A United States native who emigrated to Iceland is sharing the unique experience of the midnight sun in a country where daylight reigns for 24 hours during the summer.
Full-time content creator Kyana Sue Powers quit her job in college athletics in Boston and moved to Reykjavik, Iceland, in 2019 after falling in love with the country on vacation the previous year. Over four years, she has grown used to the sun never fully setting between mid-May and the end of August, regulating her body clock, 2 a.m. glacier hikes, and sleeping when the sun is out.
“We don’t have any darkness, we don’t see any stars or anything, and it’s like that for maybe three or four months. It’s amazing,” Ms. Powers told The Epoch Times.
During the summer months, the setting sun only kisses the horizon, making midnight look more like the early hours of the morning. Ms. Powers joins native Icelanders in making the most of extended daylight to explore the island, by hiking, and visiting remote cabins and active volcanoes.
“The other day I went to some super remote island,” she said. “There’s just one little cabin on there. It doesn’t have any running water, but it does have electricity, and to get there you have to scale a mountain. ... You have the food and all the warm clothes, and then you’re scaling the side of a mountain which is super, super scary. I mean, the mountain is like, 90 degrees.”
Getting to the cabin is “really rewarding,” she said since it’s surrounded by puffins who don’t mind visitors getting close. There’s also an ocean view from where sightings of orcas jumping and seals playing are not uncommon.
“It’s really, really magical,” Ms. Powers said.
While talking to The Epoch Times, Ms. Powers was waiting for a volcano to erupt.
“I just went with some friends to check out some off-map roads to see what would be the best route ... we were maybe out until, like, two in the morning exploring lava fields, flying the drone, and checking out some old volcanoes and hot spring areas where the ground is steaming,” she said.
The ground-shaking earthquakes that happen every 20 minutes in such close proximity to active volcanoes have become commonplace for Ms. Powers, but her first summer in Iceland was surely a learning curve.
“The days get longer and longer,” she said. “You don’t really realize it until suddenly the sun is going down, and you’re like, ‘Oh, okay, it’s maybe time for dinner!’ Then you look at the clock and it’s like, 10 o‘clock, and you’re like. ... ’What am I supposed to do right now?'”
You’re just always alert and awake and having fun,” she said.
While one doesn’t need as much sleep as in the wintertime, after being awake for so long you do tend to get tired, Ms. Powers said, adding, that blackout shades and sleeping masks do help.
However, for locals, Ms. Powers said it’s not anything unusual because they haven’t known it any other way. People have regular work days that begin at 9 a.m. and end at 5 p.m.
“Things aren’t open longer,” she said. “Life still operates the same.”
After summer, there’s a swift transition into the winter months, spanning from mid-November into March or April. In contrast to the endless days of summer, the sun only shines for three and a half hours per day during this season. Locals take vitamin D supplements to combat the lack of sunlight.
“Seasonal depression definitely kicks in during the wintertime, so it’s best to stay busy,” Ms. Powers said, “but we also have the northern lights at nighttime. Those are just super magical and awesome to see in the sky sometimes. It can make all this darkness a little bit worth it.”
While the U.S. native sometimes misses the changing colors of the transitional seasons, Iceland’s “super cool” nature keeps her engaged year-round, and she feels grateful for the life she has chosen.
“I mean, I just built it myself,” she said. “I came to Iceland with basically no money and two duffel bags, and then couldn’t afford anything. I slept on a stranger’s couch for almost a year.”
Unable to secure a visa after applying for “probably over a hundred jobs,” Ms. Powers decided to start her own media production company. Navigating through a visa denial and deportation, she stuck fast to her goal and finally earned the legal right to live and work in Iceland.
“I’m often meeting people who are in Iceland who are like, ‘Oh my gosh, Kyana, I’m here because of you,’ and that is really moving,” she told The Epoch Times. “It’s quite interesting to have a life that not many people can relate to, but I think that’s what helps me want to share it more. ... I want everybody to be able to have this experience, or at least learn about it.”
To anyone visiting Iceland, Ms. Powers encourages them to start by renting a car and planning a road trip, with a trusty winter jacket on hand for unpredictable weather, even during the summertime.
“There’s so many amazing waterfalls and hot springs and just, like, crazy nature,” she said. “You have volcanoes and glaciers, black sand beaches, purple lupine fields, and it’s just beautiful anywhere you go.”
Glacier hikes are one of Ms. Powers’ favorite activities. “They’re also disappearing,” she said. “There are children that won’t have the same experience that we’re having now on glaciers.
“Sometimes I can’t even believe that this is my life, that people actually do this. This is just a life that I’ve always dreamed of.”
