Canada is an excellent place to live. We have a high standard of living, lots of yummy technology, a diverse mosaic of culture, and many other advantageous qualities that make us a good country in which to birth your offspring. But I don’t think Canada is necessarily the best place to live. Naturally this begs the question, where is?
Which makes me think about Iceland. For those of you who do not live in Iceland, let me jog your memory: island somewhat between Greenland and the United Kingdom. It’s got volcanic activity, which makes it a geothermal hotspot—literally. For such a northern country, it has a good climate (or so the literature tells me). Not only that, but it’s also second in the world in human development and fifth in GDP. According to Wikipedia, its population is slightly over 300,000—in other words, about 3 times the population of my city. Iceland, like Canada, has a 99% literacy rate.
Put all these facts together, and Iceland seems at least on par with Canada in terms of quality of life. But wait—there’s more! 
Iceland is small, has few people in it, and is remotely located. Who would want to invade Iceland? What does Iceland have that anyone would want to take? Unlike Switzerland, which is another peaceful nation with a high quality of life, Iceland is not located in the middle of a continent that has a history of marching troops through other countries. Germany would be very hard pressed to find a reason to march their troops to Belgium via Iceland.
Iceland seems like a pretty cool place. So what’s the catch? It sounds almost too good to be true, so what are the disadvantages to living in Iceland? Since the tourist literature is conspicuously lacking in these points, I‘m not sure. If there’s anyone out there from Iceland, or who has lived in Iceland before, do chime in. If you don’t fall into those two categories, don’t bother commenting.
(Unless you have something to say, of course, in which case you should comment anyway. 
)
» 9 people have an opinion
Good thing I’m the history major in the family.
Iceland is strategically placed for raiding North Atlantic shipping, jumping off to Greenland, or North America.
That is why it was invaded by Vikings, ending up in Danish control for centuries.
It was also raided by barbary pirates.
In WWII, it was invaded by the British, because the Germans wanted to invade as a base of operations against the Atlantic Fleet and to invade ..ulp…Canada . The British invaded first.
In the coming global battle over the Arctic, who knows who might covet this locale?
Until then, it is apparently a great country.
Hmm … you have a point.
But I doubt that these days, even with the dispute over ownership of the Arctic, many people would want to invade Iceland. Warfare amongst developed countries has changed since WWII, shifting to the remote. Those countries with the most interest in the Arctic (Russia, Canada, the U.S., Norway, Britain) are not very likely to engage in mass infantry warfare. I‘d be more worried about missile strikes. But I don’t see the “battle over the Arctic” as such a big issue. We managed not to fight over Antarctica. Hopefully we’ll have matured enough now to be sensible about the Arctic.
“mature enough”……“ mature enough”?????
Have you noticed that Americans elected George “why worry, just invade” Bush???? And are threatening to let Reiudy Guiliani replace him?
Not every nation is as mature as Canada
“Have you noticed that Americans elected George “why worry, just invade” Bush???? And are threatening to let Reiudy Guiliani replace him?
Not every nation is as mature as Canada”
I love you
Family wub!
I have friends from Iceland if that helps you in any way. They loved it so much they moved to Ireland 
It is a very picturesque place though. I approve of the move, bring your dad 
“Have you noticed that Americans elected George “why worry, just invade” Bush???? And are threatening to let Reiudy Guiliani replace him?”
AS am American, I will say it is more mature to have Bush who stayed on his platform then flip flopping Kerry who was just trying to relive high school as a popular kid, flipping back and forth on the issues. (Not to mention Kerry would of contuned the war anyways)
Oh and the press has already elected Hilary Clintion as president, not Guiliani (Towels help up all if one of them get elected)
Iceland seems to be a really nice place. But I recently heard about Icelandic be the hardest to learn language on earth. Might suck to live in a country where you don’t speak the language and have to struggle several years pick up just the basic things. On the other hand the Icelandians (is that the correct term?) probably all speak English as second language anyway.
That is true. I may need to simply admire it from afar then….
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“ Unlike Switzerland, which is another peaceful nation with a high quality of life” But you see no one has invaded Switzerland (at lease with success), because the geography of the borders (mountain rangers with narrow paths= death to invading army) And now a days the country is filled with people who are trained in fighting and are armed.
“Who would want to invade Iceland? What does Iceland have that anyone would want to take?” Any one who needs to flex their military mussel and is smart enough not to invade Russia.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007 at 3:23 PM