This is the third part of a multi-part series on Day 1 of the 2026 Iceland Intensive Learning Trip. To see the first part, click here; to see the second part, click here.
Despite our vastly different circumstances in life, it was interesting to see just how many similarities our lives had. In the end, we walked out of the guesthouse and said our goodbyes, and that talk enabled us to look at the surrounding town and island in a new light.
By Drew M. and Ethan C.
As of a few years ago, Grindavik was a bustling fishing town with a population of over 3500 people. Now, after the eruptions and earthquakes that hit the town about a year ago, cracks and valleys appear and have sunk tons of homes, and the population has shrunk to under 500. Today, we were going to Grindavik to speak to a family we had the chance to email with before our trip. This family owns and operates a guesthouse, and today, our group got to visit their guesthouse and hear firsthand about how they had to evacuate during the eruptions and how things have been since.
After a long day of traveling around the peninsula, we arrived in Grindavik, and began to make our way to the guesthouse. The first thing we noticed upon entering the town was how quiet and empty the town seemed, and after hearing from our hosts who had returned to Grindavik after the eruption, we understood.
The family shared their long and interesting tale about having to survive and recuperate through the quakes and eruptions, and their many points about connections between friends and family were nice as well. Additionally, they shared about the political scope of Iceland and about the hardships with their government that weren’t too dissimilar to our own. Dagmar, who runs the guesthouse with her husband, specifically talked about trying to keep the town local and rebuying buildings from the government as a starting point to fully restoring the town. Despite our vastly different circumstances in life, it was interesting to see just how many similarities our lives had. In the end, we walked out of the guesthouse and said our goodbyes, and that talk enabled us to look at the surrounding town and island in a new light.