FAR22.1: Excursion Thursday (Part Three)

Destination: Vestmannabjørgini

It’s often said that there are three places you have to visit if you want to be able to say you’ve ‘seen’ the Faroe Islands: Suðuroy (the South Island), Mykines and Vestmannabjørgini, or the Vestmanna Bird Cliffs.* I’d seen the first two (see here and here for Suðuroy, and here for Mykines), but still needed to see the Vestmanna Bird Cliffs, the top tourist attraction on the Faroe Islands.

Two of my Faroese friends, Sámal and Henrietta, had never been to the bird cliffs either (so I guess they have never really ‘seen’ the Faroe Islands), so I thought it would be good if the three of us went and checked them out – I also wanted it to be a little thank you to them for everything they’ve done for me while I’ve been here.

The weather was terrible during the day, but turned wonderful as soon as we stepped onto the boat for the tour – after the fantastic weather in Mykines, my Faroese friends have begun to think that I always bring sunshine with me. I like that.

I’ll just show you a few pictures from the tour – the scenery was amazing, but, as everyone knows, it never looks as great on photos as it does when you’re actually there: This was our tour guide – and in thirty years (or something like that), he’d never been able to do a tour in just Faroese, with no Danish or English translation needed. I liked that too.
Sámal and Henrietta sporting the lovely hats we had to wear as the boat sailed in and out of the cliffs. *Obviously Tórshavn is another place you’d have to visit, but I can’t get my head around the idea that anyone would actually come to the Faroe Islands without coming to Tórshavn, so that doesn’t need to be on the list.

Happy Third Birthday!

Three years! Today marks the third birthday of this, the mitchenstein blog. When I started this blog, I was 22, an undergraduate, in England and sporting shoulder-length hair. Today I’m 25, a doctoral student, in the Faroe Islands and have an ever-increasing forehead. But still going strong!

This year’s been somewhat unusual – downright surreal at times – full of highs and lows, of course, and quite an adventure. In the past year I’ve spent six months in the Faroes, been on (Faroese) national TV, had a double-page write-up about me in a (Faroese) national newspaper, completed my first year of the mitchenstein365 project, completed the first year of my PhD, met Dr. Karl Kennedy and got a Gospel Choir going. Blog-wise, I also started doing some videos, which is kinda cool and fun to do – not sure how much fun they are to watch!

Usually, whenever this blog has had a birthday, I’ve done a huge blogging spree, blogging every day for a whole week. But not this year. This year it’s all in the one blog post!

I usually do a big thing about Mitchenstein in Statistics, but I think we’ll leave that this year too. All I’ll say is that I have written 181 posts on mitchenstein – 55 in my first year, 64 in my second year, and 62 this year, but that is an increase, because 4 of last year’s posts weren’t written by me! :)

Every year I look back at the ambitions I set for myself the year before, and see whether or not I’ve managed to achieve any of them. Last year’s ambitions were:

1. Keep this blog going.
ACHIEVED

2. Get a book published.
NOT ACHIEVED (but I hadn’t written one, so it was unlikely).

3. Raise some money for charity.
NOT REALLY ACHIEVED (I took part in some events that raised money for charity, but unfortunately I didn’t really achieve anything myself).

4. Get a piece of music published by The Salvation Army.
NOT ACHIEVED (But again, I didn’t write anything, so the odds were against me).

5. Learn to speak another language fluently.
ACHIEVED (Admittedly it wasn’t completely from scratch, but my Faroese is about fifteen million times better than this time last year. It hasn’t always been easy, but I’m so glad I insisted on doing everything in Faroese when I arrived here).

6. Start a gospel choir.
ACHIEVED

7. Read more.
MEGA-ACHIEVED (see here!)

8. Be tidier and more organised, and go to bed earlier.
NOT REALLY ACHIEVED

9. Learn Welsh.
NOT ACHIEVED (I’ve managed to pick up quite a bit from watching Gavin and Stacey with Welsh subtitles, but I wouldn’t really say that got me fluent... By any stretch of the imagination. But I can tell you that ‘What’s occurin’?’ is ‘Pa newydd?’).

So some new ambitions for this year are needed, namely:

1. Keep this blog going.
2. Learn the guitar. I don’t even really like guitars, but while I’ve been away I’ve realised how useful it is to be able to play chords on the guitar. If I could achieve this, it would be excellent.
3. Get a book published. Or just something.
4. Keep up my reading this year. At least 12 books.
5. Not lose the Faroese I’ve learned while I’ve been here.
6. Read a book in a language I’ve not read a book in before.
7. Be tidier and more organised, and go to bed earlier.
8. Write some music.
9. Be fitter.

Thanks to everyone who checks the blog, and the mitchenstein365 blog. Who knows what the next year will bring? But whatever happens, I’ll try to make sure I get the interesting bits on here. And I'll make those bits that aren’t so interesting a little more interesting than they are, and get them on here too.

And, because it’s tradition:

2006-2007

2007-2008

2008-2009

FAR21.4: Excursion Thursday (Part Two) (3/3)

After a lot more walking, we reached our destination, and it was beautiful:

And I was shattered!

Looking out over the Atlantic, from the westernmost point in the islands.

Once back in the village (and after some of the islanders had very kindly made waffles for us!) we played a few tunes for the locals - the whole village turned out to listen.

The whole gang.

Sailing away from Mykines.

Passing some pretty cool islands and formations on the way.

FAR21.3: Excursion Thursday (Part Two) (2/3)

Not long into the journey, I saw my very first puffins!

Then I saw quite a lot more...

Walking... (Again the camera doesn't show the steep drop on our right).

Still walking, with Mykines Village in the background. And this photo really doesn't show how steep it was or how far we'd already walked.

By this point it was like 'So what else is new?' ;)

More walking... And we were fooled into thinking we were going to have nice handrails the whole way...

We sat down for a well-deserved break - and at this point the weather got really hot. So much for having to cancel the day because of rain!

And then we carried on! More to follow...

FAR21.2: Excursion Thursday (Part Two) (1/3)

Destination: Mykines

My second Excursion Thursday was a little different from the first, in that it took place on a Saturday. Today it wasn’t just me either – the band from The Salvation Army made a trip out to Mykines Island. In the words of the Bradt Guide to the Faroe Islands (I never leave home without it):

Mykines really is something special. Geographically the Faroes’ most westerly outpost, the rugged isle, barely 10km², is certainly the most enigmatic of the 18 Faroe Islands and the one that ranks, time and again, as the absolute favourite among Faroese and visitors alike.

and

Mykines is the most remote of all the Faroe Islands and certainly the most beautiful.

and

It’s Mykines that really steals the show. A must for any visitor to the islands, this remote outpost is quite simply the best of all the Faroes... This is the most verdant of all the islands and, without a doubt, the most enjoyable destination in the entire country.

Not a bad write-up, eh? So I was feeling pretty excited about the opportunity to visit Mykines. Even better, most of the band hadn’t been there either, so we would all be discovering something together. And I feel a certain affinity with the island, as its name is pronounced ‘mitchiness’, and I always think people are talking about me when they mention it.

However, in times of bad weather (not too infrequent on the Faroe Islands), Mykines can also be cut off for days, so no matter how far in advance you plan your trip, there’s always a chance you won’t be able to go anyway. After two weeks of really good weather (not even just by Faroese standards), the weather took a turn for the worse in the days leading up to the trip, so I was a little worried that we wouldn’t get to go at all.

But go we did, and it turned out to be – in all honesty – one of the best days I’ve ever had. And I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves (with the odd extra comment...)

The boat to Mykines - a 45 minute journey on some fairly choppy waters...

The two of us had unfortunately chosen the wettest place to sit on the boat (but unlike practically everyone else, we didn't need the sick boxes :) )

At Mykines - we made it! - and started off with a pretty steep climb up to the village.

The instruments on the lift (but I carried mine myself :D )

Mykines Village

Getting our bearings (which didn't take too long).

And we set off to explore! More to follow...

FAR21.1: A Stroll Around Tórshavn

Another thing I love about Tórshavn is that it’s a town you can just stroll around, particularly when you live where I live. I’ve walked the streets around the centre of town so often, but this time it was a little different:

I had planned just to go and make the video and then go back home, but there was something quite cool about wandering around in the middle of the night while you can still appreciate the views and atmosphere without the tourists, so my quick walk lasted a good hour or so. This photo was taken at about quarter past midnight down by the harbour:

FAR20.3: Linda!

I’ve never lived in a capital city before (although obviously I spend a lot of time in London), and one of the (many) things I love about it is that there’s always something going on. Even in a small city like Tórshavn, if there’s an event in the Faroes, it’s most likely going to be here. And living in the heart of downtown Tórshavn (that actually rhymes quite nicely if you pronounce Tórshavn right), as I currently am, there’s nearly always something going on very close to where I live. Today Linda came back to town.

The Faroese do remarkably well in other countries’ talent competitions – not having their own, they have to go abroad to take part. A couple of years ago, Jógvan from Klaksvík won X-Factor in Iceland; a kid from Tórshavn, Ragnar, came third on Talent 08, Denmark’s answer to Britain’s Got Talent, and this year, Linda Andrews from Tórshavn won the Danish X-Factor. Quite an achievement really. She’d also win an award for the Faroese person with the least Faroese name if there was one, but there’s not so she won’t (she’s actually Linda Andreasen).

Anyway, Linda is quite a star among the locals here – when I came back to the Faroes in April, I was playing football with a group of kids, and we were choosing team names. They made me the Faroe Islands, and another kid was going to be Denmark. I asked a little girl who she wanted to be and she said ‘Linda’. Fortunately I’d be keeping up with Faroese goings-on while I’d been away, and I knew who she was talking about.

So today Linda Andrews was performing at the SMS Shopping Centre, just down from where I live. And there was quite a big crowd:And I was very impressed! I’d seen a couple of performances on YouTube, and although I liked her version of ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’, I didn’t think all her performances were fantastic. They certainly weren’t bad by any means, but I was a little surprised at how popular she was in Denmark (obviously she’d be popular here). Until I saw her perform live today. Obviously she’d be getting more and more confident after so much performing anyway – today I thought she was excellent. She sang like a recording, if you know what I mean – every note spot on, and we’re not talking easy stuff. And what was also great was the total lack of ‘divaness’ – she was completely normal, laughing and joking with the crowd. What was quite funny was the number of guys who had clearly come to see Linda, but were pretending to be looking in the bookshop instead.

Well, we’ll see whether she cracks the British market (not that she’ll necessarily try) – just remember, you read about her here first! (Unless you’re from the Faroe Islands or Denmark).

If you’re interested, this is ‘our Linda’ singing ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ on X-Factor:

FAR20.2: Excursion Thursday (Part One)

Destination: Nólsoy

I only have a few weeks left in the Faroes now... There’s a fair few places I still want to see before I go home, but I also have rather a lot of work to do. Consequently I decided to start having Excursion Thursdays. Thursday is when the library shuts early anyway, so I thought I could work every other day, and use my Thursdays to see a little more of the Faroes. This week marked the first Excursion Thursday, and my destination was to be the island of Nólsoy.

Anybody who reads this blog regularly will probably already be familiar with Nólsoy. It’s right opposite Tórshavn and has featured in a lot of my photos (see here and here, for example), as it’s nearly always visible wherever you are in the city, but I’d never made it over there. Bright and early on Excursion Thursday morning, I set off down to the quay to catch the boat for the twenty minute journey over the imaginatively named Nólsoyarfjørður (Nólsoy Fjord/Sound).

(Well that’s what should have happened – what actually happened was that I woke up bright and early, turned off my alarm, fell asleep again, and was woken by my friend Danni who just happened to text twenty minutes before the boat was due to sail. D’oh! But I made it – another benefit of living downtown!)

I was very excited – I have a bit of a thing about islands (clearly), and I love the idea of sailing to a new one I haven’t been to before. I’ve always wanted to live on an island (and in a way, I guess I do, but with its 60 million inhabitants, the UK doesn’t really have the same island community feel, does it?).

Sailing across the sound: As soon as we sailed into Nólsoy, I fell in love with the place. Look at the whalebone entrance to the village: How perfect is that?

I strolled around the island for a good long while (three hours in fact), just taking it all in. With its 250 inhabitants and no cars, Nósloy couldn’t be more different from Tórshavn (although a tractor did attempt to run me over within seconds of me arriving).

Here’s a few views of Nólsoy:

I don’t know why, I just thought this fire station was cool: This is evidently the centre of Nólsoy’s nightlife – Undirbeat, which with its ‘over 18s only’ sign appears to be a night club: Only 20 minutes away from the metropolis: Nólsoy, seemingly a place that has too many road names and not enough roads... These are some ruins, which were apparently where a princess from Scotland fled to when her father wouldn’t let her marry her lover. One final thing – there’s a bench in the centre of the village that’s famous for the old men that sit on it, putting the world to rights and observing the island’s few visitors. And they were really there! I desperately wanted to take a photo, but I can tell you that they looked a lot like this (taken from a postcard): That’s it – if I ever move to the Faroes, I’m buying me a house on Nólsoy. I’m sold.

P.S. I’ve been updating the mitchenstein365 blog.

FAR20.1: FØROYAR! (clap, clap, clap)

A Picture Blog
After the cool game against Austria back in October (see here), I was mega-excited about seeing my second international game in the Faroes – Faroe Islands vs. Serbia. Serbia are currently leading the group, and the Faroes are trailing in fifth place (which is a nice way of saying they’re bottom in the group, but when you consider the fact that not all the players are professionals, and the entire country is the size of a small town in one of the other countries, that’s hardly surprising!).

That said, the Faroes had every reason to be a little optimistic – this was the first game with the new manager, Brian Kerr (former manager of the Republic of Ireland), the Serbs had played at the weekend, whereas the Faroese were able to rest, and the day before, the Faroese U-21 team had spectacularly beaten Russia 1-0.

I used a video when I wrote about the last game, so for something different, here’s the story in pictures:
1. The poster advertising the game, and the fact that this will be the first game with the new manager.
2. It was a little surprising to be walking down Tórshavn’s main pedestrian street the day before the game and pass the Serbian national team, looking somewhat bemused (them, not me).
3. Game day arrives – and we’re very excited!
4. The little group from Serbia – I’m always impressed by the fans who follow their team wherever they go. A trip from Serbia to the Faroes certainly won’t have come cheap... 5. The singing of the anthems... 6. And off we go! 7. There was a scary moment about fifteen minutes into the game when arguably the Faroes’ best player looked like he might have to go off injured, but we all cheered when it looked like he was going to be able to carry on.*
8. Twenty minutes into the game and it’s still 0-0. This is pretty good! And in fact, this continued until the 43rd minute, when the Serbs scored. The Faroese played AMAZINGLY well and nearly scored a fair few times.
9. At half-time the heroes from the day before (the U-21 team) were brought on to the pitch and given a massive cheer by the crowd.
10. I’m guessing the construction workers working next to the pitch weren’t particularly productive during the game. Hopefully their bosses won’t read this.
11. The game finished: Faroe Islands 0 – 2 Serbia. That’s actually pretty impressive, although the Faroese played so well in the first half that a goal would have been nice (and well-deserved)...

*This guy played really, really well. I turned to my friend and told her how impressed I was. ‘His dad and my dad are cousins,’ she replied. Where else could that happen?