ALUMNI REFLECTIONS - ICELAND: NORDIC ELEMENTS BY SAM

The following reflection was written by Samantha Lasky, a participant on our Iceland Nordic Elements program. Sam is one of the most creative, intelligent, and kind individuals we’ve met on the road. We are inspired by her passion for adventure and creative writing skills. Read on to discover why Sam went to Iceland in the first place and what she learned along the way.

Iceland Reflection by Samantha:

I think it started from my obsession with the stars. From a young age, I was fascinated by everything in the night sky, no matter how foreign or far away. I just wanted to see it, know it and understand everything about how it got there.

It might not make sense to you that this obsession is what got me to Iceland in the summer time (when there are no stars due to 24 hours of daylight), but I think it is in a way. I knew I had to see this land of “fire and ice”, an otherwordly place, where nothing quite seemed real.

Because it’s true what they say. How do you put into words such a sublime place? Where even when it rains, the view out the window is startling. With mountains that seem apart of the sky, waterfalls everywhere you turn, glaciers so raw and blue you can’t fathom the day they are gone—it’s the closest you’ll get to another planet. We thought of it as Pandora from the movie Avatar.

Iceland is a place you say out loud, and people nearby you seem amazed. They conjure images of mountains and ice, of snow-capped hills, but those images are wrong. You don’t know Iceland until you’ve seen it beyond a camera lense. It’s not real before you’ve landed and the damp air touches your skin for the first time, before darkness evades you at midnight.

I remember as we were walking one day, high up in the mountains. The weather was being as fickle as usual. Cold, then hot, 3 layers then none. The landscape changed from mountains to plains to forest as the hours passed. Suddenly, the rain came pouring from the sky. But somehow soaked pants and shirts didn’t bother us. My friend and I got to talking about the end of the world, and that hike still stays as one of my favorite moments from the trip. The weather could never get us down. Even that time on the mountain when we started backpacking. We huddled together, cold in the fierce winds, and we sang songs together up there, keeping our spirits high.

It wasn’t all rain and cold in Iceland. The sun would come out at the most miraculous times, and everyone would look up in disbelief. We’d feel strange wearing nothing but T-shirts as we stripped off our jackets (and shants). Then we’d smile and lift our faces to the sky. Incredible to believe I came home with a tan!

Some of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen are in Iceland, and yet there are so many more places I need to go. I want to visit ice caves, ride horses, and watch the Northern Lights fill the sky. I want to see so many stars I feel like an astronaut must when they look out the window from outer space. I want more Icelandic chocolate–lots more.

I miss Iceland. I truly think nowhere I ever go will feel or look exactly like it. But at least it’s apart of me now—in my journal, in my photos, in my friends. And most importantly, it’s in my heart.

Thanks RLT for a summer trip I can’t forget 🙂