{"id":3382,"date":"2016-08-21T21:51:27","date_gmt":"2016-08-21T11:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/qut-exchange-students\/?p=3382"},"modified":"2017-02-22T13:22:44","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T03:22:44","slug":"iceland-the-land-of-fire-and-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/2016\/08\/21\/iceland-the-land-of-fire-and-ice\/","title":{"rendered":"Iceland – The land of fire and ice"},"content":{"rendered":"

For some crazy reason I decided to apply to study abroad in Iceland. It’s about as far away from Brisbane as you can get both in distance and differences. Brisbane is sunny, warm and relaxed for most of the year; Reykjavik is cold, overcast and windy. Honestly though, this is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First Impressions<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I arrived in Reykjavik about a week ago. It took almost two days (and four long flights) to get to the other side of the world, surprisingly. During the cab ride from the airport I\u00a0could see the famous church,\u00a0Hallgr\u00edmskirkja, in the distance and I knew I was close to my apartment and, more importantly, close to showering for the first time in 40 hours!
\n\"\"<\/a> My initial impression of the city: I love it. The buildings are the classic European style with the pointy roofs, there are a few churches breaking up the skyline before hitting the city. The weather for the most part has been overcast, grey, cloudy and sometimes windy; personally I love this kind of weather so I know I’ve come to the right place.<\/p>\n

The people here are very polite, especially the drivers. Basically everyone speaks English, definitely any shopkeepers or cab drivers, which is a huge relief. I was concerned about the language barrier since I do not speak Icelandic and while I would love to learn it I don’t think I’d even have a chance to make much progress in the short time I’m here. It looks unlike anything I’ve ever seen, not to mention the actual letters I have never seen such as\u00a0\u00f0,\u00a0\u00fe and\u00a0\u00e6.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adjusting to living away from home
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I moved out of my parents house over a year ago so I’m used to not seeing my family and friends everyday, but to be in a completely new town\"\"<\/a>, country and hemisphere was something I was worried about. Another concern I had was that obviously I’m going to have to talk to a lot of people, I’m a bit introverted and this is something I’ve freaked out over in the past. Honestly, I’ve been expecting a breakdown. Instead I’ve just been incredibly happy. I feel like this is definitely the the next stage of my life, I know the next few months are going to be a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For some crazy reason I decided to apply to study abroad in Iceland. It’s about as far away from Brisbane as you can get both in distance and differences. Brisbane is sunny, warm and relaxed for most of the year; Reykjavik is cold, overcast and windy. Honestly though, this is one of the most beautiful<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3902,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5246,6155,12014],"tags":[5303,12031,12014,12030,11977,5343],"class_list":{"0":"post-3382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-europe","7":"category-first-impression","8":"category-iceland","9":"tag-europe-2","10":"tag-first-impressions","11":"tag-iceland","12":"tag-reykjavik","13":"tag-student-exchange","14":"tag-study-abroad"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIceland - The land of fire and ice - QUT Gone Global<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/2016\/08\/21\/iceland-the-land-of-fire-and-ice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Iceland - The land of fire and ice - QUT Gone Global\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For some crazy reason I decided to apply to study abroad in Iceland. 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