Summer of Midnight Sun - Chapter 3: Where There's Smoke...

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 This summer, I lived with a group of other foreign nationals, which led to some of the fondest memories I have created in my life. One that stands out to me the most is the excitement surrounding the potential of a new volcano opening up. As earthquakes became more and more frequent, it seemed the entire nation was on the edge of its seats waiting to see a new natural wonder bubble to life, and after nearly a week of waiting it finally did. 

As we all got home from our jobs, it was a race down to the coast nearest our house. We all met up there, spending hours running the possibilities through our heads while watching the smoke billow in the sky. Would we be able to go to it? What impact would it have on daily life in Reykjavik? Would we be able to fly home at the end of our summer? Through all of this, the predominant question was when, which I loosely responded to with "Where there's smoke...". Lance, who I'll introduce you to in another chapter, finished the phrase confidently with "There' LAVA!!". The laugh Sam, who I'll also introduce you to, and I got out of this as English first language speakers was immense, but we kept it to ourselves for the time.

Two days later, I got home from work to all of my housemates fully prepared to go hiking to the new volcano. Reluctantly, knowing I had work the next day, I hopped in the car to get us to the trailhead, about 50 minutes away. After around 3 more hours of hiking, Lance and I arrived at the volcano first and were blown away by what we saw. Stepping through the smoke line created by burning moss, we seemed to enter a different world, feeling the heat and size of the natural wonder before us. 

After another 45 minutes, the remainder of the group caught up with us and we settled in to watch the volcano for a bit. At one point, I was about 30 meters from the crater rim and had fresh lava shot in my direction, which I had to outrun to avoid. After spending roughly 2 hours there, we turned back in the ever-shocking daylight. After the hike and drive back, we got to the house at around 3:30 a.m., certainly not ready for work the next day, but with another memory due to last a lifetime. 

        



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