Icelandic Myths Dispelled...Thank God

So my flight from LAX to Boston went relatively smooth. Once I arrived in Boston I waited at the gate for the CELL group to arrive. While I was waiting, I met a girl who lives in Iceland. Her name was Astrid and she had just finished studying abroad in California for the summer. What a coincidence, right? Anyway she dispelled some popular myths about Iceland for me. Based on a Vanity Fair article that I had read before traveling, I had two major concerns about Iceland. I needed to know if it was true that a majority of Icelanders believe that elves exist and if it was true that Icelanders were so inbred that only 7 last names existed in the entire country ( The Vanity Fair article claimed both of these ridiculous statements as facts). Luckily Astrid was kind enough to answer both. She informed me that Icelanders love their mythical sagas because they are part of the country's rich history, not because they actually believe in them. As far as incest goes, there are many more than 7 last names in the country. Moral of the story, never take anything seriously that you read in Vanity Fair.
Overall, I felt a little embarrassed, but for the most part I felt relieved that I was not traveling to a country full of superstitious lunatics. Astrid was also kind enough to give me her phone number and told me that she would be glad to show me around Reykjavik. Hopefully I can meet up with her sometime, though I am pretty sure the CELL program would not want me to wander away on my own.