Fascinating FACTS about Iceland 

Correction: Iceland legalized gay marriage in 2010 NOT in 2006! Accidentally said 2006 haha ahh!

I swear Icelandic people are the most chill people

We in Slavic countries also have the window weather idea but call it differently. In literal translation we call it sun with teeth cause it looks sunny but once you go outside the cold "bites" you 😂

Geothermal activity, basically we have a ton of hotsprings (due to lavaflow being very close to the surface) and we drill for boiling water underground, use the steam from it to generate electricity and then pump the hot water up in pipelines, filter it and use that as both bathing water and to heat up our houses, about 90% of housing in Iceland is geothermically heated. For my small apartment i pay about 25$ a month Hope this helped 🤷‍♀️

The last name system is 'allowed' in norway and sweden. And on the faroese islands it is still dominant.

"Hrafnhildur"? Come on, it doesn't get much cooler than that... your name sounds epic af, lol.

in Finland we call our teachers by their 1st name or even with a nickname🇫🇮

In Spain, when someone gets married, our last names don't change, neither! :) We got two last names, the first one is the first last name of the father, and the second, the first of the mother (the order can change if the parents want it. Great video Hrafna, greetings from Galicia!, Sp!!!

Some of these facts I knew , some not . Please give us a part 2 ! Hugs from USA 🇺🇸 ❤️

If I called a teacher by their first name, I’d get a detention hah

Iceland: Summer: am i a joke to you?

In Russian, everyone is referred to by their first and middle name, we also do not use "Mr/Miss/Mrs". The middle name always comes from the father, adding "-a" for females, and "-vich" for males.

Can’t wait to visit Iceland one day!❤️😊

Here in Finland we use first names of almost everyone too.

I'm going to Iceland for a week next month (my father lives there but he's Polish like me) and I'm super excited, I love your channel and all things Iceland related 💓 I have dreamt about visiting your country since I was in middle school (even before my father moved there) so it's a big thing for me and I can't wait 💕

In Ukraine 🇺🇦 we have a little bit similar name system to the Icelandic. We have SURNAME - NAME - PATRONYMIC NAME ( [father’s name] +suffix [ovych]) So I’m Shevchuk Yaroslav Olexandrovych. Olexandr is my father’s name Sorry if too complicated🙃

Oohh! In my country (Costa Rica) we also generate most of our electricity on hydroelectric plants! 98% to be precise. Also we already had a female president.

My Grandpa was stationed in Reykjavík in the early 50’s with the US Navy. I grew up hearing tells and story’s for Iceland. I have a ton of pictures from his time there as a naval photographer. I hope to see them for myself one day.

I was just in Iceland with some friends. Truly an amazing country! Both people and landscape! Thank you for being a part of such beauty

In Brazil, we also call people by their first names! Even professors and doctors

Swedish people also call people by their first name but sometimes (or even quite often) people call eachother by their lastname or ''nickname''. Exception is our Royal family. We adress them by their titles if we're ever were to stumble upon them.

In the US (and I’m sure in other countries similar) we have some people who’s last name is Richardson, Watson, Anderson, etc. Those names usually date back to European countries with last name systems like Iceland :)

Here in the U.S. a growing number of people wish they had the money, connections, and desired skills to move to another country.....

Hrafna, I'm a geologist and I fully understood what you said about electricity in Iceland being generated by hydroelectric (surface water flow through turbines) and geothermal (steam that was formed underground in a hot volcanic terrain which is then run through a turbine). You have a lot of running water and a lot of underground heat! Cheap electricity is why you have the large aluminum refining plants in Iceland.

In Part 2, you should discuss the fact that Icelandic Women seem to dominate the Crossfit Games competition. Annie Thorisdottir (2 Championships), Katrin Davidsdottir (2 Championships), Sara Sigmundsdottir has finished 2nd numerous times and Thuri Helgadottir is always in contention as well.

I’m from the US, California to be exact- never lived anywhere else. So I am very much a Californian 😊 I really do love California! It’s becoming painfully expensive to live here, but there are so many things I love about my home state! I absolutely love the big rolling hills and all the trees! I’m in Sacramento, aptly nicknamed “The City of Trees”. 🌳💗🌲 I love living close to the American River, and I’m not too far away from Lake Tahoe or the ocean! I have a lot of love for Sacramento, especially the art/music culture. I feel like my city really appreciates and supports the arts! 💖 I like the Icelandic naming system- I’ve thought about it before; mine would be Thomassdaughter, or Tómassdóttir. And if it was matronymic, it would be Kathysdaughter, or Kathysdóttir. (Obviously my mom’s name is Kathy, but the closest Icelandic name to that would be Katrín- so, Katrínsdóttir.) Funny thing is, my last name follows that tradition, Wilson- “son of Will” (which is cool and all... except for the fact that I’m not a man, lol.) Also, I kept my maiden name when I got married- my husband has always been fine with that, he wanted it to be my choice, which makes me happy. 💗 His last name happens to be Terwilliger; which is incredibly Dutch, even though ethnically he is very Italian, lol!

So happy I found out about this channel. I've always loved learning about Iceland. I'll be sticking around for a while 😁

It’s crazy to think that the whole country of Iceland 🇮🇸 has my city’s population in Brazil 🇧🇷 I love your videos and culture!! :))

I love your name! It sounds really good. And the name thing is really interesting. But how do people call your family? For example here in Germany we say like "This is Familie Müller" how do you say it when you don't have the same surname as the rest of your family?

Don’t doubt your English! You speak better than many Americans. I love everything you share about your country 💚 thank you for all your hard work in making videos for us!

I’m going to Iceland tomorrow for vacation!!! I’m so excited 😆

My favorite fact about Iceland is that he Sagas of the Icelanders was repeated as an oral tradition for hundreds of years with such accuracy that today you can buy a copy of the book and use it as a travel guide of historic places in Iceland :)

Here in Portugal if you call a teacher by his 1st name, you're gonna be toughly punished🇵🇹

Icelands geothermal heating is because of their volcano and their underground hot springs. What's super interesting is that because of this, you can actually smell sulfur when you run the water at a hot temperature. (As a foreigner this was super shocking, but super easy to get use to.)

i am from greece and i like your videos! please make a video and talk about art,describe what you like most about arts,and what means to be an artist in iceland?

I love the fact that you only call people by their first name.............even professors. They do this in the Netherlands too. Living in the US that is very refreshing because it is true, as you pointed out, that is considered rude here. I sort of understand why some/many are offended here and in other places where it is a thing. However, I find it refreshing the way you do it in Iceland and how they do it in the Netherlands because shows that you are not so arrogant or that you are not full of yourselves or bragging if that makes sense.

As someone who learns Icelandic, i have the keyboard problem too xD almost every time i type 'm' instead of 'n' or 'l' instead of 'k'

Geothermal energy is used in Iceland because it is very volcanically active, meaning there is a lot of very hot lava near the surface. This heat seeps into the rock and soil and can be harnessed using metal coils buried in the earth. The coils are exposed to the surface on the other end, so the heat from the earth travels through the coils to reach the cold air outside. This is called a "heat current" (have you ever held something metal over a fire, then the part you are holding heats up? Same thing). Because you now have a regular heat flow, you can use this to heat up water, boil it into steam to turn an electric motor etc. It's basically free energy.

WOW Iceland is incredible For a long time Ive wondering to visit Iceland Greetings from México

For some silly reason I thought Iceland was using patronymic names for sons and matronymic names for daughters: dottir. Obviously that's not so according to Hrafna.

"Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is an icon" Me (an icelander): *nods aggressively*

These videos about Iceland make me want to learn Icelandic and visit your country so much 😭 Love, as always, from Italy 💕

Great informative video again, takk fyrir Hrafna! But if indeed 60.000 Icelanders visited Ed Sheeran´s concerts there, it´s not only every seventh, but rather even every sixth (!) Icelander who has seen him performing live! ;-) And I´m really looking forward to visiting Iceland this October, I barely can´t wait to be there for one week (secretly hoping to cross your way one day...)!! Bless

This is just my opinion. I feel like a lot of people around the world think of Americans as the same. I'm from Colorado. We were the first to overturn alcohol prohibition. First to legalize marijuana. One of the first states to legalize gay marriage outright. I'm a Coloradoan before I'm an American! Love your videos and all the hard work you do!

In Argentina, when there is a party and the cooker makes barbecue we give an applause.

Hrafna you should look up the story of the Viking Indian girl around Nova Scotia, another tale about Icelandic people living in North America. This story cones from whalers stopping to resupply who discover a blonde blue eyed Native woman who was sick but spoke a version of language unheard. According to the Captain's log the whalers only understood some of her words because it was a mix of Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic mixed with an unknown language. She wanted help, but the ship's doctor couldn't help her. She died of the flu. She was buried in a cemetery in Nova Scotia. She was dressed like a Native American or Inuit, but did not look like them. It was believed she was the last of a "viking" settlement that intermarried with a group of Native Americans thus creating a whole new culture of people, but as a result of their isolated living conditions she had poor immune system to many disease and probably contacted the flu like disease from sailors whom she tried to make contact with for years. People think just norwegian, Scandinavian or Swedish Vikings made only the travel to the Americas but it's more likely Icelanders due travel paths and of course Greenland.

An interesting fact about Hungary: BUDAPEST HAS THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF THERMAL SPRINGS IN THE WORLD. LOVE FROM HU. :)

Norway had the same system of patronymic surnames, but did away with it about a century ago. It was common place on the country side, but not so much in urban areas. My Mothers name is Eriksen, but had to trace the the family line 5 Generation back before I found the source of the patronym: Erik Olsen. Needless to say, Erik Olsens father was Ole.

Icelandic Dept of tourism needs to hire this absolutely Beautiful ❤️ articulate, knowledgeable, gorgeous, sweet woman!!!!! love you Hrafna 😍

Using your father's name as your surname dates all the way back to ancient Greece. Where it was common for somebody to be called, for example 'Socrates son of Sophroniscus'. Wonderful channel Hrafna. You have inspired me to read my copy of the translated Islendinga sogur.

Omg do an Asmr video in Icelandic 😍

Here in Brazil we call other people from they first name too! Thats awesome. Btw, I love you content and channel Hrafna

You look like a Skyrim character which is a good thing lol

Fun fact: there is no snowfall in Puerto Rico, where I was born. Haha! But the warm beaches in Puerto Rico are amazing and I love looking at cuttlefish, sea turtles, sea urchins, and starfish, and fish and coral of every color you can imagine. The beaches are the BEST part of Puerto Rico! Also getting coconuts from the tree to drink coconut water and pineapple from a pineapple stand; it doesn't get better than that. Also the best part about being in Puerto Rico is going to the family backyard and being given free organic papayas, coconuts, bananas, guavas, passion fruits, star fruits, oranges, mandarins, grapefruits, jackfruit, mangoes, pineapples, and guineps. They're all organic and free when your family grows them in their backyard, lol! Tropical fruits are delicious! Luckily, I love snow

Let me just take a moment to apreciate that when you chose an example of respected person, you picked a teacher. From where I'm from, teachers don't get the respect they deserve, or at all, which is sad.

Hi Hrafna, my uncle who pretty much raised me was in the British Airborne Artillery and was stationed in Reykjavik for a while during WW2. He didn't like taking about the war very much but he did however like to talk about the places they were stationed and people he met and often lived with. He would tell me stories of the beauty of Iceland 🇮🇸. Another of his favorites was Belgium, where the couple that shared there house with the allied soldiers called Sabbe, he became firm friends with until the end of their days

Actually as i know, the arabs are similar in calling their names. e.g : Muhammad ebn-e abdullah (muhammad the son of abdollah) Fatemeh bent-e abdullah (fatemeh the daughter of abdullah)

It's so nice to get genuine facts and some how I feel more connected to iceland every time I watch your videos, can't wait to go back. Thanks

Your dimples are so cute!

We have Gluggavedur here, but we don't call it that here in Colorado. I call it deceptively nice weather. It looks like it's super warm, the sun is out, everything looks great. Then you open the door and discover that it's actually freezing.

In Portugal each family has a different last name but when we get married women have the option to change it or not .

I love the language and beautiful landscape in Iceland,planning to travel in Iceland in 2020!Love your videos too haha!Greetings from China!

Are Björk and Sigur Ros popular in Iceland?

In Gaelic traditions, there is also a "son of"/"daughter of"/"grandson of"/"wife of", etc way to do last names, but after colonization in places like Scotland and Ireland by the British it got displaced. You'll still see names with Mc or Mac and O' most commonly which are son of/grandson of (MacNeil, O'Neil for example), but women typically don't use Ni(c), etc, and the name is usually static now.

You should collab with Melina Sophie, she’s a German RU-vidr but lives with Iceland!

I could listen to you say, asked, all day long! Very cute and entertaining videos!

I think it's awesome that you guys don't have an army! ☺️ I visited Iceland last year and it was so peaceful, so hardly shocking that your government wouldn't consider that a priority! 😂

I love your accent. Your videos are so cool. Love hearing about your country and culture!!!

Funny thing about Sweden is that we're always messing with our neighboring countries especially Denmark, and of course they are messing with us right back. A common phrase in Swedish is ''Danskjävel!'' which translates too ''Dansih Bastard''. Everytime Denmark is mentioned Swedish people will start saying ''Danskjävel' and mimic their accents xD

I was really not interested in Iceland until I saw this. Hrafna such a nice name. I am not a subscriber but had to say this country seems interesting after some of your comments since I know nothing of Iceland .

It is easier for me to learn Japanse than pronounce your name correctly. rs But you're gorgeous notwithstand i love your videos.

Hi @Hrafna, thank you for your videos about your gorgeous country! I have 2 questions: - Can you tell me how your internet provider works, and how much you have to pay for the service? - What type industrial factories, or anything about engineering you guys have? I heard you have a power plant generated by geotermic energy. Best of regards.

Apparently my tounge did not evolve enough to pronounce your name.

I have long thought Iceland seems an interesting place. You make it even more so, and charming as well.

What about transgender persons in Iceland? I know the laws and rights are awesome, but how do people in Iceland treat transgender men and women? Are there older folks that are negative toward transgender people? Idk. Kind of have the dream of moving to Iceland later in my life. I am a trans woman! Love youuuu Hrafna, you're videos are amazing, your love of your country is infectious!

And about geothermal, Iceland is one of the most volcanic areas in this world. Literally on the mountain ranges that ties Eurasia to Americas, it has a lot(!!) of hot springs and geothermal waters coming up, so much so, it is enough to support the energy requirements of the country on its own. When you have volcanoes, you have a lot of heat coming near the ground, when you have that much heat, it means energy, because you know, heat is energy, when you can procure that energy, store it to use it when you need it, it becomes geothermal energy. Because thermal means heat, geo means Earth, so you use heat(energy) from Earth itself.

Why Iceland has such beautiful girls?!!💙

Window weather made me thing of something: where I'm from in Vermont, we have a bunch of made-up "seasons", and one is called sticks season. It's the late part of fall when all the leaves have fallen, but we haven't gotten any snow yet, so all the trees just look like naked sticks.

It's LGBTQ-RSTUVWXYZ missy 😤😤

Enjoyed my visit to Iceland in Feb 2016.. Tried brennivin and harkal, which I really liked because they reminded of childhood tastes, basically gripe-water and preserved cuttlefish. :) For Chinese names, it’s usually surname followed by given name.. Or Christian/Western/anglicised name followed by surname then given name.. Or Chinese name followed by Western name.. Or Western name followed by given name followed by surname.. Take for example a name like “Albert Lee Hock Soon”. Western name being “Albert”, surname is “Lee” and given name is “Hock Soon”. So the name can be written as: A. Lee Hock Soon (some people don’t include their Western names in formal documents); B. Albert Lee Hock Soon; C. Lee Hock Soon Albert; D. Albert Hock Soon Lee (though this form is least commonly used). Yes, it can a bit confusing for Westerners visiting Asia.. Cheers!

Interesting facts about Norway they love fjords and they love Norway skal bra And best chocolate ever is Freia melchocolade 🍻🍫

Thanks for all your interesting information, I used to live in different countries and in the Netherlands it was pretty normal to call everybody by his first name, even your boss. I think its cool. Now I live in spain and here we also generally use first names,even my son at school towards his teachers. Since I am german and over there we are still kind of stiff and distanced i think it makes us more human to use first names. The daughter/Son addition in your last names is very special and one of the many things you guys can be proud of. Sending you some Sun from Tenerife! Anja

One of the most amazing things about Iceland is that Iceland is Iceland and a tree planting operation is at present taking place to reintroduce trees and forestry plants for the first time in 1000 years this will have a major impact on the Icelandic weather with more moisture in the air temperatures will rise and a wetter climate will follow

When I was in the art department of my college, all of the professors went by their first names which I appreciated but in general in America at least, you’d typically call a professor or teacher by their last name. Older people in general you might call by their last name but usually first is fine. To be polite you would add Mr./Mrs./Ms. in front.

Why is pretty much everything about Iceland so cool!! Grrr... Makes me want to visit Iceland so badly in the future! Iceland is in my top 5 countries to go and visit!

Your videos are so great...I’ve been obsessed with your country for so long, so thanks for all the informative and well done videos...Mad respect from NY

Also, another interesting fact - thanks to the geothermal heating, the hot water in Icelandic homes contains the smell and taste of sulfur. I'm not sure if it's all houses but the ones I stayed at had them. It can be quite offputting for foreigners but I imagine if you live there you must get used to it.

We watched the Icelandic soccer team and a guy named "Siegtorsson"played. In German Siegtor means "victory goal" - fits excellent.

I completely understand Window Weather. Here in Oklahoma the weather changes quickly due to its geographical location, especially in the winter. You can enjoy an entire sunny day in winter that’s as warm as late spring here and go have a picnic and wake up the next day and it’s sunny, but the temperature outside is below freezing! And the only way you know is either because you watched the news broadcast or stepped outside and then ran quickly back inside to change your clothes into a sweater and grab your hoodie, coat, hat, scarf, and gloves. Sometimes during spring and fall the weather will do the same where it’s warm one day and cool or cold the next. The only difference is that spring and fall are more rainy and we have severe thunderstorms more often, sometimes producing tornadoes. Also because of the location, we don’t get a lot of snow and so winter precipitation is usually freezing rain, which if there’s a lot can cause a lot of damage due to ice accumulating on external power lines and tree limbs and people getting hurt because they fall while trying just to step outside their front door. Thankfully winter and summer are generally dry seasons so when such storms happen in the winter they don’t happen often. We usually only get a few inches of snow and because of the way the temperature fluctuates it melts quickly. So I think I’m going to borrow the term Window Weather this winter to describe those beautiful sunny days that are extremely cold outside but don’t look cold when indoors. And while Oklahoma is considered a windy place (it is even our state song), it is windiest in spring and fall. When it’s windy in the dry winter it’s a very cold wind like ice being thrown at your face! In the humid summer when it’s windy it’s like a hair dryer is blowing in your face, but you just got out of the shower and haven’t dried off yet (hot air plus humidity feels like that). I have LGBTQ+ friends who have visited many places and they said Iceland was very LGBTQ+ friendly and safe. I’ve had women friends and family that travel a lot who said that they felt really safe in Iceland, too. I consider that high praise from these folks because they’ve traveled to so many places in the world that I consider them to be a reliable source. They also don’t usually do the “tourist” stuff when they visit. They are usually there visiting people they know that they’ve met elsewhere so they get to go and do the things locals do: eat where they eat, shop where they shop, get together for games or conversations, go to the movies or concerts, and so on. So I figure they get a pretty good feel of what the people are like at the places they visit. And don’t worry, I know plenty of English as their first language who sometimes mispronounce “asked” so you’re just speaking like a native English speaker. We mispronounce words at times, too. As many people say here: “Please understand what I mean to say, not what I exactly say.” Lol Thanks for sharing such neat info about Iceland! The more I learn about it, the more I’d love to visit it and I have some friends whom I recently learned feel the same way, too.

I am from Alaska and our cold weather is from september to about mid april. I relate to cozy nights, movies, and yes ice cream too

Loved this video! And you’re so pretty! Are all Icelandic so pretty like you? Hahahah sending some love from Brazil 🇧🇷❤️

Thank you for your videos. Very helpful for those of us about to visit.

I'll be visiting Iceland In Feb 2020. Thanks for your videos. Definitely very informative. :)

I speak for anyone watching this video, you speak English so eloquently! Over many years I have watched people from Iceland speak English and you all are so unique and educated. I can't say that for many people in the US who don't bother to learn English past grade school level, know nothing about world history, yet think they are experts on everything.

I'm Greek and something similar to the suffixes in last names in Icelandic is the suffix "-oglu" which is used in many last names. Most of the suffixes in Greek last names depict where u are coming from and this suffix is usually last names of people that came from Anatolia. It's actually weird because this is of Turkish origins but it's something very common in our culture

In Israel we also call everyone by their first names. Sometimes doctors will be referred to as ""Dr. name" and in some schools students call their teachers "The teacher", but usually only first names.

I am taking a trip to Iceland in October so your little info pack here is very interesting.

Suddenly became very interested in Iceland and its language after watching a couple of your videos. I'm swedish and can understand a word here and there it's like old Swedish!

I would love to live there- but the cold- heard it is sooooo expensive-and that jobs are hard to find. Lus-- I would have to bring ALL my books!

I envy the cold weather you get to experience. I live in the Mediterranean so we have few rainy days and warmer weather.