It has been just over two weeks since I arrived in Iceland and I feel like I have lived here both a lifetime and only a day. The land is harsh here with its almost constant wind and rain, yet there are days like today were it is sunny and the surroundings are dramatic in the way the mountains are hazy and the grass is a vibrant green. Originally, this trip was supposed to be about sustainability and the adventures I would have experiencing another culture and even deepening my faith. Like the sunshine today, what I didn’t expect was my instructor, Hank Colletto, to say at our first group meeting was that this semester would help teach me how to love myself. I was taken aback since it’s an interesting concept that a course would try to teach this and maybe even more so when narrowed down to the topic of sustainability. What does loving myself have to do with planting apple trees, geothermal energy, or hiking through Skaftafell? And what I am starting to find is that it has everything to do with it. Dave Oakes, the Cell Program Co-Director, told me that students feel more empowered after coming to Sólheimar and I’m wondering if it isn’t because they know more about climate change or ways to shrink the carbon footprint, but they know and accept more about themselves which enables them to be the change they want to see in the world. Just talking to some of the residents at Sólheimar and learning how to bridge communication gaps or hiking the farthest I’ve ever gone, I am figuring out how to be more patient, compassionate, and adventurous in my thinking and actions. It is developing me into a more dynamic and vast landscape which I am starting to love in a whole new way.