Iceland Trip: The Land of Fire & Ice

This past Spring Break, Professors Jer Nelsen and Luke Anspach led a study abroad trip to Iceland touring all the way from the south coast to Reykjavik to the western peninsula of Snæfellsnes.

The class specifically explored its history, culture, and impact on the rest of the world. The trip included hiking glaciers, walking black sand beaches, gaping at volcanoes, standing under waterfalls, chasing the Northern Lights, and taking in breathtaking views of the land, sea, and sky. In the city, we observed architecture, monuments, museums, and explored the culture from past to present.

What follows is a personal reflection by Senior Graphic Design Student, Heidi Dillow, on her experience visiting Iceland.

The Land of Fire & Ice

Heidi Dillow

There’s nothing quite like the varying emotions of the last semester of your senior year of college — or at least nothing I have yet experienced. With the chaos of career choices, post-grad living situations, and finishing up thesis projects, I found myself wondering how to navigate the tension of my last months at school. As my last spring break rolled around, there was really only one correct answer as to how I should spend it: 10 days spent adventuring in the icy cold winds of Iceland, hiking mountains and glaciers, and exploring the Land of Fire and Ice.

Experiencing that kind of adventure was externally demanding. But even more impactful than that, this trip was internally revealing. It was exciting to not only learn through experience and “doing,” but also through observing and reflecting, aka “not doing.” And while there may have been a ton packed into my 10-day Iceland itinerary, I found time for a healthy serving of both. The trip was fast-paced, but simultaneously contemplative. It was filled with laughter and energy, but it was simultaneously slow and sleepy. The trip possessed the hiking of challenging terrain and the foreignness of a trip abroad. But it simultaneously felt energizing and altogether familiar.

Due to this familiarity, I felt internally steady and expectant. I was surprised by my proclivity to experiencing newness and making decisions outside of my comfort zone. Like trying a marinated cod for part of my first breakfast in the country. Or hiking up a steeper-than-anticipated incline so that I could see the vast expanse of a canyon. Or going out and about in Reykjavik, leading my peers and myself to an Icelandic hot dog stand. Or donning cramp-ons for my boots, a helmet, and a pickaxe to go climb a glacier. In nearly any other set of circumstances, I would be so overcome with fear of the unknown. But in Iceland, I felt immensely present: to creation, the surrounding community, my friends, and my God.

When invited into and enveloped within creation, it is hard not to be overwhelmed and consumed by awe. Having such an experience, I now see my creative practice being much more intentionally worshipful, more emotive, and more expressive. I want to maintain a consistent posture of wonder as I make, viewing the world as a representation of His beauty and avenue of His mercy. I recognized that my sources of creative rejuvenation could be found in creation itself. I just need to see closer, to listen deeper, and to sit and experience all that surrounds me.

Because of my visit, I want to keep pushing into a more authentic vision for my design career and version of self. I want to look back on spring break of my senior year of college when I went to Iceland and think about how God was so gracious and kind to reintroduce me to His glory at a time when I so desperately needed it. It is like I experienced His glory and presence with an unveiled face, all over again, and it completely reset my creative perspective.

🔗 Heidi Dillow

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