Last day on Iceland! It was with heavy hearts that we had our last breakfast at our hostel and set out for the final day on our trip. The first stop of the day was at the Swedish Embassy, where we met with Liselotte Wiberg who is is regional expert and who spoke about the Swedish representation on Iceland and the embassy’s daily work. Much of their work focuses on promoting Swedish brands, which are quite popular in Iceland especially in the fashion industry. We also learned that the embassies oftentimes work together abroad, since Sweden and Iceland usually share similar goals when it comes to causes like equality and human rights. Next up was the university of Iceland, where the group had lunch and met with Maximilian Conrad who is a associate professor and other representatives of the university. They told ous more about their research, Iceland’s ambiguous position about the European Union and the university in general. The last stop of the day was at the NGO, Iceland Nature Conversation Association, where we met with Arni Finnsson. The NGO fights for more sustainable growth in Iceland’s delicate climate, and topics that were discussed included the growing tourist industry, recent pre oil drillings in Icelandic waters and long time goals of the INCA. And so the travel committee of the fall semester of 2015 signs of, filled with new perspectives and knowledge about the small Island nation of Iceland. We will be back in January with new application dates for the spring committees trip!
