I’ve only been in Iceland since February 15th. It’s been just about two weeks since I’ve been here, yet it feels like a lifetime. I’ve met some really great people on my program, and we have already had so many adventures together! Right when we got off of the plane, we relaxed in the Blue Lagoon, and then had our orientation. Classes on this program are non traditional, and so we’ve had some guest lecturers at the University of Iceland. These lecturers have ranged from professors at the university to experts in their field, with one being a climate modeler who finds out what the weather forecast is every day! In addition to these lectures, we’ve also had some hands on experiences. We got to see the effect that climate change has had on one of the biggest glaciers, and is was awe striking to see it in person by being able to walk on top of it and actually understand how much it has melted in just the past 10 years. On our off days, me and my new friends explored Reykjavik, and tried our hand at the public transportation. We went on a hike to the “hot river”, which is a geothermal river that is really warm and you can get into. The views from the hike were absolutely incredible, and I’m very excited to be able to explore more of Iceland after our trip to Finland.
Today we landed in Finland to start the next leg of our journey — to study and meet with professionals here and actually be within the Arctic Circle! Already we have started using public transportation, which is great here as you can take it anywhere at any time.
While I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect on this program when I started, I am very happy to say that I am enjoying it a lot. One of the best parts about studying abroad is actually having the time to explore the different cities that I will be in, and I’m glad to say that this program has been very accommodating in letting us do that but also being academically challenging, and adding enough experiential components to supplement the material we are learning about.