Cold Win­ters, Warm Hearts: My Finnish Adven­ture

Eduar­do Acos­ta, orig­i­nal­ly from Colom­bia, is research­ing cir­cu­lar econ­o­my at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu. He is also an Inter­na­tion­al House Oulu Ambas­sador. This is his blog post regard­ing the expe­ri­ence of liv­ing in Oulu, Fin­land, as an inter­na­tion­al tal­ent.

Hav­ing spent almost three life-chang­ing years in Fin­land, I must say that this Nordic jour­ney has been unlike any oth­er in my life. This time in Oulu has been packed with experiences that have shaped my per­spec­tives in pro­found ways.

The great peo­ple I’ve met from all over the world, with whom I’ve formed bonds that will last a life­time, are things I would not have dis­cov­ered if I had not been here.

Before mov­ing to Oulu, I had already spent two years in Swe­den pur­su­ing my master’s degree. This gave me some insight into Nordic liv­ing, but Oulu pre­sent­ed its own unique lessons.

As a native of Bogotá, Colom­bia, deal­ing with extreme weath­er became a com­mon­ly asked sub­ject. Iron­i­cal­ly, my city, locat­ed high in the high­lands at 2.600 meters above sea lev­el, is con­sis­tent­ly cold and rainy, rem­i­nis­cent of a South Amer­i­can ver­sion of Lon­don. So, the tran­si­tion was not as abrupt as one might expect.

While Oulu does bring its own chal­lenges, such as the dark­ness in win­ter and the sur­re­al expe­ri­ence of 24 hours of sun­light in sum­mer near the Arc­tic Cir­cle, I find myself not regret­ting the deci­sion to move here. Life, no mat­ter where you are, is a blend of rain­bows and but­ter­flies and storms.

“I’ve found my sec­ond home”

Peo­ple often ask me about the dif­fi­cul­ty of liv­ing in a town so close to the Arc­tic Cir­cle, ques­tion­ing if I regret my deci­sion. My response remains con­sis­tent: I don’t regret it; in fact, it’s the best deci­sion I’ve made.

Sure, Oulu isn’t a utopia, espe­cial­ly dur­ing the harsh win­ters, but then again, life isn’t easy any­where. Weath­er com­plaints are uni­ver­sal; even peo­ple who live near the Mediter­ranean whine about the weath­er from time to time. The essence lies in mak­ing the best of the place you’re in.

I’ve come to real­ize that per­fect weath­er is a sub­jec­tive con­cept; every­one is dis­sat­is­fied with it regard­less of loca­tion. The most impor­tant thing is to embrace the present moment. I live in Oulu, not Italy, Greece, Spain, or Colom­bia. I can­not wish for a Caribbean cli­mate if I live in north­ern Europe.

Aside from cli­mate, one thing is cer­tain: I owe Fin­land an eter­nal debt of grat­i­tude for serv­ing as the scene for both the most great and hard events in my life.

Dur­ing those dif­fi­cult moments, I dis­cov­ered a wealth of under­stand­ing, com­pan­ion­ship, sen­si­tiv­i­ty, and com­pas­sion. In Oulu, I’ve dis­cov­ered that, while my roots are in Colom­bia and my heart belongs to my fam­i­ly and loved ones, I’ve also found a sec­ond home here. While it does not replace my home or fam­i­ly, it has become a place where I also receive love and empa­thy.

Life here has its chal­lenges, but so does every oth­er place. And it’s worth it. The remark­able peo­ple, unpar­al­leled job con­di­tions, free­dom, and unique work-life bal­ance make the chal­lenges worth­while.

In Oulu, I’ve found a sense of ful­fill­ment that tran­scends weath­er con­di­tions. It might be tough, but then again, so is every­where else. Yet, the rewards are immea­sur­able.