Students on Ice: Day 1 – Touching down in Iceland

Whatever sleep we’d managed to get, it would have to suffice – because our Students on Ice adventure was beginning. Along with 71 students and 50 staff and educators, I hopped on a bus, and within minutes we had reached the Blue Lagoon, a stunning oasis in the middle of a stark but beautiful volcanic landscape.
 
Our day began with a refreshing – and brisk! – swim in the geothermal salt waters, but this place is so much more than a spa. The Blue Lagoon’s geothermal plant is at the cutting edge of renewable energy, and 92 percent of Iceland’s buildings use geothermal for heat.
We dried off and headed to the Viking museum to learn about the trip we’re about to take from Iceland to Greenland to Labrador, in the path of ancient explorers. It’s only been a day – albeit a day that was stretched across time zones – but as this introduction has made clear, our journey will connect past, present, and future – not just for us, but for the entire planet.
As our Icelandic host Ari told us during his warm welcome, “The fate of the ice on the planet is also the fate of us.”