What’s Driving Young Icelanders to Move to the Countryside?

Halla Ólafsdóttir, a young Icelander, shares with me why she feels that people in her generation are moving away from the Reykjavík area in favor of the countryside. Halla has a BA degree in Icelandic language and creative writing at the University of Iceland. At the Free University of Berlin, she received an MA in Visual and Media Anthropology. Halla moved back to Iceland in 2014. Even though she was born and raised in Reykjavík, she chose to move to Ísafjörður in 2015.  While there, she’s been working for news and other programs of RÚV, the National broadcasting service, in the Westfjords. It was fascinating for me to hear what she felt is driving a young Icelander, like herself, to more remote places of the country. It certainly was not what I was expecting to hear as a trend in Iceland. However, after this discussion and living in Ísafjörður for three weeks, I can see why a young Icelander would gravitate towards the countryside. I hope you enjoy this interview. All Things Iceland Won an Award! It is with awe and gratitude that I share that tonight I was presented with an Equal Rights Award from the town of Mosfellsbær. This award is for the work I’ve been doing on the All Things Iceland podcast and YouTube channel to share the experiences of different foreign nationals and Icelanders in this country. It’s an honor for me to share those stories and to shine a light on the diversity in this country. I’m so grateful that the town I live in sees the value in that work. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this award and helping to lift up diverse voices in our community. Join the All Things Iceland Community on Patreon Some of you might be aware that one of my goals for the podcast is to travel around Iceland more to interview different people in each region. In July, I set up the All Things Iceland community on Patreon. Patreon is a membership platform that was founded in 2013. It allows for creators like me to provide exclusive content to listeners like you in exchange for a monthly subscription. I would like to give a shout out to Julia. She is one of the newest members of the Ásgarður tier in the All Things Iceland community on Patreon. Julia and the other members in the community are helping to support the evolution of All Things Iceland and I greatly appreciate it. Each month I am doing Ask Me Anything videos, Live Chats, and Folklore Friday each week. Sometimes I do updates about my life in Iceland. I do not share this content on any other channel. The support from my patrons on the All Things Iceland community on Patreon will help to evolve All Things Iceland. There are several membership tiers to choose from and each tier has a variety of benefits. If you would like to join the community, go to patreon.com/allthingsiceland. I look forward to having you join. Let’s be social! Here is where you can connect with me: Instagram Facebook YouTube Twitter Þakka þér kærlega fyrir að hlusta (og að lesa) og sjáumst fljótlega Thank you kindly for listening (and reading) and see you soon!