Iceland Expat | What it's REALLY like living in Iceland
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- čas přidán 2. 04. 2022
- What is it like to live in Iceland? How do you make friends as a foreigner? Is it hard to learn Icelandic? Are Icelanders accepting of foreigners? What are the hardest things about living in Iceland? I went to Instagram to ask your burning questions about living in Iceland and my fellow American friend Carly and I answer ALL this and more!
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My nephew's former nanny lives in Iceland... Kelsey Henson. You might know who she is. Extremely nice person.
I really appreciate Carly s clear and concise speaking ..
There are two seasons in Iceland : Winter and Road Repair ;-)
I’ve read an interview that Björk was doing for a magazine, and she said that in Iceland you don’t necessarily have “friends” until you’ve known someone for 10+ years, or that it takes a very long time to call someone a friend, that you kind of just have mates who you hangout with. I guess what I’m trying to ask is, how hard is it to become friends with someone in Iceland/ is it difficult to get close to them?
Excellent conversation!
Los Angeles born, but also lived in NorCal and AZ most of my life. Irish heritage. Minimalist attitude.
Iceland sounds like a conglomerate of tightknit communities that value Icelandic culture & heritage. Which as an American I can value & admire. I think nationalism is a good thing.
I live across from a strawberry farm in NorCal, so feel spoiled.
Keep 'em coming!
I moved to Colorado from the East Coast and it's no different in terms of making friends. Most people either spend time with their family or the friends they grew up with. I've been in CO for 12 years and still don't have any close friends. It's also harder overall to make friends when you're an adult with a kid.
As always, very helpful. Just moving to a different region of the same country is an adjustment. Lots of people dream of change yet are unable to deal with the realities of those changes. I know about 2 of every 5 people who move to the Phoenix area move back to where they originally came from within 3 years. I can only imagine how difficult it would be making a transition to a different country.
New subscriber here! Thank you for this video. This was very illuminating!
Great video! As an American, I lived in Germany in the 1980's, and talking about transponders and going to see things for the hundredth time with visitors from the US brought back memories. I visited Iceland pre Covid and loved it, but as a Floridian, it's a little too cold for me.
WI!!! 💚 that gives me so much hope
Really nice video - Thanks Jeannie!
Can’t wait for part 2!
This was a really cool video! A really need insight into true living in Iceland!
Awesome video! We just got back from Iceland a few weeks ago and it was definitely a trip of a lifetime. We rented a camper van and drove around the entire country on the ring road and Snæfellsnes Peninsula. However, we did get sticker shock with how expensive everything really is (food, fuel, clothing etc,). While I wouldn’t live there now, it would be amazing to move to there whenever I retire in a few decades; maybe around the Hofn or East Fjords area which was absolute favorite part of Iceland.
This was helpful for me. Thank you for creating this video. I appreciate your information.
Thank You for putting an end to my fantasy of living in Iceland. I'd still like to visit though.
Super video!!🥰🥰
Well, this was fantastic!! Thank you! Instead of dreaming of living in Iceland, perhaps I shall dream of visiting for say... a month! My 2wks there last fall was INCREDIBLE!! SUCH a helpful video! Thank you, again!
Only way to become fluent in a language is to actually use it. Practice here and there won't cut it. No one expects you to be perfect or sound native. All that comes with time. Of coures easier if you actually love languages and really want to learn. It's also different if either of you where Icelandic, but because non of you are, the pressure isn't on you to actually having to learn it. You have to speak it at home, with your husband, kid, and to everyone you meet, and tell them not to speak in English, as you're learning. Even if it's just words and no full sentences yet. How kids learn, that's the best way. But this take a lot of comiment, drive, passion and hard work, and being resilient. Watching TV shows, movies, and listening to music, as well as books, helps.
Converting Celsius to Fahrenheit is easy...just don't do the math! You can do this, just like you did multiplication tables. Memorize(!) these cardinal numbers: 0=32, 10=50, 20=68, 30=86, 40=104. and interpolate between. Also helpful to memorize 15=59, 25=76. For temps higher or lower, pull out your cellphone.
I had the pleasure of visiting Iceland and loved it to the point I could see myself living there temporarily. I noticed that the younger people speak flawless English but I did run into a few older Icelanders in Reykjavík, and outside the capital who did not speak English. So the same as in other countries. I learned to never assume. Icelandic does look like a difficult language to learn so I don't envy either of you but you have the right attitude to learning the language and making friends. Finally, as a Canadian in a Northern part of Canada I like Iceland's cool temps.
Great!
I'm trying to figure out when I', going to Iceland. Some time in the summer though with a trip to Husavik and Reykjavik.
get a nice light for your videos, itll take it to the next level
It is a pity you and Carly have not yet made a sequel to this video.
Interesting point made by Carly the LA girl about family and friends visiting all the way from South California: With Iceland being "IN" these days, that part is apparently a non-issue, but a hidden irony lies in the distances: In fact, if you fly LAX-JFK-KEF, you are only halfway there when you transit in JFK.
An even greater irony is that if you manage a direct LAX-KEF flight, you are more than 3/5th of the way to Iceland when you are abeam New York! It kinda puts the vast size of 'Murica in perspective...
A sequel with Carly is on my list of to-dos! Stay tuned!
Try flying from the east coast of Australia!
Informative and interesting video, and I am still waiting for the promised second installment focusing on health care and taxes, among other things, for ex pats living in Iceland!
Thanks, David! It's on my list!
You mentioned a second video with follow-up information about health care, etc. Where is that? I can't seem to find it on your channel.
I haven't filmed it yet but it's on my to-do list! Stay tuned!
So... is container gardening not even a doable thing there?
Re electronics: why do you purchase/use equipment that is not the correct voltage? Is there no.possibility to buy the equipment in Iceland that fits to the system available?
Love your dachshund! I have the same. How old? And did you bring from the states?
What do you know about services and assistance available for disabled expats?
I would miss the produce and trader joe’s too. I’m also in Los Angeles so I guess it makes sense. 😂
How do I punch the addressed into my GPS, they appear backwards or none at all.
Hi, I can't find the part two video you've referenced, and I'm really interested in seeing it. Could you provide a link to it?
Coming out soon! 😀
what about a minimum job you can start with, so you can study their language while you can harmonise with the society and the climate there.
thank you
I miss trader joes SOOO much!!!
Good for the Icelandic people! 💙 don’t change
Thanks for watching!
you need to tell people to speak to you in Icelandic and not change to English. It's similar to people who wish to learn Welsh here in Wales, but thousands succeed, but just don't allow people to slip into English - they're not helping you! It's a difficult few months or year, but then it's done. You need to learn Icelandic - other people do. I tell people who are learning Welsh to use English words if they don't remember the Welsh word, but just continue with the flow of speaking Welsh, and even if they through in a sentence in English but then go back into Welsh.
... also, speaker of minoritised languages (like my own, Welsh) tend to think intuitively when it comes to language use in a bilingual situation. That is, if the other person who's learning, say Welsh, doesn't 'feel' fully into/interested/engaged in it, the minoritised language speaker will pick that up in seconds and will guess the person isn't serious about learning and speaking Welsh. They'll then switch to English. So, it's not only having to speak Welsh (or Icelandic) but actively in your presence show you want to speak Welsh/Icelandic. Then it's fine, the rules are understood. I'm guessing this is true of Icelandic or even bigger langugaes like Dutch. Within a few months of actively speaking Icelandic, even if some English words or phrases, or even, at times a sentence in English thrown in, but reverting back to Icelandic, a learner will be pretty well functionally fluent.
This! I tell this to everyone learning Icelandic and Norwegian. Yes, it's more convenient but it's actually such a hinderance to actually learning the language.
@@Sindrijo exactly, and after a few months the learner's new language is good enough to hold a conversation.
Why would anyone move where it is always cold and the people are rude.
Girl gone international?
Where in America are you 2 from?
they said it in the video, wisconsin and california
I speak Spanish. Does Iceland have any need for Spanish speakers? Probably not.
I think there were two things. Many people were rude I met, actually picked up my daughter and moved her out of the way. Never met the people we rented the Airbnb from as they never came down, out, etc. Second, getting gas was very difficult. With that said, beautiful country and great things to do. And yes, I lived in Italy/Europe 4 years, so I know people.
Physically moving children out of the way is not considered rude throughout most of Scandinavia. Children are not special. Nobody is special.It's considered rude to actually let your children be in way of others.
Really? We came back after a week in Iceland and the one thing that struck us was how friendly and laid back the Icelanders were.
I had a good experience with the people from Iceland and even when I was flying back from Iceland there is a man next to me from Iceland he was patient with my questions about Iceland.
how was getting gas difficult? lack of Applepay?
@@Starkardur 🤣🤣😂😂
Feed that poor, hungry dog!!!
It a hard language
VERY!
Ironially both English and Icelandic are related as they are Germanic languages. And it just seems hard because you're not used to it. Eglish wouldn't exist without the vikings, and Old English was close to Old Norse, which Icelandic is the closest existing relative.
Do you have an electric car? 🙂
major loud echho when talking sooo loud
Wow...is Carly single?
Damn...I heard her say husband 🤦.
Spent 2.5 days in Iceland. Trying to figure out how I can expat there. Country is beautiful
You can't, hard luck!
@@aflaz171 ...I'll marry in
Iceland Expat? You mean Inmigrant, right?
If you want hot summer weatherer, you don't move to Iceland, period. And as a Norwegian, I'm sorry if this comes off as rude, mean or harsh, but in all honesty, to me you come off as bitter for not being included by those at work, or that they don't see you as their friend and invite you into their private sphere that is their life outside of work. I dunno how it works in the US, but here in the Nordic countries, and Scandinavia, it's not the norm. You can't expect people you hardly know to just welcome you with open arms, and bring you along like a chaperone. I understand this is all about cultural differences, but all I see is entitlement. We are cultures that values privacy, and personal space as well as boundaries, and honesty instead of sugar coating and fake/shallow politenes if you don't mean it or like the person, which is only surface level in the US, what you're known for. Also what's considered rude to an American, is not what we would consider rude and vice versa. And even though modern now, we are still a tight knit community type based society being farming and fishing nations since ancient times. We won't harm, or attack you, unless you provoke us, but that doesn't mean we will go out of our way to be nice to you, unless we want to, as of course people are diffrerent and depends on the person, situation and context. Doesn't help to just show up, and be ''nice'', and knowing a few phrases in the native language. That doesn't impress anyone. You wanna live here, you have to put your American ego, and mentality aside, drop the Karen act, assimilate, and integtrate, by learning the language, the customs, traditions, social norms, and values. Only way... or you can just pack your bags and go back, because you won't fit in. And when you've lived here for that many years without still not being able to speak or understand the language, then you're just being lazy, and don't really have the grit, passion, and commitment to be part of the Icelandic society, which automatically makes you an outsider by default, and that you can't blame on anyone than your self! And it seems to me that you didn't really do enough and proper research into how the society works, the social norms, culture, traditions, weather etc. Which is weird, if you're actually moving somewhere completly new as another country. Just my impression from watching several of your videos. I know people who come from completly different cultures, countries in Asia, and their languages aren't even an Indo European language, let alone related to English, yet they manage to intergrate, learn and speak the language as adults fluently. So again, I think the key to your struggles is to drop your American mentality, you're in Northern Europe now, and learn Icelandic, then everything will change! Just my two cents as someone who has an Icelandic partner, and who grew up and live in Norway, and been to Iceland several times over the years, and even some of his friends and family actually did go out of their way to be nice to me, and include me, translate etc. even though I undertstand Icelandic by default, tho not fluent. And after 2 weeks, I couldb asically fake my way through conversations, tho they either spoke in English, or Norwegian, as they have lived here, and in Iceland it's mandatory to learn another Scandinavian language, and most people choose Danish as Iceland was under Danish rule, as were we...
Please define "Karen act"
I’m just imagining an American telling any visitor or immigrant (legal or illegal) that they need to put away their ego, respect the culture and integrate. 😂😂 And telling a foreigner to speak English in the US? 😂😂 Yeah, that will go over well. 😂😂
Wow, you seem pretty uptight.