The opportunity to study abroad in Iceland has been an amazing experience that I highly recommend to anyone interested in traveling. The insights, experiences, and opportunities are immense. That being said, in going to any new country, you have to expect to encounter some confusion or additional cultural shocks. Some things that shocked me while in Iceland was the normalization of cussing, the transportation system, school life, and the christmas traditions.
As stated, cussing was considered normal, so kids would use it with their parents in stores, which surprised me at first because it’s not something you generally see in the United States. Upon seeing it frequently, I talked to my host family about it and they stated it’s not considered anything bad. Iceland ages relatively slowly to cultural shifts compared to the US and other countries due to its isolation, since it’s an island. They also have a heavy reliance on public transportation in Reykjavik and Akureyri, however, are reliant on their own vehicles in other areas since it’s more rural. I had to use public transit while I was working on my independent study in Reykjavik. I’ve never really used public transport before, so it was a very different experience and was somewhat stressful when I was in a time crunch. Our host family had two kids and while there we got to witness the kids going to school, along with their friends. Talking with them we found that they got to choose the subjects they were most interested in studying like piano, woodwork, and other things. They also have flexible classes so they can skip without issues or refuse homework in lower grades that do not impact their final score. This was VERY surprising and I absolutely loved the idea, especially since the learning style is so different than here in the US. The final thing that really surprised me but I absolutely loved was the Christmas traditions. Christmas is a huge tradition in the Scandinavian and Nordic countries. The celebrations last a full month, they have a dedicated week cleaning the house and decorating everything. There were so many lights and began telling stories about the 13 Yule Lads in the younger grades. In celebrating Christmas, this was a lot larger than anything I expected and was used to. Generally they also have major festivals, concerts and skate rinks set up. However, COVID-19 halted most developments of the standard holiday sharing.
I absolutely loved Iceland and would go back in a heart-beat. I found that I struggled a bit in trying to get used to the changing weather conditions (shorter daylight time and the cold weather conditions). I also found that I had to use a happy lamp a few times, especially doing my independent study when I was separated from most of the group and we had blizzard conditions. Overall, I felt fully welcomed by my host family and the neighborhood community. We saw amazing sights, deviated from the standard schedule some days, tried tons of new foods, went to common Icelandic events, and was able to make a ton of new friends. I got to do many things I would never have the opportunity to do before.
I feel that someone from my host culture would be happy to hear my positive experiences and can relate to how bleak it can be when the sun doesn’t come out nearly as frequently. Though most are very happy where they are, they can face depression and additional issues from not seeing the sun or doing additional activities. I feel that they would also find it funny how difficult the transportation was for me.
These reflections will help me to prepare for additional cultural shocks when traveling in the future by considering their values, behaviors and attitudes beforehand, along with my own. Understanding your own assumptions beforehand can greatly help in better understanding how others will react too. I believe these will also help me better understand how people can feel when they are studying in the US from another area. I’m excited to see a lot more and experience even more cultures!