Maggie Bandur, just moved here to New York to work on a new TV show, and Manhattan couldn't be luckier to have her.

In cleaning out papers today I found an updated guide of W.H. Auden's "Letters From Iceland" she wrote based on her trip there last year.

Here's my favorite note.

Language

Icelandic is the language of the Vikings. There are no dialects, and it hasn't changed in centuries; there is no "Old Icelandic." This is due to the isolation of the island, the few residents and the fact that tribes would all meet once a year at Thingvellir. I tried to piece together the pronunciation of words, but the language when spoken is beautiful and sonorous and so much more nuanced than what I could work out. I think a woman told me I was a good dancer, but a bartender named David, who grew up in Alaska, said going up to tourists, smiling cheerfully, and telling them to fuck off in Icelandic is a popular teenage activity. Everyone does speak English remarkably well.