Published August 29, 2025

Three years ago this month I moved back to Iceland after seven years in Sweden. Moving to the Nordics and back is a very common Icelandic experience. For work. For studies. It’s familiar, just bigger, better weather, and everything works. The pace of life is also more mellow. Things are organised.   

Moving back is a disorienting experience. We have — nominally — all the same institutions as our fellow Nordics, but they just don’t work as well. They have holes, but those holes are patched up by the community: your neighbours, your kid’s grandparents, your cousins, your siblings, your friends. That is also the upside. Out of sheer necessity, you have to reconnect faster to your social circles. 

Moving back and forth gives you perspective. But it also gives you the ability to feel empathy for the experience of others who move here from further away. It’s hard if you are Icelandic; it is terrifying if you are not. If you have a new neighbour who just moved here, it is your duty to talk to them. Get to know them. Become their community. Become their family. 

Read Bart Cameron’s editorial here.