One thing you need to know about Reykjavik, the bar scene is ridiculously fun. You would think for being such a small downtown area the nightlife would be sub par. Let me tell you, it is anything but. Probably one of the craziest nightlife scenes I have experienced, it is a sight to be seen!
While I don’t frequent the downtown bars too often anymore I have had my fair share of late nights dancing downtown in the past four years and along with those nights I have had some awkward experiences. And for some reason, after a bottle glass or two of wine, I am either blabbing away in Icelandic, or super shy about it and become mute. Depending on the method I chose this has led to some interesting nights.
The awkward American in Iceland strikes again. I give you, Kaelene hits the Icelandic nightlife : The Blooper Reel
The Night I Tried To Go Mute
I don’t know why, but this one night in particular I just didn’t have it in me to tell the girls who kept making small drunken comments to me in the line for the bathroom that I didn’t speak Icelandic. This usually was totally fine since, well they were drunk, and usually they just kept talking to whoever else was around.
Until the most persistent girl ever stood behind me.
We were waiting in line for what felt like forever, and I understood the several comments the girl had made complaining about how long we were waiting for the bathroom. But I was just not really in the mood to engage in further conversation outside of saying ya or smiling and nodding, so I continued browsing on my phone. Her comments didn’t stop though, oh no, they just got louder and louder and then she decided to move right in front of me to make eye contact while she spoke.
This girl was determined to become my BFF, I mean for being drunk she was getting surprisingly upset by my short responses.
I started getting really uncomfortable and thinking how strange I probably seemed since I wasn’t talking so I said something in English to her. You would think this would be a hint that I didn’t speak Icelandic and couldn’t understand her and she would either respond to me in English or stop talking to me.
Oh no, this is not what happened.
Instead she said to me, (in Icelandic) fine I don’t want to speak to you either. I guess my English response was taken the wrong way?? Thankfully the girl in the bathroom finally came out and I rushed in!
The Night I Turned Danish
One night, at a house party where I literally only knew H and his brother, I ventured off to find the bathroom when I ran into a very very drunk guy in the hallway. I had never seen this guy before but it was clear he had a little too much of a pre-party before the party.
He caught me waiting in line with no options but to listen to him, and oh did he talk. His drunken slur was saying something about how pretty my hair was ( I understand Icelandic when they are giving me compliments) and some other things when I finally told him in Icelandic that I wasn’t Icelandic and only spoke a little Icelandic, and he walked away.
Fast forward ten minutes later and I am talking to some potentially new friends when drunk boy comes back. I turned to tell him to go away but of course he just kept talking. This time though he was speaking something that was definitely not Icelandic, I had no idea what he was saying but all I knew was that he was being very persistent in trying to hit on me.
To give you a visual of this guy imagine something like this.
Except his eyes were a bit more closed and his swaying was a bit more off balance.
After a few minutes of this awkward conversation H thankfully came to my rescue. H and the drunk guy had a short chat (where I am sure only nice words were exchanged) after which I learned that drunk guy had been speaking to me in Danish. Apparently he thought that since I said I wasn’t Icelandic I must be Danish and he was going to impress me with his Danish skills.
Danish, what, why was that your first assumption? Guess I put off a Danish vibe when I am trying to tell guys to back off.
The Night Of The Clinger
One night I had gone down to the bathroom in one of the most popular bars in Reykjavik where of course there was a massive line. While I was waiting in line I ran into a friend who was walking out and we spoke briefly in English before she left and I started to make my way into the bathroom.
As I was walking in this girl grabbed my arm, I don’t know how it happened but suddenly this girl was in my bathroom stall shrieking in excitement that I was speaking English.
She then went on to tell me she heard me speaking English and that she was from abroad too and her cousin ditched her at the bar and could she hang out with me. Umm what do you say to a girl you just met who is in your bathroom stall??
So I said okay and the rest of my night was spent with a class 5 clinger. Like seriously she didn’t leave my side, even when it was just H and I dancing you could look over your shoulder and there she was, not dancing, just standing there watching and smiling.
Finally she met a guy, or someone she knew, I dunno, but she went off with someone else. And we took our chance to leave. H likes to joke that this was the night I adopted the lost puppy and when I go to the bathroom now he tells me to come back alone ha.
The Night I Became The Coat Hanger
This actually happened this past weekend at the graduation party I was at. And yet again it happened when I went to the bathroom. I was outside in the hallway waiting for H when one girl asking me to hold her beer.
Sure, no problem.
Then the beer girl’s friends came over and one of them asked me to hold her coat. And then the other one asked me to hold her purse. And there I stood with a coat, purse, and beer, none of which was mine, and listened to these three girls have some (what seemed to be hilarious) conversation while they all applied like ten layers of lipstick.
Standing outside their little circle holding all their things I couldn’t help but laugh and think what in the heck is happening, this is ridiculous!
I tried several times to hand the girls their things back saying “umm sorry I’m leaving”. I don’t know if it was because they weren’t expecting English or there level of drunkenness but they either were ignoring me or just didn’t hear me.
It wasn’t until H came out of the bathroom and saw me standing there holding all these things (which he of course started laughing) that I finally walked in the middle of their circle and said here are your things, in English. The girls all looked at me and started saying sorry, they thought I was the beer girl’s friend or something. I think they were more embarrassed then I was annoyed so I just laughed it off.
While we walked back home that night H asked me how in the world I get myself in these situations. I honestly just don’t know, maybe I should just avoid the bathrooms when I am out downtown. Iceland just makes me awkward!
Question of the Day?
Have you had any awkward encounters recently?
