An ISP adventure in Iceland

By: Andrew Scruggs and Ethan Logan

About 6 years ago, four Jenks teachers came together to emphasize the study of international culture for Jenks High School students. Once accepted to the program, the students spend their junior and senior years participating in events, classes, and extracurricular activities that revolve around global studies. Each cohort is split into two advisories, which are considered the ISP “class” where they take in most of their direct curriculum. 

Each advisory has been together for both years, which has allowed for lots of bonding, with students getting time together outside and inside of school on a pretty much daily basis. Every spring break, the senior cohort is given the option to attend an international trip, and those who were in good standing and wished to go were able to travel to Iceland this year.

Day 1: ISP students met at the Tulsa International Airport at 4:00 AM to begin their travel to Iceland. The students had two layovers in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Newark, New Jersey, and landed in Reykjavik the next morning.

Beginning of Day 2: After three flights, and a long day of travel, ISP students land in Reykjavik, and get their day started.

First stop of Day 2: Students enjoyed breakfast in a “Viking Hall” just outside of Reykjavik, with a full-scale Viking ship that they are pictured standing on. The breakfast remained pretty much the same every day, no matter where the students ate. It typically consisted of lots of meats, cheese, bread, and fruit.

Second stop of Day 2: Students visited an Icelandic Geothermal Power Plant, learning about how Iceland uses its volcanic activity to provide 25% of all the energy and 90% of the heating throughout Iceland. As seen in the pictures, students were very tired on this day due to a full day of travel with very little sleep the previous day. Students finished out the rest of their day on a tour of Reykjavik, exploring shops, restaurants, and the Reykjavik Flea Market.

First stop of Day 3: Students took a hike on an Icelandic golf course. Golf is surprisingly a major sport in Iceland but, mainly in the summertime. There were very icy conditions, so students had to wear ‘Crampons’ on their shoes, which had spikes that helped them grip the ground better.

Second stop of Day 3- The group enjoyed lunch in a guest house just west of Dalvik, a town on the northern side of Iceland. There was homemade tomato soup, with bread, and two kinds of pesto on the menu. This photo shows many chaperons and students enjoying their soup. This stop was very prolonged, due to the escape hatch on the tour bus being blown off by the wind. We were delayed for lunch by about an hour, and had to stay here for several hours instead of moving on to the next stops of the day.

Third stop of Day 3: After a long day of travel, the travel group settled down in their Hotel in Dalvik. This was a very fun experience for them, due to them all being on the same floor and getting to enjoy group time together in the basement commons, spending each of the three nights there playing games, watching movies, etc. The students gathered to watch The Dictator in the basement of Hotel Dalvik. Dalvik is located in Northern Iceland, about 30 minutes northwest of Aukireri.

First stop of Day 4: Students made a hike up to an Icelandic waterfall, which was a highlight of the trip for most students. This was the first major sight of the trip, and it definitely stuck with students throughout the rest of their Iceland experience.

Second stop of Day 4- The travel group hiked up their first crater of the trip, which can be found all over Iceland. The only issue with this hike was just how steep and icy it was to climb up, even though it was a short distance. The view from the top was more than worth it, making this stop another major highlight of the trip.

First stop Day 5: Students were let loose in Akureyri, exploring the shopping mall in the morning, and then coming back as the final stop of the day later in the afternoon to explore the rest of the town. The mall was surprisingly not very Icelandic, with lots of shops also being found in the US, such as H and M. However, there were plenty of authentic shops and restaurants scattered around the rest of the city, which students thoroughly explored later in the day.

Second stop of Day 5- The group travelled to a small fishing village to hear a talk about Icelandic fishing habits. The fisherman gave a demonstration of how they prepare their fish, and even let one student eat its eyeball. Afterwards, they got to try rotten shark, which unsurprisingly was not a fan favorite.

First stop of Day 6: The group embarked on a whale watching trip early in the morning. They eventually spotted a humpback whale after travelling about 30 minutes from the dock. The entire body of water was surrounded by large mountain ranges. The travel was freezing, and everyone got a little bit seasick. I was so sick I thought I was going to throw up everywhere. We had many people under deck and on the back to combat the sickness and cold.

Second stop of Day 6: The group attended a lecture from the Dalvic unit of the Icelandic Search and Rescue force. They learned about their training, procedures for carrying out operations, and were even allowed to sit in their vehicles, which can partially be seen on the right side of the garage. Search and Rescue is a must in Iceland. Each town/city has a search and rescue somewhat close. This was one of the smaller ones; they mentioned they only received about 10 calls a year.

Third stop of Day 6- The group hiked up the second crater of the trip, and all 22 students who attended are pictured above. It was a much easier climb than the first crater, with equally stunning views. Many group photos were taken due to ISP needing to prove everyone was alive. This was taken after climbing up Grabrok creator.

Fourth stop of Day 6: The group travelled back south to Reykjavik, where they would stay for the remainder of the trip. They were given free roam around the city, seeing the famous church Hallgrimskirkja, the “rainbow road”, and enjoyed ice cream at the end of the night. Reykjavik is a heavily contested tourist area. This is due to famous buildings such as Hallgrimskirkja, lots of shopping, and beautiful views of the coast.

First stop Day 7: The group went on a very cold and wet hike, walking along the tectonic plates splitting down the middle of the country that generate most of Iceland’s power. These plates separate Eurasia and North America. The trip got cut short to the wet and slippery conditions, but students were more than happy to get on the warm and dry bus.

Day 8: The group started off their day exploring Reykjavik again, before heading over to the Icelandic Fishing Museum. Students and teachers were visibly tired, catching up on their sleep as seen in the picture above. Afterwards, they visited the Blue Lagoon, where they were told their flights were cancelled due to harsh weather, and they had another day to stay in Reykjavik.

Day 9: Students enjoyed one last meal together at Cafe Babalu in Reykjavik while catching up on their school work. Later that day, all students boarded a plane to New York City, where they all safely arrived that night.

Day 10: After the group made it back to the United States together, they separated into four groups to work around flight availability. While each group staggered by several hours, only one group was able to make it home in the early evening, and the rest of the groups all landed within about 10 minutes of each other in Tulsa at around 1:00 AM. As seen in the picture above, students spent a long time waiting in the TSA line at LaGuardia Airport due to the consequences of the partial shutdown of the government and the TSA workers not working. The wait in line was about three hours and thirty minutes.

While this spring break trip marks the beginning of the end of the two year journey through ISP for these seniors, it also serves as a starting point for what comes next. As these students prepare to leave Jenks High School this spring, they carry the memories and perspective shift brought to them by their international study in Iceland.

Whether these students are heading off to another city, state, or continent, the lessons brought from the ISP program and this study abroad trip, and the memories associated with it will remain for the rest of their lives.

For more information about the International Scholars Program, visit @Jenksisp on Instagram or Jenksisp.org.