Moving attitudes

Every foreigner I know that has moved here has had of course a different reason for coming, but I have been surprised by the range of possible attitudes about the move. Some people have a sense of trying it out for a while, seeing if it works. Other people have the idea that they will never fit in, and do not worry about it. Some people are just happy to have a job and are not too concerned one way or another what Icelanders think about them. Anyhow, looking back I realize that I set for myself a very ambitious goal. I wanted to be genuinely accepted into the Icelandic community. I do not know if I had an actual plan for how to do this, but I think I thought I had a pretty good base from which to try. I have close family here, long term professional contacts, and a job that involves my local community. When I moved here, I thought it would be pretty easy to become part of the Icelandic culture. It is even possible I was a bit too presumptuous. In California, any one of those things would have been enough to feel as entitled as anyone else to live in the area.

I would not say I have been upset per se to find out it is not so easy to fit in around here. It makes me understand Icelandic national identity more, it makes me in fact respect it more. It has also helped me understand myself a whole lot better, which is always a nice thing. Plus I think I have come around to realizing that I probably am a lot more accepted than I think I am, and I should stop being so pushy about it.

But I did watch Eurovision and now I am following Heims Meistara (the World Cup), believing this too is part of the process.

Comments

Jon Frimann said…
Ég er íslendingur og ekki einu sinni ég passa vel í íslenskt samfélag.

Þess vegna ætla ég mér að flytja erlendis þegar ég hef klárað mitt nám hérna á landi.
Lissy said…
Well, I would guess the small population size means a narrower range of behavior counts as normal.

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