Why are you studying in Iceland?
Some came here to work on a farm, others came on a whim. Some of them only heard about Iceland a few years ago, others have relatives here. Students at Reykjavik University come from all over the world for many different reasons.
More and more students come to Iceland, in spite of the country's harsh weather and dark winters. This perplexed a journalist from Reykjavik Grapevine, a monthly newspaper published in Iceland in English. The journalist visited Reykjavik University a few weeks ago and asked some of our students: Who are you and why are you here? Here below are some highlights.
Read the complete article on Reykjavik Grapevine here
Marvin Kißmer, 23, Germany: „I heard about the country for the first time when I was sixteen years old. After that, I looked up everything about it. I saw this guy on television trying to learn Icelandic in one week, so I started studying it too, just from books. I didn't do that for very long—and when I came here for the first time last year, I couldn't believe how different the language sounded from what I had thought!“
Jannika Lövendahl, 25, Sweden, and Wilhelm Öhman, 26, Finland: „At least it doesn't feel that expensive coming from another Nordic country. Some things are even cheaper here. But you can get surprised how things can be easier, or more difficult. For instance, finding an apartment was hard. At the same time, we found work by just walking into a restaurant.“
Liv Vestergaard, 24, Denmark: „Oh my god the traffic! Iceland is the Italy of the north. I'll be a much worse driver when I go back to Denmark. But getting into the traffic is totally worth it, because even though you drive through the same scenery here many times, it's always different. There's more or less water in the waterfalls, it looks different when it's sunny or cloudy, you see a part of a glacier you hadn't seen before… Iceland is wonderful and you never get sick of seeing it again and again.“
