In the least cheesy way possible, I think it’s important as a citizen of the world to have a good understanding and knowledge of not only your own country, but to also learn as much as possible about the rest of the world as well. My parents growing up tried to expose my brother and I to different cultures and to teach us about them to the best of their ability. Of course this wasn’t much of a burden for my mom who majored in anthropology in college.
Because of this, I feel that I have been able to develop a broader perspective on the world and people around me, but I also realize that I always have so much more that I can learn. To be honest, going into this, I knew almost nothing about Iceland. All I knew is that people always talk about how Greenland and Iceland are switched in name because of historical things with the Vikings and Greenland is icier/more snowy, but let’s be so for real, they both got ice.
That being said, I’m just so excited to learn more about Iceland and to experience their culture. One of my favorite pastimes is just aimlessly wandering around new places and I can’t wait for my friends and I to have the opportunity to do so in another country. I also have never been to another country, although I have seen both Mexico and Canada from across the border and I have been to Puerto Rico which was very cool and a lot of fun. So going to Iceland will be a very exciting first for me.
In general, I think this experience will be a lot of fun. I can’t wait to eat Icelandic hotdogs, potentially see the northern lights, tour geothermal power plants, get close to cool natural features of the country, and so much more. Additionally, I believe this experience will be helpful to continue broaden my perspective on the world and to also expand my engineering knowledge, which can help inform my future work as an engineer.
With that said, I can’t wait to travel to Iceland in two weeks and come back with awesome photos and new stories for my friends and family.
Swanson School of Engineering 