Language Barrier

I realized of all the places my life has taken me in the past few years, this is the first place I've been to where English is not the primary language. I guess I assumed that Icelandic was one of those languages that they have as a tradition, but everyone speaks English instead, however I was mistaken. Our hostel is located outside of the city/touristy area and all the Icelandic people speak primarily Icelandic. The language comes from Danish settlers so it is nothing like I've ever heard before. They have a slightly different alphabet, no c, q or w and weird letters like: ð, þ (pronounced th) and æ. The words are also extremely long and I think one word can translate into a phrase in English. One of the volcanoes that we are going to visit is called Eyjafjallajökull and when August said it i couldn't help but laugh because it sounded like a big mumble and even when he says it slow it sounds so funny. It makes it kind of hard in class because there are different volcanoes and towns that I don't understand to it's hard to remember which one is which.
As for communication, nearly everyone knows English and the accents are not hard to understand so it's not too difficult to get things across. I think what bothers me most is hearing other people talk and looking at menus and signs and not knowing what they say. The pronunciation is very different also so I want to know how to say everything but its impossible to remember once they say it because it's the most bizarre language. It's a strange feeling that will take a while to get used to. Luckily we have 2 amazing professors who are so kind and helpful with communication and getting us whatever we need.