Episodes

This week I chatted with Icelandic Geology expert Helga Kristín Torfadóttir. She is currently pursuing her PhD in volcanology and petrology, with a focus on structures of magma chambers. Additionally, she is a glacier guide, a model and drives really big cars. What an awesome combination! I came across Helga on Instagram, where her handle is @geology_with_helga and I was instantly stunned by her awesome photos, especially the one of her in a space suit, and her informative posts. I think she us...

This week I had the pleasure of chatting with James McDaniel about Horticulture in Iceland. For anyone that is not familiar with that word, horticulture is the art or practice of garden cultivation and management. Ever since learning about greenhouses in Iceland and just about different plants growing here in general, I have been looking forward to the day when I can talk to someone about this on the show. Background About James McDaniel James is a horticulturist that is focused on geothermal ...

June 2020 marked the 4th year of me living in Iceland and the 2nd year anniversary of the podcast. I think that with all that is going on in the world right now, I found myself reflecting on how much has changed for the podcast and in my personal life since moving to Iceland in 2016. During this episode, I plan to share some of my favorite moments during interviews this year, some of the places in Iceland that have a special place in my heart, an update about the podcast and a big announcement. ...

I had the pleasure to speak with Kristín Loftsdóttir, a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iceland. Her research has focused on migration, whiteness, gender, racism, Nordic exceptionalism, postcolonialism and crisis, basing on work in Iceland, Niger and Belgium. Published Work by Kristín Loftsdóttir is currently leading the project Creating Europe through Racialized Mobility (CERM) that received a grant from the Icelandic Center of Research and has actively participated in various ...

This week’s episode is focused on giving you some insight into my experience as a Black American female expat in Iceland. Along with that, I share how Iceland has responded to the gruesome killing of George Floyd by a police officer in the United States. As one might expect, everything that is happening right now in the United States is deeply personal for me. My Experience As A Black American Female Whether I like it or not, how I am perceived in the world, starts off with my skin color. I ha...

Lydia and Jonas are fellow U.S. expats in Iceland that host their own podcast called “The Raisin at the Hot Dog’s End”. Lydia is a writer and artist, and Jonas is a writer and translator. As you listen to the chat we had in my living room, you’ll get to hear the stories of how each of them ended up in Iceland. While we did talk about a variety of topics, I feel like the exchange we had about racism within the Icelandic society, which is more covert, is important and insightful. It is amazing to...

This week’s episode is an update that details how Iceland has successfully flattened the COVID-19 curve. On April 1st, I published a podcast episode that detailed the steps Iceland took after authorities found out about the virus in late December. I walked you through all of the restrictions put in place, but the timeline for those updates ended in mid-March. If you haven’t already, I recommend checking that out. Keep Up With Icelandic News This episode is a continuation of that timeline and wi...

I know this seems like a really random topic but I have been fascinated by this story ever since I learned about Björn Pétursson (Axlar-Björn) some months ago. The Iceland we know of today has been ranked as one the most peaceful countries in the world since the Global Peace Index was launched 13 years ago. However, this country definitely has had some gruesome murders in its past. Many of those murders were linked to disputes, such as those in some of the Sagas. Björn was an exception. It is i...

This week I am sharing the lovely chat I had with Mike Dell. He is a former U.S. Air Force officer that was stationed in Iceland during the 1990s. We talked about what it was like for him to live in Iceland as a military officer, how he was treated by Icelanders, what he enjoyed about the country and more. Similar to my last episode, I was connected with Mike in a rather unusual way. I use the service Blubrry to host my podcast and when I made the switch from the url fromforeigntofamiliar.com t...

I had the pleasure of sitting down with the awesome and very knowledgeable Icelandic herbalist Anna Rósa Róbertsdóttir. She specializes in the use of Icelandic medicinal herbs and has been providing her services to people in Iceland for several decades. Before jumping into her interview, I have to mention the funny way in which Anna Rósa and I ended up becoming connected. One day, I walked into an apótek in Iceland, called Jurtaapótek to buy some rosebud tea. As I was checking out, I saw a boo...

After posting in the Away From Home: Living in Iceland Facebook group that I was looking to speak to expats in Iceland about a variety of topics, I received a decent amount of responses. One of those people included Sæþór Benjamín Randalsson. Sæþór responded by writing the following comment, “I could talk about moving here as a gay man, or living through the 2008 crash, or the foster system, or the startup culture, or baking, or real estate.” I don’t know about you but all of those topics intri...

It is a little hard to believe that it is almost the one year anniversary of the bankruptcy of Wow Air. This low cost Icelandic airline went bust on March 28th, 2019. On that date last year, everyone was shocked when the airline suddenly ceased to operate. During this episode, I will go over why and how the airline skyrocketed to success, what it was like during its heyday, what caused WOW Air to fail, how its bankruptcy affected the Icelandic economy, and what’s next. Skúli Mogensen – The Foun...

A few days ago I posted on the All Things Iceland Instagram and Facebook pages that I do plan to give a rundown of how the Coronavirus is spreading in Iceland and what the government has been doing to control it. I do not plan to give updates every few days about the virus. I think it is important to talk about it. However, I mainly created All Things Iceland to share about Icelandic culture, history, language and nature. Not to just focus on one topic. Also, I think it is nice to be able to es...

I had the pleasure of interviewing Gísli Pálsson for this episode of the podcast in his office at the University of Iceland. He recently retired, but he has served as a professor and Director of Institute of Anthropology at the university. He has written several books, including “The Man Who Stole Himself”, the story about Hans Jónatan, who was the first black citizen of Iceland. To get a good overview of that story you can check out the video below that I recently published about Hans Jónatan ...

Icelandic sheep are a mix of adorable and fascinating. During the summer, you can find them roaming freely around the country. For months they are on what seems like the ultimate Icelandic summer vacation – eating, sleeping, and walking wherever they please. Before winter sets in, they are rounded up by the farmers that own them so they can be sheltered from the harsh Icelandic weather. Regardless of the season, the Icelandic sheep farmer is always at work. If you are interested in hearing a fi...

To get a better understanding of the Icelandic education system, I sat down with Arnór Guðmundsson for this episode of the All Things Iceland podcast. In his role as the Director of the Directorate of Education, his agency focuses on testing and producing textbooks for schools in Iceland. We discussed many things. Some of them include the different levels of education in Iceland, how the Icelandic education system compares with other countries, and some challenges the Directorate is facing. The...

When people think of Iceland, they have images of beautiful landscapes, sheep, the northern lights, and glaciers. Many are unaware of the scandals, corruption, and overall fascinating events show up in Iceland news stories throughout the year. If you have listened to previous episodes of this show, such as the interviews with Dóra, the former President of the City Council, Alda Sigmundsdóttir, Kári Stefánsson, Andie Fontaine, Jón Gnarr, and Andri Snær Magnasson, you will have heard about some o...

The Icelandic sheep farm is pretty much as old as the country because the first settlers from Norway in the 9th and 10 centuries brought sheep with them. As a native New Yorker that was completely disconnected from raw nature, such as the kind found in Iceland, I find it fascinating and difficult to imagine what it would be like to grow up and work on a farm. When I came across Pálína’s Instagram account (@farmlifeiceland), I just knew that I had to interview her for the All Things Iceland podc...

I had the pleasure of chatting with Eunsan Huh, the awesome creator of the popular Instagram account, @EverySingleWordinIcelandic. On her account, you will find Icelandic words that she has illustrated as icons, which is helping her and others to learn the language. She has also created a book called “Iceland in Icons: a Pictographic Travel Guide“, which I will have a link to in the show notes of this episode. It was so much fun to chat with her about how she fell in love with Iceland, why she ...

For episode fifty of the All Things Iceland podcast, I interviewed Kári Stefánsson, an Icelandic neurologist who is also the founder and CEO of deCode genetics. deCode is a biopharmaceutical company based in Reykjavík. Kári pioneered the use of, “population scale genetics to understand variation in the sequence of the human genome.” WIkipedia The discoveries from using this approach have helped with developing new drugs. Additionally, the discoveries have helped scientists to better understand...

Today is a very special episode because in June of 2018, I launched the All Things Iceland podcast. A full year later, there are 47 episodes (48 if you include this one) and more than 60,000 downloads. I am incredibly grateful for all of the people that have listened to this podcast and for those who do so in the future. I thought it would be fun to do something a little different for this special occasion. Send In Your Questions For The Podcast I plan to publish an episode that is dedicated t...

The history of the Icelandic government, also known as Alþingi (pronounced “Althingi”), dates back to the 900s. This episode breaks down the evolution of the government in this country from the very beginning to present day. The World’s Oldest Surviving Parliament In previous episodes, I have mentioned the Alþingi, which is the the Icelandic parliament. It was founded in 930 at Þingvellir, which is now part of the Golden Circle and is one of the most historically important sites in the country...

During this part of the interview, Andri provides some great insight into the current literature landscape in Iceland and the impact of literature from this country on the world. We start off this interview talking about Reykjavík being a UNESCO City of Literature. Andri is a great person to talk about this because he is the chairman of the board for the Reykjavík UNESCO City of Literature. Andri also shares he favorite pieces of Icelandic literature, his environmental advocacy work, his run fo...

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Andri Snær Magnason, an award winning writer of novels, poetry, plays and films. He is also a very active environmental activist. We chatted about his fascinating literary career, how he chooses topics to write about, and so much more. Because we talked for about one hour and forty five minutes, I decided to break up the episode into two parts. You’ll hear me say in the beginning that I want to speak with Andri about Reykjavík being a UNESCO City of Liter...