AFS Year High School Abroad in Iceland

I am in constant “awww” everyday when I think about what an amazing adventure/experience I have accomplished. I can see how it has changed me into a more worldly and cultured person everyday. I look back in my experience with Iceland and I wouldn’t change it for the world. From the moment I landed on the small island with 30 other students I had already created life long friendships. My family was so incredibly open, loving and treated me like a true family member. It is an amazing feeling to know that I am loved all over the world by not only exchange student friends but a bigger web of an exchange student family. My family tree had grown to so many amazing countries and I can’t wait to expand the branch and grow more leaves as I grow up into an amazing and worldly person. Thank you AFS-USA and AFS-ISL!!

Where to begin...Probably one of the most unique experiences I was lucky enough to have was hiking to the top of a mountain (Vífilfell) and viewing a solar eclipse there. It was sort of representative of my ten months in Iceland as a whole in many ways: it was cold; things didn't go according to plan (the thawing snow had wet the gravelly surface of the mountain, causing a lot of slipping and sliding on the way up and down); the natural scenery was beautiful; people--total strangers--were more than happy to help each other; and perhaps most importantly, I had to push myself in order to keep going. This opportunity was an outlier, of course, as most of my year was spent doing regular activities like going to school or hanging out with friends, but adventures like this one are out there if you seek them out, particularly in a country as small and packed with nature as Iceland. So, in conclusion, it was an interesting--and rewarding--year that I would do again in a heartbeat.