Be sure you know what you sign up for! Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

It is not rigorous whatsoever. There is a week period in the middle where there are a lot of assignments, but after that, they actually run out of things to teach and just ask students to teach for them in so-called "learning forums." Most of your grade comes from your social behavior anyway. The assignments have similar directions, such as "please tell us in 2 pages double-spaced how this trip affected your view on sustainability." Their lectures consist of information they either wikipedia-searched or originated from their own opinion rather than fact. They also refused to share any of their resources with us.

On-site administration of your program

This is really where the worst part of the program comes in: the instructors. In the original contract, the only restrictions are: no visitors, no alcohol, and no smoking. Once we got there, we found out that we also could not travel in our free time, we found out we had to cook for the instructors while they never participated, and we had to clean the entire house while they never participated because they were "too busy." Later, we also learned that they did not actually arrange anything by themselves. This was all done by Herdis, the local contact in Iceland. If you do go on this program, Herdis is the most reliable person you will meet there.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I was actually surprised by the living arrangements. I expected that we would all be housed in one or two rooms to cut costs on housing, but we actually each got our own room. The only disappointment here is that because Solheimar did not hire a new cleaning person in a long time, we received fresh sheets maybe 3 times in the 12 weeks we were there.

Once you go on this program, you will find another surprise: because the instructors are vegetarian, they demand that all meals are vegetarian as well. The food works in the following way: Breakfast: You make your own meal, and are expected to finish before the morning meeting at 8am. Lunch: Lunch is eaten at the Solheimar dining hall where most of the village goes for lunch. You may find meat here if you are not a vegetarian, but whether you are vegetarian or not, you can rely on the fact that everything is deep-fried. One more thing to watch out for: you are graded on whom you sit with at lunch. They will tell you in the beginning: "everything is academic." Take this statement literally. Dinner: Cooked by the students. Usually one more experienced and less experienced cook. You have to eat what the others serve, otherwise you can make your own meal later on. Overall on cooking: there aren't many cooking supplies, so don't expect a well equipped kitchen.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

As you probably know by now, Solheimar is a village of about 100 people where 43 or so are disabled. They call them "home people." It sounds very daunting to interact with them, and that's because it is. You don't know what conditions they have, and it's important to receive training on this issue. The most the instructors help you is "try to give them a high-five." The instructors also don't know any Icelandic, even though they have been on this program at least 6 times. You will receive a total of 9 Icelandic lessons, about 1 per week, so don't expect to learn the language either. As I have mentioned before, they forbid you to travel on your own time, and interactions with the interns that live in the village are also discouraged.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I did not need any vaccines for this program, since Iceland is considered a developed country, I believe. The healthcare system is not very good. While there is a hospital 30 minutes away (in Selfoss), it could not take care of any serious issues, so most of that would be in Reykjavik. I did have one encounter where I needed to see the doctor, and the instructors did drive me there, but only whenever it was convenient with their academic schedule. The way the healthcare payment works is that you pay the fee upfront and then get whatever international health insurance you got to reimburse you once you come back.

Iceland is harmless. Solheimar is harmless. There is no need to worry about safety. The instructors are also all about safety, which is why when you go on hikes, you will mainly cover flat terrain, and you will also never touch any glaciers. They tell you to buy ice-cleats "for when you go on the glacier," but once you arrive at the glacier, they tell you it's a liability issue and they don't allow it. Everything is a liability issue. But once again, there is no need to worry about safety.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Technically, you can go through the whole program without paying for anything. However, you do want to spend some money on food, because the food the instructors buy for you is as cheap as they can make it, and sometimes food orders don't arrive on time. You will probably also buy an icelandic sweater as most people did, so there goes some money.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

Because the instructors never bothered to learn the language, this was really a moot issue. You are not expected to know anything really, and there are no tests (even though the syllabus says there are).

Select all that apply

• Hostel

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• Americans
• Other

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• Americans

• Herdis, our Icelandic teacher
• The other interns in the village
• The pool

• The instructors
• The courses
• Anything CELL related

The Avid Adventurer