Ég elska þig, Ísland.
Now that I am settled in at my parent’s humble apartment in
Germany, I thought I would reflect a little bit on my trip to Iceland. I have
been thinking a little bit about the country every day, trying to decide how I could
possibly describe my feelings about it…so here it goes.
This past march, during spring break, I visited Iceland for
the first time during its dark time of year. I arrived to the country at around
7am and found out that I could not check into my hostel (The Backpackers
Hostel) until 2pm. Thus, I dropped my bags off and walked around the whole city
for about six hours in a breezy, cold snow storm without the right foot attire
and a light jacket. What I found was that, for being such a cold, rainy and
snowy country, Iceland’s culture is warm and vibrant. Although, my first
experience of Iceland was very short (one day) and…cold…(including the part
where I forgot to pay for a hostel blanket and had no hair dryer) I knew I needed to return.
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| View from Hallgrímskirkja, Iceland's largest church, located in Reykjavik. This was just before the giant snow storm. |
Since Icelandair now offers cheap tickets to Europe, with no stopover cost for up to 7 nights, my dad and I figured it would be a good opportunity
to go back again and explore some more. I had been aching to see Iceland’s
beautiful landscapes since I watched Sigur Rós’s “Heima” back in high school,
and after having seen some incredible sights, all I want to do is go back again
and again to backpack around the whole country. “Heima” is particularly
touching, because the film glimpses into various parts of the country through large
open air concerts, and small, intimate concerts at places such as the Ólafsvík
fishing port. The band experiments with acoustics by playing in open fields and
small, confined caves. On this trip I could not help but think about all of my Icelandic
musical influences, some including, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Mugison, Apparat Organ
Quartet, Múm, Seabear, Ólafur Arnalds, Sigur Rós, and now Marketa Irglova (Czech
born) who interestingly migrated to Iceland. I recommend listening to any of
these artists for inspiration, if needed. They do indeed, musically describe
the sights of Iceland in ways that words cannot explain. I’m not sure if this
is intended, but it sure seems like it.
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| Along the Mid-Atlantic Range. Quite Romantic, if I do say so, myself. |
In the summer, as my dad and I experienced, the streets of Reykjavik
are full of stylish locals with hand knitted sweaters, scarves and gloves, cloaks,
large colorful glasses and weather friendly shoes. The city wakes up late and goes to bed late as it is basically always light out. Café’s and stores are
rustically decorated with whatever the owners had hanging around; be it
antiques, and mismatched seating or Ikea furniture. There is just an all-around
essence of creativeness, but also simplicity.
The population of Iceland (both animals and people) is incredibly
small when considering the expansiveness of their landscapes and “life” of their
environment. The whole country only inhabits 325,671 people, with one third of
them being located in the city’s capital, Reykjavik. The “Icelanders” struggle
to find jobs that pay well enough to support their expensive rent, prices and
taxes, however, the people of the country seem to be happy and value the
smaller (or more important) things in life.
In Reykjavik, the small streets of houses are adorned with
art, admired possessions in windows, happy cats in grassy (often un-mowed) yards,
marvelous graffiti, gnomes and most importantly happy children running around. The
weather doesn't seem to faze anyone or deter them from being outside. If it’s
sunny (which it strangely was the entire time we were there) they play outside, if
it’s rainy, they play outside with rain gear. Another positive side to Iceland
is its environmental friendliness and awareness. The country uses hydro and geothermal
energy and burns very few fossil fuels, which is something that I think was
noticeable from the fresh air. The people are very supportive and educated on
their environment. Most of the homes, buildings, museums, you name it, are
heated with strongly abundant geothermal water. (Including the home we stayed
in.) They also use the geothermal water to create moderately priced and commonly
used spas.There are 7 thermal pools
alone in Reykjavik, clearly being a popular destination for locals. My dad and
I went to two of them, Laugardalslaug and Nautholl. Both pools came complete
with changing rooms, lockers, showers (which you must take naked…an American
taboo ;) ) steam rooms, and hot pots, or tubs that are organized in rows based
on temperature. Nautholl, however, is humorously considered to be “Iceland meeting the Mediterranean.”
It is a man-made spa just along the Atlantic, with a beach full of yellow sand
and a warm tub to give the illusion that the day is also warm. No wander Icelanders
are happy. They have an excellent sense of humor, and if they are missing
something in their lives, they innovatively create it, while still being
environmentally conscious.
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| A geothermal power plant produces steam in the distance. |
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| An Icelandic kitty enjoying the unusual sun. |
On the third day of our stay, my dad and I took the “golden
circle tour” on a small bus that left midday on an eight hour journey to some
beautiful naturally occurring sights. This included geysers, the Mid- Atlantic range,
Gollfoss waterfall, craters, landscapes shaped by volcano's and the general
beauty of wild sheep, small Icelandic villages and homes. Interestingly, there
are more sheep in Iceland than there are people, and it is obviously a huge
part of their diet. ;) My dad and I were
particularly surprised by how green the moss and grass was in Iceland, perhaps it was just in contrast to the grim mist.
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| Gollfoss with a beautiful, double rainbow. |
Another piece of the Icelandic diet is somewhat controversial
and hopefully will perish… that is puffin, whale and shark. As interesting as
these “delicacies” sound, I decided not to support eating any of the nearly
endangered species. I hope this will change soon; however, it’s difficult to remove
deeply rooted culinary from a culture.
Anyway, I’ll try not to bore you to death with more reasons
why I think Iceland is ideal. If it weren't for the exchange rate, I think I
could very comfortably live there in peace…among the elves, sentiment inspired
by Vikings, warm drinks and pools, oversupply of friendly cats, brilliant green moss and stylish people. Regardless,
I know I will go back again to admire how nice and informative the people are
and how gorgeous and seemingly untouched the country is. As Indian Novelist,
Anita Desai has said ““Wherever you
go becomes a part of you somehow,” I believe that Iceland was a part of me
before I went there, and now it is an even bigger part. I also think we can all
learn a lot from Icelanders. Even in a place that is cold, has suffered
financial crises, experiences disastrous volcanoes and is dark the majority of
the year, the people find happiness in simple ways that many cultures seem to
overlook. I learned from this trip that the positivity of a human being can
shine through any darkness…but the positivity of many human beings can turn
that darkness into light.
If you would like
to read more about Iceland, I support this article by The Atlantic.
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