Photo by Matt Kelly

Geir Thorarinsson

Icelandic student learns Latin

By Matt Kelly

It’s a ways to travel just to learn a language.

Geir Thorarinsson, 23, of Reykjavik, Iceland, came to U.Va.'s summer language program to learn Latin, which he thought would fit in well with his philosophy/Greek major at the University of Iceland.

“My school doesn’t offer Latin,” he said. “My only option was to go somewhere else and this program looked good.”

Thorarinsson, the first foreign student to come to the language institute, had been to America for a vacation trip when he was 13, but that had been his only experience in the country.

“I knew about America from the movies and such,” he said. “It’s a distorted view, but it’s not that foreign.”

He did some traveling in the area during his course, with stops at Monticello and Barboursville, and he was impressed with what he saw.

“I really like Charlottesville,” he said. “You have remarkable architecture here and the campus is beautiful. I will not forget it, especially the Rotunda.”