be in Reykjavik again, staying in another hostel called the Reykjavik City Hostel, about 50 minutes away from the University.
It is very easy to meet others from this study abroad program which is only for Northeastern students. Since I arrived a day early, I was already at the hostel when the others arrived. They all waited for each other at the airport and got to the hostel at the same time. Previously, we had decided in a group message that we would all explore the city together, so I threw on some shoes and a jacket and got to walk around the city with my new friends. The first day of class, we all walked to the school together and also had to introduce ourselves to the professor which helped me learn a little bit more about everyone. I know we will get really close and become a family!
