On Sept. 10, Harding University in England (HUE) alumni from the past six trips were surprised to find a Facebook notification from their Icelandic bus driver Ragnhei\u00f0ur J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir, adding them to a group called \u201cHUE In Iceland.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea was to make a Facebook page for all of us to put in photos and share stories from their trips to Iceland,\u201d J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir said.<\/p>\n
HUE students take a week-long trip to Iceland to begin their semester abroad and go around the \u201cGolden Circle\u201d, a popular tourist route that travels through southern Iceland, and through the Western Fjords, a large peninsula in northwest Iceland, all accompanied by their tour guide, J\u00f3hannes Logason, and bus driver, J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir. During this time, students say they grow very close to Logason and J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir.<\/p>\n
HUE director and instructor Lauren Knight, the director of the HUE program, said that both Logason and J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir are the first step into helping the students become comfortable in the foreign country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you walk into a situation and know you\u2019re understood and appreciated, you\u2019re able to let down your guard\u201d Knight said. \u201cJohannes and Ragga (J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir) love the Harding groups and expect to connect with subsequent students in the same way. It makes for really fast connection for new groups!\u201d<\/p>\n
Knight said J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir has always gone above and beyond to cultivate their relationships even outside Iceland, by surprising the spring 2018 HUE group by flying to London to celebrate Easter with them or by having her mom hand-knit hats and socks for Knight\u2019s children. Making a Facebook group to keep up with week-long friends and turning them into life-long friends is not out of character for her, Knight said.<\/p>\n
Junior Camden Marshall went to HUE in fall 2017, and said she quickly became close to both guides during her trip. Marshall said it was nice to hear from J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir through the Facebook page because she never expected to hear from them directly again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so excited to see that I had been added to the group, and it\u2019s really cool to see updated pictures from the group that is over there right now,\u201d Marshall said.<\/p>\n
J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir said she started the group to be able to see the HUE alumna in their own element, along with collecting pictures from their journeys in her home country.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents from Harding are all so easy-going, willing and open to doing stuff. Not all groups are like that,\u201d Jonsdottir said. \u201cIt would be fun to get all the groups together and take a trip to Iceland together. That\u2019s why I made the Facebook page.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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