Program Overview
Travel to the Land of Fire and Ice to learn about “Sustainability Through Community.” Experience life at Solheimar eco-village, one of the world’s oldest and unique sustainable living communities. Experience, up close and personal: glaciers, volcanoes, and geothermal hot springs while exploring Iceland, one of the most remote, geologically unique, and environmentally friendly countries in the world.
Check out this 2018 Video Link of Punahou School Students’ perspectives on sustainability and their CELL experience.
Current Iceland Programs
Approximate Program Dates: May 8 to 22, 2023
- Length: 2 weeks
- Credits: 3 credits through Northland College or one of CELL’s direct credit partners
- Cost: $4,900 USD, plus airfare from your hometown (students book their own airfare – check with CELL before booking)
- Courses: contact CELL for a full syllabus. Click here for course descriptions.
- Sustainability: Secrets of Simplicity (SCD 272 – Northland College Credit)
More Details
What will you learn during your CELL Icelandic adventure? A lot! But there is a WARNING in order here: This experience may change your life forever! Here are a few things to look forward to:
- Live and learn in one of the world’s oldest and unique eco-villages – Solheimar
- Learn how one life, your life, can make a BIG difference in the world and develop a leadership action plan to prove it
- Volunteer in a zero carbon emission greenhouse and help grow the organic food you eat
- Live a carbon neutral lifestyle and plant several thousand trees that will sequester the carbon you employ during the program
- Learn about Viking history while visiting Viking settlements and museums
- Spend the night in a magical Icelandic turf house – right out of a Tolkien book
- Learn about Icelandic’s mystical mythology; and you may even see a troll slinking behind the mountains
- Learn how Iceland’s culture, language, history, geology, geography, isolation and remoteness have crafted an independent people who “don’t know they can’t do things”
- Hike in some of the most captivatingly beautiful landscapes in the world
- Explore Iceland’s beautiful capital city – Reykjavik – and taste some of Iceland’s famous cuisine
- And along the way, take time to reflect deeply on how this experience resonates with the core of who you are.
Solheimar Eco-Village
Keflavik Airport
Blue Lagoon
Westman Islands
Mount Hekla
Þingvellir National Park
Gullfoss and Geyser
Skaftafell National Park
Borgarnes
Snaefellsness
Landmannalaugar
Vik
þórsmörk
Vatnajokull
Eyjafjallajökull
Our Partners in Iceland
Solheimar Eco-Village
Solheimar, an eco-village of about 100 people renowned for its international, artistic, and ecological atmosphere. Solheimar is the first self-sufficient community of its kind in the world, where people with special needs and those without live and work together in a community committed to environmental sustainability.
Andri Snær Magnason
Birgitta Jonsdottir
Hannes and Kristin: Icelandic Turfhouses
The Icelandic Turf House: the Jewel of Arctic Architecture.
Hordur
Hordur is a quintessential local Icelandic farmer who raises Icelandic breeds of sheep, cows and horses. He has a micro-geothermal power plant that provides energy for his farm and home. Hordur is a gregarious, fun-loving Icelander who opens his heart and home to CELL Groups. During our time in Iceland we will visit Hordur’s farm, local micro-geothermal and hydro power plants, meet his family and have a traditional Icelandic meal.
Pali and Rosa
Pali and Rosa are two amazing Icelandic guides who CELL has partnered with for seven years. Pali grew up in remote Isafyordur in the Northwest part of Iceland where he started his career as a fisherman. Today, Pali is an accomplished writer, journalist and guide with a great sense of humor. Rosa is an incredible Icelandic artist who has had art exhibits across Iceland and Europe. Her art is inspired by the unique beauty of inspiring Icelandic land- and sea-scapes. Rosa and Pali are married and have a passion for sharing Iceland’s spectacular natural beauty with others!