Iceland was an amazing experience, not only for traveling but making connections to new perspectives of how people live their lives in contrast to ours. I was blessed enough to see the many differences Iceland has in all aspects of their lives. First, many businesses and lifestyles are not as strict as we experience in the United States. Iceland has a much more fluid and adaptive work environment. In America, it is very fast paced everywhere and all the time. For some people, that?s great but others prefer more of a lifestyle like the one in Iceland that is a lot more carefree. Iceland even has a saying that translates to things will all work out in the end. The second difference I saw was the active effort many companies and businesses put into having sustainable practices. An example of this is how the pizzeria and brewery that we met with used cradle-to-cradle practices that work to limit waste. The brewery grounds that would usually be discarded, were instead given to local farmers as feed for their livestock. In Iceland, it seems as if sustainable practices are almost second nature instead of a requirement to meet a quota. They seem much more conscientious of where they can make changes, and how they want more sustainable products and experiences. It is small implementations like these that show more of an awareness to all sectors of business in Iceland.
Many students mentioned in their presentations that there was a big difference in happiness between the generations. To me, this was a bit more difficult to pick up until I had not twice the connections others were making based on the different conversations they were having with the natives. From what I observed, many are comfortable with the lives that they live and they don?t really know anything different. I thought the same way until I experienced a new culture like I did in Iceland. I really didn?t realize the significant difference to how people live their lives in comparison to those that are from the United States.
