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Reykjavík, Iceland
Today I have a current crustal movements geology class, followed by climbing Mount Esja with some friends. I feel so renewed overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and multiple mountain ranges of southern Iceland. It’s a clear day, so to the northwest we can make out the shores of Greenland in the distance and the Reykjanes Peninsula is entirely visible – incredible. Icelanders believe that “hidden people” live in the rocks and resemble elves.

Later we go to Hveragerdi to hike to the hot river that we arrive at in darkness and snow. We bathe in the hot sulfuric volcanic plume heated river under a sky full of stars. Surrounded by the majestic snow-covered mountains of Iceland, I feel humbled by their size. Then a solar dance across the sky – blue, green, purple, and white Northern Lights.

We lie speechless in the river for an hour and then hike in reflective silence the last kilometer to our lodgings. We talk by candlelight with the company of an Icelandic cat that followed us all the way. We sleep well, waking at sunrise at 9:30 the next day. The days are getting short, and soon we will have only three hours of sunlight.

– Chelsea Lee Hummon, biology junior

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Chelsea Lee Hummon