Immigrant in Iceland AMA

[Svanhildur]

Sorry to add to the pile, it's very quiet at work and I'm feeling a bit bored. If anyone wants to know anything about Iceland or being an immigrant in Iceland, go for it.

Have you ridden an Icelandic horse?

Yes. Too small for my tastes, I found it rather uncomfortable.

Oh I went to Glymur waterfall recently and it was busy. Also why I asked about whaling as we saw two whales at the whaling station which was pretty shocking.

Beautiful area though

How did you get on teaching yourself Icelandic, have you taken formal classes? Which do you find more difficult, the grammar or the pronunciation?

Have you tried any of the unusual cuisine?

Have been to Iceland 3 times, including a circumnavigation of the ringroad... Jökulsárlón was my favorite place. Ice crystals like huge diamonds on the black sand beach... a storm had just passed over so there was the most vibrant rainbow in the sky. Also saw seals diving in the lagoon. Planning another trip back in the winter, hopefully to coincide with Þorrablót and try out some of the, ahem, local delicacies

Hello! Is it true that in restaurants puffin is sometimes on the menu? And if you have tried it does it taste like fishy chicken?

What are the most striking cultural differences - anything you and your DP have found hard to get used to?

I got on very well with the language. I was very motivated due to deep personal interest which helped. It was over 10 years ago that I started teaching myself, just used a book and online resources and any Icelandic material I could get my hands on. I had a few classes once I moved here some years later but they were too easy really, I had already advanced beyond the level offered. So pretty much entirely self taught.
Grammar is much harder than pronunciation. Pronunciation is fairly easy for a Brit. All you have to learn really is the ll and au sounds and how to roll your r, everything else is just a matter of learning to read the letters because you already know all the sounds. My accent is very good. On the other hand I still make grammatical errors when I talk quickly or if I get a bit drunk

As far as the 'delicacies' go, I say yes to the dried fish (absolutely delicious, anybody who goes to Iceland must try it - harðfiskur, eat it like a fish biscuit with butter), the flatbreads and the liver sausage. I say a big fat no to all the súrmatur (including the famous rotten shark). It's absolutely vile and I somewhat suspect it is only still eaten as a display of bravado. That or masochism. I haven't tried the sheep's head but I expect that's all right, really, just a bit off-putting to be peeling meat off an actual skull. Not sure why, though, since I've no problem gnawing meat off other bones.

Yes, I've had puffin. I had it smoked, though, and to be honest it mostly tasted like the smoke. It could have been anything, really. Reindeer and horse are both delicious, though, and ptarmigan's nice.

We're heading to the far north-west of Iceland in a couple of weeks time, have you travelled much in that area OP? Any must sees or don't sees?

What are the most striking cultural differences - anything you and your DP have found hard to get used to?

The thing I noticed first and had to get used to is how tardy everyone is. At least 15 minutes late for everything. In general British and Icelandic cultures are not too dissimilar, we are both very Northern European if you know what I mean. Somewhat reserved unless alcohol is involved, tendency to be badly behaved around alcohol, dark humour - Icelanders and Brits tend to get on well and have a lot in common in my experience.

Oh actually, you know what, the thing I will never get used to is the way in which snorting your snot is soooo acceptable that people will even do it in the middle of being interviewed on TV. It's just not rude at all. Gross. I also hate how you can't buy alcohol in the supermarket, but apparently this is proven to be good for public health so I don't complain.

I'm coming to Iceland for New Year! Will I starve as I'm a vegetarian? Can you predict the weather around then? I'm going to Reykjavik and Hella. Don't know much about Hella.
What to you recommend we look out for in the shops? Any must buys?

The West Fjords? Yes, they are stunning. A really beautiful area. You must see Dynjandi (expect it's quite busy but you must see it) and go check out that hot pot in Vatnsfjörður, Hellulaug it is called. Oo and Rauðisandur and Látrabjarg to see the puffins (you can get within a foot of them, it's incredible). I hear it is even sunny up there right now.

No, there is plenty of vegetarian food, especially in Reykjavík. I cannot predict the weather but come prepared for cold and horrible storms and icy pavements. Be careful outside the capital area and keep abreast of weather warnings from the Met Office.

I don't know what you mean by things to buy - do you mean like souvenirs or food or? Don't buy bottled water because it's exactly the same as the tap water. Don't buy 'tourist sweets' because they are exactly the same as the normal sweets you can get in the supermarket, just ten times more expensive. Don't get fooled into buying 'alcohol' in the supermarkets. If it's in a supermarket, that is not real beer, it's only 2%! If you buy a woolly jumper get it from the Handprjónasamband (or if you can knit, just buy the wool) or the second-hand shops. I would say to try the harðfiskur but not if you're vegetarian obviously!

Thanks Svan. Is New Year a big deal? We are doing a package trip and apparently there are lots of bonfires and fireworks.
Are Icelanders fed up with tourists now? It seems to be an 'in' place to go over the last few years.

Then, just for general knowledge what's Iceland like for children? I don't mean for tourists on holidays but is it a good place to grow up? I have this vague idea of tortured Scandinavian teens who can't wait to leave.

Do the locals like and welcome all the tourism or do they get fed up?

Thank you OP, yes it's the western Fjords so I've updated the list of places to go - thank you.

Have you heard of/met Thordis Elva? Was she well known in Iceland before she did her TED talk?

Oooo I loved Iceland 😄

New Year is a huge deal! There are loads and loads of fireworks. I am never in Reykjavík due to always visiting DP's family in another town and they are pretty crazy there - I have heard that downtown it is really something else. The enormous bonfires I think are on the 13th day after Christmas (at least they have bonfires then, maybe also on NYE in Rvk), to celebrate the end of the festive season. We go to one in Vesturbær, it is pretty fun.

Yes, a lot of Icelanders are pretty fed up of tourists. Not on an individual level and I'm sure everyone will be friendly and kind to you when you come, but there are a lot of concerns about how the industry is managed (or not managed). The annual tourist population is much, much bigger than the resident population so that causes some issues, such as exacerbating the housing crisis in the capital area and environmental damage at the popular sites. Honestly I think things need to be reigned in somehow. Some people are getting very rich off it, of course, but these people are a minority.

A lot of young people do leave (often going to study abroad and never coming home) and this is a problem for the country, but they leave for economic reasons mainly, not because it's so unbearably dull. Reykjavík isn't actually that boring for young people in my opinion, although of course it's not on the level of somewhere like London. I think it seems like a lovely place to be a child, because they are given so much more freedom and independence than seems to be the norm in the UK. And it's so safe. I know my DP has never had any notions of emigrating and he didn't even grow up in Rvk! Although to be fair I think moonshine did feature rather heavily in his adolescence.

I have heard of Þórdís Elva, but not until after she did the talk. I don't think she was particularly well known beforehand, no.

We visited Iceland in January and loved it! DC due soon was probably conceived there
What is the healthcare system like?
We are doctors - are most doctors Icelandic or are there immigrants?
It sounds like you had an OK time learning Icelandic. I speak Scottish Gaelic and OH speaks Irish Gaelic - is this likely to help- what with the rhotic pronunciation we use?

I'm not sure as I don't know a single thing about Scottish or Irish Gaelic. Is it a rolled r? If you can roll your rs that is a small help (took me years to get it properly) on one aspect of pronunciation. But you can easily communicate in Icelandic without pronouncing the r quite right so I'd say it's not a major issue. English is probably a better language to have coming at it because they are both Germanic languages so there's a lot of vocabulary overlap and some things are very intuitive. A Celtic language would have a lot less in common. Obviously I get that you speak English as well!

The healthcare system is OK. You don't get as much free as you do on the NHS, have to pay a small fee to see your GP etc (not for children, though). But it is basically a national healthcare system, you don't need to purchase health insurance or anything and everything's highly subsidised where it isn't free. Personally I've only ever seen Icelandic healthcare professionals. I know there are immigrants working in healthcare but of course you do need to speak Icelandic if you're in a position where you're talking to patients. A lot of trained doctors emigrate though because the pay is way better in Scandinavia. The system is underfunded and under a lot of strain, so I suppose it has that in common with the NHS. We are currently undergoing a midwife strike over pay and there were strikes going on when my DC1 was born as well, which affected us slightly (had to wait and go to a different location to get her ear test for example).

Thank you for sharing some of your favourite places, Svanhildur. It's a spectacular country. I can't believe how much we saw in three days - waterfalls, a lava field, a geyser, black sand beaches, a blue ice cave, glacier hiking...

Do summer temps not getting much above 14-16C bother you? I have only got this info from online, so apologies if it’s wrong.

Best AMA thread so far! I just watched a Netflix documentary about a twin homicide in the 70s that saw 5 people locked up after forced confessions, and how the case was a national moral and legal scandal (ongoing). It was a tiny insight into how small and actually claustrophobic Icelandic society was at the time.

Summer temperatures of 14-16 would be great! I love a cool summer because I'm not one for the heat and you can do so much more without getting all hot and sweaty. And we have our geothermal pools so we can be outside enjoying the sunshine even though it is a bit cold. I have seen it get up to around 20° a few times and that feels really really hot when you're no longer used to it. One summer we went back to England and it was pushing 30 and I thought I was going to melt.

This summer, however, has been a complete write off. It is literally the least sunny summer on record for a century. Rainy, cloudy and we're lucky if it gets above 10°. This is a bit depressing even for my tastes. A typical Icelandic summer does have some nice bits, though, and the typical summers don't bother me at all - I love them!