When your mom visits Nuuk, Greenland. Day 1.

Hello fans!
My mother visited me a couple of week backs. Her stay lasted 1 week and we only stayed in the Nuuk area. Many people visiting Greenland like to skip the Nuuk experience because they don´t feel they get a taste of "Real Greenland". These individuals are however mistaken. Nuuk is the capital of Greenland with interesting culture that blends old Greenland and new Greenland - and when it comes to it, this is real Greenland.

When conducting my interviews for my thesis on Nature-based tourism in Nuup Kangerlua (Nuuk Fjord), I often came across people who considered Nuuk borring. When discussing tourism, they would often ask me "well, what would you do in Nuuk if you had family or friends visiting you??", expecting me to also draw a blank. I always kept the optimistic "Oh I´m sure you can find something lovely to do" argument, which was usually met with A ROLLING OF THE EYES. With the upcoming blog posts (not the whole story at once... I have to keep you coming back...) I will show, prove and tell you how to create a lovely and incredible experience for your family/friends who visit Nuuk.

Now remember, my Icelando/American mother, who is also a grandmother, came to visit her daughter and grandson in Greenland. This is not a crazy drunken IBIZA story, nor is it some crazy crocodile dundee experience. The upcoming posts will build on Jóhanna´s Nuuk Experience (put together by her favorite daughter) and almost be a step-by-step guide telling you how you can be like us. Doesn´t get much better than that. So sit back, grab something to drink, and enjoy (put some Scooter on and grab the Vodka bottle if this starts getting desperate).

Day 1.
Greet mother/grandmother with a cute and crafted sign. Note, you spend the previous evening building up excitement during your craft time when the child is in bed so you can finally get the colored pencils to yourself. Then you kill some time in showing her every poster, picture, piece of gum on the floor you find interesting in the airport until she looks like she´s ready to breathe in the fresh Greenlandic air.

   

This same day after you drop off your bags in your apartment, you take your mother and dragon on a little stroll downtown to the Colonial Harbor. This is a great time and place to take cute pictures of the finally reunited grandmother and grandson, in a beautiful (and very Nuuk-ish) environment. Grab some early dinner and snuggle up around 21:00 because, A-HA!, sIceland is a whole 2 hours ahead of Greenland time. 

 

1 day down 6 to go. 

Until next time.

Hildur

Who-what-where-when-why.

So the story goes…
Hi. My name is Hildur. I am an Icelando-American from Iceland. And America.

   

Hence the name of this blog, HildurIceland. Although some of my friends will argue that my name is Hildu from Riceland, this is not the case (aha, lame joke from good friends). This name may be a little misleading since I am no longer in Iceland. Although an Icelander, I am in Greenland. How many of you just said the Might Ducks line “Iceland is green, Greenland is ice.”? So Greenland… This is the place my little family is calling home. And we love it.

That covers some of the who. Now to cover some of the what, where, when and why. So yes, my name is Hildur and my son and I are living in Nuuk, Greenland. We moved to Greenland because since September I have been researching and writing my masters thesis in Coastal and Marine Management from the University Centre of the Westfjords in Ísafjörður, Iceland. My thesis topic is coastal nature-based tourism in Nuup Kangerlua (the Nuuk fjord system).

Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, is located in the fjord system Nuup Kangerlua. Actually, it is located on the tip of the southern-jaw of the fjord. Nuuk is Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) for “cape” (in English). The population is a little less than 16,000 people, and although it is the largest city in Greenland, it is one of the smallest capitals in the world by population. Nuuk is in Sermersooq municipality. We moved to Nuuk in September from Ísafjörður, Iceland to pursue my dream of moving to Greenland and living among Greenlanders, and honestly- to live and experience the Inuit culture. We plan to stay here until we leave. ☺

Nuuk. September 2012.

Ok, now that was who – what – where – and when, now the why? I moved and dreamt of moving to Greenland for quite some time now because I caught the Arctic bug. The Arctic bug is a phenomenon you catch and experience when studying and visiting the Arctic. To wind it up: once you get the bug, you cannot get rid of it. You just fall in love with the Arctic. The people, nature, the pros and the cons. Although a trip to Spain and South Africa are lovely, you always end up dreaming of the Arctic. It’s like the title of the movie : I dream of Africa – except instead of Africa, it´s the Arctic. The Arctic bug can take you many places and Alaska and Canada were also among my places of interest, however Greenland won me over.

Icebergs landing at the Colonial Harbor in Nuuk.

There are many reasons for this but I have think the main reason is because it is so similar to Iceland in many ways – and at the same time SO different – fulfilling my need of contrast but at the same time keeping it at a comfortable level. My hometown in Iceland (at least what I call my hometown) is Suðureyri. Suðureyri has a population of approximately 300 people and is a fishing village, and it has given me a lot of understanding of development, rural areas and the hardships that the people and the economy have to go through in such areas. Most importantly, Suðureyri has taught me the love and happiness that comes from living in such an area, and opened my eyes to the opportunities that come with hardships. This understanding that I have learned from Suðureyri plays its part in taking me to Greenland. (I hold Suðureyri dearly to my heart, and I will stop talking about it because it deserves its own post.)

Súgandafjörður - (Súganda-fjord), Iceland.

In my studies in Polar Law, from the University of Akureyri, I caught the Arctic bug and have been affected since. Thankfully. Now I look forward to letting you all experience my experience here in Greenland and follow me on this adventure. 

Walking towards the city center. Traffic lights in this small city.

And so the story goes…

Much love,
Hildur Sólveig

Will the blogging start...?

Well hello world. I am back. I am alive. And I am one happy and lucky girl in Greenland. My "back to blogging- huge update on me and my life" blog will have to come later due to the fact that I am in the finishing stages of writing my thesis but I just had to post a picture. Why? Because I left Iceland and moved to Greenland. I bought a huge coat and super gloves and hats. This was my view from the bus station this morning: I think the weather here in Nuuk has been much milder than the weather in Iceland so I´m going to say it... ahhh, life is good in the sun :) Hilds

Smábondinn í Lumby Cottage

Ég þekki þennan ekki neitt en mjög skemmtilegt blogg hjá honum! Er að lifa drauminn... http://dadihrafnkelsson.blog.is/blog/dadihrafnkelsson/

Svo er pælingin að fara að skrifa hérna oftar... enda orðið FREKAR langt síðan ég gerði það síðast. Miklar pælingar eru í gangi hjá mér þessa dagana og gaman væri að deila þeim með lesendum. EN þær verða á ensku. Held ég. Nema ég sé í íslensku mode, en það gerist ekki of oft ;)

HILDS

My first raisin buy!!!

This is my first raisin buy! Very excited... very exciting. Its a 66 degrees North fleece overall and a fleece balacalva. The entire drive home I couldn´t stop smiling, just thinking that in a few weeks, 16 to be exact (well, I guess I cannot be exact) I will be dressing my little raisin, a little person, maybe a mini me, into little clothes! Awwww... so yea, now that I am done with school (except for a test on Tuesday) I can spend my days google-ing baby stores, information and this and that.



Me super excited...




Here are some preggo pictures...
3. february 2009- 12 weeks 5 days




11. mars 2009- 17 weeks 6 days





25. mars 2009- 19 weeks 6 days



having some fun during my self-made photoshoot





1. April 2009- 20 weeks 6 days (my model poses...)

DUI on lawnmower

Watch this... it is just toooooooo funny!!!

http://biggeekdaddy.com/humorpages/Misc/lawnmowerDUItaserarrest.html

Berlin tomorrow!!!

HSE

So... a little update.
Its frakin freezing here in Akureyri. LITERALLY. And the worst part is that I think I am the worlds worst window scraper when it comes to my frozen car windows. For some reason, even though I push and scrape and blow and scrape, the damn frost will not get off my window. This morning/late morning (because this little lady didn´t have class this morning) I almost gave up and sat in the car to wait for my car to just defrost... but then I realized I was already late for a meeting.

My New Years resolution on not being late (haha pun intended) is going so-so. Well, the thing is, I am not late... my watch is. I swear, it runs slow! At least I think it does and I think I was able to prove so today. I´ll have to check it out and get it confirmed!

I am going to Berlin on the 20th of feb!!! WHOOT WHOOT! I cannot wait! The good times sure are a killing me! ;)

LOVE
HsE