The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1956, Blaðsíða 42

40
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Summer 1956
c4t the University of Iceland
by LILIA EYLANDS
This past winter, I had the privilege
of studying at the University of Ice-
land as recipient of one of the Ice-
landic government scholarships award-
ed each year to students of six foreign
countries.
It was an experience I shall never
forget—one which educated, broaden-
ed and impressed not only me, but all
the other foreign students of my
acquaintance. There were six of us:
Frank Bullivant from England, Gunter
Kotz from Germany, Jorgen Rischel
from Denmark, Antonio Adsera Mart-
orell from Spain, Paula Vermeyden
from Holland, and myself. There were
also two other students, Ute Jakobs-
hagen from Germany and Jose Antonio
Fernandez Romereo (known as Ro-
mero) from Spain, both of whom had
been in Iceland for more than two
years and spoke the language almost
perfectly. They had taken an exam-
ination in their studies of Icelandic
Language and Literature, and both
went home this spring to seek positions
as professors in these subjects in their
home universities.
The rest of us had rather a dif-
ficult time of it at first, as we had no
language in common. As a result we
babbled together in a mixture of
French, German, Icelandic and Eng-
lish, and no matter what language
something tvas said in, it had to be
translated into another for someone’s
benefit. The Spaniard was in the worst
position, as he understood only Spanish
and a little French. We all made ter-
rible blunders at some time or another,
though, and often enjoyed a good
laugh on ourselves as well as others.
It wasn’t too long, however, before
we were chatting together in Icelandic,
not of the purest and most beautiful
quality to be sure, but at least we
understood each other.
The purpose of this Scholarship was
to learn the language sufficiently to
speak it and to be able to read the
literature of both ancient and modern
times. We attended, therefore, gram-
mar classes with Prof. Halldor Hall-
dorsson, but from there on we chose
our own subjects of study, and attend-
ed as we could. Most of us attended
classes in Icelandic Sagas, with Prof.
Einar O. Sveinsson, and classes in the
History of Icelandic Literature (in the
latter centuries) wiith Prof. Steingrim-
ur Thorsteinsson. We each chose, be-
sides these, a variety of subjects, such
as Norwegian, Greek, Gothic and
Theology.
The student life in Iceland is very
different from that which we are used
to on this side. They lead a much freer
and calmer life in many ways, than we
do. The students don’t have to pay
tuition fees because the University is
supported -by the Government, and
therefore they don’t have the awful
financial pinches which are all too
common here among students. They
have relatively few classes, none of
which they are compelled to attend,
and can work and study at the same
time without difficulty. Their exam-
inations given twice yearly, in January
and in May and June, are spread out,
and although they are probably much
more extensive and thorough than
ours, because the students have oral as
well as written examinations, they