Celebrating Six Years of Living in Iceland – How My Life Has Changed

June marks my 6th year of living in Iceland and it has certainly been a whirlwind of a year. Every year I try to reflect on what has happened and share what might be relevant or interesting for my audience. Interestingly, six seems to be a significant number in my life. For instance, my birthday is 160686, my phone number has a lot of sixes in it and even my new apartment block has the number 6. It‘s possible that these have nothing to do with each other but it is still fun to point that out while I am celebrating six years of being here. How My Work /Career in Iceland Has Changed All Things Iceland is my full-time job and it has been so fun and challenging to navigate this country as an entrepreneur. The tax situation was a shock at first but I think I have a handle on it now. Well, at least my accountant does! As I build relationships with individuals and companies, I find my connection to this country deepening. As I have grown on platforms, I find it amazing how awesome my community is. All of you are such supportive, fun people that engage in respectful ways and I’m so grateful for that. TikTok is new for me but that is now where most Icelanders recognize me, which is kind of bizarre but I embrace it. I have a lot of things I’m developing that will be helpful resources for travelers and I look forward to sharing those soon While it can be easy to only talk about the positive aspects, I do have to say there are cons too, such as getting overwhelmed, working non-stop, hardly ever taking a vacation, and trying to balance having a life with work. I’m still adjusting to all of this but I know it takes time to find what works best for me. Photo by Art Bicnick My Progress Learning Icelandic This topic has been one that I have talked about on and off over the years. While my understanding, speaking and writing continue to improve and evolve, I still do not consider myself to be fluent. One reason for the stall in progress there is that I’ve been so focused on All Things Iceland. In addition, I’ve stopped being so hard on myself when it comes to learning. Part of what makes learning Icelandic interesting to me is that I allow for it to be fun and casual. I also have enough knowledge to use it in conversations. I will admit that I do feel it is necessary for me to keep learning and I plan to get to a level of fluency that satisfies me. What I mean by that is that I can have complex conversations in Icelandic easily. Some years ago it would have been difficult for me to admit this to people but now I embrace the fact that my language journey is not linear. There is no shame in not being perfect at it, and I think it is so important to be open and honest about what the process can be like for some people. Adapting to Icelandic Society Luckily, I’ve always felt like it was the right decision for me to move to Iceland. It definitely feels like home and I am well aware of most of the traditions. The fun thing now is that I get to dive deeper. For instance, I was in the Westman Islands recently, and I had such an amazing time getting shown around by some locals. This island off the coast of mainland Iceland has a lot going on, just like the different regions of the country. It's funny how highlighting a specific place allows me to expand my knowledge about Iceland in profound ways. One of the things I plan to dive into, especially regarding the Westman Islands, is talking to locals there that had to flee the island during the 1973 volcanic eruption of Eldfell. I love that part of this work and I can’t wait to share those stories in the future. Photo by Tida Svy What’s Next for My Journey in Iceland Summer has just begun and I have already traveled a decent amount,