All of you might be wondering, why Iceland is actually being dubbed as the land of Ice, when its apparently greenier than Greenland itself. “Greenland is not green, and Iceland is not cold”- some people keep on grouching around. Pardon me ladies and gentlemen for I do not concede. I find Iceland to be rather frigid. Maybe temperatures rarely drop below 0, but when the oceanic wind is stirring around, one gets this impression as if Iceland was the severest and coldest place on earth. “Reykjavik on a dark winter morning, a small town in Siberia” – Hallgrimur Helgason writes in his novel “101 Reykjavik”.
After I had been studying geopolitics, I realized that the weather conditions we live in, shape our mindset as well as the way we react to certain things happening to us. For instance Latin people seem to be much more open and cordial than those living in Scandinavian countries. Let’s have a glimpse at the Icelandic cinema. Even comedies are “dark-humoured” here. Icelanders are not effusive at all, rather aloof and coy. In case you would like to forge friendships with them, keep in mind its required to be armed with patience.
They are not walking with their heads high in the clouds. During the day, a typical Icelander would try to get a grip on every move he makes, not even looking you straight in the eye. They all put their masks off to come out of the closet at night and gather together like wolves in the streets, storming widely into pubs. Searching for a partner to perform the act of copulation with. Daydreaming at night, because as soon as the sun rises up on the horizon everything gets back to normality. Just as in a dream. Everything was gone after you woke up in the morning.
On the other hand how can you be able to immerse yourself in fantasies if this severe climate forces you to be always vigilant in order to figure out how to survive. Vikings’ descendants got used to the moody weather and they are doing pretty well. Never in a hurry , cherishing every day.
Iceland is full of contradictions. You don’t need much of observations to notice it. I would say a short walk up the Laugavegur street over the weekend will do. Timid and shy they change radically…under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol makes them buoyant, having them eluded ,they possess an ability to do everything. Regardless, Reykjaviks’s inhabitants consider themselves artists. They play, sing, paint, write poems. One day at open jazz stage session people from the audience stand up from their chairs and join the band. They all sing outstandingly good. I don’t think there is another country in the world so rich with people endowed with talents that run the gamut. Anyway , mind you, Iceland can be icy cold.
