Puddle Jumping in Iceland

Iceland has been described by many as another planet. Not only the scenery looks like a lunar landscape. I landed in Keflavik with 2 hours to spare before my next flight in Reykjavik. I approached the Immigration window knowing this would be my last time for that joy for at least a couple months. As I approached the window, I immediately realized I had picked the wrong window. The guy who was checking passports on that side was obviously a bit grumpy and was taking much longer than the lady in the other window. He asked me which country I had come in from, luckily I remembered this time, then he asked me how long I would be in Iceland. I suppose no immigration officer likes to here someone say they would be in the country for a year, so he was probably justified, but when you're worried about catching a flight in another city, it's a bit nerve wracking. He asked me if I had my residence permit, but they don't give those to you until after you arrive and have had a medical exam, so I said as much and told him that I should be in the system (as I silently prayed that I was), then I asked him if he wanted to see my approval letter from the University instead. He then told me to go wait in the chairs beside the line. At least it wasn't the detaining room, I guess. So I waited anxiously for the line to finish and for him to go look up my residence permit. It took about 45 minutes for the line to go down and for him to go check that I was in the system, but he came out and waved me back over to the counter saying that I was right, I was in the system. No kidding. Great. So now I really had to hurry if I was going to catch the bus to Reykjavik. I grabbed my luggage, bought my bus ticket and barely jumped on board before it left. The ride was beautiful. I looked out at the Martian landscape and found it very easy to understand how Icelanders believe that there are fairys and trolls hiding amongst the lava columns and ancient moss covered basalt flows. Even though I only had a half hour before my flight, by the time I made it to Reykjavik airport, I apparently had plenty of time! There was one window with the name of the town the current flight was going to, and 3 gates. No security. You were supposed to wait until 30 minutes before the flight before you were allowed to check in, then 15 minutes before the flight left, you were told which gate to go to. So I boarded my flight, wondering what my new home would be like.