I moved to Iceland from Brooklyn 7 years ago. I feel so much safer walking round downtown at night and I'm away from the rat race.

• Jewells Chambers moved from Brooklyn to Iceland in 2016 and says it's slightly cheaper and much safer.
• It's hard to find some groceries and the public transport really doesn't compare to NY, she said.

This as-told-to article is based on a conversation with Jewells Chambers, who relocated from Brooklyn to Iceland in June 2016 and produces the podcast "All Things Iceland." It has been edited for length and clarity.

There are so few Icelanders in the world. Before I met my ex-husband, I didn't know anything about Iceland. But, after visiting four or five times and securing a job in digital marketing that didn't require me to speak Icelandic, I relocated from Brooklyn in 2016.

I originally lived in the outskirts of Reykjavik, but moved downtown after me and my ex-husband split.

Compared to Brooklyn, Reykjavik is nothing. But there's a ton happening here, which is funny considering how small it is. You could be bored, but that would be by choice.

(Iceland has just under 400,000 residents; Brooklyn has an estimated population of nearly 2.6 million.)

In Reykjavik, looking out the window or walking down the street and seeing mountains and water in the distance makes you feel more connected to nature even though you're in an urban area.

But learning the language was challenging – I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I've cried some days feeling like a failure.

Good luck finding your favorite brands

Iceland is expensive, but it's cheaper than New York. Rents have been rising in Iceland, so it's much more common for people to own if they can – but it's very expensive to buy downtown.

Medical care here is heavily subsidized – almost free – and all my experiences have been great.

You could go bankrupt in the US from having a child. It's so much less expensive here. That astonishes me – it's already worked into the taxes we pay. Why can't that happen in the US?

Food prices aren't terrible, but they've gone up recently. We don't grow much produce in Iceland and there's little variety in the stores. Your choice for cereal might be Cheerios, muesli, or oatmeal.

In New York I was never that into Costco. But here I'm a fan. Some things are really cost-effective and there's a lot of variety. And it gives me a bit of New York and it's fun to just window-shop.

(There is one Costco in Iceland.)

My friend recently went to London and said he couldn't wait for the variety of fresh fruits and vegetables there. When I go back to New York, I'm like a kid in a candy store. When I go into a Whole Foods, there are just so many varieties of apples and pears.

I bring in things from the US that are hard to find. A lot of people do this, including Icelanders, because of the prices – when they go on vacation, they pack an extra suitcase to fill up. People visiting relatives in Iceland often bring supplies for them, too.

Iceland is surprisingly great to live in as a vegan. Almost every restaurant has at least one vegan option.

Driving is the standard in Iceland. Obviously there are plenty of places in the world where public transport doesn't run 24 hours, but I was coming from a place where it's always available.

If you miss your night bus in Iceland, taxis are extraordinarily expensive. And I wouldn't recommend tourists try to travel around the country by public bus.

I love Icelandic summers

Adjusting to the daylight hours in Iceland took me some time, particularly the winters. It's dark when you're waking up and going to work and it's still dark until 11 a.m. – that's odd. And you leave work and it's dark again because the sun went down at 3 p.m..

I used to be afraid of winter coming but now it just doesn't bother me at all. I do exercise – working out, walking, just getting outside – and make sure I have a project to work on, like my podcast, "All Things Iceland." That takes my brain off the idea that it's so dark.

People create cozy environments by lighting candles and having lights in the windows, which makes everything brighter-looking. Many neighbors coordinate their lights, too. People have little tricks for your brain so you feel like it's not that bad.

In the summer I used to sleep in an eye mask to cope with the near-constant daylight. But I'm now fine with it and can go to sleep, no issues.

And I don't find it annoying – I love it! There's so much sunlight it confuses my body because I want to be up all day, and that's probably the biggest downside. It's harder for me to know when I should relax, and I can exhaust myself. I could burn out from excitement.

I've never been homesick

I usually go back to the US once or twice a year. I've never been homesick. I've not had that feeling that I needed to be in New York. I enjoy being here very much and it feels like home.

I've made friends through work, through my ex-husband, and through Facebook groups for foreign people living in Iceland. Facebook is the overlord of Iceland for communication.

I feel leaps and bounds safer in Reykjavik. I don't feel alert in the way I would in New York. I've walked downtown in the middle of the night and never felt like this was a risky thing to do.

I don't have any regrets moving here. I think this was a great decision and I feel really secure and like I was meant to be here. It's bananas to say – I would've never assumed that.

I've also learned to relax a lot more. It's very easy in New York to get caught in this rat race idea about needing to be overly productive and feeling like you're stressed all the time. And coming here, I shed a lot of that. I'm a lot less stressed.