10 Weird Things I Now Find Normal After Living in Iceland for 10 Years

2026 marks 10 years since I moved to Iceland, which is honestly a little hard for me to believe.

I can still remember stepping off the plane, starting work, and feeling like my brain was being bombarded with things that seemed foreign or strange. Even hearing Icelandic names like Ása, Björn, and Arnbjörn took some getting used to.

https://youtu.be/AKL2qYEzEkU

Fast-forward a decade and so many of those things don’t even register as unusual anymore. They’re just…life.

Living in another country for this long has also made me realize how much our definition of “normal” is shaped by where we grow up. Things that initially made me think, People actually do this?! are now things I barely notice, and in some cases, things I do myself.

Here are 10 things that have become normal to me after living in Iceland for 10 years.

1. Letting Babies Nap Outside

This might be the biggest transformation of them all because I went from thinking this was absolutely bizarre to doing it with my own baby.

I learned about babies napping outside when I first visited Iceland in the winter of 2013. At the time, I couldn’t understand how people could possibly be comfortable leaving a baby outside to sleep.

Then I had a baby.

Halli’s mom showed us how to bundle her up properly so she could be warm while getting fresh air outside, and it completely changed the game for us. At one point, she could sleep for around three hours outside when an indoor nap might only last about 20 minutes.

It’s also something you regularly see in Iceland. You can walk through residential neighborhoods or even pass cafés in downtown Reykjavík and see a stroller outside with a sleeping baby while a parent or caregiver is nearby and checking on them.