7 Fun Facts About Iceland: Culture SHOCK!
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- čas přidán 27. 06. 2024
- Culture shock!
For todays video Louise talks about 7 fun things about Iceland that surprised her when she moved to the beautiful island in the north. According to her, Icelanders are quite related, happy, laid back and nice. Maybe there's some correlation there?
Intro - 00:00
No Trees - 00:30
For the first thing on the list, Louise picked something that most people notice before landing in Iceland (unless it's dark). The lack of trees! When driving from Keflavik to Reykjavik (a 40 minute drive) you would be lucky to spot some trees, you'll probably only see lava fields and mountains! This is a common theme while travelling around Iceland, on the south coast you can even visit our famous Black Beach. No trees there!
However, according to scientists, the island WAS lush with birch trees when the vikings arrived. Unfortunately for them and the forests, it didn't take long for them to chop down around 97% of the trees leading to desert formations.
After their butchering, a combination of hostile weather, sheep and volcanos have made it hard for the forests to recover some 1000 years later. It makes for some very pretty landscape though!
Everyone is related - 1:42
Almost everyone. Since Iceland is fairly isolated, Icelandic scientists have managed to map the genetic code of most of the population. Every Icelander has access to a website called islendingabok where it's possible to look up your family tree and go as far back as around the 8th generation. That's people born in the 15th or 16th century!! Most Icelanders are related in the 7th or 8th generation in reality it's totally fine. At least we hope so 😅
Laid back and nice - 2:50
Comparing Icelanders to people living in the rest of the Nordic countries is a slippery slope! In general, we would say we're all nice. But some are a bit conserved. And used to privacy. However, when it comes to traffic, there are always some things that can get on your nerves. That's probably a common theme wherever you go.
Growing up in a peaceful country with no guns, close to no violence, gender equality and high pay is a privilege that most dream of. But it's easy to forget when you're used to it. Just remember to think of all the good things in your country once in a while. We're pretty sure you have better weather than Iceland for one!
Getting the day off due to nice weather - 3:57
This has never happened to Alex but it happened to Louise in her first summer working in Iceland. It's called "sólarfrí" or sun holiday and some work places actually encourage their employees to go out when the weather is nice. Doesn't happen too often though 😅
Nightlife - 4:51
The nightlife in Iceland is something else. It's quite common to stay at a party until midnight or later and party until 4 or 5. It's something that really helps when going through the dark winters but it's probably not the healthiest way of dealing with it. We recommend you try it at least once (after COVID) but just be careful that you don't go out too early!
Happy - 5:50
According to numerous resources, Icelanders are among the happiest people in the world. The lists are made using numerous parameters such has equality, salary and more. Alex is a bit perplexed over it but it's a scientific fact. Right?
www.forbes.com/sites/laurabeg...
Thirteen Santas - 7:00
Iceland has 13 santas or yule lads. They're awesome and start coming to town on the 12th of December to give the kids some presents. They have a child eating mother, a strange dad and a crazy cat but otherwise the household is mostly normal. We'll talk more about them soon.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland...
We hope you enjoy the video, please like and subscribe for more content!
- Alex & Louise
Hey guys and welcome to a brand new video! Where can you find people that are quite related, happy and nice? Well, according to Louise, ICELAND. Please like and subscribe for more content 😊
One day my
Dream is to move to Iceland, I love the weather and the country is spectacular !
CZcams did well recommending this one. Greetings from Iceland :)
I am coming to Iceland 🇮🇸 in August 2021 as I got admitted into the University of Iceland.
nice video
Thanks! More on the way 😊
Well you are definitely a very nice person and not cold! Lovely video❤️❤️
Thank you so much!
The way Iceland going. Every person in Iceland will have a cousin in Poland lol.
Áfram Ísland! Ég er að læra íslensku. Ég elska tungumálið! Takk kærlega fyrir myndbandið og bless bless frá Québec!
The reason why we Icelanders are so nice... is that Grýla, Leppalúði and their cat have already eaten all the "not so nice" children. And the naughty ones too. :Þ
As for how many sons Grýla has... well they are Stekkjarstaur, Giljagaur, Stúfur, Þvörusleikir, Pottasleikir, Askasleikir, Faldafeykir, Skyrgámur, Bjúgnakrækir, Gluggagægir, Gáttaþefur, Ketkrókur og Kertasníkir who do visit the cities and towns of us humans. Other children of Grýla are Tífill, Baggi, Lútur, Rauður, Redda, Steingrímur, Sledda, Bjálminn sjálfur, Litlipungur og Froðusleikir and a lot more who do not dress up in red outfits before travelling to human settlements. it is not know how many of the children are Leppalúða´s children... but it is known that the oldest 13 are from before Grýla moved in with Leppalúði.
Thanks for the comment Guðbjörg! I really loved Iceland and living there 😌 Alex just explained the Yule Lads to me, it's the perfect explanation 🤣We just made a new video about the family, we hope you enjoy!
- Louise 🥰
You won't see trees in the landscape from Keflavík to Reykjavík mainly because it's lavafield after lavafield there ;) ... and all the way to Hveragerði actually.
Exactly, makes for a nice landscape! Different from our Nordic neighbours where sometimes it's the only thing you see 😅
Do a video about Christmas in Iceland about the Santa's and stuff like that 👍
Hey Stefania! Keep an eye out, we are working on it 😊⛄🎅
I'm convinced now I WANNA MOVE TO ICELAND they r the definition of dgaf on nonsensical/ impractical things
Please talk about the small villages if you have visited them, like Húsavík or Flateyri. What is a road trip around island like?
That sounds like a really good idea! We'll do one just for you Jessica 😀🎅😊
So on the point of Icelanders being nice, I’ve heard it’s more of a public nice. Iceland is small and gossip travels, you don’t want to get a bad reputation so you project this air of niceness but then stuff is said behind closed doors in private.
I (Alex) would have to agree with you on that one!
It's a small community and you're right, word travels very fast and there have been cases of public slander without any real substance behind it. And there's just a lot of gossiping. Maybe a bit more of it with the older generation since they didn't have so much to do in their spare time 😅
But there's good and bad everywhere. I guess Louise draws her comparisons from her experiences in France, Switzerland, Sweden etc. and in those countries people might not be as tolerant towards foreigners for example. Compared to those, the first impression and helpfulness of Icelanders stood out for her.
But then again maybe they all talked "stuff" when she left the conversation 😅
min 1:25 Iceland was devastated by Viking eco-terrorism....Hmm, interesting. Good to know 😊
If you think we are nice, it just might be because of Grýla - If you were nice you got a little gift in your stocking, if you were perceived to be naughty you ran the risk of either getting a potato in your stocking or being EATEN by Grýla (or Jólakötturinn, terrors aplenty)! If there ever was an incentive to be nice, that was it!
All I know is that growing up in Iceland was totally stress-free in the 1950's, raising children was stress-free in the 1970's and 1990's (yep, 2 separate wives and child batches) and watching grandchildren being raised in just that environment is a stress-free joy, except for the period of 2019 and 2020 when 3 of my grandchildren lived in Arlington, Virginia, only 1.5 miles away from the White Mad-House of 'Murica. Fortunately they are back home now and are being re-acclimatized to a calm life where kids can go out to play all day long without supervision.
Telling people about the fun nightlife while nobody can visit or partake in it, now that's just cruel of you haha. Also, 5:33 I want to hear the story behind that comment!
Hopefully we can all celebrate together after we've defeated COVID. The story will have to wait a bit, there are actually a few 😅😂
Algjör snilld þessi myndbönd! Ég og konan bíðum spennt eftir meira efni frá ykkur :)
Takk meistari! Meira á leiðinni 😊
Kissing cousins for the whole country.