How Did I Get Here?

Ahh, the age old existential question!

I can't help solve any mysteries of the universe, but I can tell you how I got here, in Iceland.

For years I have talked about living in one of the Nordic countries, and after my first visit in 2021, I felt like Iceland was the place for me. On that initial trip, and also when I returned in 2023, I had this overwhelming sense of "this is where I am meant to be."  Yes, I loved exploring the Golden Circle, Snæfellsnes, and the south of Iceland - but I could also fully imagine my life in Reykjavík.  I could picture my little apartment (furnished from IKEA, naturally) in the city center, having a local favorite coffee shop, picking up pastries from Brauð & Co. as a treat, walking along the harbor, and taking the bus to navigate the city.  Just normal day to day activities.  This idea became all consuming.  I spent hours each day researching Iceland, looking at Icelandic instagram accounts, following an Icelandic group on Reddit.  I talked about Iceland non-stop (and I am sure annoyed everyone I am close to!) and started telling people that I wanted to move there.

And then it started to become a real thing, a tangible goal to work towards.  In the past, the biggest things that were preventing me from actually moving out of the US was the financial and work side of things, and Lola.  In the fall of 2022, my heart dog and love of my life, Lola, passed away just a few months shy of 15.  She lived a long and happy life, and I am so grateful that I was able to spend the last few years of her life working from home so that I had all that extra time with her.  Losing her devastated me, and I am still not over it (I am sitting here crying even now, as I type this) - but I would never have left her behind and wouldn't have been able to her with me.  Her passing nearly destroyed me, but it allowed me to move on, in more ways than one.

The financial part of moving to another country was a challenge - I knew it would be unlikely I would be able to work or earn enough to support myself in Iceland, so I really focused on growing my own business.  Over the last few years, I have worked to increase my online retail sales, attend more in person festivals and events, and grow the wholesale side of my shop.  As of today, Scandinavian Design Studio items have sold to almost 150 shops, cafes, and museums around the US and Canada!  Finding such a supportive community is such an incredibly amazing feeling!  I can't even begin to tell you what it feels like when someone sends me a message or a photo to tell me they saw my sticker on a car window, or a person wearing a t-shirt I made.  I love seeing orders from names I recognize, even if I have never met you in person.  If you are reading this, please know that your support means the world to me, and I wouldn't have made it here without you!  I am also beyond grateful for my friend Hannah, who is running the day to day shipping and wholesale operations for me, so that I can be out here living my dream.

But how did I actually get here?  How can I, as an American, live in Iceland?  I don't have a secret Icelandic parent that gave me an Icelandic passport at birth, I am not married to an Icelandic citizen, and I was not hired by an Icelandic company that could sponsor my visa.  All these long term residency options were closed, but the one open door for me, was to enroll at a university and apply for a student visa.  So, that's the route I took, and honestly, it was mostly straight forward with just a few hoops to jump through.  

I learned that the fees to attend the University of Iceland are around $550 a year - even for an American/international student!  I pay no other fees unless I want a student ID card that opens building doors late at night (I don't).  My textbooks and other materials are all available for free online, and can be downloaded, or I can purchase them - so far I have spent less than $100 on books, and only because I wanted to highlight in them and make notes.  What a contrast to my undergraduate and graduate degree costs!  I enrolled in a diploma program to learn Icelandic as a Second Language - there were no prior language requirements, and I only had to show proof I had graduated from high school.  The diploma program is only one year, but I am already looking into my options to continue to study here - either as an extension of this program or another program with the University of Iceland. 

Applying to the program was easy - it was all online, and I was even able to send digital copies of my undergraduate transcripts directly to the University.  After I received my acceptance letter from the university, I was able to apply for my student visa through immigration, and get my name on the waitlist for student housing.  Dealing with immigration and student housing wasn't always the most fun and added several layers of frustration.  For immigration I had to submit documentation to prove that I was in fact going to be a student, did not have a criminal past (thanks FBI for verifying that!), could support myself financially for the entire year, and that I was covered by an insurance program accepted in Iceland for the first 6 months of my visa before I able to use Icelandic health insurance.  After a bit of back and forth with immigration, and resubmitting some of the required information, my residency was granted and I was able to get my photo taken at the immigration outside of Reykjavík and get my kennitala.  The kennitala is the Icelandic social security number, and is needed for EVERYTHING - cell phone, banking, university registration, ordering online from IKEA...seriously, everything.

Student housing was an easy application online, however there is limited housing and a waitlist, so I didn't actually find out I had an apartment until about two weeks before I left, and I wasn't able to move in until two weeks after I got there.  But now I have a lovely studio apartment in the city center right across from a bus stop with several routes that take me to school.  My apartment was unfurnished, so I had to start from scratch and buy EVERYTHING, which was expensive and a pain, but I am happy with it now.  Living in student housing also means my rent is significantly lower than anything I could have found on my own, but the trade off is being surrounded by 20 something olds that party well into the early morning hours on the weekends.  One interesting difference about life in Iceland is that bills just show up in my bank account when they are available to be paid (thanks to the kennitala) - so when it is time to pay rent, my bill just shows up in my account and all I have to do is click a button to pay when I am ready.  It's a pretty cool system and saves you time from connecting accounts to your bank for online bill pay, or having to pay on different websites.  I can also transfer money to anyone else in Iceland this way, which is helpful when splitting meals with friends or buying something from someone of Facebook marketplace.  In the nearly two months I have been here, I have handled cash exactly 0 times.

So, that's pretty much it.  Lots of researching and leg work to make it happen, but not that difficult overall.  Everyday I have a moment where I realize that I am truly living my dream life in Iceland!  If I am missing anything, or you have questions, please let me know.

Krista