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Welcome to Iceland!
Home of my penpal Jona!

This is Jona, though her hairdo has probably changed numerous times since this photo was taken.

Iceland is located just south of the Arctic circle. However it is not as cold as you might expect a place called "Iceland" to be. In winter, the average temperature in Reykjavik (the capital city, located in the south-west, where over half of the population of approx 250,000 live) is -0.6C/ 31F, and in summer, the average is 11.2C/ 52F. The north and east have warmer summer temperatures, on average, than Reykjavik, but colder average winter temperatures. The snowfall varies a bit over the island too. The north-west has approximately 100 snowy days per year, and the south west, only an average of 40 per year.
Being so far north, the length of the day varies quite a lot depending on the time of year. In summer, there is only a short twilight before it is light again, and in winter only a short twilight before it is dark again!
Iceland's currency is the krona. 95% of Icelanders are Lutheran, and funnily enough, the official language is Icelandic! What is surprising however, Icelandic has almost no regional or class dialects.
Icelanders have their own distinct naming system. Since medieval times, a christian name was used, and a surname created from the father's christian name with 'son' for boys or 'dottir' for girls, attached. So a guy named Sven, would have sons with the surname 'Svenson' and daughters with the surname of 'Svendottir.' His wife does not take his surname however, but keeps her maiden name. People are registered in the phonebook by their first names; and everyone is on first name basis with the exception of the president and the Bishop of Iceland. Apparently it is illegal to have family names like most of the world does. Even foreigners who gain Icelandic citizenship must change their surname to the -son/ dottir system!
Info from the Cultures of the World series and Jona's letters