Peace in a busy world!

Sometimes moments of peace and relaxation come in strange circumstances.

This morning was quite busy, as I had to go to the bank before I could go to school and then when I had finally found a parking spot in DC (the Georgetown Law parking garage was full) I managed to swim for just over half an hour.

Now, however I have just eaten a little lunch and I am sitting in the Cafeteria at Georgetown, reading a school book, listening to Piano music on Pandora and all the commotion surrounding me suddenly seems to have no effect - Its just me, the music and the book.

I love life!

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Sometimes I wish I was in Iceland - not necessarily because I'm homesick, rather the fact that I would love to participate in the political discussion over there, especially as it relates to certain international legal issues which I believe that sadly the government doesn’t realize might help the nation move forward. Ohhh…well… I’ve been studying at home for my classes next week but I have a couple of very exciting classes then, among other in International Litigation in Arbitration and International Negotiations!

63 billion increase in taxation!

The Icelandic parliament (Althingi) met today for a new "term". And one of the first thing to do is to approve government spending and income (taxes) and in Iceland there will be considerable increase in income from taxes. The government is increasing them! So they are expecting an increase income of over 63 billion ISK just due to increased taxation. Well although this is a considerable increase in the overall income of Iceland, a comparison of this number to the situation called the "Icesave - issue" might shed a light on the problems that the government is faced with. The Icesave-issue involves the government accepting to repay a debt (which one of the Icelandic private banks essentially created abroad in UK and the Netherlands) in the amount of over 700 billion ISK (as it stands today, and over the next years it will increase because of interests).

So looking at these numbers I wonder, how can a nation that needs to burden its people by increasing taxation by 63 billion ISK just to keep the government going, manage to repay and accept a debt of 700 billion ISK and counting.

Just as an added info, the tax income of the Icelandic government AFTER it has received the extra 63 billion will be 468 billion ISK.

Well, I should maybe try to worry less about my home country and worry more about my next classes in school ;)

Busy, busy, busy!

There is a lot going on these days and little time to spare. Most days I am caught up in school work and reading and when I'm not doing school work, I am most likely found somewhere along I-95 trying to get home to be a good husband, but I am very very lucky to have a wonderful wife that supports me and helps me in my studies.

I am alive and will hopefully manage to finish a whole lot of assingments this week and get a couple of days mental break from school.

Abortion - 2 Questions

2 Questions:

Why do we spend so much time talking about abortion from a religious and ethical standpoint?

Why do we spend so much time and effort dealing with questions of abortion legitimacy in extreme cases of rape and extreme medical emergencies?

Aren't there other perspectives that if dealt with might help save more lives? Should the church maybe start looking more at the cause of abortion and deal with those issues?

Here is a little mind map I wrote on the white board I got today from Fjóla (a picture can be found on Fjóla's blog) - I later wrote it into my mindmap on the computer.

Classes beginning!

I’m in a short break and decided to write a short blog. Classes started this morning and I’m already very excited. I have a difficult decision before me, because there are so many classes I would like to take but there is only so much a person can do in one year. What I am trying to decide in particular these days is whether or not to take a class in International Business Transactions. I have never been a very much into the study of finance regulations, corporations, loans etc. but after being in class for the last couple of hours I know that this class would benefit me a lot, but then I might have to sacrifice other things, and I know that since I don’t have any background in International Business Transactions or anything relating to this, I will have to work very hard at both understanding and learning all the different concepts which are used in connection with this subject, and that will be something I will just have to do.

Last week was a fun week, especially since Ásgeir and Bára, good friends from Iceland were able to stay with us. We had a lot of fun and went to DC a couple of times and managed to do a lot. On Fjóla’s blog you can see a lot of pictures from the week.

This week will also be a lot of fun, but it will be a very busy week, since I will have a lot and I mean A LOT to do. The assignments I had for today and have for tomorrow cover more than 500 pages of reading material, and that is excluding occasional reference material and cases or judicial opinions etc.

The class is starting again – so this will be the end of today’s blog.

Flags and their meaning

I don’t know if I should like flags or dislike them but I think that there is something very special about these things that people all over salute and show respect to. Flags symbolize a lot of things and it was therefore quite a weird feeling I got when I first realized the symbol of the Icelandic flag. Of course I had always known that the flag had a cross. I had even drawn the flag numerous of times. But one day when Fjóla and I were visiting Calvary Assembly in Orlando I really noticed how apparent the cross really is if the flag turns is viewed from the right angle. At this church, Calvary Assembly, they had hung in the back of the church flags from all the places where the church had either sponsored, assisted or done missionary work in. And Iceland was one of the countries, since the church had sponsored Lindin, the Christian radio station. And there hung the Icelandic flag displaying the symbol which we associate with Jesus Christ and Christians.

And while I’m very proud to see this symbol on my nations flag, I am saddened in many ways about how far away the nation has strayed…even though the symbol has been there…obvious to everyone…but still it seems so forgotten.

When viewed from the “typical” position, seen at the top of this blog post, the cross is not what jumps out.  But when viewed like this (above) the cross is obvious, and when I saw the Icelandic flag next to all these different flags, none of which had any cross – the symbol became even more apparent.

Orientation has started!

  I started orientation at Georgetown today and all this week will be various orientation meetings, events and stuff.

Today was a lot of fun and I met with a lot of students and found out that in the LL.M. program there are students from 61 countries all around the world, from all continents (except Antarctica). I managed to slug to and from DC again and survived again. Today my ride home was a woman taking up a slug for the first time, so I kinda felt like a veteran slugger helping her  to find the HOV-3 lane out of DC from 14th street (which is actually too easy but it was fun for me since I really don’t know a lot yet about DC).

My other trips to DC last year in April and this year in March have also helped a lot since I really know my way around the Metro system which makes it a lot more worry free and easy for me to travel around DC using the Metro which I did today – and I think I managed to do this today without looking like a tourist which is always better I think :)

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One of the things this week which I am really excited about is a faculty moot court where members of the faculty will be practicing before a “fake” supreme court made up of experienced lawyers. They are practicing a case which will be heard by the real supreme court this winter. Very exciting since the subject matter is also very exciting since the case concerns the first amendment of the constitution.

Well, I’m going to eat some dinner know so, I’ll see you later!

Lack of leadership – in Iceland

I have for several years been really interested in the concept and topic of leadership. I loved to read books about leadership development and observing the many leaders around me. And all around me I see leaders, inside the home, within the family, in church, among my friends, all over…except for one place. In Iceland.

Although I have moved from Iceland I still try to follow what’s going on, and thanks to modern technology I am able to follow along with the developments on the little island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. And what I sense is a lack of leadership in the Icelandic government and parliament. It seems that the government that is running the country has no sense of the importance a strong leader can have on the future of the country nor the need of the people to know which way to go.

The nation which has so often been (a little too overly) proud of its Viking legacy, strength, courage, beauty and its surviving skills now has a government that looks on the nation with the same attitude as so many Danish kings have done before, viewing the island as a poor, no good nation that can not stand up for itself and thereby becomes an easy target of “bullies”.

In the past Iceland has numerous times stood up for itself and others and dared to speak up and take a step forward when few would have:

• Iceland had several disputes with UK during the “cod wars” but managed to stand firm on its position of fishery rights, even when faced with threats from the Royal Navy warships. The Icelandic position had tremendous influence on the future development of The Law of the Sea Convention of 1982 and today the fishery jurisdiction Iceland fought for during the cod wars is now recognized internationally.
• Iceland was the first state that dared to recognize Estonia’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
• Iceland was the first state that elected democratically a female head of state.
• Iceland managed in about 60 years or less to go from being one of the poorest countries in Europe to becoming one of the most prosperous country in the world with among the highest rate in literacy, age, overall health, happiness, GDP per capita and so on…

Yet, in spite of these and many many more achievement the government of Iceland still lacks the courage to stand up for its citizens. I hope that things will change and that a strong leader will rise up in Iceland that will help the nation go through the tough times ahead and continue to develop the potentials this small nation has…but the potentials are big…as Iceland could for example easily become completely independent of oil, become an example for other nations in the utilization of renewable energy and so on…which will all have to wait till the time is right…or maybe for the right person?

Slugging 2

I’m home…I survived my first slug trip to and from DC!!! Hurray! It took a little bit more time to find a ride from DC back to Potomac Mills, but it might also have been because I was a bit early, but I caught a ride around 3:45 and was home just after four. Fjola picked me up and drove us home.

The meeting at Georgetown went very well and I am very excited about beginning classes in less than two weeks now! I am especially excited about a few classes…actually all of them but this semestar I will among others take Foreign Relations Law, International Negotiations, Introduction to US Legal System and US Legal Discourse….very exciting!

Blog update

As you can see, my blog has gotten a new look. My beautiful and talented wife, Fjóla decided that it was time to "update" the look of my blog, and that I should have a picture on top, and also that I should add a profile picture. So here you are :) Thank you Fjóla

Also, I wanted to let you Americans know that Fjóla's blog, which is much more fun to look at than mine, can now...for a limited time only (or maybe for a long time) be read in your native tounge. But she will be writing a little bit in English every once in awhile. So I encourage everyone to look at her blog, because, as I say, she is much much much more fun to read and enjoy than my occasional blogging which tends to be uninteresting and long.

Slugging - 1st try

This morning I woke up early to get ready for my "first" semi-Georgetown experience. Today, there is a small meeting for the International Students at the University, but next week, starting Monday, a mandatory orientation week will begin and classes will follow the week after that.

Since I live in Woodbridge, over 20 miles away from my school (fjarðlægðin milli mín og skólans er sirka vegalengdin milli Keflavíkur og Reykjavíkur) and about 10 miles away from the nearest Metro station I decided that I would rely on "slugging" a unique system very well utilized in Northern Virginia/DC area. Slugging is as someone put it "organized hitchiking" meaning that you get a ride with a stranger to DC.*(see more about slugging below)

Now I am safe and sound at the University, meaning that my first slugging experience went great. Fjóla drove me to Potomac Mills mall around 7:25 where there was a slug-line which I joined. And then one car after another drove past shouting out places and one by one people went in and drove away. I had decided on taking a ride to 14th street in DC and soon enough it was my turn to jump in the car and get a ride. The drive to DC didn't take long and within 35 min I was walking the streets of DC heading to Georgetown University Law Center. All in all I think that the time which it took me to drive from my home and get my feet on DC ground took less than an hour, which is much better than I had expected at first. Great! Now its only a matter of learning how to get back ;) Which I will be doing later today.

*Why would someone pick up a stranger in his car? Well the reason is that there is a HOV-3 (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane to and from DC which you can only drive on in the mornings and in the afternoons if you have 3 or more people in your car. And your are probably at least 3 times quicker if you travel the HOV lane than if you don't take it. So Everyone wins! The driver gets to work sooner and saves gas, and the rider gets a lift to DC or back. (you can see more at http://www.slug-lines.com/)