The hardest part of the work is sometimes actually starting it. That’s why introductions are often the most frightening obstacle to overcome and are often postponed by authors – or even left out and written much later by somebody else that has nothing to do with the authorship of any work of his own. In our case we couldn’t skip this part even if we wanted, so let’s get this done as soon as possible.
In order to not annoy the potiential – and actual, we hope – reader, it’s better to keep things as straightforward and as clear as it is possible. Introductions that are too long are never going to achieve anything, together with whoever is writing them.
In the last few years so many blogs and informational sites have emerged all over the internet about the most disparate subjects, ranging from moustached frogs to how to cook an apple crumble properly. Iceland and the Icelandic culture and lifestyle are no exception in this overcrowded mediatic panorama. Some of the sites on the matter are also very useful and informative, especially for outsiders eagerly looking for precision and thoroughness. We’re not willing to compete with these sites, which we ourselves enjoy reading regularly. We are the outsiders. We have just transferred from Italy to Iceland. As a matter of fact, we came here with only the knowledge we gathered from reads and other media, without a clue about what would be awaiting us once we crossed the miles and miles separating our previous home from the one we have designated as our new one. The only thing we know for sure is we are not going back.
The question concerning IcelandChronicles.com is: what does it all mean? Why this site? What will it be like? The answer is quite simply: we hope we can share our little knowledge on the subject of Iceland from our somewhat unqualified point of view, hoping it will be of some help to those who, like us, are almost total newbies – but willing to improve! In brief, we would like to add something to the amount of information already overflowing the net. The more the better, as the old motto states.
Most people still regard, despite notions of globalization, etc., Iceland as an exotic country, a land definitely out of the ordinary. Perhaps from many points of view considering it quite unique is right. But what about all the misconceptions and legends still circulating about it? What about people like my former neighbors residing in the amiable – not so amiable as of lately, I am afraid – regions surrounded by the Mediterranean sea, still believing in the 21st century that Iceland is a land comparable to the North Pole, were people live in igloos and polar bears are free to run amok and knock at your door in the middle of the night? Of course not everybody’s so ignorant nowadays, but a lot of persons still are and will be. We will not have the strength and the powers from this dot on the web to brainwash and convert people like that, but we hope to give away some interesting facts and to share some stimulating stories with those who will be so gracious to offer some of their time to read what we will be writing. And what we will be learning ourselves about the place we are going to make our own home for the next period of time – though nobody knows how long it’s going to be yet.