Dining with the locals - aka - the night I had a sheep's head for dinner

Yes, literally, a sheep's head!

So I did go to the student party on Saturday night, and I am happy I did. I went as saxifraga, the person, rather than Dr. saxifraga, the professor, and it worked. I had lots of fun. I talked to some of the students I rarely socialise with and they are pretty cool people too. I took part in an awesome jam session on imaginary instruments and practiced climbing and walking on a line (yes, this is a place like nowhere else). I did, surprisingly enough, not do anything stupid or anything I would be embarrassed about next time we have class and I did have a good time.

The real reason for the party was the sheep's heads being served for dinner. People in this part of the world tend to have some rather bizarre ideas about what is eatable and what's not. A major event during the fall season are these "eat a sheep's head" parties. I will spare you the details (anyone interested can look up "smalahove"). As the guy sitting next to me during dinner said "it somehow feels wrong to eat someone else's head". I agree. Anyway the heads are being served with major quantities of alcohol and in dim light (all good). I have never been to a dinner party where so many people were taking pictures of their own plates. Most of us had never tried this before, and there was a lot of shuffling food around the plate, pretending to eat, going on. Same here, but the meat was actually tastier than expected. I think I should have a special stamp in my passport, identifying me as an approved citizen of the country, after doing this.