I live in Iceland AMA

[Whynotnowbaby]

As the title says. I’ve lived here for a couple of years now having moved from the U.K.

Are you cold a lot of the time? Are your heating bills very costly?

Have you been to the penis museum?

It's my understanding that while day to day costs like eating out/drinking are very high, utilities are incredibly low. Is this right?

Fenny no, it can be pretty cold outside but it’s amazing how quickly I’ve acclimatised. It also helps that we never think of leaving the house without the right clothing whereas in England I was never quite dressed for the weather. Houses are amazingly well insulated (our biggest problem is cooling it down as it has so much glass and is a sun trap!) and as our heating is geothermal, it is actually very cheap.

Sorry to be a cliche but have you seen the Northern Lights?! What’s the society like - is it safe? Are there good schools?

strictly no but everyone who has visited has been! Apparently it’s ... ok...

Bernadette yes, food is astronomical (but once you stop converting every price back to pounds you stop thinking about it), but heat and hot water is cheap, it was a novelty the first time we washed our car with hot water straight from the hosepipe!

It’s a spectacular country. I visited in 2016 and definitely want to go back and see more. What sort of job do you do there?

Petronellas yes, very exciting the first few times but after a while you get picky so now I’m only interested if they are really fantastic (often it’s just a greeny cloud). Society feels much safer than in the U.K., kids visit each other and have a lot less supervision but still seem totally safe. School is very different, it feels like it takes a long time to get going but if you complete education here you will be a very well rounded and well-educated person.

I have a few!

How do you feel about the high numbers of tourists? Do you come across tourists day to day? I visited 20 years ago so can't imagine what it is like since it exploded as a destination!

Are you able to move/work freely or did you need visa?

Cattenberg I’m a teacher in an English speaking school.

Why did you decide to move there? I have never heard of anyone moving to live there but strange now I think of it because it seems like such a perfect country x

Sounds amazing! Why did you move there? You said 'we' with regards to the hot hosepipe car washing, so did you emigrate with a partner? Children? Do you speak their language? Is it a complicated language, or Latin based so easier to pick up? Xx

Regarding the Northern Lights, when I was in Iceland I did see a colourless wisp in the night sky, and photographed it using a tripod and a long exposure. The sky showed up as faint green in the photos. I’ve wondered ever since whether the Northern Lights ever look as amazing to the naked eye as they do in some photos.

Would you recommend it?

Can you get the same range of foods as in the UK? I am envisaging that everything bar fish and Icelandic yoghurt has to be imported so choice may be limited?
Have you learned the language?

Onetwothreeadventure It was easy to move here before Brexit but would be much harder now as you would have to convince them you do a job that couldn’t be done by anyone here or from Europe.

Tourists are generally welcomed (when they’re not being idiots) as they are a huge part of the economy (and very much missed at the moment). In reality you don’t see them all the time as they tend to be either in central Reykjavík (rather than in the areas where people actually live) or out in the countryside. I never see any in my quiet suburb!

Do you speak the language? Day to day are Icelanders conscious of their “separate” status (culturally, linguistically, genetically)? How does that feed in to day to day life?

Which aisle?

Gott kvöld. Ég er að læra íslensku fyrir eitt ár. Ég elska Ísafjörður og ég get ekki beðið eftir að heimsækja.

Hve langan tíma tekur það að verða reiprennandi?

I visited in 2019 . It was the most amazing country I have ever visited .

Do you take vitamin supplements? We had very few hours of daylight and even then felt dull.

Do your children learn about the Yule lads and other folk laws at school - have you embraced it ?

My husband would love to live there! Is it an easy place to be an expat, language, community etc? They're not EU are they so is there anything special you have to do?

Gaaah we visited a couple of years ago on New Years (which was amazing!) I am training to be a midwife in September, I would love to move there but I don't think it would be doable anymore due to brexit. (Plus, I would like to know the language and that could take years!) I have no questions just very jealous!

Sorry, I’ll get my coat...

What do you wear to keep your feet warm?

Why would you live in a frozen food shop?