Last summer, Margrét Hildur Egilsdóttir worked for the Network of Knowledge of Þingeying as a summer student.
Margrét is from Mývatn and was based at the Knowledge Network's office in the parish office in Reykjahlíð.
Before Margrét started working, she had proposed an idea she wanted to work on as a summer project in collaboration with Þekkingarnetið. Margrét's project focused on documenting life at Mývatn. What was daily life like by the lake, and how did it change with the seasons? What were the transport links to the lake? Schooling on both sides of the lake, the transformation of the area from a sparsely populated, the transformation of the area from a sparsely populated, even isolated place, into a popular tourist destination, the development of the local economy, being young in the Mývatn area, the local culinary traditions, not to mention the Krafla eruptions, all became topics of conversation for Margrét and her interviewees.
Margrét interviewed Finnbogi Stefánsson, Jón Árni Sigfússon, Sólveig Illugadóttir and Þórunn Einarsdóttir, in which they talk about their lives by the lake. The first three were born and raised in the countryside, but Þórunn moved there as a teenager. From the interviews, Margrét produced four podcast episodes entitled 'Stories from the Countryside'.
Thórunn says that there was some kind of trout on the table at every meal, pickled, smoked, salted, fresh, and that it was a change for her.
Sólveig also tells of ski instruction in the Mývatn area, where the women insisted on having separate ladies' lessons because they felt they were not getting enough instruction in the mixed classes with the men, and of coming home for the holidays when she was studying nursing and had been in Reykjavík for several months, but in a few months the area had been electrified, and the contrast was stark when coming up onto the Mývatnsheiði and looking out over the valley.
Jón Árni tells of the time when the people of Mývatn started bathing in Grjótagjá, and the family's plans to move to Brazil.
Finnbogi recounts the main gatherings in the village: haymaking festivals, Þorrablót feasts, summer solstice gatherings, and the establishment of the community hall, Skjólbrekka, where these events were held, as well as his skiing achievements and his work in water measurement.
The interviews with Margrét's interviewees can be listened to on Spotify