Five Struggles of Living in Iceland

Even knee-deep snow is preferable to ice on my 6 AM walk to work.

Iceland is an amazing place and all of the perks of living here far outweigh the negatives, but that does not mean that life in Iceland is without its struggles!

Here are the top five minor annoyances I've discovered:

1) The super icy sidewalks

I've often wondered if it would be more efficient to just wear my skates to work rather than brave the ice.  Last night, I walked through freezing rain over an already frozen sidewalk and road to get home.  There was a narrow river flowing down the road, which seemed less dangerous than the ice so I followed that the whole way home.  

There are ways to deal with the ice, though that brings me to my next two points:

2) The black grit that gets EVERYWHERE 

Sidewalks in Reykjavik are constantly coated with black grit to increase traction.  Sounds great, right?  Except for the fact that the grit gets EVERYWHERE.  Each day, I sweep my floors at least three times, but the grit never goes away.  It gets stuck in the rugs.  It somehow ends up on the other side of my flat and every time I get in bed I am greeted by a million remnants of the stupid black grit.  I have a theory that the grit can fly and also likes to play hide and seek in my room.

3) Wearing crampons inside and destroying them

Other ways to combat ice are to buy ice picks, technically called crampons, to strap onto your boots.  While these are massively helpful when actually walking on ice, they are terrible on most other surfaces.  On carpet, they catch, tripping you and destroying themselves in the process.  They are ironically slippery on hard surfaces.  Why don't I just take them off before going inside?  I do sometimes, but they are snow-covered and also covered in black grit.  Even when I put them in their carrying case before throwing them in my bag, remnants of ice and black grit still find their way out.  

4)  The darkness

The days are already getting much, much longer.  However, when I first moved here, the sun didn't rise until 11:42 AM and it would begin to get dark around 3:30 PM.  That, combined with running back and forth between Pennsylvania and Colorado, driving cross-country, flying into GMT with a stop in London prior to my move, and the need to watch all of US Nationals live regardless of whether or not the events ended at 5:30 AM, resulted in a nocturnal sleep schedule.  I was going to bed around 5-6 AM most days and waking up around noon or 1 PM.  There were days when I went to my 6:45 AM session without sleeping at all.  Luckily, I've gotten my schedule more regulated since I have Icelandic language classes on weekday mornings.

5) Have I mentioned the sideways rain?
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Oh, yes I have.  But it is worth mentioning again.  No matter how many times my landlord attempts to fix my door, it still leaks profusely anytime it rains.  This, he claims, is due to its Danish manufacturer who isn't used to sideways rain.  However, Iceland was once part of Denmark so Danish door manufacturers, I suggest you remember this!


What other minor annoyances did I miss?