It’s been eighteen years since I first heard of the Faroe Islands. Sixteen years since I found a Faroese friend online and started trying to learn the language. Twelve years since that first magical, snowy visit.

And it’s been ten years — a full decade, somehow! — since I spent a whole summer on the islands, learning Faroese and working on my graduate project for the Missouri School of Journalism. 

My life has changed significantly in the intervening years. I’m now a World Language teacher, and live with my husband in Washington, D.C. 

And I still feel a powerful connection to the Faroe Islands.

I’ve returned several times, seven magical summers: each a happy return, each somehow a little different. I’ve made unforgettable memories at ‘home’ in Gøta and Tórshavn, and gone on marvellous adventures to some of the most remote corners of the islands. One year, my penpal came along from Finland; another year, a dear old friend from grade school. Most recently, my husband finally saw the place I’ve been telling him about for years!

The Faroes too have changed, as everything on Earth must. 

It’s 2024, and in many ways, the future has come to the Faroes. Atlantic Airways runs direct flights between New York and the Faroe Islands. The new Hilton Garden Inn in Tórshavn has more than 100 fancy guest rooms.

Eysturoyartunnilin opened in 2020 as the world’s second-longest sub-sea road tunnel, cutting the drive between Tórshavn and Runavík, once a winding hour-plus of following the fjords, to a snappy 20 minute short-cut under the sea. The tunnel even features the world’s first sub-sea roundabout, allowing drivers to exit in Strendur on the other side of Skálafjørður.

As of 2023, Sandoyartunnilin has brought the island of Sandoy into the “Faroese Mainland” that can be driven without a ferry crossing. If all goes well, Sandoy will be a stepping stone for the Suðuroyartunnil that will add Suðuroy, the southernmost and last large unconnected island, to the main Faroese road network. Some proposals even include a quick stop in Skúvoy (population 40) which is among the smallest and most remote islands in the archipelago.

In more personal news, my host family has grown, by three fantastic children, and recently come to visit me in the United States!

My ‘home village’ of Gøta has a new playground, beloved by my Faroese niece-of-sorts. The town-hall, stone picnic table, and riverside path were also pleasant additions to the village landscape. The town-hall has won architectural awards for blending Faroese tradition with modern Nordic design… but it’s also broken the sight-lines down the river to the fjord. And the new footbridge crosses the stream just where I used to leap from stone to stone, where I took a low-vantage-point photo I submitted as part of my graduate portfolio. I can’t take that photo again, nor cross over those stones… but that’s just how life goes. No doubt there were people in the Faroes who mourned the unspoiled mountains when they put in the roads that are now an essential part of life.

More foreigners than ever are now visiting the Faroes. It’s impossible not to have a whirlwind of emotions about that, especially when I’m quite complicit — I’ve encouraged roughly everyone I’ve met in the last decade to travel there. The tourism boom is good for the economy, and for certain facets of the culture. Other traditions are threatened. Debates about access to the Faroese nature, almost all of which is privately held, have pitted neighbors against each other, where once the feeling was that one could walk in the hagi (outfield) without asking any special permission. 

But the Faroe Islands are still Faroese, and I remain utterly enchanted by this strange and wonderful little nation.

As I write this, a strike by multiple labor unions has all of the islands in its grip. The fresh food ran out almost immediately, followed by the gas and diesel, and now even the potatoes, pasta, and frozen food is running low. There’s still dairy though, and fish, and fresh pilot whale from a recent grindadráp in Hvannasund. 

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose —

Jú meira tað broytist, jú meira verður tað tað sama.