Kusiner | Issue 5

Meeting Americans in Finland

by Hannah Ray

Meeting Kassie and her family in Finland was a fun surprise. I had heard from my family members when I was younger that I have some distant relatives in the United States, but I never heard any more information on where they were living and how we were related. A few years back, my uncle Sixten Häggman, visited several states in the U.S. When he returned to Finland, he talked about how he met some of our relatives, descendants of those who had emigrated to the country. I never really knew where the relatives were from.

This summer was my last summer break back home in Finland before my final year at university. I have been studying at the University of Denver for three years working on my undergraduate degree while having a spot on the DU Nordic Ski Team, the reason I chose to travel abroad to the U.S. in 2019. Uncle Sixten called me one evening in July and told me I needed to bike over to the Ahlviks’ house in my little hometown of Esse. He told me some Americans were in Finland to meet their distant Swedish speaking relatives. He said, “you have to come and meet them because you are the only one in my family than can speak good enough English to be a translator for me.” My parents and I went over to the house on an otherwise bland Finnish evening, and when we got there began small talk. The Americans started saying that Kassie should come outside and say hello to us. When Kassie met me and saw my hoodie, she explained that she was starting her master’s degree in psychology this fall at DU. What a fun coincidence!

Also, another fun surprise was that I have been to Alaska for ski competitions for the past two years. My sophomore year we were in Fairbanks, and last winter we were in Anchorage, where we lived right next to the UAA campus. I didn’t know this at the time, but Kassie did her undergraduate degree at UAA. Our whole situation has been full of fun coincidences and potential chance meetings where often we have been close in proximity to one another and yet, we had no idea!