Why the heck did I go to Iceland?

That is a question I have asked myself over the past couple of months as well. Especially because there were a lot more warmer places which I could choose to go to, such as Spain or Italy. But I choose to go to Iceland, in the winter nonetheless, which turned out to be one of the coldest winters in a few decades. Even the swimming pools closed for a week, which occurs only very rarely according to my 65-ish-year-old professor. Okay, I am digressing a bit, however, it shows how fucking cold it was. Normally it is around -5*C to 0*C, which is fine I think, but I had mostly -10*C to -5*C which was less nice. However, like the saying says, there is no such thing as bad weather just bad clothing. Luckily I had reasonably good clothing and a bus stop at 5 min walking distance to my house, which had a direct connection to the University. This made the commute to university pretty doable even in these cold conditions. The one time I really cursed the weather was when I needed to walk from one side of campus to the other in a hail/snow/rain storm and I entered the classroom and the lecturer said “And how do you like the Icelandic weather?” me and my friend could not really laugh at that time but afterward it was really funny.

Still, as many people have asked me, why did I choose Iceland, and not a country closer by that does not lie in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? This is a question that I weirdly could never really answer when people asked me. I always knew the country was beautiful but I never really had the urge to go there beforehand and, other than a few basics (like that it is cold, wet, and green), did not know much about the country. Maybe I wanted to go there because it was something different than the “basic” (I want to note that living and studying in another country for a few months is never basic) southern European choices that were also possible. And I like being different, I think, since I have always been a bit different than my peers which I liked+. So maybe this was subconsciously in my mind when making the decision. Of course, the fact that Iceland is using geothermal for most of its electricity production and heating also pulled me towards that country as an Innovation Science student. Additionally, courses focussing on environmentalism and sustainability were also plentiful. I think my rational brain used these reasons to rationalize my decision. Looking back at it I am very glad that I decided to go to Iceland, it is such a beautiful country and I really want to go back someday.

Okay so the choice was made and all the tedious things were done like packing and making sure I was accepted at the University of Iceland. So on the second of January, I arrived. My roommate was so sweet to buy some groceries for me since I arrived reasonably late at night and the grocery stores open at 9 or 10 in the morning. Luckily the first few days were not super cold, but that quickly changed, unfortunately. However, the Icelanders have found a way to make the cold more bearable, namely by using geothermal heat to heat outdoor swimming pools. And they use these swimming pools, especially the hot pods, to just chat and catch up with friends, while there also often is a pool to swim laps (which I never used). These hot pots have a temperature range of 38 to 40 degrees Celsius. And for Icelandic prices, these pools are pretty cheap, especially when there has been made a mistake and your 10 times card does not work and you get 7 extra tickets for free, my Dutch heart was filled with pride when this happened. Every other week I would go there with either my roommate, a friend, or with my mentor group and it was so nice! That will be one thing I will really miss in the Netherlands.

Another thing I will miss is the vastness of the country, once you are outside of Reykjavik you are in the middle of fucking nowhere. This is something that I, as a born Dutchie, have never experienced, everything I am used to seeing is man-made, even most of the nature. But real untouched nature is much more impressive and beautiful. Additionally the mountains (although I heard the Swiss exchange students did not call them mountains, but me being a dutchie will call a hill a mountain) present were so beautiful to see and I really fell in love with them. Underneath the article are a few pictures of the nature in Iceland because a picture says more than a thousand words. The fact that it also now does not get dark anymore is also sooo nice (and kinda worth the darkness).

So, all in all, I think I maybe fell in love with Iceland and now can definitely say that I went to Iceland for its nature.