Unfortunate grooming habits

I was considering having this be my last post about Iceland but I want to talk about the food I had in Iceland. You’ll understand why I should keep food separate from this post once you get to towards the end. I’ll do my best to try and be as organized as possible. I’ve been told by many people that my stories tend to be in circles. I start with a point, get completely off track (like what I’m doing right now), and somehow manage to be back at the point. It’s my screwed up way of organization. It makes perfect sense to me though!

Anyways. On our third day in Iceland we took a trip to the Blue Lagoon, a touristy hot spring 30 minutes outside of Reykjavik. It was interesting to say the least. We got on the bus and everyone was wearing winter jackets and hiking boots, while Jenn and I were sporting maxi-dresses and Keds. Adorable but underdressed? I was thinking to myself “what are these people thinking?! It’s not even that cold outside!”… They were probably shaking their heads at the crazy American tourists that thought it was beach season. Maybe living in New England has prepared me for colder climates? But what was most important was that I was comfortable.

The way to pay for things at the lagoon was through a wristband. Yes, I’m a nerd but it felt very futuristic. Like maybe one day everyone will have wristbands with their credit cards attached. Maybe add a cellphone in there too and iPhones will become completely obsolete. The lagoon was amazing, warm relaxing water but not overly crowded like waterparks in the United States. The ones where, sorry to gross you out but, the water is probably more urine than actual H20. I love kids, I do, but this was like a relaxing adult waterpark completely with a spa bar. Definitely my kind of place.

After an hour in the lagoon we went upstairs to some patio chairs and decided to relax and read. Flash forward 3.5 hours and that was a fantastic nap….

Okay so here is where things are about to get a tad inappropriate. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. We decided to have a quick lunch and then get the bus back to our hostel. We gathered our things and went into the women’s locker room to change. Maybe it was the excitement to see the lagoon when I first got there but how was I not super uncomfortable with all these naked women walking around?? I should start to consider myself modest or just way to self conscious but these women had no second thought about their lack of dress. Also, I’m not sure if it’s a European thing, but the grooming habits of these women were…..non existent? All naturale! Vomit.

I got dressed faster than the morning after a one night stand with an ugly guy. Get out as fast as you can! Avoid eye contact! Make as little noise as possible! Leave everything behind! Not that that has ever happened to me….

It was horrible. I think I am officially scared for life. Painted a pretty picture for you, didn’t I?

All kidding aside, besides the unfortunate locker room experience, the lagoon was quite beautiful. Had I had unlimited funds when going here I would have bought one of the awesome bathrobes, eaten at the restaurant over looking the resort, or done one of their spa treatments. Next time!

My European Adventure

I’m going to start with a little bit of an introduction to my journey:

Opening scene: (just kidding)
My biggest regret after graduating from college is that I never went on some type of dialogue or study abroad. I always had the opportunity but I would always think of some reason why I couldn’t go: I had to work, the application deadline had passed, I didn’t have a passport, blah blah blah….

Truth be told I was scared. Scared of being out of my comfort zone. Scared of missing out on things with my friends, scared of getting fat because there was no gym where I was going (sounds ridiculous but keep reading, and to me, that was a serious concern).

My senior year of college I met up with a friend of mine whom I had not seen for a few years. She asked if I wanted to go to senior activity with her at the Frost Ice Bar, so I did. Truth be told, she was actually the one who inspired me to write this blog and go on the European trip with her. For this, I will be forever thankful.

Like most do my not-so-brilliant (but some-what-brilliant) plans, I got a little intoxicated and decided to join Jenn on her trip. What started out as a “hey we should totally do that!” drunken idea, turned into an actual plan. A serious consideration into going on this trip.

And so our planning began….
You may be asking yourself: “So drunk Laura just decided to go Europe?”
Honestly: yes.
At first I didn’t even think I was serious but then as the plan started coming together the excitement started to build up and it was real. I’m really going.

First, I had or get the OK from my parents. Even now at 22 years old, I value the opinions and advice from my parent more than anyone else. I want them to approve of the choices I make because one of my main goals in life to make them proud. Second, we needed to decided our itinerary. Where are we going? For how long? What are we going to do? Third, it was time to book the trip!

Iceland. Ireland. Spain. Three weeks. No regrets. This was possibly the most spontaneous decision I had ever made in my life. But I needed it. I needed to get out of that shell I have been living in for the past 22 years. I needed to experience things that would open up my eyes to the world and the people around me, embracing the things in life I had never imagined before.