My last post on this site was about Camp LEAD in Cameroon. Since then I wrapped up Peace Corps service, lived and worked at home for 6 months, and a global pandemic started. Oh, and I got into a grad school program on climate and change and global sustainability based out of Iceland and Zanzibar. It’s all casual, let’s just get into it! So we have been in Iceland for a month now! Iceland in covid times is very different from the states. For one, we could actually come here. We landed and were tested, then allowed to leave the airport and quarantine at a hotel. Our results were messaged to us and posted in the Iceland covid tracking app, and at that point, testing negative, we could move about the hotel. We still had to be careful until our 5 day test, and so the program rented vans for us to drive to our home for the next 3 months: Ísafjörður. Ísafjörður is located in the Westfjords region of Iceland, and is about a 6 hour drive. It is a town of about 2,300 people, and is home to a University Centre, where I am now attending classes! I say NOW because a week ago I was just finishing up a two week quarantine. Unfortunately one member of our cohort (there are 8 of us in total) tested positive in the second round of testing so our whole group had to quarantine for 2 weeks alone in our dorm rooms. We continued with online classes via zoom, and had many kind and helping hands who brought us food and groceries during that time.

BUT NOW WE ARE FREE!

We are currently wrapping up our first course on methods, and our finalizing a research paper based on sampling we did in a local man-made forest. We also had the opportunity this past weekend to participate in a MakeATHON, where we had to use the “byproduct” of the salmon fishing industry (a big thing here) to create a marketable product. The winning team had the opportunity to pursue this product with a grant and office space! My team did not win, but I am a but grateful for that, as we are busy enough as it is without thinking about starting a small business here…

We haven’t had the opportunity to travel (for obvious quarantine reasons) but I am hoping to see more of Iceland soon. For now, some pictures from my first month!

Until next time (and much sooner than over half a year, I promise)

Takk!

Katie

Here you can see some beautiful pictures of Ísafjörður bay, blueberry picking in the mountains, and some of the scientific process of data collection in the forest. We were able to use a kiln in the art centre in town today as a way to burn our soil samples. Burning them at a very very high heat allows us to calculate carbon content, the focus of our research paper.