In addition to grueling schedules of homework, work, internships, and extracurricular activities, we often confront difficult situations during our college years. A family member can become sick, a friend may fall into depression, a girl in your sorority may suddenly experience a serious eating disorder, etc.
For me, it was my best friend’s unexpected adverse reaction to prescription medication that brought me great stress. One Sunday as I was traveling back to the University of Iowa after a relaxing weekend at home, I received a most upsetting phone call. My best friend Lauren had experienced a negative reaction to a prescription medication, which caused her to fall into a coma. The doctors could not determine when, or even if, she would wake up. If Lauren did wake up, it was possible that she could have permanent brain damage. I tried to understand the situation, but it felt so surreal.
Fortunately for myself, and for other students going through tough times, there are many resources available that can help you deal with life’s most stressful situations. Use these ideas to help you cope while at school:
Visit your university’s student health clinic: Many schools offer free psychiatric services. If you need to talk to someone, you can schedule a visit with a professional to discuss any problems you may be experiencing, from anxiety to depression to alcohol abuse. Just like any other doctor, your visit is completely confidential.
Contact a free health line: Schools may also offer anonymous phone lines to discuss any personal situation. For example, Iowa hosts a phone line dedicated to helping young women who have been sexually assaulted. Many are open 24 hours a day and help you with short-term counseling. You can even contact the National Mental Health Association at (800)969-6642 for help.
Exercise regularly: When your body is physically healthy, your mental health will improve, allowing you to fight off stress. Aerobic exercise releases endorphins that can make you feel better and happier. Many colleges offer students free or discounted admission at university-owned work out facilities.
Stop smoking or drinking excessive alcohol: Although you may feel that smoking and drinking will help relieve stress, these habits actually contribute to stress. Consuming alcohol induces stress because it stimulates the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands. These glands control moods and emotions, sexuality, and energy storage. Smoking acts as a stimulant and induces more stress as well.
Surround yourself with positive people: When times are difficult, it’s likely that you will feel there are no solutions to your problem. That’s why it’s a good idea to spend time with those people who are always looking on the bright side, and who can help you find the positives in every situation. Spending time with friends can help take your mind off things for a while, and give you that much needed break from reality.
Everyone encounters stressful situations at some point during college, so don’t ever feel that you’re alone. Choosing to confront and deal with your problems is an integral part of growing up and will only make you stronger. You will emerge more confident in yourself, and your new skills will prove beneficial in future situations.
I am happy to say that Lauren has since come out of her coma. She has no brain or speech damage, but she is working hard every day to regain her motor skills. It is truly a miracle! I know that Lauren would not be able to keep her positive attitude without her friends and family’s support, so it is important to realize that our greatest help is our friends and family. We must always keep each other in mind and support one another to make our college experiences the most fulfilling and rewarding they can possibly be.
Ever thought about foregoing the typical spring break experience and trying someplace new and exciting? Well we doubt most people have considered Iceland before, but you may want to after reading this post!
Iceland: Little Ice, Lots of Warmth
by: Erica Shaw
If taking extreme jeep rides over glaciers, snowmobiling in the biting Arctic wind, bathing outside in geo-thermal pools, watching natural geysers spout boiling water from the earth and witnessing the mystery behind the aurora borealis isn’t your idea of a vacation, then you should think again. Fifty years ago, the city of Reykjavik, Iceland, located at 64 degrees North (just south of the Arctic Circle), the same city that boasts all of these natural attractions, would be completely unidentifiable from today. At that time, Reykjavik was a mere fishing village that was yet to take part in the industrial boom that hit the rest of the modern world. The country is a stone’s throw away from Europe and the modern advancements that were taking place there post World War II. As a landmass that can barely sustain agriculture, never mind infrastructure, Iceland was very much left out of this rise to the top. As David Brooks, a British expatriate and current Icelandic tour guide explained, “Iceland wanted so much to be a part of the great things that were happening all over Europe. But it needed more than what it could offer in natural resources, which apart from sulfur and hot water, were far and few between. Around the 1950s, Icelandic people started to capitalize on the things they did have: space and willing workers. Not long after, Reykjavik became the booming metropolis, albeit small one, that it is today.” In 2007, before the recent financial collapse that reversed much of the economic growth in Iceland seen since 1950, and its unfortunate placement on the “financial terrorist” list by Great Britain, Reykjavik enjoyed the second highest standard of living in the world next to Norway. As my Norwegian friend Mia Juritzen never fails to remind me, “Iceland is not actually part of Scandinavia! Only the great countries of Sweden, Finland and Norway fall into this category”. This was a misconception that was quickly cleared up upon landing in Keflavík International Airport. Sub-zero temperatures and extremely fresh air come to mind when thinking of Scandinavia. Instead, it was about 15 degrees F at 6:40 am, which warmed to a cool 35 degrees F around noon. The air, while clear and unpolluted, reeked of sulfur. A warm gulf stream heats up the coastal city of Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital and largest city (though still prone to wind gales), while the island’s many volcanoes make the air and hot-water redolent of hard-boiled eggs. Though this omnipresent smell of sulfur is unpleasant, it does not detract from the country’s physical beauty or attraction. Iceland is an ideal vacation spot regardless of the vacation you’re searching for.
My first days in Iceland quickly proved true what the tour guides had been telling me all along:
Iceland is not only closer than you think, but far different than you ever imagined. Summers are surprisingly warm and winters not as cold as you might expect. Regardless of when you visit, be assured that the warmth shown by Icelanders, their desire to share their culture and the efforts made to make your stay as pleasant as possible will, like the spectacular landscape, never be forgotten.
Of course these few lines are meant to bring weary people looking for adventure AND relaxation to this country of splendor, but there isn’t a phrase in there that I could refute. Upon landing in the early morning, my friends and I were treated with warmth and enthusiasm by a crowd very well versed in English. Every person we encountered spoke near perfect or flawless English. This includes the suspicious waitress with a strange accent that my friends and I encountered at the Fiskmarkadurinn restaurant. As it turns out, she was actually from Florida. Given this, I’d say she spoke the worst English of all the natives we encountered, and I don’t mean natives of the United States. That’s how good they are. The Icelanders live to please, and their accommodation of English speakers is no exception to this rule.
Our first day in Iceland was spent getting oriented in the capital. We took a 40-minute bus ride from the airport on Reykjavik Excursion’s “Fly Bus.” For about $40.00, we got a roundtrip drop off and pick up directly at our hotel on the day of arrival and departure. This is about the only way to get from Keflavik to Reykjavik, short of renting a vehicle. While I was greeted warmly by our hotel concierge, I was not, by the land. Descending from the airport bus, I immediately slipped on ice and fell right on my butt. I nearly knocked over the man in front of us, whom we would later run into at the Blue Lagoon, and Apotek, a popular club in Reykjavik. That’s how small Reykjavik is. It boasts little over 20,000 people and it feels no bigger than a state university of the same size. We saw the same people out again and again at night, and all those people knew people who knew the other people coincidentally sitting next to us at the bar. The moral of this story: Reykjavik is a very manageable and walk-able city. Oh, that, and be sure to pack boots with a winter grip sole!
We arrived at our apartment/hotel, “Room with a View,” with little or no incident, minus my bruised behind and dignity. The hotel is located right on the main shopping and restaurant strip, called Laugavegur. As locations go, this one was key. Many of the nicer and more upscale hotels were located a bit outside of the main drag, making late-night trips home and general getting around more difficult. For the price we paid, and the room we got (it had a hot tub on the porch!), our hotel was the best option around. It was clean, relatively quiet, and the concierge was helpful. I recommend staying in accommodations that have a kitchen. Food and alcohol are extremely expensive in Reykjavik. Even right now with its failing economy, where the Kronur (Iceland’s national currency) is quickly devaluing compared to the American dollar, average meals are hard to find under $40.00. This is without alcohol or even dessert. Having a kitchen to cook a few meals in, even if that meal is just breakfast, can help a traveler from breaking the bank.
After buying some groceries for breakfast at the 24 hour supermarket 3 blocks from our hotel, my friends and I walked around the dormant city and snapped pictures of the scenery. Typical of other European cities, Reykjavik gets a late start on Saturday mornings, especially at 8 am when the sun has not yet risen. Contrary to popular belief, Reykjavik actually sees a good deal of sunlight in early March when we took our vacation. The light was visible starting around 8 am and didn’t set until about 7pm. David Brooks explained the phenomenon to us in terms we could understand.
“We actually don’t have 24 hours of darkness in the winter like it is believed. Though, we do have 24 hours of sunlight through the better part of the summer. This has to do with the reflection of the sun in the sky, which makes it appear to be light all the time on days other than the summer solstice. In the winter, light is reflected for the brief period of sunrise, so we get about 2 hours of sunlight at this time of year. Because Iceland is so far north, our days get longer very rapidly.”
The photos that we did get at this time of the morning were absolutely spectacular. I highly recommend getting early morning pictures, because the lighting is very soft. The weather on our trip, while absolutely beautiful and uncharacteristically sunny for eight days straight, made it difficult to capture the beauty of the mountain glaciers and cool Arctic sea that borders the city. The sun reflected heavily on the very white and blue landscapes making them difficult to see. Should you be so lucky to have such clear weather, late in the day and early morning pictures come out the most vibrant. In addition, we also stopped at the National Museum located in the west of the city in order to get a bit of history on the country we would inhabit for the next week.
Iceland has an absolutely fascinating history. As Viking saga records it, Iceland was settled by Norwegians who fled from the tyranny of their Norwegian King Harald Haarfagri in 847. They left Norway, stopping in Ireland to pick up slaves for their new home, and arrived on the island we now call Iceland. They established a permanent settlement there, and by 930 had created the world’s first parliamentary system called Althing, at the site known as Thingvellir. This is a beautiful outdoor amphitheatre and National Park located in southwest Iceland that is visited on one of many “Golden Circle Tours” that leave from Reykjavik daily. This is a great tour for first timers to Iceland to do. Tour guides pick participants up at their hotel in the morning, and take them to see three of the country’s most famous outdoor sites: the Gulfoss waterfall, Thingvellir, and the natural geysers. We had a great tour guide, David Brooks, who runs his own company out of Reykjavik. He has much smaller tours than Reykjavik Excursions, which has a monopoly on the business. He brought us on an extensive and personalized excursion, which had additional stops, apart from the main three. He told us the fascinating history of Iceland, informed us about the financial crisis, and gave us a history of the language –my personal favorite. We had a spectacular day and the sun was shining brilliantly to help keep away the wind chill.
Despite the sudden economic threat, Iceland continues to prosper. It made it onto New York Times forty-four places to visit in the world. Frank Bruni reports of Reykjavik’s booming nightlife in his article, 36 Hours in Reykjavik Iceland. He claims that the economy doesn’t seem to be suffering too greatly from the amount of alcohol consumption he witnessed.
I spoke to several natives my first night out in Reykjavik that mirrored this sentiment. Around midnight on Saturday we entered Kaffibarrinn, a small bar around the corner from our hotel with the image of a London Underground sign above the door. The tiny two-room pub was teeming with martini clad hipsers and trendy blonde girls in tight black cocktail dresses drinking champagne. The room was warm and bustling, and not a sober person was in sight. The rumors are certainly true, Icelandic people love to party, and the current financial situation seems to be doing nothing to suppress this. I asked the bartender if business had slowed at all. He didn’t even respond, he just laughed as if to imply that I should look around. I quickly ordered my golden eight-dollar brew from the attractive bartender, liquid gold, and headed for a table with my friends. As a brunette with brown eyes and olive complexioned skin, I stood out from the fair skinned Nordic natives. I was quickly approached by men on the prowl looking for someone new. I used this to my advantage to learn a little bit about the people in Iceland. The first guy I spoke with was a native Icelandic man with an American mother and a typical Icelandic name, Arni. His mother moved to Reykjavik on a music scholarship and quickly fell in love with the landscape and the handsome tall, blonde haired, blue-eyed men. This was something I could understand. There wasn’t an ugly person in the entire bar. His mother never looked back. Neither would I. Arni explained:
She wanted to raise us here because she thought the standard of life was better than in America. She taught us English, like everyone else. We value education and small town living here. I played in the streets at midnight when the sun was still up in the summer time, and she didn’t have to worry about my safety. This appealed to her a lot as a young mother. There’s hardly any crime here.
As he was telling me about the low crime rate, my friends were ironically getting pick-pocketed. Yes, in a country that sees one murder every two years, according to our tour guide, both of their wallets were taken. We told a number of people about this during our travels as a humorous foreigner anecdote. The locals were flabbergasted by this news. In fact, the common response was one of refusal to believe. Our other new friend Aran surmised, “There’s no way it was a local. We don’t know how to do things like that. It was definitely a foreigner. The Eastern European countries have a history of crimes and violence here. We didn’t start to see crime until the immigrants came.” Now clearly I am not suggesting that Eastern European people are all thieves or that all Icelandic people are incapable of crime, but merely that the locals are extremely peaceful and caring people, adverse to crime. They lived in complete isolation and harmony until people started visiting the country 50 years ago. The issues that other countries face about race and discrimination were never an issue in Iceland because it was homogenous. The complications that are bound to arise when new cultures come to a country so rooted in tradition didn’t spoil Iceland until very recently. It’s this fact that probably leads to their somewhat ethnocentric views.
Another man I spoke to my first night, Daniel Scheving, a native of Iceland, told me his opinion of his country. “I think we’re very lucky. I think a lot of Icelanders don’t know how lucky we are. Because they are complaining about the situation here [the financial crisis] but if you put them in the same position as people in Spain or Italy, same education, same age, they would see how lucky they actually were.” I asked him why he felt this way. He said, “In the last years we have had a big economy burst. We work a lot, we are well educated. I’m not sure, but I think we can deliver because we are so few! [in population].” Interestingly enough, Daniel is a retail banker. Of course, given the financial situation of their country, which caused a run on deposits in the UK and massive national bank debt, I had to ask how this was affecting him. He informed me that it really wasn’t at all. This is astounding, given all of the talk in the news and the massive inflation of the Kronur and issues with refinancing short-term debt. Still the streets were alive with cackling teens and stumbling friends. We waited in line for dinner every night, whether it be Monday, Wednesday, or Friday! Perhaps the New York Times phrased it best, “The Kronur May Be Down, but Not Spirits.”David our tour guide came to the rescue. He explained, “It may seem that this crisis is having very little affect on the people. It’s just that they were so wealthy before, people with multiple houses and cars per family, that now they’re just living like the rest of the world. I think it’s a good thing. It will be the first time that an Icelandic child hears ‘no’ when asking for money. These are important lessons to learn for a generation blessed by wealth.”
The rest of the weekdays were spent doing less drinking and more active tourism. I rode my first Icelandic volcano horse, well my first horse ever, rather successfully! Reykjavik offers a number of tours that leave from the city, which take those interested to horse farms nearby. I went on a “Winter Warmth Tour,” which involved a rather amusing hour of horseback riding (just enough!) at Eld Hestar Farms, a dip in the local warm pool, and a nice light lunch. For those who are more adventurous, longer tours are available, with a couple of hours of horseback riding. This is just one example of the hospitable nature of the Icelanders. I actually did more swimming on this vacation than I ever have in Mexico. While visiting one of the five geothermal power plants outside Reykjavik (their main industry production is heat and electricity from the hot underground geo-thermal water), we were informed that 4% of the electricity output is used to heat pools! That is 2% more than is used for the industry! Evidently, Icelanders love their pools. Another one of the main tourist must-sees, or dos, is the Blue Lagoons Spa. Again, Reykjavik Excursions picked us up in the morning, drove us 40 minutes to the Blue Lagoon, where we spent a relaxing day swimming in the large outdoor lagoon with bridges and caves to explore. We applied the mineral silica mud to our skin, located in buckets around the pool, which supposedly clears imperfections. While teeming with tourists, the Blue Lagoon is an excellent way to spend a “hangover Sunday.” The geo-thermal water is great for the skin and the mud boasts rejuvenating effects that my body badly needed. There are massage and facial appointments available at the spa, but they fill up fast, and three different restaurants at which to enjoy a light or even gourmet meal!
The rest of our trip we spent exploring Reykjavik by foot, visiting the famous Hallgrímskirkja Lutheran church, also known as the tallest building in Reykjavik. Unfortunately it was under massive construction while we visited, so the supposedly breathtaking view from the top was off-limits, to be covered in scaffolding. Thus is my luck with traveling in Europe. Instead, we trekked down to the Perlan, another one of Reykjavik’s famous sights. The pearl shaped dome holds a museum, restaurant and observatory with a spectacular view of the city. The tanks underneath hold the city’s largest supply of hot water. From the deck, one can see the typically Scandinavian red, orange, and green thatched roofs, the tall peaks of the simple but elegant white churches and the distant and imposing snow capped mountains in the background. It really is a wintry sight to behold. Down below, in the city, one can experience some of the best dining and nightlife around.
For a country that doesn’t support its own agriculture in great mass, we had great meals every night in Reykjavik. For such a small, isolated country, they certainly ‘get’ fine dining. The city boasts a number of famous and expensive gourmet restaurants, including Sjavarkjallarinn, which changes its menu every three months to accommodate seasonal seafood, Einar Ben, which has fusion cuisine, or Thrir Frakkar, Siggi Hall (with famous chef Siggi Hall) and Vio Tjornia where one can enjoy local Icelandic favorites such as whale and puffin. And it’s worth a trip to the Viking Village restaurant called Fjorugardurinn, located just 15 minutes outside of the city by public bus. Here one can try ancient Icelandic delicacies like rotten shark (which is apparently poisonous when fresh) and dried haddock fish. The taste of these ‘delicacies’ can only be washed out with an Icelandic liquor called Brennivín, made from fermented potato pulp and caraway seeds. My friends, much braver than myself, described the rotten shark as ‘chewy motor oil’. The Viking man who sang to us during dinner described the supposed health benefits of the rotten shark, which helps fertility and vitality. When telling our new Icelandic friend Brynjólfur Gíslason, “call me Brini,” about trying rotten shark he exclaimed, “WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? No one eats that crap!” Apparently such ancient delicacies have been replaced with more benign foods like puffin and sheep testicles. For the feint of heart, Reykjavik surprisingly has a few vegetarian restaurants, the oldest and most famous being A Naestu Grosum. Located on the same street as most of the restaurants, one can find hopping night clubs with multiple level dance floors and packed bars. Solon, Apotek (which interestingly enough means ‘pharmacy’), Kaffibarinn are a few trendy spots not to miss during a late night “runtur” or pub-crawl.
Iceland really has a little bit for everyone. Fine dining for the gourmand, nightlife that rivals Manhattan’s best for the drinker/dancer in all of us, never ending outdoor adventures for the explorer, warm pools and spas for the relaxer [mom], and of course the general warmth and reception from locals for the tourist who likes to be treated well. In addition to the things I experienced, one can also snowmobile, ski, take tours over the lava rocks and volcanoes, hike up mountains, take a super jeep tour over the daunting glacial landscape, experience the Northern lights or explore the vast valleys, streams, and mountains of the south, west, and north coasts of the country. It truly was one of the most breathtaking and fascinating places I’ve ever been to, with landscapes that look like another planet. The lava rocks, geysers, ominous mountains, steaming springs and gale force winds make Iceland seem more like a different planet than an island country just a 4 and ½ hour flight from the States. If the natural beauty of the country (and the people!) isn’t reason enough to visit Iceland and get out of the U.S., here’s one. When speaking to Arni, our Icelandic friend with the American mother, we asked him what three words come to mind when he thinks of America. After a bit of trepidation he responded, “Fat, Obama, and either money or TV.” This is very telling.
The rest of the weekdays were spent doing less drinking and more active tourism. I rode my first Icelandic volcano horse, well my first horse ever, rather successfully! Reykjavik offers a number of tours that leave from the city, which take those interested to horse farms nearby. I went on a “Winter Warmth Tour,” which involved a rather amusing hour of horseback riding (just enough!) at Eld Hestar Farms, a dip in the local warm pool, and a nice light lunch. For those who are more adventurous, longer tours are available, with a couple of hours of horseback riding. This is just one example of the hospitable nature of the Icelanders. I actually did more swimming on this vacation than I ever have in Mexico. While visiting one of the five geothermal power plants outside Reykjavik (their main industry production is heat and electricity from the hot underground geo-thermal water), we were informed that 4% of the electricity output is used to heat pools! That is 2% more than is used for the industry! Evidently, Icelanders love their pools. Another one of the main tourist must-sees, or dos, is the Blue Lagoons Spa. Again, Reykjavik Excursions picked us up in the morning, drove us 40 minutes to the Blue Lagoon, where we spent a relaxing day swimming in the large outdoor lagoon with bridges and caves to explore. We applied the mineral silica mud to our skin, located in buckets around the pool, which supposedly clears imperfections. While teeming with tourists, the Blue Lagoon is an excellent way to spend a “hangover Sunday.” The geo-thermal water is great for the skin and the mud boasts rejuvenating effects that my body badly needed. There are massage and facial appointments available at the spa, but they fill up fast, and three different restaurants at which to enjoy a light or even gourmet meal!
