What in the world

In my diligence to keep an eye on all things Icelandic, I see that Miss Iceland won the ever-so-important Miss World 2005 competition held Friday in Sanya, China. The 21-year old Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir, a name probably unpronounceable to the non-Nordic, was born in Reykjavík but grew up in the small town of Seltjarnarnes. For the past year, she's been studying anthropology at university. Next fall she'll begin to study law and graduate with a double major. In the meantime she spent her summer working as a police officer intern at the airport. She enjoys acting, singing, dancing, snow-boarding, hiking, camping, horsemanship and playing the piano. Her favourite motto is “You are what you do” or “You are what you make.” Perhaps not coincidentally (thanks to genetics), her mother also represented Iceland in 1983. Now if only genetics could explain why I'm half Scandinavian and half Celtic (like most Icelanders), with brown hair and green eyes but never looked anything like this gal! Bummer!