[mellow music] - antifragile. it s a term in mathematics used to describe systems that actually thrive when exposed to volatility and disorder. icelanders are the epitome of antifragile. - my favorite icelandic expression is probably [speaking icelandic]. - [repeating same expression] - [repeating same expression] it means, like, it will work itself out. - [icelandic expression] even on the verge of becoming roadkill, icelanders insist upon their unofficial national motto that everything will work itself out. - in the last month, didn t have a job,
and how it helped to shape me. - yeah. - but then i also get to absorb different things. and you know, as i learn, i teach. - where am i going here? - you re going to the right. - okay. - all right. come on, come on, come on. da da da da - at last, the ice cream in the ice cream road trip. - hello. - how are you? - i m good. how are you? - what s the most icelandic flavor you got? - it would probably be the licorice. - you don t have, like, raw seal meat or whale blubber ice cream? - [laughing] - i hate to be the one to break it to them, but ísbíltúr is basically just driving to get dessert. oh, my god. it s the size of a human head. but icelanders take their ice cream very seriously, so they gave it a legendary name. oh, and more sauce on top?
get nice things with nice prices at wayfair. wayfair, you ve got just what i need [birds twittering] [engine humming] [upbeat music] - this is pálína axelsdóttir njarovík. she lives and works in reykjavík, but for several months each year, she heads a couple of hours east to eystra-geldingarholt, where she and the rest of her family run a farm. at this point, i ve heard a lot about the resilience of the icelandic people. but today, i m going to witness firsthand just what it takes to survive here, and it s going to be. adorable. [sheep bleating] hello. - hi, hi. - am i in the right place? - yes. - oh, this is amazing. - welcome. this is maria, my partner. - hi. mari-ah.
- so you could not find a smaller car? - this is the smallest they got. - okay. - yeah. here we go. raaah! - boom. - hey. - sing. - no, no, thank you. i m not i m all right. - ólafur darri lafsson is an iconic icelandic actor, and one of the most joyful people i know. he s like a 6 5 viking teddy bear. don t you guys ever watch shark week? i met him while filming the meg a few years back, and spoiler alert = we both get devoured by a massive mackerel shark from the pliocene epic, and we won t be reprising our roles in the meg 2. - do you because i almost always get killed in everything i do. - we re planning on killing you on this show, too. i hope that s okay. - absolutely. i would expect nothing less. [laughter] so whenever you come to iceland, there s one thing all of us have in common. - okay. - we go to a hot springs. - a hot springs.
- beer drinking per capita. - [laughing] - not true, but also not so far off. - writers. there are a lot of writers. - okay, that one is true. there are more artists and writers per capita in iceland than any other country on earth. one in ten icelanders will publish a book. another fun icelandic statistic surveys have consistently found that more than half of icelanders believe in elves. - well, you can t really see them, but i do believe it s because some kind of source there, some kind of element of, like, a type of magic, kind of. - my grandfather, he was actually saved by an elf. - i don t know where all the foreigners get the idea that we all believe in elves. we don t. - yeah, i have no idea where we would have gotten that from. - and he was playing by the ravine. he almost falls into the ravine, but he feels like as if he s been grabbed and sort of pulled away.