Is there anyone going to ICeland for the 2009-2010, I have applied for the LLM program at the university?anyone else? How much does it cost to live in Iceland?

Hi,
I am going to Iceland for 2009-2010 for the environmental law program at University of Iceland, Reykjavik. I am transferring from Sorbonne Paris after my first year because my prof. recommended me the program. They are also offering a PHD program following LLM. Because of the fall of Icelandic currency which is the krone, the next few years will be quite cheap. Studio rentals are about 700 USD to 1500 USD depending on the location and other expenses are quite affordable. I will be moving in by August. If you would like to discuss more about it I would be more than happy to help.

For god's sake, perhaps your professor was joking and you misunderstood!!! Where DO YOU THINK you are going to present this "LLM-Phd" from ICELAND? everybody will laugh at you. I think you should better spend your time and money at learning indian cooking or something more useful than "studying law in ICELAND"! I REALLY DO NOT WANT TO INSULT you but I am really exagerated by the fact that a young talented person could do something so ridiculous! Come on, just think "I-C-E-L-A-N-D"! Furthermore this so called country is financially destroyed, they have even a problem in importing food. Moreover it is an ugly, depressing and boring island, that produces only fish!
And what about 700-1500 usd for rental (per month or per year???)? With 1500 usd and at that financial situation, I think you could buy even a young icelandic woman for every use, not just rent a house!
Come on, I cannot carry on this ridiculous discussion.
However, I think that you should also think about doing LLM in Papua-New Guinea or Azerbaitzan (they offer good energy law programs!!!). It could be a difficult dilemma!!!...

Oh my God you are so mean dont be like that! Maybe I dont know much about environmental law but if his teacher recommended the program I dont think he did it as a joke I dont know! Maybe environmental law is good there,,cannot much about it cause i dont want to be ignorant and talk much about a country or field i really dont know.

I think that if that makes you happy then go for it but well in my opinion tranferring from Sorbonne (one of the best unis in France) to Iceland seems kinda extreme but you must have your reasons.

I wish you the best of lucks really!

i don't want to be mean however i just said the simple truth and nothing else. and what about transferring from sorbonne to iceland? i try to be polite however this whole story is totally ridiculous and i think i should be a bit mean in order to awaken this fellow who thinks seriously about this! come on, it is I-C-E-L-A-N-D it seems like a joke! and everyone knows one-two things about this frozen and financially devastated island!

Deltame, YOU are the most ridiculous person on this forum, its amazing how mean you are against this country, simply cos it passes thru a very hard financial period and , as u say "its a boring island", with only fish to sell. Its crazy to say that! Did you know that, among all european countries, Iceland was and still is the biggest banana productor and exportator?? it is simply true, and this is just an example. Iceland is a fucking great country, beautiful and amazing, waterfalls, glaciers, volcanos, cool people, and in terms of geology, it is a infinite source of research for scientists, they say it looks like a small world, several millions of years ago!
However, I totally admit that studying law in Iceland seems a strange idea, and your joke about azerbaidjan and new guinea was fun, but i'd say studying environmental law in Iceland could be less stupid as it seems to be, as it is a country very concerned by environment, protection of decreasing animal species, and global warming.
well anyway i hope you guys all get enroled in good law schools, and have a nice time in Iceland!

This might be a radical concept, but there are people out there who are not obsessed with rankings and prestige and simply want to do a LLM for the sake of learning. From personal experience, i do know that the best professors in a particular field might not be teaching in the so called prestigious schools. For e.g. notwithstanding the fact that PACE is a tier 4 law school in the US, its environmental law faculty is one of the best in the nation. I am unfamiliar with iceland, but i do not find it out of the realm of reality that they might have a superb faculty in the OP's field of interest and that the faculty in question might be superior to Sorbonne within that particular field.

Additionally, - this is also a view that comes from my personal experience but - i really don't think a LLM regardless of school is going to make much difference in the job market. For example, this forum is littered with posts describing the difficulty of getting a job in the US even with a LLM degree from a Top 14 school. From what i know if your intention is to practise, your job prospects are usually determined by your first law degree and your subsequent working experience. For academia, it is really the quality of one's research and one's publications during the course of the doctorate program although I will admit having a LLM and phD/JSD from a top law school does help a little. Either way, i don't see why prestige should necessarily be the be all end all when selecting a LLM program.

I believe the following people, to name a slim few will disagree with certain summations and erroneous opinions stated in this post regarding Iceland;
o Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson, billionaire entrepreneur
o Björgólfur Guðmundsson, billionaire entrepreneur,
o Eggert Magnússon, businessman and former chairman of the English Premiership football club West Ham United
o Hreiðar Már Sigurðsson, businessman
o Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson, billionaire and founder of the Bónus supermarket and the Baugur Group
o Magnús Þorsteinsson, businessman
o Þorsteinn M. Jónsson, banker
o Arnaldur Indriðason, writer
o Emilíana Torrini, singer and songwriter
o Björk, songwriter, singer, entertainer, actor and activist
o Sígur rós, musicians, songwriters
o Einar Bárðarson, songwriter, entrepreneur
o Halldór Kiljan Laxness, writer, poet, Nobel Prize winner
o Magnús Scheving, writer, actor, athlete, creator of LazyTown
o Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson (Paul Oscar), pop singer, songwriter and disc jockey
o Leifr Eiríksson (Leifur Eiríksson), discovered America in the year 1000 and named it Vínland (Land of Wine)
o Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, current prime minister, also the world's first openly gay head of government
o Jón Sigurðsson, independence leader
o Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, former president, first elected female head of state and first female elected to the presidency of any republic.
o Kári Stefánsson, MD, founder of deCODE genetics
o Niels Finsen, physician, Nobel Prize winner
o Bobby Fischer, former world chess champion, granted Icelandic citizenship on 21 March 2005
o Friðrik Ólafsson, chess Grandmaster
o Helgi Pjeturss geologist and philosopher, pioneer of the Ice Age discovery


The Althingi, a legislative and judiciary parliament, was founded as the political hub of the Icelandic Commonwealth in the year 930AD. Consequently, "it is arguably the world's oldest parliamentary democracy."

Iceland ranked 5th in the Index of Economic Freedom 2006

The corporate tax rate is a flat 18 percent, one of the lowest in the world

Iceland was ranked first in the United Nations' Human Development Index report for 2007/2008. Icelanders are the second longest-living nation with a life expectancy at birth of 81.8 years. The Gini coefficient ranks Iceland as one of the most egalitarian countries in the world.

Renewable energy provides over 70% of the nation's total energy, Iceland also expects to be energy-independent by 2050

Iceland is a very technologically advanced society. By 1999, 82.3% of Icelanders had access to a computer. Iceland also had 1,007 mobile phone subscriptions per 1,000 people in 2006

Iceland is progressive in terms of lesbian, gay bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) matters. In 1996, Parliament passed legislation to create registered partnerships for same-sex couples, covering nearly all the rights and benefits of marriage. In 2006, by unanimous vote of Parliament, further legislation was passed, granting same-sex couples the same rights as different-sex couples in adoption, parenting and assisted insemination treatment.

Handball is often referred to as a national sport, Iceland's team is one of the top-ranked teams in the world and Icelandic women are surprisingly good at football relative to the size of the country, the national team ranked 19th by FIFA.

Iceland was recently ranked the fourth happiest country in the world.

Prior to the current economic crisis which has affected EVERY nation and economy, Icelands unemployment rate was 1.5%

According to the America Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
o Literacy (99% of Icelanders are literate), longevity, and social cohesion are first-rate by world standards.
o Iceland boasts the world's oldest functioning legislative assembly, the Althing, established in 930
o Slightly smaller than Kentucky

And all of this from the worlds 179th largest economy and a place slightly smaller in geographic size than Kentucky, and boasting a population of seven one hundredths (7%) of that of Kentucky.

I am also a believer in, and student of law, and therefore Justice. As I would have hoped out of our fellows, I will not accept subjective, prejudiced, biased, emotionally charged injustice borne out of pure naivety and ignorance.

Further, only one who either knows nothing of Iceland, and/or has never been to the country could ever be delusional enough to dream that Iceland is an ugly, depressing and boring island, that produces only fish.. Iceland is one of the most beautiful places in this universe, and has one of the most beautiful peoples on this planet.

Good day to you all, and synapse and m.dymas, as the other intelligent people here have said, there is only one option and that is to do what is right for you and what you will gain the most out of. It is a sad a pointless existence, the one which seeks judgement and satisfaction from other sad and pointless existences.

P.S. If you are hailing from one of the worlds major economies you will find that Your Dollar, Pound or Euro will go a very long way in beautiful Iceland at the moment.

Good luck

"The total area used for banana production is approximately 1000 m2... in 2007, the largest European banana producer by far was Spain.[4]" by WIkipedia, to speak the plain truth Iceland just experimented with bananas.

Look my friend, I am sorry if I insulted your country, however the opinion that I expressed is commonly accepted by most people from countries other than Iceland. By mentioning billionaires and artists you do not prove anything, every country has its own billionaires and artists! Hello, as we use to say in my home-country.

Furthermore, we do not judge iceland, we just advise a person who thinks to study law in iceland. And personally I believe that it is not at all a good choice, for any person who does not come from Iceland.Ok? I love my country too, however I would not advise anybody from another country to come and study for a llm here. And if I meet anybody that has come in my country for a llm (from another country ofcourse) I and everybody else here are going to assume that he or she is mad.

* sorry my friend, but the fact that Iceland has too many lesbians and gays as top state officers, is not something that constitutes a honor for a country (nor a blame of course). It could just mean that there are too many gays and lesbians in the country. perhaps, of course.
oh and Fischer took the nationality because he was self-expelled from USA. Mengele took brasilian nationality (with a different name), however I do not think that this means that Brasil is to blame for Auswitz!
as far as everything else is concerned, i do not know a single country without politicians, average businessmen, singers, one or two authors and scientists . by using your kind of "proofs" I think that my "advice"-joke about azerbaitzan becomes a very attractive idea...