By Community Correspondent: Bethan Baxter For many years, students in year ten at Surbiton High have had the chance to go on a geography orientated trip to the cold and magical country of Iceland. Usually the girls have gone at Easter time, but for the Iceland 2010 trip the team are going this February half-term. Hoodies have been ordered and team names chosen, consisting of the ‘Hot Springs’ and other Iceland inspired names.

First was the kit list consisting of clothing for very cold climates and rain too. February in Iceland can get freezing, zero degrees plus wind chill! To some of the pupil’s disappointment, also on the kit list, in bold letters, the message, ‘Phones must be switched off, and at the bottom of our day bags at all times’, a slight rain on their parade. However, they are doing this so pupils don’t constantly get the nagging calls from their parents asking them how they are and what they’ve done and if they are wearing two pairs of underwear. This is a once in a life trip that as friends we are all going to get to spend together. Once we have arrived and are driving along the vast, empty landscape I’m sure mobile phones will be the last thing on people’s minds.

The students will meet at school at 8:40 am on Saturday the 13th of February and will arrive home on Thursday the 18th. The days are going to be action packed and non-stop adventure. Some of the big sites the pupils will see are some spectacular waterfalls, the Pingvellir (where the North American Plate meets the Eurasian Plate) and the Geyser. They will also visit a mixed school in Hveragerdi where they don’t wear uniform. This was done for the first time last year and the pupils really enjoyed the experience and seeing the cultural difference between their school and an Icelandic school. A power point will be made by each group explaining where some of Britain’s nursery rhymes came from, such as ‘Baa Baa Black sheep’. This is to give the Icelandic students a taste of our culture which is the complete contrast of their own.

During the meeting students were told that very small earthquakes may occur, most likely in Reykjavik which got many of them very excited. Furthermore they were shown photos of small, steaming mud pots that can come through the concrete on the streets. Again something Icelandic people would be very used too but to foreigners like us, something truly amazing to take one hundred photos of.

Iceland is a geography trip and the sights the team will see will teach them so much more than the simple plate tectonics learnt for GCSE. It’s a chance to go to a country the complete opposite of our own. It is a chance to experience very different culture, see breathless sights, and spend many long coach journeys singing along with your friends while taking in the alien, but beautiful landscape.