Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Under a cloud of ash...no, really...

Have you ever wondered what would happen if a volcano in Iceland erupted for the first time 200 years?

If you have ever taken a few moments to ponder this question, you would probably think 'what a bummer for those icelandic folk!' or 'hopefully the surrounding villages are unscathed' without giving a second thought to the state of far, far away continental Europe.

I mean, really, what would ash from an Icelandic volcano have to do with Luxembourg?

As it turns out, it has a lot to do with Luxembourg.


In fact, it has a lot to do with all of Europe. Specifically people wanting to travel to or from the continent. Flights have been canceled, people resorting to all kinds of creative methods to get to where they need to. There are crazy stories of people hiring out taxis to drive them from Oslo, Norway to Brussels, Belgium, trains, ferries, and buses are filled to capacity as all the European airspace remains closed.

Luckily, my plans to leave Luxembourg aren't until mid-May (I'm even worried about that!), but students from the program are stranded in Barcelona, Dublin and Oslo as each newly booked flight gets canceled and pushed back. Tonight we found out that the first flights are starting up on Friday...for now. There's a chance those will get canceled too.

And apparently the last time this volcano decided to awaken and rear it's ugly head, it spewed ash for two years. Two whole years. I am finding myself pleading to this lava mountain 'please, please, please keep it together!'

Interestingly enough, this has been one of the nicest weeks of the semester in Luxembourg. Who would even know above that clear blue sky, ash is wreaking havoc on the atmosphere?

2 comments:

Lux Lady... said...

Nice blog. I have been delaying purchasing my flight because of that whole two-year thing! By the way, I was surprised to see a plane flying over Luxembourg around lunchtime yesterday, maybe they’re starting to fly some of the planes again?

Carrie Engelbrecht said...

Looking forward to seeing you in May! The volcano will keep it together!!