When Iceland's economy crumbled in 2008, so went the leisurely party lives of thousands of young Icelanders. They are called "The Cuddly Generation" (
Krutt-kynslotin in Icelandic), and they need your help. Please donate whatever you can - money, plane tickets, alcohol or kind words (they all speak English). Anything to help these beautiful, fun-loving viking progeny reclaim the free-spirited times of no work and all play to which they grew so accustomed... even if it's just for one wild night.
If you are an Icelander longing for your glory days, send me a photo and your story; I will tell the world how carefree your life once was, and how depressing and lame it is now. And if you are a humanitarian who would like to contact one of the Icelanders whose story you saw here, email me and I will forward your message to them.
Call me Rhys Southan.
rhys ( @ ) adoptanicelander (DOT) com
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According to this piece in IcelandReview, many people of Iceland have yet to face the new reality:
Then, there are those who say this will teach Icelanders a lesson, teach them to spend their money more wisely. One of the things that most surprised me when I first moved to Iceland was the way in which people spend and consume so casually.
However, judging by the number of customers that queued for the opening sales at new shopping mall Korputorg in Reykjavík last Saturday, or the customers in electronic store Elko walking out with huge flat screen TVs last weekend, it might be a while before the crisis really sinks in and people change their spending habits. After all, a report published by German market research company GfK GeoMarketing less than a year ago, ranked Iceland as having the sixth highest disposable income in Europe.
I guess this is why no Icelanders have sent in their stories yet. Young Icelanders: shame and denial can only keep the party going for so long. Send me your stories! The world needs to know that you are frightened, hungry and very, very bored.
Medieval Iceland is famous for being the world’s first and only successful anarcho-capitalistic country. From 930 to 1262, Icelanders lived in a pure free market with no taxes, no king, no goverment and no laws. Incentives, markets, spontaneous order and natural human goodness (the invisible heart) were their only rulers. They were just too poor to afford a government with all its inefficiencies and waste (foreign aid to Medieval Greenland, war with Vinland), and they were the better for it.
Meddling from Norway ended this “radical experiment in liberty,” but Icelanders have always been stateless in spirit, as anyone walking down Reykjavik’s Laugavegur St. on a Friday or Saturday night can attest.
Now some wonder if the crisis will force Iceland back to its capitalist anarchistic roots again. In tough times, citizens must prioritize. The question is, what will Icelanders give up first: their concerts and alcohol-fueled parties… or their government?
I’m not so sure that Iceland’s legislators would be overjoyed to hear the answer.
Isolated Iceland wonders who to turn to for help - International Herald Tribune
As this tiny, volcanic nation in the middle of the North Atlantic finds itself cut off from the outside world, Icelanders are wondering who, if anyone, will sail to their rescue
Their island country has never felt so alone. Its major banks have failed, its currency has collapsed, its stock market is suspended — and its leaders seem uncertain where to turn for help.
Let’s get to work.
After I posted the email of my Polish friend who was leaving Iceland (forever, I thought), he emailed me with a clarification:
I’m leaving Niceland, because I came only for the summer. Actually, I’m leaving one month later than I originally planned - I’d wanted to earn more, and of course to see more:) I bought the tickets before the crisis!!
And I wanted to finish the Icelandic course:) I’m leaving three days after the course. And, fo sure, I’ll come back here next year:) If the situation in the economy isn’t ok, I’ll just earn money in another country before coming to Niceland. So many places are to be explored…
Sjaumst!!
Good news for Iceland: it will have devoted fans no matter what happens there.
If you live in New York or Boston, you may want to take advantage of Icelandair’s “Iceland’s Economy is Going to Hell Winter Airfare Special”. Theoretically, Icelanders could use this deal as well to make some money in The United States for a month and then live like kings when they go back. Joseph Weisenthal at Clusterstock has the news:
The collapse of the Icelandic banking system is devastating to residents of the country, and scary for the rest of us in a “canary in the coalmine”-sorta way. But that doesn’t mean we can’t benefit from it all. Icelandair is now offering round trip flights to the country — which the media keeps describing as ‘one giant hedge fund’ — for just $400. That’s cheaper than flying to Miami or LA, and you can’t enjoy delicacies like rotten shark meat in those places. The Icelandair website spells it out…
Here’s eyewitness testimony from a Polish immigrant who is leaving a partied-out Iceland to return to economic stability in his motherland:
Hello!
I wanted to reply the next day after you wrote to me, because I thought that the situation would be clear. But it is changing all the time…
Now in Rvk everybody is talking about the crisis. I haven’t seen any lines, but I work the graveyard shift, so I sleep during the day.
Many immigrants bought one-way tickets from Iceland. But companies just started deductions, and they’re not so big. So everybody is waiting for the government’s decisions.
Icelanders are joking about the crisis, so the atmosphere is not so bad (it’s even sometimes funny). But I’m calm because before the crisis, I bought a ticket to Poland, so I won’t stay here. Maybe I just won’t have money ;]
He and his roommate were kind enough to let me stay with them in August. I had never met anyone so enthusiastic about any country before, ever. He was planning on staying in Reykjavik for the long haul; he hitchhiked around the island every chance he got, he liked the people so much that he called it “Niceland” and he was even learning Icelandic. Now, more than likely, he is leaving it.
Oh, Iceland, what is to become of you?
