Celebrating 7 Years of Living in Iceland

Wow, it‘s amazing that I have been living in Iceland for seven years! Even though I know this is a decent amount of time, it feels like it i has flown by. So much has changed since I moved here in 2016, and I‘m sharing some of the major changes/transitions that have happened in my life this year.

5th Year All Things Iceland Podcast Anniversary

June is a major month in my life. I was born in this month, I moved to Iceland during this month, and I started the All Things Iceland in June of 2018. The podcast was the start of all of this. When I started it I gave myself a year to be consistent with posting. Thankfully, all of that hard work paid off and I was receiving message from people saying how much they enjoyed the episodes.

I was delighted and surprised that people were listening! There is so much more I want to do with the podcast and I would love to hear the topics that you want to hear on the show. Feel free to send me an email at jewells(at)allthingsiceland(dot)com.

Getting Divorced in Iceland after 7 Years Living Here

One major shift in my life over the last year was that Gunnar and I broke up. In Iceland, getting divorced takes a while to be finalized. After filing for separation, you have to wait six months before you can file the final paperwork for the divorce to be done.

Our divorce will be finalized this month as well. Seriously, June really does seem to be a big month in my life. It was not an easy decision to choose to do that. It certainly was not one that either of us took lightly. In the end it felt like the right decision. Being single in Iceland is foreign to me and this new chapter is one that is helping me to grow in many ways.

Selling the Apartment

We had an apartment that we owned together and selling that was a major part of the breakup process. In 2021 we bought the place and had it completely renovated. Due to the renovations, we were not able to live in the apartment for six months!

I moved out of the apartment in February of 2023, which means that we only lived there for one year. I loved designing that apartment and it was a little bittersweet to let it go. However, it was best for us to sell it. Funny enough, the people who bought it are an American woman and an Icelandic man.

Being Featured on the Geography of Bliss Show

I was stunned and exhilirated when I was asked if I was interested to be featured in Geography of Bliss. It was such a pleasant surprise and I enjoyed every minute of it. Rainn Wilson was a lovely person to hang out with and the production team were awesome. I honestly couldn‘t have had a better experience.

Learning Icelandic

My Icelandic has definitely improved leaps and bounds over the years. It is still not at the fluency I am aiming for and the good news is that it‘s getting there. Currently, I am doing Siggi‘s self-study course for 3 months. It is helping me to read more regularly, build my vocabulary, and undertsand more of the language on a higher level.

Building Resilience

As I have been adjusting to my new life, I felt the need to work on my resilience. Part of that process has been taking Andri Iceland‘s limitless month long program. It helped me to push past some limiting beliefs I had, and to think outside of the box.

Random Fact of the Episode

It‘s amazing to think that I have 205 episodes of the podcast. That is 41 episodes a year when I divide it by 5. I‘m proud of that and thank you to all of you that have listened over the years.

Icelandic Word of the Episode

Sjö ára afmæli – 7 year anniversary

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