12/1 Final Class - Haley Conroy

Today in our class we talked about Iceland and I actually went on a study aboad with Dr. Redick over the summer. We did a recap of the various travels we went on in Iceland and the many things we learned. First we talked about the geography of Iceland and the type of people that live there, some of their cultural beliefs, and then how they rely on renewable energy: hydropower and geothermal energy. Then we talked about what we learned at the Ocean Cluster Co-op and how they utilize and process fish that are caught to the full extent which is inspiring since in the U.S we waste a lot of our food and take advantage of our animals. Then we talked about the Saga museum and how we learned a lot about the evolution of icelandic vikings. Basically a big story in Iceland is when the viking came, they cut down all the trees and forests and now they are working to rebuild and rejuvonate their nature. We looked at various pieces of art, murals, and other creations that make Iceland so unqiue. We talked about how we went inside a dormant volcano and how cool it was, then the tour guide sang a traditional icelandic song to us and told us a tale which definitely made it feel like we were immeresed in the culture. Then we talked about Sólheimar which I am writing my final paper on because it was one of my favorite places in Iceland. We talked about the founder Sessleja and her core beliefs about caring for others, specially those with special needs, and how she created this place and a sustainble community. Then we talked about how we hiked up the glaciar and saw evidence of glacial melt too and how we hiked fourteen miles total. My favorite part was going to diamond beach and going to the glaciar lagoon. We went camping too and stayed at the national parks which was really cool.