Living and Learning

Margaret Hoyt

My expectations of what this experience would be like have been surpassed within just three weeks of living Solheimar. I was pretty clueless about much of my impending experience including what my living situation would be, who my fellow group members would be, how difficult the academics would be, what my day to day life would consist of, etc. Usually, not knowing this information would make me anxious and concerned but with this experience, I was too overwhelmed with excitement and anticipation to worry about those details. I had a sense of confidence in the journey I was about to embark on, with whatever it held, and was eager for it to begin. Those feelings of assurance did not steer me incorrectly, I have had the most amazing time in Iceland thus far and have learned more in this short amount of time than I would have in an entire semester at school. Just as a side note, I think that gives credit to the power of experiential learning and proves how significant learning outside of a traditional classroom really is.

Currently past the one-quarter mark, we are now fully part of a unified community at Solheimar, one excelling at community values and aiming to live as sustainably as possible. Within our time here we have climbed Mount Hestur, hiked the porsmork  trail, herded sheep for a local farmer, watched several documentaries including Meltdown, Carbon Nation, and Temple Gradin, made pottery at Solheimar workshops (others worked in forestry, the community garden, soap making, paper making or weaving), had countless one-on-one and group discussions about sustainability (including changing our lifestyles to personally live more sustainably as well as being models of sustainability for our families, friends and complete strangers to possibly follow) how we can find hope in humanity, etc., and just today, we returned from a three day trip to the Hekla forest.

While here, I’ve had many realizations. None more significant than the understanding of how crucial my generation is. I’ve done more thinking about the state of our world as a whole than I ever have before. For some time, I’ve had a limited perspective that our earth is solely in environmental damage but being here, widening and deepening my global perspective, has sadly made me realize, our world is in a much more devastating situation. We seem to be ignorantly striding towards humanities downfall with no intention of changing our habits and improving our future. Not learning much from the 2008 economic crash, we are striving to reach the same economic power as before and are even aiming for beyond. Instead of changing our mindsets, we are still greedy, money driven individuals who find the most happiness in power and fortune.

For much of my life, I was money orientated. I thought money equaled security so I was therefore extremely frugal growing up. I didn’t pay attention to the quality of food I was eating or where my clothing was being made but instead focused on the price tag and the price tag alone. Thanks to the wake up call from my mom and sister, I no longer think that like and this experience in Iceland has only validated that mindset change even more. Money should not be the sole driver in our decisions, we should not always do what is cheapest. Although I agree it should continue to be a factor, other elements should play a part as well like, is this decision helping my neighbor, is this supporting a friend of mine, is riding my bike improving my health, would changing my eating habits decrease my ecological footprint? Instead of being money, money, money, or cheap, cheap, cheap, we need to think more globally. 

To end on a happier note, my generation is very much in the hot seat but I am optimistic. I find the most hope in my classmates. We are young individuals who have made ourselves aware and informed of our environmental, economical, and political situation and instead of brushing it under the rug, we are joining together to brainstorm strategies and begin being role models of sustainability.  I cannot wait to develop these thoughts more and continue this amazing experience with my new incredible friends.