Rein­vent­ing Myself: A Sto­ry of Resilience, Growth, and New Begin­nings

My name is Adri­ana Vitori­no and for the first 44 years of my life, Brazil was my home. I lived sur­round­ed by its vibrant cul­ture, grad­u­at­ed in Lan­guages and Lit­er­a­ture in 2003, and worked as a teacher for three years. How­ev­er, teach­ing in Brazil pre­sent­ed many chal­lenges that left me unful­filled, so I piv­ot­ed to a career in cus­tomer ser­vice and admin­is­tra­tive sup­port, where I spent over a decade.

Fam­i­ly has always been a core part of my life, espe­cial­ly my nephews. I start­ed play­ing video games with them when I was 12, build­ing a bond that remained strong through the years. At 30, I got mar­ried, but my dream of hav­ing chil­dren didn’t come to pass. After 11 years, I found myself divorced at 41, child­less, and liv­ing alone in São Paulo. It was a chal­leng­ing time, but the uni­verse had oth­er plans for me.

In 2016, my life took an unex­pect­ed turn when I met a Finnish man in an online game. We bond­ed over our shared experiences with failed rela­tion­ships. What cap­ti­vat­ed me about him was not only his per­son­al­i­ty but also his devo­tion to his son and his role as a father. This sparked my curios­i­ty about Finnish cul­ture. I began read­ing every­thing I could find about Fin­land, from cul­tur­al blogs to the country’s rich his­to­ry. It was essen­tial for me to under­stand the soci­ety, its ori­gins, and how it func­tioned.

In 2018 and 2019, we final­ly met in per­son, and the con­nec­tion we had built vir­tu­al­ly was just as strong in real life. We decid­ed to take the plunge and get mar­ried. His son, who was 13 at the time, chose to live with him full-time, and I didn’t want to sep­a­rate them. So, I moved to Fin­land in 2019, embark­ing on a new chap­ter in Oulu. How­ev­er, I quick­ly learned that while Eng­lish is wide­ly spo­ken, mas­ter­ing the Finnish lan­guage would be cru­cial for find­ing a job.

Mov­ing to Fin­land marked the begin­ning of a new jour­ney for me. I arrived in Oulu just before the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic hit. Dur­ing the long months of iso­la­tion, I found solace in writ­ing. I ful­filled a long-held dream and wrote my first book, send­ing it to a Brazil­ian jour­nal­ist and psy­chol­o­gist for review. Now, I am in the process of reor­ga­niz­ing it and work­ing toward trans­lat­ing it into Eng­lish and Finnish. This process has taught me that trans­lat­ing cul­tur­al nuances between lan­guages is a com­plex, but reward­ing, chal­lenge.

Beyond writ­ing, my time in Fin­land has been one of pro­found per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al trans­for­ma­tion. I enrolled in a Finnish gov­ern­ment inte­gra­tion pro­gram, which helped me dive deep into the cul­ture and explore new career paths. After two intern­ships at Kiimin­ki Puis­to School, my pas­sion for teach­ing was reignit­ed. I had come full cir­cle, redis­cov­er­ing a voca­tion I thought I had left behind.

In Oulu, I also found a new sense of self. Here, indi­vid­u­als are encour­aged to explore their unique strengths and align them with their pro­fes­sion­al paths. This was a stark con­trast to the work cul­ture in Brazil, where jobs often felt more like oblig­a­tions than oppor­tu­ni­ties for growth. Now, I am study­ing Yhteisöped­a­gogy (Com­mu­ni­ty Ped­a­gogy) at Cen­tria Uni­ver­si­ty, a field that feels like a nat­ur­al pro­gres­sion of my jour­ney. I am in the midst of a meta­mor­pho­sis, shed­ding old lay­ers and embrac­ing new ones.

One of the most remark­able things about Oulu, and Fin­land in gen­er­al, is the con­nec­tion to nature. In Oulu, the land­scape is breath­tak­ing, and nature feels ever-present, with lakes, trees, and ani­mals sur­round­ing the city. I’ve nev­er expe­ri­enced any­thing quite like it. My favorite places in Oulu are the tran­quil Koitelinkos­ki rapids in Kiimin­ki and Helsin­ki, where I feel a con­nec­tion to the bus­tle of city life. But noth­ing com­pares to the free­dom I felt when I spent an entire day rid­ing my bike alone in the sum­mer of 2022, soak­ing in the pure air and seren­i­ty of this north­ern city.

Of course, there have been chal­lenges along the way. Adjust­ing to the Finnish lan­guage was one of the tough­est. Although I speak Eng­lish, I under­es­ti­mat­ed the impor­tance of learn­ing Finnish to tru­ly inte­grate into soci­ety. The lan­guage has a unique log­ic, but its struc­ture, espe­cial­ly the dou­ble vow­els and con­so­nants, proved dif­fi­cult at first. The inte­gra­tion ser­vices in Oulu, how­ev­er, pro­vid­ed invalu­able sup­port, offer­ing me lan­guage cours­es that helped me gain con­fi­dence. While I still strug­gle with some nuances, like the dif­fer­ences between spo­ken and writ­ten Finnish, I can now nav­i­gate every­day con­ver­sa­tions, even dur­ing med­ical appoint­ments.

Liv­ing in Oulu has taught me about self-man­age­ment and respon­si­bil­i­ty in a way I hadn’t expe­ri­enced before. The city fos­ters a sense of indi­vid­u­al­i­ty while encour­ag­ing peo­ple to con­tribute to soci­ety in their own unique ways. This shift in mind­set has been trans­for­ma­tive for me. Here, I learned to lis­ten to my inner voice and align my per­son­al goals with the well-being of the com­mu­ni­ty.

On a per­son­al lev­el, being in an inter­cul­tur­al rela­tion­ship has required patience and under­stand­ing. My hus­band and I com­mu­ni­cate pri­mar­i­ly in Eng­lish, but there are moments when the con­stant use of for­eign lan­guages can feel exhaust­ing. We’ve learned to be open about these chal­lenges, set­ting bound­aries and agree­ments that work for both of us.

Oulu is more than just a place to live; it’s a com­mu­ni­ty that offers sup­port, par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing the long, dark win­ters. There are groups ded­i­cat­ed to com­bat­ing lone­li­ness, which has been a life­line for me at times. I have embraced this new way of life, and in return, Oulu has giv­en me oppor­tu­ni­ties I nev­er thought possible—free lan­guage cours­es, intern­ships, and a new career path.

As I approach the com­ple­tion of my first book, set for Decem­ber 2024, I feel more ground­ed and at peace than ever before. I’ve learned that life is full of pos­si­bil­i­ties, espe­cial­ly when you embrace change and step out­side your com­fort zone. Fin­land has giv­en me the space to grow, to explore, and to become the per­son I was always meant to be.

Look­ing back, I see count­less sto­ries with­in my story—mini nar­ra­tives that could fill an entire book of their own. But for now, I’m con­tent know­ing that in Fin­land, I have found a place where I can tru­ly be myself, and where any­thing feels pos­si­ble.

Text edit­ed by: Jes­si­ca Segu­ra Polo