I had such an incredible time on my Iceland study abroad trip. Now that the two weeks are over, I think a lot of what I thought about Iceland beforehand was affirmed. The people there are very community driven. They care for their country and do live sustainably. Their weather was indeed very cold, windy, and rainy, and their culture is very much different from ours.
The Icelanders I spoke with showed kindness, dedication to their work, and a lot of heart. You can feel, just being in Reykjavik for a day, that the Icelanders are a calm and peaceful bunch. This way of life proves their motto: ?etta reddast. It basically means that everything will be okay in the end. While Icelanders have a violent and revenge-seeking past (with that Viking DNA, of course), they live their lives caring about impact and family. In fact, when we spoke with the co-founder of Green Bytes, Jillian Verbeurgt, she explained that the money was never her primary interest. She made software that helps restaurants cut down on food waste with no business knowledge. Her personal success is measured on the impact she has on others. I think that is incredibly inspiring, and a wonderful perspective to have when making a business.
Another instance I felt this type of Icelandic culture was when we visited Fri?heimar, a tomato greenhouse with a tomato-themed restaurant inside! Iceland is generally a harsh climate for growing fresh fruits and vegetables, but this greenhouse, entirely run by geothermal energy, does so by providing artificial sunlight and bees that have to be shipped in. Their tomatoes are extremely popular, and the greenhouse makes 2 tons of tomatoes per day. However, they refuse to expand and ship their tomatoes to other countries. They could make a profit and their shareholders might be better off if they did this. However, the owner explained to us that the company did not want to increase their carbon footprint. This makes lots of sense, but I feel like the American way would be to expand, expand, expand! It is a different, more sustainable, mindset that I think is extremely important.
