This year, as it has now been for a few years, the hosted exchange students in Iceland had the opportunity to spend a weekend in the beautiful Northern part of the country as part of an optional trip organized by Norðurlandsdeild AFS (Northern chapter).
For students travelling to Akureyri the trip started on Thursday. After a stormy bus ride from Reykjavík to Akureyri, the students and volunteers from the capital area were welcomed by the Northern chapter. After having dinner, students and volunteers gathered to have a cosy evening, chatting and playing games. On Friday, students and volunteers went on an excursion to discover some of the most incredible sights around Lake Mývatn such as Góðafoss waterfall and Námafjall geothermal area. After this windy sightseeing, most of the students were looking forward to the next stop where they would be able to warm themselves up; the geothermal source of Jarðböðin by Mývatn. After nearly 3 hours of lounging in the hot water, it was time to head back to Akureyri. Once again, the evening was spent chatting, building friendships and getting to know each other better.
On Saturday, the group visited a farm where it was possible to pet cows, sheep and horses. On the way back, the students stopped by the Christmas house – a magical place that explains some of the Christmas traditions of Iceland. That afternoon, students and volunteers went to the swimming pool and participated in a scavenger hunt around the city, an activity that the volunteers had happily organized. As this was the last evening before heading back home, people decided to go to bed a bit later than usual, watching a movie in Icelandic! Sunday morning, everyone helped cleaning up the rooms and then it was already time to head back home.
Thank you very much to the amazing team of volunteers for organizing this trip! See you next year.
Gabriel Pitre-Traversy,
Marketing and Social Media responsible
Photos by: AFS Norðurlandsdeild