“I never really understood the word loneliness. As far as I was concerned, I was in an orgy with the sky and the ocean.”

Bjork

On the one hand Iceland is exactly how you imagine it will be, and on the other hand you can’t even begin to imagine what a country like Iceland is like. It’s hard to believe a country like Iceland exists on the same planet as any other country on earth. The colors alone are so surreal: the deep mossy browns and greens, the greyscale black sand beaches, the blindingly blue and white glaciers. At one moment it’s cold and rainy, while the next you are cozy next to a hot geyser, or floating in a steamy geothermal spa, or tucked inside a sprawling greenhouse famous for its tomatoes. The food was almost uniformly delicious, including ingredients that I’d never eaten before like horse, puffin, and rye bread ice cream. Even the famous hákarl, or fermented shark, wasn’t as bad as you are led to believe. There is even a museum with a troll penis on the wall. In another life I could have been born an Icelander.