Finland
Finland (Finnish: Suomi) is a northern European country which borders Russia, Norway and Sweden. Chris has traveled to the country on at least two occasions in 2024, making it the only country outside the United States which he is known to have visited. On both trips he was spotted with Flutter at shopping centers in the capital city of Helsinki.
In October 2023, Chris joined the language learning app Duolingo, where he heavily focused on learning Finnish.
In a YouTube livestream on 17 February 2024, when asked if he was learning Finnish currently and why, Chris replied with "I don't know what you're talking about. What're you talking about, guy?"[1]
In April 2024, Chris and Flutter were spotted and briefly filmed shopping at the Arabia Shopping Centre in Helsinki, although this sighting was not made public until October 2024 as the individual who spotted them was not certain that it was them. The individual stated that Chris was speaking English in the store rather than Finnish.[2] Chris was subsequently spotted at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport on 24 May 2024,[3] wearing the same coat. Dallas Fort Worth is a major airline hub with direct flights to Helsinki, so it is likely that Chris had a layover there on his way back to Virginia.
On 27 September 2024, Chris was seen in Helsinki by a store employee who leaked a cropped still from the security camera to a co-worker who then posted it to the Internet.[4] Locals believe the sighting was at the Mall of Tripla, in a store called Normal.[5] The following day, Chris and Flutter were spotted walking at the Mall of Tripla, by an observer who took a brief video clip.[6] In both sightings, Chris is wearing a bright blue Superdry sweatshirt with the hood up.
Many observers have theorized that Flutter may be Finnish or Finnish-American; she and Chris were first seen in public together in September 2023, a month before Chris began studying Finnish on Duolingo. Additionally, Flutter was observed in December 2023 flying from Charlotte Douglas International Airport to Richmond International Airport, where she was picked up by Chris. Charlotte Douglas is another major airline hub with service to Helsinki, which lends credence to the hypothesis that she lives in Finland when not visiting Chris.
To date, Chris has remained secretive about his interest in Finland and Finnish, although he did film himself singing two songs in Finnish (Silakka Apajalla and Sakkijarven Polkka) as part of his AI Chris Chan Vs Christ Chan series. While the series features Chris attempting to sing songs in multiple foreign languages, most of which he has never studied in Duolingo, Finnish is notably the only language he has attempted more than once.
Chris and Flutter in Finland at the Arabia Shopping Centre during April 2024
Chris and Flutter at the Mall of Tripla, Helsinki, September 2024
