By community correspondant Amani Patel On Saturday, 13th February, Year 10 from Surbiton High School embarked on a much anticipated trip to Iceland. After a long and tiring journey we finally arrived in Keflavic airport, met our guides, Kalli, Ragna, Odin and Ronald, and set off towards our accomdation. We were treated to an opportunity to go in the hot tubs in the freezing cold weather. This definitely brought a great start to the trip! During the next day we drove around the Snæfellsnes peninsula visiting many beaches, singing caves, harbours and even got a chance to visit some Icelandic Horses. We were amazed at how empty the area was, it was rare to spot even one person during the day! The last activity of the day was to a Shark museum where we had the chance to sample some shark meat.

On Monday we paid a visit to the spectacular Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the site where the Icelandic Parliament used to be. The scenery was breathtaking as we drove towards Selfoss where our hotel was located. This was our luxury accommodation and we were treated to a delicious supper in the Riverside Hotel Restaurant.

The next day we had the choice whether to go swimming in a nearby pool or visit Icelandic students at a local school. Our group opted to meet the Icelandic pupils and it turned out to be a great day. Despite the awkwardness we experienced at the start we soon slotted in and got to know many of the boys and girls. We’ve managed to keep in contact with some of the people we met and some of the students are hoping to come to England next year. The day was jam-packed and we then made our way to the Geysers. We were shocked at first by how violent the water was when it exploded as we weren’t quite expecting it! The last activity of the day was being able to see the awe inspiring Gullfoss waterfall. We purchased some souvenirs to take home. The accommodation that night was probably the most enjoyable of them all….The Wendy houses!!! After dinner and a highly entertaining Karaoke evening (with the teachers dazzling us with their singing talent) we went outside to find the fields covered in inches of fresh snow! To top this off, the Northern Lights came out for us and the teachers and a small group of us stayed out for an hour or so gazing the spectacular phenomenon. On Wednesday we drove towards a town named Vik and experienced something truly amazing- sledging on an ice cap on the active Katla volcano. We were given large all in one snowsuits to keep us warm during our (what seemed like forever) ride in the open air vehicle that drove us up the volcano. Once at the top we spent half an hour playing and rolling around in the untouched snow. We spent a moment or two in absolute silence with the remarkable view astounding us. We then moved on to one of the glacier tongues where we walked over the immense amounts of ice underneath us. On our way to Reykjavic we stopped off at two major waterfalls, each being very tall and got slightly wet from the water. The weather was on our side that day, giving us a great opportunity to take our last photos. We arrived back late in the busy city of Reykjavic and found it so unusual to see so many people and buildings again. That night we had an appetizing dinner in a local restaurant, our last meal together. On our final day in this amazing country we spent some time exploring the capital city Rejjavik. We visited the settlement exhibition and climbed the dome to see spectacular views of the city. The highlight of Thursday was relaxing in the Blue Lagoon. We loved rubbing the mud on our faces and lying back in the hot water. After changing afterwards we were sad to have to go to the airport where we checked in and boarded our flight. We will all have great memories of our trip to Iceland of all the new things we experienced and things we saw. Our groups favourite part of the trip was the crazy night we spent in the Wendy houses watching the Northern Lights! We’d like to thank all our teachers for giving up their time to give us such a unique opportunity.