Last summer, Margr\u00e9t Hildur Egilsd\u00f3ttir worked for the Network of Knowledge of \u00deingeying as a summer student.
\nMargr\u00e9t is from M\u00fdvatn and was based at the Knowledge Network's office in the parish office in Reykjahl\u00ed\u00f0. <\/p>\n
Before Margr\u00e9t started working, she had proposed an idea she wanted to work on as a summer project in collaboration with \u00deekkingarneti\u00f0. Margr\u00e9t's project focused on documenting life at M\u00fdvatn. 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 M\u00fdvatn area, the local culinary traditions, not to mention the Krafla eruptions, all became topics of conversation for Margr\u00e9t and her interviewees. <\/p>\n
Margr\u00e9t interviewed Finnbogi Stef\u00e1nsson, J\u00f3n \u00c1rni Sigf\u00fasson, S\u00f3lveig Illugad\u00f3ttir and \u00de\u00f3runn Einarsd\u00f3ttir, in which they talk about their lives by the lake. The first three were born and raised in the countryside, but \u00de\u00f3runn moved there as a teenager. From the interviews, Margr\u00e9t produced four podcast episodes entitled 'Stories from the Countryside'. <\/p>\n
Th\u00f3runn 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.
\nS\u00f3lveig also tells of ski instruction in the M\u00fdvatn 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 Reykjav\u00edk for several months, but in a few months the area had been electrified, and the contrast was stark when coming up onto the M\u00fdvatnshei\u00f0i and looking out over the valley.
\nJ\u00f3n \u00c1rni tells of the time when the people of M\u00fdvatn started bathing in Grj\u00f3tagj\u00e1, and the family's plans to move to Brazil.
\nFinnbogi recounts the main gatherings in the village: haymaking festivals, \u00deorrabl\u00f3t feasts, summer solstice gatherings, and the establishment of the community hall, Skj\u00f3lbrekka, where these events were held, as well as his skiing achievements and his work in water measurement. <\/p>\n