From Roma­nia to Oulu: How Love Led Dori­ana to a New Home

Dori­ana, a 29-year-old Roman­ian, packed her bags 6 years ago and moved to Oulu in the mid­dle of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. At that time, she knew very lit­tle about the north­ern Finnish city. It was Love that brings her here-her boyfriend is from Oulu.

Then Dori­ana com­plet­ed a master’s degree in Tourism from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Lap­land. Now, she is work­ing part time in a restau­rant and learn­ing Finnish in Oulu.

A Leap into the Unknown

Grow­ing up in a large Roman­ian city, Dori­ana had always lived close to her fam­i­ly. Mov­ing abroad was some­thing she dreamed of doing in her ear­ly twen­ties. For her, it’s a chance to dis­cov­er who she was out­side the com­fort of home.

Meet­ing her Finnish boyfriend through a Euro­pean geog­ra­phy stu­dent asso­ci­a­tion gave that dream a direc­tion. She decid­ed to con­tin­ue her edu­ca­tion in Fin­land and embraced what she calls ‘a leap of faith’. The tim­ing could hard­ly have been more uncer­tain. She arrived in July 2020, when the pan­dem­ic had brought much of the world to a stand­still. Friends ques­tioned her deci­sion to move while every­one else was stay­ing home.

 – It was scary, she recalls and says,

 – But I want­ed to expe­ri­ence some­thing com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent.

For­tu­nate­ly, Oulu wel­comed her warm­ly. Through her boyfriend’s net­work, she quick­ly found work in a restau­rant — a first les­son that com­mu­ni­ty and con­nec­tions mat­ter in the city.

Break­ing the Finnish Stereo­type

Before arriv­ing, Dori­ana expect­ed Finns to be reserved, qui­et and dif­fi­cult to approach. Like many inter­na­tion­al new­com­ers, she had heard the famil­iar stereo­type that Finnish peo­ple keep to them­selves.

Real­i­ty proved far more pos­i­tive.

Once she start­ed work­ing along­side Finnish col­leagues, she dis­cov­ered peo­ple who gen­uine­ly want­ed to help new­com­ers set­tle into every­day life. Friends offered advice on every­thing from find­ing ser­vices to build­ing social cir­cles, always hap­py to answer ques­tions.

She now believes Finns may not start con­ver­sa­tions with strangers on the bus, but that does­n’t mean they are unfriend­ly.

 – They’re kind, she says.

 – Once you get to know them, they’re incred­i­bly sup­port­ive.

Find­ing the Bal­ance Between City and Nature

Although Dori­ana con­sid­ers her­self a city per­son, Oulu changed her under­stand­ing of urban life.

Back home, reach­ing nature usu­al­ly meant plan­ning a trip out­side the city. In Oulu, forests, rivers and beach­es are sim­ply part of every­day life.

Her favourite places reflect that bal­ance.

Nal­likari Beach remains a spe­cial des­ti­na­tion where she enjoys cycling, read­ing by the sea and sim­ply slow­ing down. Today, after mov­ing far­ther from the water­front, she has also grown attached to her own neigh­bour­hood, where chil­dren play out­side and the atmos­phere feels peace­ful.

Anoth­er favourite place for her is Ain­olan Puis­to. Dur­ing sum­mer, one of her hap­pi­est rou­tines is buy­ing an ice cream and sit­ting beside the riv­er while watch­ing the city move at its own relaxed pace.

And then there is cycling.

 – Oulu is made for bikes, she says with a smile.

 – It’s one of the eas­i­est cities to explore with bikes.

Build­ing a Future While Chas­ing Her Dream

Although she ini­tial­ly moved to Oulu, her aca­d­e­m­ic jour­ney lat­er took her to Rovanie­mi, where she com­plet­ed a master’s degree in North­ern Tourism at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Lap­land.

Look­ing back, the deci­sion feels strange­ly con­nect­ed to child­hood.

Her moth­er remind­ed her that as a lit­tle girl she once declared she would vis­it ‘San­ta’s coun­try’ some­day. Years lat­er, with­out remem­ber­ing that child­hood wish, Dori­ana found her­self study­ing tourism in the home­town of San­ta Claus.

Today she has returned to Oulu, work­ing while search­ing for oppor­tu­ni­ties in the tourism sec­tor. Whether through an intern­ship or her first pro­fes­sion­al role, she hopes to build a career that com­bines her pas­sion for peo­ple, places and trav­el.

Out­side work, she enjoys read­ing, paint­ing, walk­ing and tend­ing her small gar­den, where straw­ber­ries grow dur­ing the Finnish sum­mer.

The Mem­o­ries That Bring Tears of Joy

Some mem­o­ries are sim­ply impos­si­ble to describe with­out emo­tion.

For Dori­ana, the first time she wit­nessed the North­ern Lights danc­ing above Oulu remains unfor­get­table. Liv­ing in Fin­land for more than a year, she final­ly expe­ri­enced the mag­i­cal dis­play dur­ing the win­ter of 2021.

 – It was over­whelm­ing, she says.

But anoth­er mem­o­ry has become even more mean­ing­ful.

In March 2026, her fam­i­ly vis­it­ed Oulu for the first time.

Show­ing them the streets she cycles every day, the parks she loves, and the city she now calls home became an emo­tion­al expe­ri­ence she nev­er expect­ed.

As she talks about it, her voice soft­ens.

See­ing her fam­i­ly expe­ri­ence the life she has built so far away from Roma­nia filled her with grat­i­tude — and tears of joy.

 – It made me realise this real­ly is my home now.

Some­times, home is not where you were born. Some­times, it is the place where your hap­pi­est mem­o­ries are made.

Her Advice to Any­one Think­ing About Mov­ing to Oulu

Dori­ana laughs when asked what every new­com­er should know before arriv­ing.

First, get a bike.

Sec­ond, don’t be afraid of silence.

 – The silence does­n’t mean peo­ple are unfriend­ly, she explains.

 – It’s sim­ply part of Finnish cul­ture.

“Oulu gave me oppor­tu­ni­ties, friend­ships and a place where I tru­ly feel I belong.”

She also encour­ages new­com­ers to learn Finnish, even a lit­tle, and to explore every­thing the city offer — from muse­um exhi­bi­tions and fes­ti­vals to com­mu­ni­ty events and out­door activ­i­ties.

– There is some­thing for every­one, she says.

As for her own future, Dori­ana is con­tin­u­ing to build the life she envi­sioned when she took that leap of faith six years ago. While she hopes to begin a career in the tourism sec­tor, she’s enjoy­ing the jour­ney — improv­ing her Finnish, gain­ing new experiences and embrac­ing life in Oulu.

Look­ing back, she has no doubts about the deci­sion she made.

– What start­ed as a move for love became so much more, she says.

 – Oulu gave me oppor­tu­ni­ties, friend­ships and a place where I tru­ly feel I belong.

Text: Nus­rat Sho­va

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