Substance-Free Spring Break Visits Iceland

So what is there to do in Iceland? Plenty.

You can go on tours through nature; see the northern lights; go spelunking, snowmobiling, skiing or snowboarding; go shopping either downtown or in the mall; try all kinds of good foods; go horseback riding; go swimming at the geothermically heated (heated by underground volcanic activity) Blue Lagoon, or enjoy a day at the spa.

The people on the Wellness Center’s Spring Break trip to Reykjavik managed to do just about all of these activities. Two chaperones, Student Activities Office Director Carolyn Norris and University Resource Center Director Pauline Hamel, accompanied 29 students on the trip from March 3-10.

The trip was one of two substance-free vacations organized by the Wellness Center. The other trip was to Aruba.

The major difference between this and the Aruba trip and other Spring Break vacations was the lack of alcohol and other drugs. Students under 21 agreed to refrain from using such substances for the duration of the trip, while students 21 or older were allowed to purchase alcohol and bring it back to the United States as long as the amount did not exceed Customs and BU limitations.

Students said the no-alcohol policy did not affect them greatly.

“It was fine because I figured I’d be touring all the time, and when I got back I’d be too tired to drink,” said College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Alissa Brodie.

Iceland is said to be a misnomer. I didn’t think this was true while I was there. With temperatures ranging from -2 degrees to -8 degrees Celsius, all I could think was that if people were right when they told me that Iceland should have been called Greenland and Greenland should have been called Iceland, then I am never going to Greenland.

“I think [the Wellness Center] kind of misled us about the temperature,” Brodie said. “I was just expecting it to be really rainy and cold, not snowy and freezing.”

The weather was not forgiving in the least bit. It made many of the trips a little unpleasant, but no matter how bad it got, we all had fun. The horseback riding was probably one of the worst trips, but I still enjoyed myself on it. The trip cost $25 and consisted of a two-hour ride through a snow-covered lava field. The bad parts of the trip were that it was freezing cold, the wind kicked snow into your eyes, there was only one stop to take pictures and the scenery never really changed much; it was just different variations of snow and black, volcanic rocks.

Nothing else was quite as bad as the horseback riding. Most things were quite enjoyable. There were many informative tours of the scenic beauty to go on, which made me infatuated with Iceland. One tour took us around Reykjavik and some connecting cities. We saw the president’s house, a fish factory, the Pearl (a rotating restaurant with an observatory seated atop five giant water tanks that supplies water for the city), and some of the downtown shopping areas. I loved exploring the downtown area. Even though I am not much of a souvenir person, it was still fun to look.

Iceland offers some of the most picturesque landscapes I’ve ever seen, and I have done a good deal of traveling. Unfortunately the weather conditions made it hard to photograph these places, so I don’t have as many pictures as I’d like. I did get some beautiful shots of the double waterfall, Golden Falls, and some pictures of the mountains around the country.

One of the best parts of the trip was just hanging out with all the people I met. I went into the trip only knowing one other person. I didn’t even spend much time with her, as I was busy getting to know other people. We spent much of our downtime trading stories, acting crazy wrestling in the hotel rooms.

I didn’t even get to meet all the people on the trip. I think I managed to introduce myself to about half. Most people who went knew one other person, but they now have another group of friends.

BU students agreed the trip provided a great opportunity to travel abroad with the opportunity to meet new people.

“It gave me an opportunity to go where I wouldn’t normally be able to go, and I think other people should get the same opportunity,” said CAS sophomore Caitlin Brooking.

“I learned a lot about human relations and interactions,” said School of Education junior Jennifer Mugno. “You are put into a situation with your peers, but you haven’t met them before. You have to learn to deal with new people and making new friends.

“Also, on the international level, the Icelandic people are really more reserved. We had to learn to respect the locals and behave so that we left a good impression of Americans.”