I live in the suburbs and I've grown up around the city. I'm used to closely packed houses and lots of people, and noise. So imagine how unsettling it is to land in a country with a population of 300,000 people, 220,000 of which live in and around the capital city.

Iceland is legitimately another world. Lonely highways stretch through kilometers and kilometers of low bumpy land, black soil and rocks covered with green moss, the result of centuries if volcanic eruptions. There are very few trees; heavy deforestation by the Vikings a millennium ago has left the land bare and barren. In fact, the state will pay its farmers an incentive if they plant trees on their land.

There are mountains and volcanoes that always seem to be looming on the horizon, wreathed in mist. You can drive for miles between houses or any signs of civilizations. Everything feels untouched, and it really is: Iceland's electricity, heat and water all come from geothermal energy, and there is little to no pollution of rivers and lakes.

There is definitely no shortage of nature to experience in Iceland. While on tours with our group, I saw three major waterfalls (one of which has a walking path running behind it), and could see many other small falls and rivulets running out of cliff faces that we drove by. We visited a national park containing two geysirs, one a bit more reliable than the other. We were able to see a glacier before it succumbs to climate change (we were told that in years previous the glacier extended to the parking lot. Now we have to take a ten minute walk to go near it). And to make up for not being able to see any puffins, I got to pet some horses at a farm that breeds them.

A few weird, off tour things that I did:

• Bought a Kinder egg. It wasn’t really anything special, but just the fact that Kinder eggs are banned in the U.S. made it awesome.
• At the Pearl, an observation deck of sorts, I went down to the bottom floor because there was a cool looking pool of water down there and also some restrooms. While i was down taking pictures, the middle of the pool started to gurgle and make some waves, and all the sudden a geysir shot out of it! (These are the things I love about traveling - finding all these cool little unexpected things while you’re exploring)
• Managed to find a Dunkin’ Donuts. Did not manage to find a Starbucks.
• One of the coolest things that happened was a World Cup qualifier played between Iceland and Finland. We’d seen people with scarves and jerseys meeting up throughout the day but had no idea what the game was until later that night when it was on TV. We were looking for a place to eat and decided to stop outside a bar that had a TV facing the street, and some people gathered around watching it. Iceland was down 2 - 1, and as we were walking we suddenly heard people shouting and screaming - Iceland just tied it up. Once we stopped to watch, the game was well into stoppage time and it didn’t look like anything more was going to happen. Then, just as the final seconds of the game were ticking away, Iceland scored again on a wild play that nobody could quite follow. The only thing that mattered, though, was Iceland scored a third goal and went on to win that game. Everyone within earshot was watching that game, and shouting and yelling and rejoicing with each other, and that atmosphere was the best I’ve ever experienced in my life.

The biggest disappointment of the trip was not being able to see the Northern Lights. We were booked every night of our stay to go and see them, but every night it was called off due to inclement weather.

I would encourage anyone thinking about traveling to consider Iceland as a destination. It has so much to offer that you might never be able to see anywhere else. I would go back in a heartbeat - and maybe this time even catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights.