Marc Daniel Skibsted Volhardt

Q: Tell me a little bit about yourself. Name/age/occupation/where you are currently living. How long have you been/were you in Iceland?

A: My name is Marc, 30 years old, working at the University of Iceland where I teach Icelandic as a second language for foreigners who come to Iceland and want to learn the language, or because they need it for work, citizenship etc. I live in Reykjavík, been in Iceland for a bit over 5 years altogether over a period since 2007 when I moved here first, and I have been moving forth and back between Iceland and Denmark, where I am originally from and grew up.

 

Q: Are you a native Icelander? If not, why were you in Iceland? What years were you there?

A: Born and raised in Denmark. I am in Iceland because I like it here.

 

Q: How do most people get their news/information in Iceland? Who controls the media?

 

A: I think most people get their news through the big news sites ruv.is, mbl.is and visir.is, often via these news sites’ Facebook pages. About who controls the media, the media is just free, if I understand the question correctly.

 

Q: What social media is used most there? News outlet? How commonly do people use RUV?

A: Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are popular, WhatsApp and Twitter are less important. It’s very common to watch the news from the national broadcaster RÚV as well as from the private channel Stöð 2.

 

Q: How do you think people from other countries view Icelanders based on what they see in the media?

A: I think it’s often said in media about Icelanders that they believe in elves and are very artistic in one or another way. Icelanders are probably seen as these people closely connected to nature.

 

Q: What is unique about the Icelandic identity?

A: From my Danish point of view, time is fluent for most Icelanders and problems are usually not seen as unsolvable, rather as something that will probably solve itself as time go by—which sometimes really is not the case (!)

 

Q: How important is tourism in Iceland?

A: Tourism money has helped Iceland out of the economic crisis, so it’s been extremely important during the last 10 years. In 2010, half a million tourists visited Iceland, last year 2 million, and that’s is bad for nature here.

 

Q: Is the use of media increasing or decreasing? How can you tell?

A: At least the use of social media, yeah. People use their smart devices more and more, and I feel like people still watch television, but of course some of the time formerly spent watching TV might now be used on smart devices.

 

Q: What kind of television do you watch? Streaming services?

A: I don’t own a television, I stream it from the internet a watch on my computer. I seldom watch live TV, only the news from RÚV I often stream live. I have a Netflix account that I really don’t use that much. I use YouTube very often, practically every day.

 

Q: What kind of music do you listen to? (Please share specific songs - especially if they are in Icelandic!)

A: I mostly listen to pop and classical music. For Icelandic artists, I like Ásgeir Trausti, for example “Dýrð í dauðaþögn”. I’ve listened a lot to “Vor í Vaglaskógi” by KALEO. Lately, I’ve been listening a lot to Elly Vilhjálms and other Icelandic old artists.

 

Q: What kind of food do you typically eat/ cook (what is your favorite meal/ what is most popular)?

A: I don’t cook much at home, usually eat lunch at work, whatever the canteen serves, which is often Icelandic fish or lamb, but also very international dishes. If I cook at home, I have been eating lots of Asian and lately a lot of kimchi (so good!!), and I’ve been eating Polish pierogies.

 

Q: What do Icelanders do for fun/recreation?

A: Go for hikes in nature, relax and chat in the hot tubs at the local outdoor thermal pool, go to their summerhouses in the countryside over the weekend, camping in the summer, drive around Reykjavík and eat ice cream (all year round) at one of the many ice cream shops, go partying (hard) downtown, go to the movies.

 

Q: How does media and technology play a role in family life (children especially)? Work life?

A: As a teacher, I encourage my students to use media to get used to listening to the language and to read current news.

 

Q: How happy do you think Icelanders generally are? What is the cause of this?

A: I think Icelanders are mostly happy, but the last years, due to the crisis, lots of things have become harder here, and things have gotten a lot more expensive without us getting paid more at work. That adds some negativity to the general atmosphere.

 

Q: How healthy do you think Icelanders are?

A: Iceland is one of the countries where you live longest, so they must be doing something right. I do see problems, though. People walk a lot less than Denmark for example, and cars are way more important here (which one can of course blame on the climate here). Also, among the Nordics, Icelanders are the most overweight (I think I remember reading somewhere).

 

Q: Are there any important cultural, economic, racial, or political rifts/tensions within the country? (These could be based on money, race, language, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, etc.)

A: Immigration is a rather new thing in Iceland, and many people simply don’t know how to handle the fact that not everybody is Icelandic. That can result in people saying unfortunate things about immigrants. Also, the Icelandic language, which Icelanders are very proud of, is used less and less in many cafés and restaurants in Reykjavík and Iceland in general because of many foreign workers, and in many places here you can’t order food in Icelandic, which is, understandably, a frustrating fact for many people who are forced to use English in their daily day lives. t1.