The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1956, Síða 43

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
41
don’t have the frenzied panic and pres-
sure of ten examinations in eight days,
as we sometimes do. They also have
several weeks holiday to study before
exams begin. It is really a much more
sensible system, and I firmly believe
they retain their knowledge better than
our students do.
Their student administration and
social life is also rather different from
ours. The student council elections
are greatly influenced by political ties,
and consequently there are several pol-
itical clubs and debating clubs. Un-
fortunately, it seems that these are
much more active than their athletic
club, in spite of the beautiful gym-
nasium at their disposal.
There are numerous dances and stu-
dent feasts during the year, but the
high spot of the academic social life is
December 1st, which marks the an-
niversary of the agreement between
Denmark and Iceland in 1918, regard-
ing the sovereignty of Iceland. In the
residence at GamligarSur, there were
dances for the students once a month
or so, and then each of the two dorm-
itories, NyjigarSi and GamligarSi, held
their private residence parties once a
year. Each dormitory had a social
committee as part of their governing
councils, which looked after amuse-
ments such as ping pong, pool, buying
records for the music lovers, and tak-
ing care of the libraries.
The students of both residences had
their meals together in the dining
room at GamligarSi. As is usually the
case in most institutions, the food was
not always first class, at least not ac-
cording to the type we are used to on
this continent. However, it was reason-
ably priced in comparison with the
exhorbitant prices of meals elsewhere
in Reykjavik. Approximately one
hundred students took their meals in
the dining room four times daily.
Apart from the yearly grant from the
government, the university makes
money for extras in several ways. They
own and operate a local movie theatre
which they allow students to frequent
gratis with a special certificate. Profits
from this business provide scholarships
for Icelandic students to study abroad,
and also pay for books and periodicals
published by the University. They
also create funds for the erection of
new campus buildings ,such as labor-
atories, and homes for the staff, by
running legalized national lotteries.
Apart from the University life, liv-
ing in Reykjavik was most pleasant.
We foreign students enjoyed so much
attending all the plays in the National
Theatre, visiting all the art galleries
and displays, and places of interest in
general, but probably most of all, we
loved to wander from book shop to
book shop and browse through the
fabulous collection of high
priced books. Most of us managed
to collect a few essentials, however,
by teaching our native language priv-
ately for a small fee a few hours a
week. Besides the Stefan Einarsson
Grammar, and dictionaries, our most
valued books were of course the sagas,
then the poets, such as Einar Benedikts
son, DaviS Stefansson, Jonas Hall-
grimsson, something of SigurSur Nor-
dal’s and as much as we could afford
of Laxness.
We were often invited out as a
group to such functions as Germania,
a club for German people in Iceland,
and Alliance Francaise, a club for
French people and lovers of French.
We were also invited to private homes
as for example to the home of Magnus
and Barbara Arnason, well known
painters, and sculptors ,and to our
good friends and guardians away from
home, Birgir Thorlacius, secretary in
the department of Education, and his