"In Seattle there lived a man named Ryan, the son of Priest-Kevin, the son of Wayne the Stubborn. His mother was Deann, whose father was Dean the Twin, the son of Melvin, who had fought against the Japanese..."
Yeah, that's how Sagas start. I've been blasting through several in preparation for my big move to Iceland. You might well be wondering why anyone would want to read what amount to thousand-year-old family stories dryer than a gluten-free cracker, let alone move to a frozen rock in the middle of the North Atlantic. Crazy as it may sound, this is a dream come true for yours truly. It has been a crazy adventure just getting to this point, and so before I set off next week for Reykjavik, I thought it might be a good idea to explain how this all came about, as well as share my adventures in the far frozen north.
A true Saga starts generations before the main characters come into play, and I suppose one could argue mine does too. Despite an Irish first name and a German last name, my heritage is primarily Norwegian. I've always had a love for history, and especially the history of my ancestors, who raided and traded from the court of the Calif to the shores of Newfoundland. That is what leads to the beginning of our saga, in the summer of 2015, when, staring down the barrel of my Senior year of college, it became apparent that I wanted to go on further and teach in higher education.
As I researched programs, I discovered the Masters in Viking and Medieval Norse Studies program offered through the University of Iceland. This offered several advantages. Firstly, the program came with a ringing endorsement from my faculty adviser. Apparently, the program is the best of its kind. Secondly, there aren't really any comparable programs in the United States. Thirdly, Iceland being a much smaller country with much higher taxes and social spending, the whole thing would be much cheaper than graduate school stateside. According to my calculations, I should get the whole program for about the cost of two quarters stateside. I applied, and before I even received my diploma I was accepted.
This is where I hit snag number one. Even with no tuition to pay, I had nowhere enough money to cover the minimum cost of living which the Icelandic Directorate of Immigration requires before letting a foreigner live and study in Iceland. With a heavy heart I deferred my enrollment and entered the working world. I got a job with Columbia Bank, first as a floating teller, then as the vault teller for the Renton Branch. I turned out to be pretty good at banking, but it definitely reminded me that I am best suited to academia. In another turn of events the government of Iceland increased the minimum support necessary for residence, which forced me once again to defer which, it turns out, was a blessing in disguise.
In June of 2017 I tried out for the popular television quiz show Jeopardy! which must always be accompanied by that exclamation point. As the summer carried on I waited to hear back, while I began to feel progressively more and more tired, sluggish, and hungry, ravenously hungry. My weight, never substantial to begin with, began to melt away, until I decided it was probably a good idea to go see the doctor. And that's how, on September 21st, I found out I had Type-1 (Juvenile) Diabetes.
Finding out that your pancreas has randomly decided to leave the car running in the garage and breathe in the fumes, so to speak, is a hell of a shock. Looking back, I'm glad it happened while I was still at home, because even with familiar surroundings and friends and family by my side I still fell into suicidal depression, and even a year later I am only now returning to a healthy weight and a more stable mental space. I am also glad I deferred because it allowed me the chance to participate on Jeopardy! where I won four games, was brought back following a bad ruling by the judges, and picked up three more, for a total of seven wins and over $150k in the bank. My funding worries are, to put it humbly, over.
And so, in August of 2018, I find myself ready to fly out for graduate school at the University of Iceland. I will continue to update this blog with further chapters detailing my adventures, but for now the Saga rests.
-Ryan Fenster
