Wilbraham & Monson Academy

Iceland - from Gabe Hall '26 on May 31: "Today we traveled from Eyvindará to Akureyri (the second largest city in Iceland, next to Reykjavík). Along the way we made a bunch of stops. Our first was to the stuolagil canyon, a massive canyon filled with basalt columns and a river flowing through with water carried down from a glacier. After taking a few photos, we hopped back on the bus and headed towards our next stop. After a long and bumpy ride down the mountain from the canyon, we made it to a small cafe in Egilsstaðir for some coffee and tea to keep us fueled for the rest of the ride. After finishing our food there, we made our way to the hverir sulfur field. It’s a highly-active geothermal area, where the surrounding pools and sulfur deposits can exceed 1,200 degrees fahrenheit. Once we were done, we cleaned our shoes from the mud and our noses from the sulfur, and got back on the bus to go get lunch. We stopped at a grocery store in what seemed like the middle of nowhere, and filled up with some traditional Icelandic hot dogs. We all also bought different kinds of Icelandic candies, then everyone on the bus shared so we could all try a bit of everything.

"Our last scenic stop of the day was the Gudafoss Waterfall in Fosshóll. It was a huge waterfall that we were able to hike down to, and a few people even drank from the water. Don’t worry, it’s glacier water so it is completely safe to drink. When we were done taking pictures, exploring, and saving Adri’s phone from the river, we got back on the bus and made our way to our current hotel for the night. When we landed in Akureyri, we were able to go out and explore. There were some cool bookstores, cafes and lots of restaurants. We had dinner in the city, and now we’re getting some sleep to be up early tomorrow for our whale watch.

"You’ll be hearing from Ryan tomorrow."

From our WMA group in Japan on May 31: "The group has been walking the more remote parts of the Nakasendo for two days and have stayed at traditional inns in three post towns along this historic path. One highlight was a respite in a cooling waterfall."

Iceland - from Brant Stoltz '26 on May 30: "We had a very relaxing day yesterday after our difficult hike the day before. First, we slept in an extra hour, having breakfast at the hotel and then heading out at 9 a.m. It snowed the previous night, which blocked off the main road through the mountains, so we took a detour. This added a little bit of time to our drive, but we eventually arrived at our first stop, Stúkafloss. This was a waterfall surrounded by snow capped mountains, something straight out of a movie or a laptop wallpaper. After some photo shoots, we headed to a local fishing village, and on the way we saw reindeer and a dead orca (hopefully we can see an a live orca on our whale watch). Driving through the village, there was a local park, which of course we had to stop at. After our brief pit stop for a trampoline, basketball and a zip line, we headed to the local general store, Kaupfjelagið, for lunch. This marked the halfway point for the day.

"Once our bellies were filled, the group went to the day’s main event, the Vök Baths. These were naturally heated hot springs, basically big hot tubs, with three different levels of heat, all of which felt great in the cold air. These were adjacent to a 40 degree Fahrenheit lake, which we cold plunged into before quickly hopping back into the warm spring water, which felt amazing. For dinner, we drove to Askur Pizzeria, where we had all-you-can-eat pizzas, which also included a pizza eating challenge to see who could eat the most (Brady won with 13 slices). Lastly, we stayed at the Hótel Eyvindará, where we had individual cabins rather than a traditional hotel room!

"Yesterday was a great rest day packed with unique views and experiences, and we are all excited to get some rest and have another great day today."

Iceland - from Curtis Wojnas '26 on May 29: "Good evening everybody! I hope all is well, because it certainly is over here in Iceland.

"This morning we began with a drive through a seemingly otherworldly place known as the Eldhraun lava field, the world's largest glacier drain basin, which formed after the Laki
volcanic fissure eruptions. These eruptions indirectly killed 1/5 of Iceland’s population at the time (1783) because the ~130 million tons of toxic gas wiped out up to 80% of the sheep and almost half of the cattle, causing widespread famine. The famine caused by these eruptions was also linked to the famine in France at the time, and was a factor of the French Revolution.

"After this interesting pit stop, we made it to our first major destination: the Falljökull Glacier. Walking yet another seemingly otherworldly landscape, we got to see some surreal views of the mountainside that this very glacier has carved out over millions of years. However, our tour guide told us that Iceland is predicted to lose all of its ice in around 200 years due to global warming. When we saw where the glacier was in 1890 compared to now (pictured below) it became really apparent future generations won’t be able to experience such a beautiful natural wonder, so we’re truly grateful to experience this.

"Our third stop of the day took us to the Diamond Beach, which got its name from the crystal clear chunks of ice from the Jökulsárlón Glacier that wash onto its shore. We even saw a few seals here. We then went across the road to check out where this ice is before it reaches the beach, that being the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. This place would probably have been the Titanic’s worst nightmare, but the lagoon was beautiful, and we even went on a day where the chunks of ice were extra blue.

"Although the weather today was certainly sub-optimal, our spirits remained high, and we even had a bit of singing going on when Max played the song 'American Pie' during our drive. Time to rest up for tomorrow."

From our adventurers in Japan on May 29: "Walking the “Philosophers path”, burning incense at a Buddhist Temple, and traditional Japanese lunch."

Iceland - from Maxime LaBelle-Lavallee '26 on May 28: "After leaving the capital, we started off the day with the equivalent of a cold plunge but much more Icelandic. We suited up with waterproof suits as the water was too warm for us (more the opposite ;). We then got lunch close to a geyser and took the time to look at it. Personally, I got a fish and chips. My goal is to have one at every place we go. The Gullfoss Waterfall followed by the “waterfall from the back” were pretty cool. The windiest place I’ve been in my life, the Black Sand Beach, (was) still amazing and (we) played a little bit of hackysack with the group. I think everyone can say the food for dinner was amazingly fancy. Overall, another successful Icelandic day (meaning that it is amazing)! Góða nótt everyone!

Here's our first batch of photos from WMA's Iceland adventure.