"To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,
To gain all while you give,
To roam the roads of lands remote,
To travel is to live."
Hans Christian Andersen
My final day in Iceland began with my typical morning run. The weather was beautiful and the sun was shining. I went farther than normal as I had more time and I wanted to take in every last moment. I took many photos. One if the things that I find really interesting to see when I look back at those photos is how quickly the light changes not only in that run, but throughout all of them. For me the early mornings are some of the best times to experience places as it is quiet, there are very few people. Since our last trip to Iceland 2 years ago, tourism has picked up dramatically again which was definitely evident in some areas. Tourism is one of the leading industries. The country and municipalities are still working on trying to find a balance of promoting that but also making it sustainable.
Before we flew home we had one final meal together. This time we had a special guest, Donna Brazile, who is the chair of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. She had arrived just that morning and was about to go on vacation in Iceland. We got to discuss the importance and impact of our Fulbright Hays Seminar experiences. We shared with her some of the work we had already done and some of the highlights from our part 2 trip. After that meal it was time to board Linda's bus one last time for the trip to the airport. The photos are from my run that morning and Linda.
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On June 29th we had our final meetings at the office of the Fulbright Commission. At the office we discussed as a group some of our biggest take-aways and each shared our thoughts as far as how we are going to continue to develop our projects once we return. We are given time to work on our reports when we return to the US before we have to submit them. This really helps as there isn't a lot of down time to sit and reflect on the experiences. My initial thoughts are to continue building upon my previous project which included connections to place and land. I'm also really interested in doing something more with textiles and design as I think that could be a good connection piece for students in different ways. I will need time to review my photos, notes, and reflect on the experiences first.
After the final meetings we had a little bit of free time so I went with a small group to the Kjarvalsstaðir Museum, a museum named after one of Iceland's most influential artists, Johannes S Kjarval. This was a museum we were not able to see in our first visit. It was a wonderful smaller museum that had not only Kjarval works, but other Icelandic artists. I recognized some artists I was introduced to in my first visit and have used in some of the lessons. Our last dinner was with members of the Fulbright Commission Board. I was seated at the table with the chair of the board. A US diplomat who has been in Iceland working for about a year with her family. She has 2 children who attend Icelandic schools and she talked about their experiences in school which was interesting to compare with our information with education officials and from teachers, to have the perspective from a parent. It was also really interesting to hear about her work as a diplomat, the countries she's lived in and experiences as a family living abroad. The photos are from my morning run and then some artwork in the museum(title and artist listed below).
On June 28th we started our day with presentations at the Department of School and Recreation by officials who are implementing Reykjavik's education policy. In the capital region there are 5 municipalities. Iceland basically has 2 levels of government, the national and the municipal. In the Reykjavik municipality they service about 22,000 students and have around 5500 educators. As we learned about in our first visit there are 4 levels of education in Iceland, preschool(1-6), compulsory(6-16), upper secondary(16-20), and higher education. Students in compulsory school attend school from approximately 8am until 1:30pm. Then the public system runs after school programing in a variety of areas or activities including sports. We also heard about their newer grading and assessment system where students are evaluated by criteria and receive a letter grade as opposed to their previous points system. The information was interesting and the presentation was held in a top floor room with incredible views of the city.
After lunch we went to the Ministry of Education and Children(the name has switched from our previous visit with new administration). The afternoon began with presentations by ministry officials about the Education Strategy 2030, prevention and early intervention, and school development and integrated services. Interesting information in all of these presentations which echoed a lot of the information we had learned in the morning and previous days' presentations. After those presentations came a very exciting event, meetings with 4 Icelandic teachers. One teacher taught 4th grade, one taught Icelandic and English, one taught middle school tech, and then a textile teacher. Our time with them was limited as we rotated in small groups to have discussions. Fortunately they also joined us for dinner that evening so I was able to have further discussions with the textile and middle school teachers. It was interesting to hear the teachers' perspectives after hearing presentations from education officials. Some of the things that we heard from the officials did not match the realities that teachers face in their day to day teaching. The textile teacher described a project she felt really engaged her students, a project where students were able to design clothing for this doll as a competition. She showed us photos of the designs which included everything from formal wear, historical pieces, and sports uniforms. As an Art teacher I was fascinated with the projects she described, her access to materials, class sizes, and time with students. As an artist herself too we got to see photos/videos of her work as well. It was truly an enriching and valuable experience and as we exchanged contact information I hope these connections continue. My final event of the day was one that another Fulbright participant and I did after dinner. We were able to get tickets to a concert at Harpa(the amazing venue at the edge of the harbor). Although we didn't get to see the whole concert, what we did hear was some wonderful Brazilian jazz music. A wonderful end to another full day of learning. The photos begin with the morning run, continue with scenes from the room at the top of the ministry building(the flag is from Poland the biggest immigrant community), and end with Harpa. On the morning of the 27th we went by bus to a suburb of Reykjavik, the town of Hafnarfjörður. In Hafnarfjörður we went to the town hall building where we had a presentation about "The Bridge" which is a project which is integrating services between schools and the community for students facing challenges. This approach began as a pilot program in 2016 and continues to grow today expanding based on new welfare laws. The child is at the center of the model and the approach brings a team together for support services in 3 potential stages based on the child's needs. They emphasized 3 things that a child needs, care & warmth, time, and clear boundaries. Some of the challenges they've faced in the implementation are that it is time consuming, there's a lot of paperwork, and they've had to work to change the mindset in certain ways. Despite these struggles they've seen some fairly positive results and see the clear benefit of having a child-centered focus. After our presentations we were able to have lunch with the presenters to talk with them further and then explore the town a bit on our own. Later in the afternoon we went to Sky Lagoon an oceanside geothermal lagoon. The weather was similar to our algae bath, cold and raining, but the views were spectacular and the geothermal lagoon was thoroughly enjoyable. Here are a few photos from my morning run in Reykjavik and then from Hafnarfjörður.
On the 26th we made our way back to Reykjavik. After checking into our hotel we got the afternoon off. So just some photos to share from this day. The first series of photos will be from my morning run in Arnarstapi. I was fortunate again to be able to run almost every morning on this trip. I say run, but it often ended in more of a photo walk as there were so many interesting and beautiful things to see. At some point I'll do a photo dump of morning runs. The hotel in Arnarstapi was right by a path along the water with incredible views. The other photos will be from wandering around Reykjavik.
The next day, June 25th, entailed various excursions around the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. It began with a visit to the Sönghellir cave. The cave is known for the echoing sounds and there are names etched on the walls of people from long ago. It was a challenge to see the names in the dark, but Belinda, the Executive Director of Fulbright Iceland, led us in song(hopefully a link to the video there). After the cave we drove over to Djúpalónssandur beach. On this beach you'll find pieces of a British trawler that wrecked back in the 1940s. After wandering around the beach we drove to Hellnar and then took a hike through lava fields(originally explained to us as a flat 45 minute walk) back to our hotel in Arnarstapi. After a quick lunch we then drove to Lysuhólslaug for swimming in a geothermal algae bath. When we arrived for the swim it was cold and rainy, and even though the algae bath was outside it felt quite good.
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