By eevenden
Halló! Velkomin á bloggið mitt frá Íslandi! (Welcome to my blog from Iceland!) This semester I am taking a break from the hustle and bustle of D.C. to study abroad at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik. As a part of a scholarship I am receiving from my university, I will be keeping a blog for the time I am here. I have already been in Reykjavik for nearly five week, so I have a lot to talk about! For this specific blog post, I will focus on general impressions and what it has been like to be an American in Iceland so far! Let’s dive right in!
First, some background information.
For those of you who may not know me well or who may not be up-to-date on what I’ve been doing recently, let me set the stage a little.
Currently, I am a third-year undergraduate student at the George Washington University studying Environmental Studies and Geographic Information Systems. My interest in the environment and sustainability is what lead me to apply to the University of Iceland, the country's largest public university. Though actually I do not study rocks that much at my home university, here I am a student under the Geology faculty. It’s amusing to be an “environmental” student here since the Environmental/Geography/Geology faculties at my home university probably consist of less than 100 undergrads combined (of 12,000 undergrad students total), whereas the majority of the exchange students here study some environmental disciplines back home! I've never met so many people who want to talk about rocks and mapping software!
The classes I am taking here are Volcanology, Glacial Geology, Sustainable Energy Options, and “Icelandic Cultural and Natural Legacy,” (all of which are in English). Obviously the last one is geared towards exchange students, but I would argue my other classes (specifically Volcanology and Glacial Geology) have a high percentage of Icelandic students, perhaps even a majority in some of them.
Studying geology meant I knew a lot of people from the orientation days when starting my classes. However, another factor which has helped me settle in here is my family’s Nordic heritage (combined with an inherently American ability to make lots of conversation with strangers).
My mom is from Finland, and I grew up listening to and speaking Finnish as well as travelling to Northern Europe a lot. Though speaking Finnish does not help me understand Icelandic at all, being Finnish-American has definitely provided an ice-breaker both with Icelandic students and with the other exchange students here. The majority of the exchange students are from Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark), while there are only three students from the U.S. Additionally – on a logistical side – traveling here on a Finnish passport (I don’t have a U.S. passport) has allowed me to get around a lot of immigration and university bureaucracy that the American and Canadian students have struggled with.
In an amusing case of cross-cultural irony, the University of Iceland is the only place where my peers have joked that I talk a lot. I’m sure my friends from school would find that particularly amusing since I am definitely known for being rather introverted. That being said, since there is a very social atmosphere here as an exchange student, I would say on an absolute scale I definitely talk and go out more than I normally do at school.
Challenges
Here is a short list of challenges I have noticed being an exchange student in Iceland:
- Cost of living: It is very expensive to live here including high rent and the high cost of food.
- Language barrier: I would really like to get-to-know more Icelandic students here but find the language barrier makes that difficult. Like in much of Europe, the Icelandic students all speak English, but casual conversation is in Icelandic. Because of this, it can be difficult to join conversations casually, and there is a slight sense of guilt when the conversation must be in English.
- To be a tourist, or not to be: Iceland has seen an enormous influx of tourism over the last ten years. The population of Iceland is about 300,000, but over 2 million tourists visit the country each year. Because of this, there is a housing shortage in the capital (since many spare rooms and apartments are rented out to tourists and exchanges students). From what I understand, there is significant tension in Iceland over tourism and globalization, so it is weird to straddle that line of tourist and city-resident since I can relate to some of the problems but also contribute to them.
Triumphs
Here is a short list of the things I have enjoyed as an exchange student so far:
- Better work-life balance: Believe it or not, I have actually been to nearly all my lectures since I have been here (though I’ll admit I skipped my 8am lecture last Wednesday). So even though I am going to class, and doing the work for them, it is significantly less homework than what I normally have at GW. That’s not to say the material is easy or that I am not learning, merely that I can do more things outside of the university.
- Day-trips!: Here is Iceland, the minimum age to rent a car is 20 which means it has been relatively easy to get out of the city and explore. The last two weekends, I have gone with some friends on excursions outside of Reykjavik to explore some of Iceland’s beautiful scenery. Splitting the cost between five people makes it decently priced as well (maybe $30-40 a person including gas and tolls/parking for the day). I was one of the drivers last weekend, and it was surprisingly okay since I am used to driving in snow, being from Pennsylvania.
- Exercise: I have been fairly stubborn because I haven’t bought a bus pass while here. For a 6-month pass, it’s approximately $260 which I don’t feel like paying. However, I live approximately 40 minutes walking from the university and 15-20 minutess walking form the city center -- needless to say, I have been walking a lot. Though sometimes it can be annoying (specifically when I have an 8am class), it is not that bad and I enjoy being outside. In addition, I have also joined the student gym and have been going to kettlebell and yoga classes or have been running or rowing multiple times a week. It feels really good to be active since I don’t feel like I have enough time or energy at GW to work out as much as I do here.
That's all for this week, folks! I will be posting blogs every weekend, so check back next Sunday for more updates about life in Iceland!
- Emily