Ég er ekki í sama (I don't ACTUALLY care)

Hello everyone,

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a very prestigious event, a gathering at the US embassy here in Iceland. I should be more specific: to drinks and crudités at the ambassador's home. I will declare presently that this is a rather inflammatory post. But only insomuch that I'm not prone to bullshit when it comes to supposedly important experiences.

Now. The ambassador's home is absolutely gorgeous. Ignoring the fact that it is adjacent to the embassy. A 30 second hike to work might seem claustrophobic after awhile. But I digress. The house has a beautiful solarium, old furniture and a collection of rarities that the Ambassador and his wife have spent a lifetime collecting in their journey's across the world.

This event was for Fulbrighters, i.e. a celebration of our accomplishments and a way for people to know us by face. That said, I have never felt more marginalised or uncomfortable at a function in my entire life. Without going into actual detail, I will say that the folks at this function were generally friendly. The ambassador and his wife in particular were very gracious hosts, and the Madame of the home seemed earnest and genuinely interested in what I had to say, and I likewise. Unfortunately, instead of allowing our conversation to mature and wander off in interesting directions, she had to mingle.

Fucking mingling.

Pardon the vulgarity, but I hate this. I hate the idea of having to talk to every person in a room about something superficial for two minutes, especially when you have just engaged someone in what will be a fruitful conversation. As a diplomat, I understand that this is part of the job description, and I presume that they become very good at it. But it pains me to have a conversation about latino art or Icelandic literature cut short for a reason I find superficial.

In regard to the title of this post, most people here did not seem to actually care. Numerous times I was asked about my work. Now, I am a scientist. And a Juniatian. From day one, we were taught that a good scientist can explain his work to a non-specialist in two minutes or less, in an interesting and pithy way. So needless to say, I am good at explaining what I do in a short and interesting timespan. But nobody cared. I would get asked some vague question about how my project was going or what I was working on, and 30 seconds later their eyes would be scanning around for an escape route.

I hate this sort of flippancy because when I express interest it is genuine. And for an event supposedly about the Fulbright programme, its director and its fellows, no one seemed to actually care what I did. Perhaps I was the only one who experienced this, or perhaps I am being overharsh. But I'm not a mingler . It's interesting to be a prisoner at your own event. Now I know how that bleary eyed pubescent girl from "It's my party" felt, except that I would never have the hots for a man named "Johnny" and I don't actually wear mascara.

All in all, I will say it was a good experience for me, but it was not at all what I expected. I still wish I had learned more about the lives of the Ambassador and his wife, because if their art collection says anything, they are quite interesting.

-Nicolás

Addendum:

Mark also attended this event with me, and most of the other Fulbrighters had a plus one as well. He seems to have enjoyed the event, but I thoroughly did not. I didn't mention it before because I didn't want to drag him through the mud as it were.