Keeping Promises & Feeling Like Home

By Gunnlaug Birta Þorgrímsdóttir from Búðardalur.
​Here in Manitoba, Minnesota and North Dakota every single person has opened their arms for me and the other Snorris. It has been so sweet and I feel like home when I am here. The weather has been pretty warm and the mosquitos have been pretty agressive, but despite that the trip has been fabulous. Meeting my relatives in Winnipeg has to be the top though. These wonderful people Vaughan, Ainsley and Lorraine Bloomer hosted me and Vala for 5 nights. They told us many stories about their life and happenings and in that short time I made friends and family for life. We have also done some fun activites, we went to a zipline park, zoo, boat rides and interesting museums. At the stay in Brandon we got to see a musical ride whish was awesome. I had never seen anything like that in my life. In Winnipeg we visited the Icelandic Collection in the University of Manitoba. It is really remarkable to see that the library has a specific room for Icelandic books and treasures. Luckily for me I am studying Icelandic and have an interest in the language so I might be coming back to Manitoba in a few years to study here or perhaps teach. Being able to talk Icelandic to people who did not grow up in Iceland and did not learn Icelandic as a first language is really fun. Back when I was a kid I got mad because I had to study other languages to be able to talk to foreign people but nobody had to study Icelandic to be able to talk to Icelanders. Now I see that people choose (it's not an obligation) to learn Icelandic because they have Icelandic blood running through their veins and they are so proud of that. I had a wonderful talk with Rosalind Vigfusson, Jóel Friðfinnsson, John Johnson and others, and they all spoke nice and flawless Icelandic. This trip has changed me perspective on the world in ways I can‘t describe, I have made some promises about coming back here sooner than later and I tend to keep them.