Í Ikea (In Ikea)

Mjög goðan daginn,

The other day I finally buckled down and decided I needed to get a few essential items for my room. A carpet, some hangers and maybe some candles or other knick-knacks. Apparently the only place in Iceland to get all these items at reasonable prices is Ikea. So I hopped on a bus to a southern suburb of Reykjavík, changed buses to go west and finally arrived at Ikea 50 minutes later.

If you've seen one, you've seen them all. Now, I am not particularly fond of malls and I am not particularly fond of McDonalidised institutions. Ikea is a hideous fusion of both. You enter a windowless labyrinthine complex with an arrow guiding you through every department in the store. I had to walk past baby cradles and sofas to find my few items. And the candles... I waded for what seemed like hours through knives and cutlery and fake flowers to find them.

However, I did manage to get what I need for reasonable prices. A dozen wooden hangers, a nice area rug, and a couple hundred tealights and glass holders for less than 7.000 ISK. Fantastic. I also got some tasty íss (Ice cream) dipped in chocolate for cheap as chips. The real adventure started on the bus ride home--all the cool kids bring their rugs with them.

-Nicolás