Go north, young man

A solitary Chicagoan of the avian variety faces the cold blue east and takes stock of his life. I was sitting behind him on a bench on my last day in Chicago doing the same.



This is not a snowy yard. This is the interior of Iceland, as seen on our flight from Reykjavik to Akureyri. They don't call it the Land of Ice for nothing.



Go north, young man, the statue in our neighborhood seems to say, as the mountain agrees in silence. It feels very good to be here. I don't feel ecstasy, or wild excitement as if on vacation, but it feels good and right to be here. I feel like a Northern European (which I am), among Northern Europeans (which I am). Everything I've seen in our neighborhood seems to fit ... the traffic lights warn you before they turn green, and not just before they turn yellow. We can walk to a grocery store, an internet service provider, a church, a coffee shop, a used bookstore, the university, and a little path through the woods, all very easily from our apartment. Everything we need it within reach. There is a police station near by, but it seems quiet and empty, and I haven't heard a siren yet. When it looks like you are about to cross the street, cars stop for you. People are friendly, but not gregarious. People are quiet, but not withdrawn. The kids look happy and healthy; the outdoor cats look fat and fuzzy and playful. There isn't a single piece of trash on the ground anywhere. The houses are small; they are cozy, the right size. There are no beggars, no homeless. The high school kids working at the grocery store are friendly and kind. In sum, it seems like this is a place designed for humans, a place where you don't have to fight an existential fight against the urban environment ... or maybe you have to fight against the dark (the sun gets up all the way now by 10 and sets all the way by 5) and the cold (though it feels a lot better than Chicago), but these are natural elements - things that we secretly love the struggle against. I think this will be a good place to work with few needless distractions.
Love,
Graham