Jessica Federkeil

Jessica is a senior journalism major at Point Park University, she will be graduating in December of 2017. She works with the Point Park News Service as an apprentice and has completed an internship with the Tribune-Review. Jessica lives with her parents, sisters, and dog Jinx in Butler, PA.

Jessica loves alternative music and going to concerts is part of her regular routine. This is her second trip abroad with the International Media class. Last year she enjoyed visiting London, Bruges and Amsterdam.  She is eager to take in all that Iceland, Ireland and Northern Ireland have to offer.

 

Pre-Trip Blog

It feels like the spring semester went by in a blink of an eye! I can’t believe an entire year has passed since I was writing my pre-trip blog for the London, Bruges and Amsterdam trip. I felt like that was the trip of a lifetime for me, so let’s see if this year’s trip can top it (I have every reason to believe that this year’s trip will be just as amazing). I cannot wait to explore the breath taking nature, rich culture, music, and of course all the food through Iceland, Ireland, and Northern Ireland. If you look up my blog from last year you will know how important the food is to me, and may I just add it is extremely difficult to find a genuine Belgium waffle in the states.

May 13th cannot come fast enough!

Sunday | May 14th | Reykjavik

We have made it to Iceland! I must say that our nine hour layover in JFK Airport went by much faster than I thought it would. The flight into Keflavik, Iceland was five hours and I probably slept for half of the flight. We landed at about 6:30 this morning. I know I’m going to sleep well tonight.

Once we got off the plane, and gathered our luggage (unfortunately not all of our groups luggage made it) I was greeted by our trip  tour guides and to my excitement a Dunkin Donuts!!! I was convinced my Saturday morning coffee would be my last taste of Dunkin until I was back on American soil. I assumed they didn’t have any iced coffee because we are in Europe and ice is pretty scarce there, turns out I was wrong, and I could have enjoyed an iced coffee instead of this molten hot coffee beverage.

From Keflavik our group departed by bus for Reykjavik. Our tour guide Helga filled the ride with fun facts about Vikings, The Hidden People, the landscape of Iceland, and more. One of those fun facts was that Keflavik actually means music town. Named that because when the U.S. Air Force had bases in Iceland the soldiers brought clubs and a variety of new music, including punk music to Iceland.

My initial reaction to Iceland was just how beautiful the “little” mountains surrounding us were. I also love the cute, colorful, homes. I follow a few Icelandic photographers on Instagram and I was so pleased that this place exceeds all of my expectations.

The presidents home, Bessastaðir. Located right outside of Reykjavik.

We even stopped at the home of the president of Iceland. Helga shared with us that the Icelandic president currently has a 90% approval rate, a far cry from the approval rating of our American president.

Iceland is such a beautiful place.  The city of Reykjavik is surrounded by the ocean on one side and mountains on the other. The air here feels so clean compared to other cities.

Once we dropped our luggage off at the hotel a group of us headed over to one of the flea markets in Reykjavik. I had a few nice finds there.

As the morning drug into the afternoon we hunted out some lunch. Colleen and I decided to go into te and kaffi, a coffee shop. I ordered some kind of loaf of bread stuffed with cheese, ham and other goodies so I was a happy traveler, caffeinated once again.

Tonight we have a group dinner before we can all call it a day and crawl into bed. Here are some photo’s from today.

Monday | May 15th | Golden Circle

For day two in Reykjavik we went on a tour of the Golden Circle around Iceland. We were led by our tour guide Helga.

After our group dinner last night at the Reykjavik Restaurant, my roommate Colleen, Laura Quinn and I went for walk around the city. It was a great evening for a walk and the extra exercise was helpful to fall asleep. We ended up at the Hex Hostile and bar, it was really neat “1920’s Vegas themed bar” complete with their own book collection.

We walked back around 11 and it was still bright outside. The wind was blowing quite a bit to make it a quick brisk walk back to the hotel. The square outside our hotel had some kids (and adults) skating when we made it back to the hotel square. I had a little trouble falling asleep because there was club music playing pretty loudly. I was pretty impressed with how great the curtains kept the sun out of the room, a God send given the sun rises around 4 in the morning.

Our breakfast at our hotel was really nice. I loved the croissants with jelly more than anything, although I do hear good things about the porridge. I must say the coffee here is strong, but very tasty.  Once we were rested and feed we were ready to hit the road for our first intense day of the trip.

Our marvelous tour guide Helga lead us on a truly fantastic tour of the Golden Circle. This day was truly amazing. I may even describe it as a perfect day.  We started out at Perlan (not Petland which is what I thought Helga was calling it)  an observatory area.

Some spots were so breathtaking I can’t even put into words how awe inspiring the nature was. I will mostly rely on pictures to show the wonders of Iceland.

Gullfoss Waterfall, was by far my favorite site of the day. It was one of my top 5 things we saw this entire trip! It was truly a marvelous site, that you could really get up close and personal with if you wanted (of course I did!)

I do want to reflect on how powerful it can be just to sit/stand in nature reflecting and appreciating what is right in front of you. One thing I really value about international travel is that you can disconnect from the day to day life back at home. I don’t bother with any kind of international phone plan while away (I know this is to the disappointment of my parents). But I love not being consumed with social media, or the other concerns of home.

For our second group dinner we went up to the Sky Bar and had another group dinner up in the top floor of one of Reykjavik’s hotels. This dinner was truly special, because we had the perfect view of Iceland’s beautiful concert venue the Harpa ( https://en.harpa.is/) and the surrounding scenery of the harbor. Our menu had scallops as a starter ( the group of students who opted for an alternative to the seafood were not to found of the mushroom soup either, so we gladly helped them eat what they could not) we had a chicken for dinner, and a delicious dessert.

After dinner we talked with a few locals about their reaction to current American politics and events, so look for that once we get back. It is really cool to be able to discuss these things we are constantly bombarded with back at home with people who are observing from a far.

To wrap up the evening Colleen, Maggie, Caite, Nicole, Kristin, and I  headed out to Lebowski’s Bar which is a themed bar right up the street from our hotel. This was really a great end to the night. After a while we met an Icelandic woman named Iris. Her friend was the manager of the bar, and she was home visiting from University in Norway. Iris is studying  Arabic in hopes to move back to Iceland to become a journalist. I really connect with her, she was a super friendly girl to pass the night. It was kind of odd we did look pretty similar I feel like I met my Icelandic doppelgänger.

 

Tuesday | May 16th | Reykjavik Media Visits

After a near perfect evening we had an early morning to get to the first of our media visits at Promote Iceland. This meeting met my high expectations for media visits ( a big thank you to Jan Getz who works tirelessly for months setting these meetings up). It was really interesting to see how this companies goals have really changed over time, and their ability to be flexible and creative.

They also created a series of videos and lessons called Iceland Academy in order to promote responsible, and safe tourism around Iceland. You can check that site out here.

After our morning meeting we headed back in the direction of the hotel for quick lunch break. A group of us were hanging out in the lobby of the hotel purchasing our tickets for our planned excursion to the Blue Lagoon. While we were waiting a woman  approached us and asked if we were busy, we responded we had some free time before our next media visit. Turns out she needed extras for a music video she was filming at the popular bar Horra! So we followed her over to the club, and “stared” in a music video on our lunch break.

Our next visit was to the popular Grapevine magazine. This visit was so interesting to me even though I had to sit on the floor with no real view of anything that was going on. It was so great because they did a splendid job of explaining why they have been so successful for a sustained period of time. They are the only English language publication, and the only newspaper covering the arts and culture in Reykjavik. What really impressed me about the Grapevine was how they saw an open spot in the market and really took advantage of it.

Following the Grapevine a group of us headed to the Blue Lagoon. We had to take a shuttle to the bus terminal, and from there it was about an hour and a half to the Blue Lagoon! What a once in a life time experience! It was so perfect! Hot springs are an amazing part of this worlds creation.

The trip back was really relaxed and the bus dropped us off right at our hotel this time so no transfer. I still had yet to pack my suitcase, and by the time I finished past 12, which is especially rough given the fact we have to wake up at 2 AM! for our flight to Ireland.

Wednesday | May 17th | Reykjavik to Dublin

The day I have been dreading since we received our trip itinerary has arrived. This was one rough day. Anyone could have predicted that one. I woke up, showered and drug my self down to the hotel lobby waiting for our departure to the airport. The hotel had prepared a lovely spread of croissants and coffee for us to consume before jumping onto the bus.

Of course our flight was slightly delayed, but we still had to make it to the airport.  Once we made it through security (I met the nicest TSA agent during this process) we all tried to find a place to either sleep, or get a little work done. Some of us found a “secret” lower floor to try to rest in, but after realizing we couldn’t quite hear any of the announcements we opted to head back to the group. Once are gate opened we were taxied out to our plane. Our flight was on WOW! airlines (coming to Pittsburgh this June with flights directly to Reykjavik)  I got to sit next to Nicole on this flight, shout out to the empty middle seat in our row. The flight was relatively smooth I got some much needed sleep for the majority of it. The trouble came in during the landing. The pilot must have came in to fast or something and once we hit the ground we quickly went back up in the air to take another few laps around, before trying again and landing safe and sound. We slowly made it through the airport, and met up with our tour guide Joe Darcy and bus driver Mick.

After a drive around Dublin we stopped for lunch a chance to walk around a bit. I took this chance to get coffee in my system ASAP. We went to a little chain restaurant called KC Peaches. My meal was good, but the coffee and water were much needed at this point in the day. Next, we stopped in a few of the tourist shops in the area. We met back up with the group before walking to the Irish parliament.

We made our visit to the Irish Parliament on a historic sort of day. Long time Taoseich leader Enda Kenny, resigned his post shortly after our departure from the Doyle. Despite being extremely tired by the end of the tour I enjoyed being able to personally experience the Irish government.

At this point in the day we were all exhausted to put it nicely. Let’s just say I was a little agitated after being awake for so long. We finally headed towards our hotel. Actually in Dublin we stayed in apartments. Here Colleen and I welcomed Nicole and Kristin as our two additional roomies. The nice living arrangements made up for the awful day of travel. Ah but we couldn’t rest yet, because we each had our own kitchen we needed to prepare our own breakfast for our time in Dublin, so we dragged our tired selves up to the grocery store before our group dinner.

Our dinner was at one of the oldest pubs in Dublin. We had a greek salad for an appetizer and a Guinness stew. By the end of dinner I think we were all falling asleep in our dessert. I know I went to sleep as soon as we got back to our apartment.

Thursday | May 18th | Dublin Media

We had a wonderful morning here in Dublin. We used our kitchen to make some breakfast, and Nicole ran up to the coffee shop to get everyone their morning dose of caffeine.

We had a great start to our media visits in Ireland by attending a lecture by Dr. Eileen Culloty, a researcher at Dublin City University’s Institute for Future Media and Journalism. Her lecture really provided us with a clear picture of the history of Irish media. Like anywhere in the world the media plays a huge part in the culture of Ireland. Eileen really showed that through the image of women in Irish society.

After the lecture we had some free time to explore the campus. We started with lunch at the DCU cafeteria. I went with the American meal of pizza and french fries. Colleen and I ventured out on our own to see some more of the campus. It was a beautiful afternoon and the sun was shining  bright.

Friday | May 19th | Dublin

Saturday | May 20th | Dublin Free Day

Sunday | May 21st | Travel Day Dublin to Belfast

Monday | May 22nd | Belfast Media

Tuesday | May 23rd | Travel Day Belfast to Galway

Wednesday | May 24th | Galway Media

Last Day Thursday | May 25th | Cliffs of Moher