Here they are: IH Oulu ambas­sa­dors!

Pava­ni, Sara, Edu­ra­do and Jun are Inter­na­tio­nal House Oulu ambas­sa­dors 2023. Get a glimp­se of their thoughts!

Sara Sarouk­ha­ni, Iran

“Hel­lo eve­ry­one, I am Sara, from Iran. I came to Oulu in Novem­ber 2020 to pur­sue my master’s degree in Industrial Envi­ron­men­tal Engi­nee­ring. The­se past two and a half years in Oulu have been fil­led with exci­ting moments and chal­len­ges, all of which cont­ri­bu­ted to my growth and made my time here tru­ly enjo­y­able. Now, I am so hap­py to have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to sha­re not only the great expe­riences in Oulu, but also the valuable insight and know­led­ge I´ve lear­ned along my jour­ney with you all.

A litt­le background of why I deci­ded to Stu­dy at Oulu Uni­ver­si­ty! I hold a bachelor’s degree in Mate­rial Science and Engi­nee­ring in my under­gra­dua­te. As my bac­he­lor’s the­sis was main­ly rela­ted to the envi­ron­men­tal field, I disco­ve­red a pas­sion for addres­sing envi­ron­men­tal concerns through engi­nee­ring solu­tions by wor­king on impact­ful pro­jects. I selec­ted the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu because it pro­vi­ded me with a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to fol­low my know­led­ge from my bac­he­lor’s and com­bi­ne them with sus­tai­nable chal­len­ges wit­hin the mas­ter’s pro­gram.

Stu­dying in Oulu has gran­ted me a varie­ty of oppor­tu­ni­ties that extend bey­ond mere aca­de­mic growth. For ins­tance, after a year stu­dying in Oulu, I had the chance to par­tici­pa­te in the Eras­mus Exc­han­ge pro­gram in Barce­lo­na, Spain for one semes­ter, and spend an amazing time the­re by expan­ding my con­nec­tions, impro­ving my soft skills, and lear­ning the impor­tance of hand­ling the balance between fun and study/work! Addi­tio­nal­ly, during my interns­hip and master´s the­sis at Oulu Uni­ver­si­ty, I could work on mea­ning­ful pro­jects which equip­ped me with valuable know­led­ge and skills to pave the way for a career I am pas­sio­na­te about. Cur­rent­ly, I am wor­king as an Envi­ron­men­tal Engi­neer at KONE.

Final­ly, what I like the most about living in Oulu, is the remar­kable sen­se of peace and being in a safe envi­ron­ment that could be embraced in eve­ry cor­ner of the city, far from any unneces­sa­ry stres­ses. Enjo­ying natu­re throug­hout the year and having high stan­dards of living are the other impor­tant rea­sons for me. It is worth men­tio­ning here, as we all might know, chal­len­ges are always out the­re, speci­fical­ly when you come from a dif­fe­rent cul­tu­ral background! Howe­ver, it is preci­se­ly the­se chal­len­ges that dri­ve my pas­sion as an inter­na­tio­nal house ambas­sa­dor to sha­re my expe­riences and show with you the amount of the dif­fe­rent oppor­tu­ni­ties that are sur­roun­ding you, here in Oulu. Toget­her, let’s embrace the­se chal­len­ges, enga­ge in mea­ning­ful discus­sions, and learn from each other!”

Pava­ni Nir­ma­li­ka, Sri Lan­ka

“My name is Pava­ni, and I am a 27-year-old who has been living in Oulu for the past 8 months.

Cur­rent­ly, I am stu­dying the Fin­nish lan­gua­ge. As part of my jour­ney to inte­gra­te into Fin­nish socie­ty, I have also star­ted volun­tee­ring at Valo­ta­lo and the Red Cross.

What I tru­ly love about Oulu is its cul­tu­ral diver­si­ty, stun­ning natu­re, and the count­less oppor­tu­ni­ties it offers to its resi­dents. The city has pro­vi­ded me with a vibrant and sup­por­ti­ve envi­ron­ment to grow and explo­re, and I am eager to con­ti­nue disco­ve­ring all that it has to offer.”

Eduar­do Acos­ta, Colom­bia

“Hey eve­ry­one! I’m super exci­ted to tell you a litt­le bit about myself. I’m a doc­to­ral researc­her at Oulu Busi­ness School, and my research is all about the Circu­lar Eco­no­my and Blockc­hain tech­no­lo­gy. Basical­ly, I’m trying to figu­re out how we can make things more trans­pa­rent as we tran­si­tion to a more sus­tai­nable futu­re. It’s a pret­ty big deal, and I love being part of it.

When I’m not ner­ding out about research, I’m all about sports. I love playing and watc­hing foot­ball, biking, padd­le, kay­ak, swim­ming, and hit­ting the slo­pes for win­ter sports like skiing. Living in #Oulu for two years has been amazing for my sports addic­tion, and the city is the per­fect place for it too! The bike con­nec­tions are unreal.

Oulu is honest­ly one of the coo­lest cities out the­re. The­re are so many cul­tu­ral options, and the people here are so friend­ly. I real­ly feel like I’ve found my hap­py place. Plus, the mix of locals and inter­na­tio­nals is amazing. You get to expe­rience Fin­nish cul­tu­re at its finest, but you can also enjoy all the cool stuff other cul­tu­res bring, like food, sports, and other acti­vi­ties.

Wor­king at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu is a dream come true. I get to play around with all sorts of cool and inno­va­ti­ve ideas for a more inclusi­ve and sus­tai­nable futu­re. It’s pret­ty awe­so­me to be part of such a cool ins­ti­tu­tion and wor­king on somet­hing that mat­ters.”

Jun Naka­mu­ra, Japan

“Hi, my name is Jun, and I am from Japan! I have been here as a master’s degree stu­dent at Oulu Busi­ness School for 9 months. I was in Oulu as an exc­han­ge stu­dent at Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu during 2019–2020, and I love the com­for­table­ness of the city, especial­ly the com­bi­na­tion of natu­re and people’s pas­sion here. Hence, I deci­ded to move here to con­ti­nue my stu­dy.

I am stu­dying Inter­na­tio­nal Busi­ness Mana­ge­ment at the uni­ver­si­ty and have lear­ned inter­na­tio­nal busi­ness from a varie­ty of pers­pec­ti­ves, such as ent­repre­neurs­hip, inno­va­tion, stra­te­gy, and mul­ti­na­tio­nal enterpri­ses theo­ry. From tho­se pers­pec­ti­ves I am inte­res­ted in how Oulu’s inter­na­tio­nal city rela­tions­hips, like the rela­tions­hip between Oulu and Sen­dai, Japan, can affect local com­pa­nies’ actions.

Cur­rent­ly I am a board mem­ber of the Fin­nish-Japa­ne­se Socie­ty of Oulu a.k.a OSJY, and orga­ni­sing events to int­ro­duce Japa­ne­se cul­tu­re to people in Oulu. At the uni­ver­si­ty, I am crea­ting mate­rials and videos for int­ro­ducing Oulu for inter­na­tio­nal stu­dents!

I love Oulu. Oulu is for me com­for­table to stay, and beco­me myself. Sur­roun­ded by natu­re, pas­sio­na­te people, and an inclusi­ve envi­ron­ment, I feel won­der­ful to be part of the city. #Oulu gives us inter­na­tio­nal people a lot of oppor­tu­ni­ties for networ­king and sup­por­ting their lives. For example, Vil­la Vic­tor is one of the oppor­tu­ni­ties for me to learn Fin­nish lan­gua­ge and expe­rience cul­tu­re! I am real­ly exci­ted to talk and con­nect with people! Feel free to reach us and chat toget­her!”

Stay tuned for more exci­ting sto­ries about our ambas­sa­dors!