Former exchange student from Finland visits host family
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HURON — Christa (Blomqvist) Gronlund of Finland has been taking in all the changes in Huron this week while visiting Joyce Watkins and daughters Jodi Even and Christina Jackson, who were her host family for the 1986-87 school term.
“Jodi was asking what do you want to do when you come, and I said I want to go to the mall,” Gronlund said. “Mom took me there, it took like 30 seconds.”
“She wanted to flip the loop like we used to,” Even added.
Gronlund, who will be in Huron until flying out Sunday morning, said she made this trip to see her son, Kevin Lankinem, who just signed with the Chicago Blackhawks organization. He is a goalie for the Ice Hogs in the American Hockey League. She also has a grown daughter.
“When mom heard I am going to be in Chicago, she wrote on Facebook to come and visit — it’s only nine hours away,” Gronlund said. “Finland is a small country. When I told my friends, they said ‘only’ nine hours away?”
It was in Huron that Gronlund experienced her first Halloween, and of course, Thanksgiving.