Belonging

IT’S MY LAST WEEK OF CLASS!!!  Technically, I am not done with my diploma program until I finish my last exam on May 9^th, but this is my last week of sitting in classes.  It feels like eight months in Iceland has flown by so quickly!  My life has changed in so many ways. I feel both like a completely new person and also more like my old self.

When I moved here (with Covid) in August, I knew two people.  I navigated immigration, furnishing an empty studio apartment, the bus system, a new university, a new city, and a new language all on my own.  I had days where I felt incredibly lonely and frustrated by all the new-ness and challenges of life in a foreign country.  I got frustrated by not having a car, the price of EVERYTHING, and the lack of my comfort foods.  But I showed up to class everyday determined to treat this year as an adventure.  I (mostly) laughed at how difficult it is to learn Icelandic (why are there so many secret sounds???) and made friends in my classes.  I joined groups and met strangers for activities and put myself out there.  I tried new things, new traditions, new ways of doing things, and new food (even some fish!).

In the last few weeks, I have felt like I am building a home and community here.  I have an amazing group of friends.  Not just the friends that you grab a drink with on a Friday night, but the friends who say “I will be your emergency contact and you can call me any day or time and I will be there for you.”  Friends who take time out of their schedule to drive you to Costco or IKEA just because they know how frustrating it can be to be carless in the city.  Friends who introduce you to their social circle so that you know more people and feel welcome. 

On Friday night a new friend and I went to see a standup comedy show.  We ran into a bunch of friends from my classes, all my instructors, and someone she knew from her language program more than 10 years ago!  All the comedians were immigrants to Iceland, and the show was called “Belonging”, which felt so appropriate for me when I understood both the jokes about life in Iceland AND the Icelandic language.  I laughed so much that night my cheeks hurt, and I came home (at 1 am!) feeling like I am where I am meant to be. 

My life in Iceland isn’t a perfect Utopia.  Shockingly, I am NOT fluent in Icelandic yet but it’s getting better each week.  I still have bad days and bad moods, and worry and complain about some of the same things I did when I lived in the US.  But overall, I am happy here.  I wake up every day grateful to live in Iceland.  I am calmer and less anxious than I have been in….decades??!  I am excited for the next part of my adventure and hope to have more to share about that soon.  It turns out I am worse at blogging than I am at social media, so thank you to everyone who has reaching out to me this year to ask me how I am doing.  The short answer (to this very long ramble) is, I am doing great!

Skál to a great eight months!

Krista

(The photo is from a hiking trip with friends to the volcanic area in Grindavík just days before the volcano erupted!)