In class...

This week we have a professor that was supposed to be next week. All that I can say is that I am glad that we dont have him next week or I just wouldnt come to class.

We have several assignments that are being given to us as well that none of us have any idea how to do...if we do know how to do it like we think it will talk 6000 hours!

Its 1140 am now and has just gotten light out in the last 10 minutes. Good times! It will be dark again in 3 hours!!

Well better pay attention now....or just go online an search for random things...who knows!

Outta here in 7 days!!!

Home in 10 days!!!

Almost Christmas Time

The days are going by so fast...its so soon that I get to go home!!

8 days until I leave isafjordur to go to reykjavik...should be fun, im going to go eat at subway ( i miss subway a lot) and then we are going on an excursion to see some icelandic sites in the south.

10 days until Boston for the night...well really like 12 hours but it should be a fun 12 hours the hotel has a pool and there is a mall and theatre right by the hotel.

11 days until halifax and kentville...we arrive in the morning and I am really excited to see the family and friends...and to get home and see the doggies!!

Like 3 weeks until CUBA...sun!!!!

Im watching Home Alone, the original one...it makes it seem more Christmasy...tonight I aim to get my paper done so that I dont have to work on it this week and I can hopefully get my other assignments done so that I can just have fun until I leave for home!!

See everyone soon!!

Peace,

Josh

:)

Friday the 13th

This day for a long time has been something of a mystery to me.

People always talk about how unlucky a day it is.

However, I was born on a Friday the 13th. On this "unlucky" day you were all blessed with my presence from then onward.

Little did you know how lucky you all actually were on that Friday, July 13th.

Hey everyone,

Hope your Friday's weren't too unlucky.

Peace,

Josh

!!!!!!!! 31 Days Until I leave for Christmas !!!!!!!!!!

Sunnudagur

Hey Everybody,

Just before we start so that you know Sunnudagur is Sunday.

I have been leanring some fun icelandic word and saying that I am going to try out on all of you when I get home.

I am coming home on the 12th of December I cant wait. I will be home until the 2nd of January but we are going to Cuba from the 22-29th of December. I cant wait for that either. I cant wait for sun, swimming and laying on the beach. I want to do excursions and stuff to but we just dont get any sun here in Iceland so it will be great just to get sun. I joke with people that im going to come back after christmas break and be really really dark with a tan...this however is not a joke I will be so dark people will not recognize me haha.

This weekend in Isafjordur was kind of a winter festival. There were people selling things in all the stores and streets. There was also people singing in the streets and the stores and there was even a dance troupe that was dancing to michael jackson throughout the streets. I was saddened in that there was supposed to be Icelandic treats and te and kaffi but we could not find it anywhere.

Oh well, Im going to be really productive today that is my promise to myself....after a few episodes of family guy. ;)

Talk to you all again soon,

Josh

Hello Everyone!

Hello,

Sorry I have not been good at posting to this blog. I will try and be better. Our last course was just a mess so I had all that I could do to deal with that.

It is now dark here when I get up at 8, I walk to school in the dark, and then it is dark again by 4 or 5 in the afternoon. That makes me sad.

I am really looking forward to going south at Christmas. We are booking the resort tonight. YAY!!! Warm weather, sun, and swimming.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone at home! Let do lots of fun things!

I'll post again soon!

Peace,

Josh

Christmas!

Its only 53 days until I am back in North America, 54 days until I am back in Canada, Nova Scotia, and Kentville! I cant wait!

Great Time in N. Ireland!

Hey Everyone,

I have not been very good about posting to this blog recently. Sorry for that.

I just got back from Ireland and Northern Ireland - I got to see two countries but not many people think of it like that.

I had a great time and saw lots of stuff. I saw the Giants Causeway, two castles, some amazing beaches that made me almost want to go in swimming. I saw Belfast, which was beautiful lots of shops, and Dublin which was a great city I saw both the beautiful and the sketchy parts.

I am back in Iceland now. I had to stay at a hostel last night because the flight into Keflavik did not get in in time for me to get that last flight to Isafjordur. So after a crap sleep last night I am sitting here at the domestic airport, one which I have spent way too much time in i might add, waiting for my delayed flight to Isafjordur. Once there I am going to have a quick shower, as I feel like garbage after flying all day, and go to school which I am missing because the flight is delayed.

All in all it was a marvelous vacation and I got to see lots more than I even thought I would!

Thanks Mick, Kathy, and Jake!

I have TONS (literally 1000) of pictures and I will post them once I get a chance.

Peace,

Josh

Aurora Borealis!!!!!

Hey,

Last night we saw the Northern Lights and they were absolutely beautiful. I had never seen them before and they are like nothing that you can explain.

At one point they formed a ring and they that ring shot across the sky and filled the entire sky above us with this glittering green and pink. What amazed me was how quickly it changes. It was never the same for more than a second.

We all stood there watching it, many of us for the first time, and we were all in awe. We clapped when it got really amazing like it was fireworks and I think that people probably thought we were crazy.

One of lifes goals - See Northern Lights - Check!!

I will put up a picture on here but I have a bunch of pictures on webshots!

Peace!

SNOW!!

Hey,

It is snowing today. For the last week it has been creeping down the mountains all around us and today I accumulated on the ground in the town. It is snowing outside right now....huge flakes.

Ahhh....Iceland!

I posted pictures of my first snow in september, for all of you who are still warm and humid, on webshots.

Check it out.

Peace.

London and Belfast Calling

Good and Morning Everyone,

Just booked my tickets to London and then to Belfast for the week after next. Im really looking forward to seeing Ireland and I am really looking forward to getting in some warmer weather.

Today the snow was halfway down the mountain. I am estimating less than a week before we have snow on the ground here. The high temperature for the day yesterday was 5 degrees celsius. Brrrrr!

We have been having classes this week for 8 hours a day and at the end of each day we are all very tired. We had our weekly movie night last night and the movie that we watched was a national geographic film about the ocean if all of the water was drained. It was interesting but I think next week I am going to lobby for a comedy. Too much seriousness.

Alan, who lives across the hall, and I have been challenging each other to use abstract words in class. He had given me Obfuscate and Juxtaposition...I used them in an online discussion for our first class. I have decided to give him Ephemeral and Cantankerous! Good Luck Alan! Muh hahaha!

Well I will post more on my trip once I have more details and I will definitely post pictures!

Peace.

...People are Crazy...

Hey family and friends,

We here in Isafjordur have been going a little but stir crazy these days.

We are all working on group projects these days and one thing that we can all agree on is that we have group projects. Hahaha!

We have one more week of courses then two weeks of no courses but homework...some of us are heading off to get out of here for awhile. Don't get me wrong Iceland and Isafjordur are great, but you need to see new people and do new things sometimes.

Tomorrow is our last day of our first course. This first course has been great but i'm ready to more on to new things.

On another note...

I have been having an intense desire to listen to country a lot lately...i think i'm missing the valley and working on the farms this summer. AHH....summer...how I miss you.

(sings) Some beach....some where......! (sings)

(sings) God is great...beer is good....people are crazy! (sings)

Peace

Westfjords Sailing!

Hello everyone,

Just had a great weekend of sailing around the Westfjords. We had to come back early though because of the Gale warning that was posted. Sadly yesterday turned out to be a beautiful and warm day...no gale. However, we are all home and safe so thats what counts.

Our boat was beautiful a 60ft yacht. I would love to have a boat like that someday!

I took lots of pictures during the trip and they are all going on webshots right now, so in an hour or so they should be up an ready for people to look at. - http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/574630536crvnlr

I have been working on my paper like mad because I have, of course, left it until the last minute.

I have also been feeling like I need to get out of Isafjordur for a weekend or something. See new people and new things. Im sure that the feeling will pass but im thinking about maybe a weekend trip to Reykjavik or something may be in order. We will see!

Well id better go I have to go work on a group case study project; I have to read up on the planning act for iceland. - FUN!

Miss everyone.

Peace

Good and Morning!

Hey Everyone,

Just though I would post a little something before I head to school.

Today is rainy and windy here...im a bit jealous of the weather at home!

Its been great keeping in contact with everyone through email and on here and skype. (Such as small world)

Only 95 days until I come home for Christmas!!!

Everything is going well here...I am having issues getting back into school mode however. Today is the day that I will buckle down and start being productive....I said that yesterday though....hmmm!

We had a great apartment crawl on the weekend. We went from apartment to apartment so that we would all know where each other live. We had some drinks and good times at each house or apartment. It was really fun.

This weekend we have our sailing trip. We are gone from friday until sunday...so I will be incommunicado until sunday but I will have some great pictures and stories to share when I get back im sure. We are such a big class that we had to get two sail boats. Forecast for the weekend looks okay so hopefully the trip will be great. We are sailing around the Westfjords. It is educational but they say that I will be great fun as well. I don't see how it could not be fun!!

Well thats all that I can think of for now so...

Peace.

Movie Night

Hey everyone,

Some of us had a movie night tonight....dumb movie - Vicky Chirstina Barcelona. Just reminds me of how much I dislike that Javier Bardem guy...as an actor...don't really know him as a person.

One thing that the movie was good for was to make me want to go to Spain even more!!

I tried to buy a winter jacket from an Icelandic company but the size ran really small so the store took all of my measurements and are emailing all of the Icelandic Jacket companies to try and find me something. - Great service!

We had the Marine Management Symposium today and yesterday it was really informative and great to meet people in the field in Iceland.

Andrea is trying to find me someone to knit me an Icelandic sweater...i'm excited to get one.....i'm sure it will be super itchy though.

I registered my domicile today and picked up my Icelandic debit card...sweet!

Found out today that we might be able to get a portion of our rent back each month from the government. If that turns out to be the case some traveling is in my future.

Actually tonight at the restaurant the woman working thought I was icelandic...must be the blonde hair and blue eyes. She said something and I didnt answer then I apologized and she said sorry I didnt know you weren't Icelandic. Guess I fit in here - just to get some of the language down.

Im hoping that the school offers an evening Icelandic course sometime soon!!

Tomorrow i'm going to go for a little hike around the fjord then in the evening we are doing an apartment crawl - to have fun and learn where each other live.

Im starting to feel better today so i'm going to go to bed now so that I don't get feeling crappy again.

Peace.

I'm Sick

Hey everybody,

The last few days I have not felt like writing on the blog as I have been sick and contuie to be sick. Jen and Lindsay were sick when I got into Reykjavik last week and starting today I really feel like garbage. Sore throat, runny nose, the whole works.

I got all of my student loan stuff squared away so hopefully I will get that money soon! Yay!

Also I found out today that we can apply to get back about half of our rent from the municipality. That will be great if we can figure out how to do that!!! Yay spending money.

I booked my plane ticket for back to Iceland after Christmas the other day and got a pretty good deal on it. So thats great.

I keep hearing about how it is cold and fall-like at home and I am envious of that because it is winter-like here.....cold. Its only about 6-9 degrees here now and windy. It is the wind that is bothersome not the cold.

This is quite the experience. I am making friends with people from all over the world so that is great because then I can travel and stay for free at lots of new places.

Out first professor is great. He has a degree from Dal and I think that we will all bond over that. Im thinking about maybe having him over for supper with that Canada crew while he is here. Our next prof is from Canada as well. We are representing Canada well here lots of profs and 7 out of 20 students are from Canada.

I had a great time in reykjavik and at the blue lagoon - I posted tons of pictures.

Reykjavik Backpackers Hostel is great for anyone thinking of traveling here.

Our orientation weekend was great too...we went to the beach (too cold), we drank icelandic schnapps out of a seashell and ate rotten shark (icelandic delicacy) just a little piece of shark and I will not have any more of that. we had a bbq and icelandic pancakes and hot chocolate. Mmm Mmm!

Hope everything is well with everyone.

Peace

Pictures!!!

Hey my pictures (all of them) ( yes there are a lot) can be found on webshots now.

You can wither just search for joshmackintosh or go to http://community.webshots.com/user/joshmackintosh

enjoy!!!!

Tired....

For some reason today I cannot get any energy. I have been tired all day. I went to Samkaup instead of the Bonus as it is right down the street and the bonus is a 35 minute walk.

Thanks to everybody who is reading my blog. I am here, for those of you who dont know, for a Masters program in Marine and Coastal Management - Resource Management.

I miss everybody from home but I am making lots of friends here. The Canadian contingent is strong here and about to get stronger when lindsay and jen arrive. There will be 7 of us Canadians in total in the program I guess. 7 out to 20 students in total.

Tomorrow I head back in to Reykjavik...so I will not post to the blog for a few days but I will have lots of stories and pictures when I get back.

Im going to start posting most of my pictures except for a select few on webshots.com I will post the address where everyone can find those once I start putting them on there - which I am about to do.

Peace

Halloooooo Iceland!

Hey to anyone that checks this blog.

I have arrived safely and have been hanging with some pretty cool cats.

I am staying in an apartment with a guy named alan from our program until my and jens apartment is ready on friday.

Tomorrow alan and I are going to to BONUS a grocery store about a 30 minute walk away. (We will take the bus back.

Lots of things are free here - internet in lots of places, buses, etc.

Lots of things arent free - cell phones...I had to buy one today and it cost me like 400 dollars.

Im going to post some pictures of the Icelandair plane that I took, some of the airport in Reykjavik and some of the Apartment that I am staying in.

The apartment is not the one that that Jen and I are going to live in but looks quite similar but not exact.

I will add pictures of the town and of the school when i get another chance and also pictures of Reykjavik when I go back on on Wednesday.

Peace.

( sorry that pictures are in reverse order of what they should be - I will get the hang of this blog eventually)

49 Hours and 33 Minutes

I leave so soon - 49 hours and 33 minutes from the time I started this post, in fact.

I will post pictures of the town and Iceland and whatnot once I get settled in my new apartment/town/country/continent/.

Im looking forward to the flight but am a but worried that my suitcases are a bit overweight. But frig it is hard to pack stuff for a yeah and a half in two suitcases. Deal with it Icelandair its 4 extra pounds.

Im really excited to go!

Talk to everyone soon.

Also this is how my blog is going to roll. Short sweet and to the point. With lots of pictures eventually. Just sayin'

See you soon Iceland you cold (soon) and dark (eventually) mistress.

Time is Ticking!!!

It is getting close to when I leave for Iceland. I would like to have gone to school for the Icelandic course but I have to make the bucks before I go. (Can't work there for the first 6 months)

I have started packing and buying what I need...who am I kidding I started packing in April and have had most of what I need to take for a long time.

Friggin' student loan just needs to get figured out soon!! SO SLOW!!!

Only 44 more days!!

Christening the Blog

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to get the blog up and going. I will be posting on it more once I get ready to leave for Iceland in August.  See you then.