Iceland

[Verdilac]

Hello, have we anyone from Iceland on the forum ?

What is it like to live there as it looks very beautiful and seems to convey a raw energy that is very enigmatic.

I look at pictures of the place and can feel it in my chest , like thunder.

[DouglasDanger]

I am seriously thinking of moving my family back and reclaiming our homestead, it is a very beautiful place. How family members describe it, it's a laid back life with not much violence or crime. He said think of it as knowing everyone so if you get in your car drunk you are going to hit or kill a friend/family member so body takes the chance.

[Flash]

I am seriously thinking of moving my family back and reclaiming our homestead, it is a very beautiful place. How family members describe it, it's a laid back life with not much violence or crime. He said think of it as knowing everyone so if you get in your car drunk you are going to hit or kill a friend/family member so body takes the chance.

I knew Iceland population was small, but it is smaller than I thought, it is 332,489 habitants. Very little indeed.

With such a little population, like a north american town (not even a city), it is much easier to manage the place and to take decisions on which everyone can have a say.

This goes for kind of promoting small is wonderfull. 30 years ago, there was a cult theory going around stating that small populations islands were the way to go to manage the earth adequately. Iceland kind of confirm it. Like regrouping all the populaitons in small groups that are pretty much independent.

If there is any problem with the earth herself, Iceland may be hit first since it is an island and over and above, a volcanic one prone to eruptions and earthquakes. Hum... I may remain in Canada.

[leavesoftrees]

I am seriously thinking of moving my family back and reclaiming our homestead, it is a very beautiful place. How family members describe it, it's a laid back life with not much violence or crime. He said think of it as knowing everyone so if you get in your car drunk you are going to hit or kill a friend/family member so body takes the chance.

I knew Iceland population was small, but it is smaller than I thought, it is 332,489 habitants. Very little indeed.

Not to forget the population of elves and trolls. Any country that would re-route a road so as not to offend the hidden folk, has to have something
right about it

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/22/elf-lobby-iceland-road-project

This film The girl in the cafe has some fantastic scenes of Iceland's natural beauty

Dk6bgik5Bd8

[Cardillac]

I've worked with 4 Icelandics; extremely wonderful people and very multi-lingual-I hardly think any of us non-Icelandics would want to tackle the complicated Icelandic language but from which all Skandinavian languages emerge (Danish being the closest)-

although I've never been there myself all whom I know who have been there have stated, because of it's unique starkness, i'ts just such an incredibly beautiful land and the hospitality of the Icelandics is overwhelming-

by the way, once the Icelandics jailed their bankers they subsequently threw out the 3 McDonalds restaurants available on the island; smart people-

be well all-

Larry

[indigopete]

I'm half Icelandic on one parent's side, have lived and worked there for about 6-7 years in total and am a fluent speaker.

It is indeed an idyllic place in many respects. The stark contrasts of bleak weather, spectacular landscapes and modern living are a strange combination that always leaves an impression. However, as with any society, there are 2 Icelands.

There is the one described and admired here by outsiders "looking in", which definitely does exist. Then there is the Iceland of the day to day, which the citizens inhabit. It's in the latter one that all the usual concerns, aspirations and challenges that dominate any society are to be found. Worries about debt, stress from family issues, health, the weather, workplace politics. Once immersed, the scenic background finds its true place - as background.

It's definitely one of the more inspiring parts of the world, both to visit and to live in. But I wouldn't say living there is for everyone and it probably isn't one of the easier places to adapt to (even for some natives ! :bigsmile: ).

Amongst my earliest living memories is one that originates there and is possibly one of the more formative experiences I ever had. With me at the age of 5, my family was living in a remote part of the island, about 5Km from the base of one the larger volcanoes. In the middle of the night, an eruption commenced and we had to evacuate to a nearby farm, driving through a rainshower of small pumis ash-stones interspersed with lightning strikes. As we reached distance of about 15 km, the full mountain came into view and I could see the red glow of the lava flowing down its slopes as a kind of christmas tree light. I think I developed a philosophical sense of time at that moment and in the next moment the philosophical sense that it was ending now !

Luckily, it turned out to be one of the smaller eruptions and no houses got buried (although ours was caked in about 10-30 cm of ash).

I often suspected that that experience had a kind of 'jolt' effect that made me see the world differently from everyone else and is probably one of the reasons I'm even on this forum. But of course everyone has their own unique path of a similar nature. Mine just started in Iceland which is why I'm posting in this thread.

Definitely worth a visit at least once in each lifetime !