Family immigrates to Kirksville

In between finishing their schoolwork and chatting with friends and family back home via Skype, members of an Icelandic family in Kirksville are finding time to adjust to the local culture following their transatlantic journey.

Sigrun Finnsdottir is a freshman at Truman. She and her father, Finnur Oskarsson, moved to Kirksville in January 2010 from Hafnarfjordur, Iceland. Six months later, her mother, Solveig Kristjansdottir, and younger sister, Fanney Finnsdottir, joined their American adventure.

"We had been working on the work permit for two years to come to the U.S. since Iceland went bankrupt," Oskarsson said. "It's very common for Icelanders to study and live abroad. Since the crisis hit Iceland harder than other countries, we decided to live abroad for a change and experience some foreign culture."

Iceland's financial crisis, began in April 2008, and caused its then-Prime Minister, Geir Haarde, to resign amid public demonstrations in January 2009. In February 2010, a month after Oskarsson and Finnsdottir came to Kirksville, unemployment increased to more than 9 percent in Iceland.

"The cost of living is much higher in Iceland," Kristjansdottir said. "Goods in Wal-Mart is really cheap compared with those in Iceland. But, when it comes to power, we spend less [in Iceland] because we have rich geothermal energy."

Oskarsson said excess geothermal energy in Iceland is used for the heating of roadways and sidewalks during winter months, making many of the wintertime hazards and chores Kirksville natives have become so used to a relatively new experience for the family.

"The geothermal energy is too hot [in Iceland]," Oskarsson said. "So we use it to heat all the houses and even the whole street. So there is not snow to shovel because it's melted automatically by the heat."

Because swimming pools in Iceland are constantly kept warm by this terrestrial heat, they would normally be able to swim laps in the pool during the winter season, which is what Oskarsson said he missed most about Iceland. Kristjansdottir said she misses Iceland's system of waste disposal and recycling.

"I want to separate the trash into different categories," she said. "That's what I do back home. It's much easier and advanced in Iceland. It's much harder to do it here. I try to separate trash but not as much as I do it in Iceland because it's not as convenient [in the U.S.]."

Oskarsson said it was easier to dispose of recyclable materials in the family's homeland because of Iceland's open stations for recycling drop-offs, where workers separate the citizens' recycling. He said it is harder to know where to drop off mixed trash in Kirksville.

With four family members currently attending different schools throughout Missouri, the family has discovered many differences between the education system in the U.S. and that of Iceland. Asdis Finnsdottir, the family's oldest daughter, studies Osteopathic Medicine at A.T. Still University, while her younger sister, Fanney, attends Kirksville High School. Kristjansdottir, their mother, is a student at Moberly Area Community College.

 "I like Truman a lot," Sigrun said. "There are so many things going on and they keep you busy, while school in Iceland is more relaxing. The grade point average system is also new to me. I have to focus more on study for good GPA. Besides, I enjoy the dorm culture here. We don't have dorms in Iceland, where you can meet new people and have fun."

Aside from Truman's residence halls, Finnsdottir said she enjoys the welcoming on-campus community, which embraces international students.

"I think the people here are more positive, and open themselves more to strangers than Icelanders," she said. "They are very interested in me because of my origin. They are all very nice and curious about Iceland. The question I got asked the most is how to pronounce the volcano's name erupted last year, Eyjafjallajökull."

Kristjansdottir also thinks Kirksville has been effective in welcoming the family and said they enjoy attending high school events with their daughter Fanney because they get to mingle with other families in the community.

Randee Rae Phelps, a Truman International Student Affairs officer, said there were 40 new international students at Truman this spring. Phelps said ISAO had an International Friends program in the past, matching Truman students with Kirksville-resident host families, to help new international students integrate with the local community, but the program didn't continue this year.  

(Additional reporting by Scott Henson)