It’s hard to believe I’ve only been in Iceland for two months, because we’ve been able to
pack so much into these past weeks! We just ended our trip around the Ring Road, Iceland’s
main highway that circles the island. Our time on the road consisted of sleeping in a different
hostel every night and going on all sorts of excursions during the day. These trips included
hiking to waterfalls, visiting volcanoes, and touring Europe’s largest glacier!
Iceland is known for its ethereal landscape mixed with volcanoes, glaciers, waterfalls,
and fjords. This diverse landscape comes from the country’s placement on the Mid Atlantic
Ridge, which results in high volcanic activity that creates this unique scenery. During my time
here I’ve been able to see some amazing geological features as a result of the seismic activity,
including geothermal springs!
The unique terrain of Iceland combined with the glacial melt and abundant precipitation
make for some other gorgeous formations: waterfalls! We got to visit plenty of them all over the
country, including Saljalandsfoss in southern Iceland and Dynjandi in the Westfjords.
One of the most memorable parts of the Ring Road was visiting Vatnajökull, Iceland’s
largest glacier that covers almost 10% of the country. We were able to hike on the glacier,
explore crevasses and go inside ice caves! The walls of the cave were carved smoothly from
the water flow, and the color was a beautiful deep blue as a result of the dense, air-bubble free
ice.
Traveling around the country throughout this program has made for a pretty unique study
abroad experience. Going from place to place definitely requires a lot of flexibility, and this
adventure has taught me that not everything goes according to plan all the time. It’s been helpful
to learn from experience here, and I feel that I’ve grown to be a more adaptable and
independent person.
The focus of our program is to explore the impacts of climate change in the Arctic, a
region that is warming significantly faster than the rest of the world. We’ve been able to hear
from scientists, policymakers, and even local farmers on how rising temperatures have
impacted Iceland. We’ve also been able to learn about the ways in which Iceland has begun to
fight these effects, such as relying on renewable energy sources and focusing on carbon
capture technology. It’s amazing to see that even as Iceland feels the effects of climate change,
it’s also leading the way in finding solutions.
