Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.02.2012, Page 12

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12 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • february 1 2012
When I started out on this
adventure I had no idea how
truly remarkable the experience
would be. Yes, I had been
planning for months; preparing,
packing and thinking about
how it was going to go, but
this has been one of those rare
cases where reality is infinitely
more spectacular than anything
I could have imagined. The
Snorri Program has allowed me
to step beyond my previously
established comfort zone and
helped me to realize that I am
capable of creating new worlds
for myself by saying yes to
every opportunity and by not
being afraid to try something
completely new. Every new
person that I have met, every
food that I’ve tasted or new
place that I explored in the
month and a half opened my
eyes to new perspectives and
educated me in the differences
and similarities between life in
Iceland and the life that I have
always known in the States.
The people I’ve had the
privilege to get to know in
Iceland have been, in a wise
woman’s immortal words, a
“slam dunk”. The people with
whom I spent my time were
the headliners of my Snorri
Program experience. First
and foremost, the brilliant
Goosepack that became my
instant family upon arriving in
Iceland. It strikes me again and
again how amazingly quick our
friendships formed and how
comfortable I felt with everyone
almost from the beginning.
The jokes and nicknames that
began to build early on, and
all the little moments we got
to spend together are priceless.
During our time apart I looked
forward every day to hearing
what everyone had been up to,
and I increasingly anticipated
the day we would reunite for
our week of touring. Even in
my loneliest moment with my
family in Fáskrúðsfjörður I
never wished I could be back
in Minnesota. I never wished I
could see my friends or family
back home. I just wanted to
be back with the Goosepack,
having more adventures.
My cousins in the East
Fjords also made a huge
impression. How could they
not, after opening their homes
to me and making me a part of
their lives for three weeks? It
was a huge adjustment to be
living with people with whom I
could not easily communicate,
in a town with which I was
not familiar, doing things
that I had never done before,
but they made every effort
to balance pushing me into
learning and trying new things,
and making me feel at home.
My cousin Bogga told me on
one of my first days, “You
don’t want to look back at this
in 10 years and think, ‘I wish
I had climbed that mountain’
or ‘What if I had tried harder
to learn the language?’ You
want to be able to say you gave
it your best effort.” I tried to
keep that in mind at all times,
whether I was agreeing to
go to a family reunion with
200 people I didn’t know, or
trying Guillemot eggs and
pickled herring. During my
time in Fáskrúðsfjörður I was
introduced to dozens of relatives
and I learned that whenever
there was an uncomfortable
moment meeting someone
new, all I needed to do to
break the ice was whip out
my genealogy book and start
pointing at names of our
common relatives. I carried
that book around like a safety
blanket everywhere that I went
and it saved me from awkward
silences on multiple occasions.
The topics I felt most
confident talking about and
understanding in Icelandic are
related to ancestry information
because I got so much practice
with it.
In a big picture sense, I
think the Snorri Program forced
me to relax and realize that
I cannot plan every moment
of my life. I am, by nature, a
planner, so not knowing where
I am going, what is happening
next, or what I am supposed to
be doing at any given moment
is more than a little stressful. I
had to implement a ‘wait and
see what happens’ approach to
daily life, which was not easy.
I might, for example, have
understood that we were going
to Egilsstaðir for the day, but
would be taken completely
by surprise when we drove all
the way around Lagarfljót and
stopped at a historic house to
have coffee and cake, and at
the Vatnajökull National Park
centre, and finally at a family
member’s summer home for
a visit. I learned to go along
for the ride and see everything
that there was to see, finding I
enjoyed it that much more if it
wasn´t something I expected.
This has been a life-
changing travel experience,
and I feel incredibly lucky
to have had this time here. I
wish I had put more effort into
finding an Icelandic husband
so I could have stuck around
a lot longer. If there was any
demand for English speaking
Speech Language Pathologists
in Iceland you can bet I would
have all my belongings packed
up and shipped over on the
next flight. For now though,
I will be happy with knowing
that I made some extraordinary
friends and unforgettable
memories, and will without a
doubt, be back in Iceland as
soon as I possibly can.
Mallory Swanson
The Snorri experience
– reality proves more
spectacular than imaginings
Mallory Swanson
St. Paul, MN
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