This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to do research in Iceland as part of Caltech’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, or SURF. Each year, Caltech and the University of Iceland exchange up to 3 SURF students each for the summer. I was one of the lucky few able to go to Iceland this summer!
The application process for the University of Iceland exchange is a bit different than your normal SURF. Normally, you find a professor to work with and together propose a project for you to work on during your 10-week fellowship. For the exchange program, we first go through Caltech’s SURF office with an application and interview. If selected, we are then matched with a professor at the University of Iceland, where we also plan a proposal with them.
I was matched with Professor Arnar Pálsson, who researches Arctic charr, a species of fish that inhabit northern lakes and are somewhat related to salmon (and I got to taste some during my stay!) These fish are especially interesting — some call it “the most diverse vertebrate in the world” — because of their ability to differentiate into morphs, which look and behave differently from one another but are all still Arctic charr species. Iceland has a particularly unique set of Arctic charr morphs in their largest lake, Thingvallavatn, which has many diverse environments shaped by volcanic eruptions. I studied the mitochondrial DNA of these morphs in two Icelandic lakes and two Norwegian lakes to look at mating patterns between morphs. It was my first time doing genomics work, and I was able to work very independently on my project, asking and answering my own questions. I grew a lot as a scientist this summer!
While the main goal of a SURF is of course research, I also learned a lot about living on my own in a new country. I was provided housing at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik, the capital, but I still had to cook and clean for myself. I spent a lot longer than I needed to at grocery stores since everything was in Icelandic, and I needed to convert everything from the metric system to imperial. Things were also a whole lot more expensive than I was used to, since almost everything has to be imported. Still, I was able to eat healthily and enjoyed some unique Iceland foods, like skyr, a lactose-free and protein-heavy yogurt.
I also spent a lot of time wandering around Reykjavik, which was a lot smaller than I expected. The university was only a twenty-minute walk from the city center (aka the touristy area), so I went to many stores and museums there. The city is both quite old and quite new, with some buildings showing very Nordic heritage and others showing postmodern architecture. Certain parts of Reykjavik feel like a quaint small town, while others feel a lot more like a big, bustling city. There’s street art on almost every corner and festivals quite often in the summer, and I ended up really falling in love with Reykjavik!
Come back for Part 2, where I tell you about some of the adventures I took during the summer!
