Moving & Adjusting to Living in Iceland – My Personal Experience – Ep. 34

This week is a bit different than my normal episodes because I am going to share why I moved to Iceland. I get this question a lot, mainly because I was born and raised in NYC. People find it very difficult to understand why I would move to such a small country that averages relatively chilly temperatures and has a population of about 350,000 people. After sharing Ingólfur Arnarson’s story, the man who founded Reykjavík, I felt compelled to share my own. So, let’s just jump right into it. Meeting Gunnar 12 Years Ago I won’t go into all the details about how Gunnar and I’s relationship evolved because I have a video coming out on YouTube about it that will explain everything. For now, just know that we met through a mutual friend, Orri, who is Icelandic. That was about twelve years ago but we didn’t becoming a couple until about five and a half years ago. We were in a long distance relationship for 3 years and the first time we lived together is when I moved to Iceland in 2016. If someone had asked me if I would consider moving to Iceland before I started dating Gunnar, I would have flat out said no. I didn’t have anything against Iceland, but I just didn’t know anything about the place. I assumed that it would be more of a hassle to live there than it was worth. It’s funny how love has the ability to change your mind. Adjusting to Life in Iceland I started working the very next day after I arrived in Iceland. Because of that, I didn’t have a lot of time to think about my feelings regarding living in another country. I was so excited about my job opportunity and I wanted to do well so I mainly focused on that. Funny enough, one of the hardest adjustments for me in the beginning was learning to live with another person. I lived on my own in a studio apartment in NYC for about 3 years before moving in with Gunnar in Iceland. Of course, all of the cultural differences, such as the language and traditions were things I needed to adjust to. Thankfully, I had learned a lot about them during my visits to the country before I moved. Living here is so much different than visiting, but I experienced a lot less culture shock when I finally moved. I do have to mention that I feel like marrying into an Icelandic family has given me an advantage when it comes to coping with living here. Many foreigners that move to Iceland but do not have ties an Icelandic family can feel quite lonely or left out. Icelandic people can be closed off when it comes to celebrating the holidays and other activities. They are very family orientated and most of the time their celebrations are just family members and very close friends of the family that are also Icelandic. Being included in the various activities made me feel like a part of the family immediately. That made living here an even more enjoyable experience. Learning Icelandic While I do understand a lot of Icelandic, I am continuously learning and working on my conversational skills. It is challenging, but it is also a lot of fun. Thankfully, there are a decent amount of resources online that are available. If you are interested in learning the language, here are some free resources that you can check out. I use a tutor at the moment, who is awesome. I highly recommend you considering to use a tutor or take classes if you want to learn the language in a systematic way.