Inter­na­tion­al House Oulu Cel­e­brates Its One Year Anniver­sary – Birth­day Cel­e­bra­tions Through­out All of April

Cel­e­brat­ing its birth­day month, Inter­na­tion­al House Oulu (IH Oulu) is mark­ing its one-year jour­ney in style through­out April. All city res­i­dents are wel­come to join the fes­tiv­i­ties.

Imme­di­ate­ly after East­er, the fun kicks off at Inter­na­tion­al House Oulu. Instead of just a birth­day cel­e­bra­tion, IH Oulu will be host­ing a birth­day month, with an April filled joy­ous occa­sions.

A vari­ety of events are planned, all tak­ing place at Busi­nes­sAs­e­ma. First up is a vol­un­teer fair on Wednes­day, April 3rd, start­ing at 5 PM. The event is open to all, par­tic­u­lar­ly those inter­est­ed in explor­ing vol­un­teer oppor­tu­ni­ties in Oulu.

At this Eng­lish-speak­ing event, atten­dees will have the chance to meet rep­re­sen­ta­tives from orga­ni­za­tions offer­ing vol­un­teer work and net­work with oth­er indi­vid­u­als. Vol­un­teer work­ers will share their expe­ri­ences on stage, and sev­er­al asso­ci­a­tions , such as Vuolle, the Finnish Red Cross, Oulun Diakonissalaitos, TEDx­Oulu, Star­tupRefugees, and Bloom Oulu, will be present offer­ing vol­un­teer oppor­tu­ni­ties.

Reg­is­tra­tion is required for this event and oth­ers at IH Oulu due to cater­ing. There will be a link at the end of this arti­cle that pro­vides more infor­ma­tion and allows reg­is­tra­tion for the vol­un­teer fair. Addi­tion­al­ly, a list of IH Oulu’s April events is pro­vid­ed, all of which are free.

Would you be inter­est­ed in par­tic­i­pat­ing, for exam­ple, in Busi­nes­sOulu’s Inter­na­tion­al Career Day or The World’s Largest Com­pa­ny Vis­it?

The grand finale of the birth­day month is an evening cel­e­bra­tion sched­uled for Thurs­day, April 25th. Until then, there’s also a cel­e­bra­to­ry draw with a fan­tas­tic prize. Learn more about the draw here.

What’s in store for IH Oulu in the com­ing year?

One-year-old Inter­na­tion­al House Oulu has estab­lished itself as a ver­sa­tile ser­vice cen­ter, bring­ing togeth­er var­i­ous ser­vices under one roof at Busi­nes­sAs­e­ma – right in the heart of Oulu, next to the rail­way sta­tion.

Sup­port and guid­ance are avail­able for immi­grants, inter­na­tion­al indi­vid­u­als plan­ning to move to Oulu, and com­pa­nies look­ing to recruit inter­na­tion­al employ­ees.

– In IH Oulu’s first year, a lot has hap­pened. I am par­tic­u­lar­ly pleased with our events, which have been very diverse and huge­ly pop­u­lar. We have a real­ly com­pe­tent team with whom plan­ning and imple­ment­ing events is real­ly enjoy­able, says coor­di­na­tor Riku­pekka Leinonen.

– It has also been great to see that the feed­back from these events have been very pos­i­tive. Feed­back should and must con­tin­ue to be giv­en in the future, Riku­pekka adds.

Board game and net­work­ing events, orga­nized month­ly with Bloom Oulu, have received par­tic­u­lar­ly good feed­back. Par­tic­i­pants have enjoyed these events, even find­ing new friends dur­ing game nights and gain­ing up-to-date infor­ma­tion. For Finnish-speak­ing res­i­dents of Oulu, these net­work­ing events are an excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet inter­na­tion­al peo­ple and per­haps prac­tice Eng­lish.

You can read more about the atmos­phere of game nights here.

Next board game night is com­ing up on Wednes­day, April 10th, fea­tur­ing a brief overview of free fes­ti­vals and oth­er events orga­nized by the City of Oulu.

Look­ing beyond April, what’s in store for Inter­na­tion­al House Oulu in the future?

– For our sec­ond year, I expect that we will once again reach new peo­ple at our events, devel­op our advi­so­ry ser­vices even fur­ther, and col­lab­o­rate with new part­ners, says Riku­pekka.

We are excit­ed to cel­e­brate our Birth­day Month with you

Wel­come to the cel­e­bra­tion events at Inter­na­tion­al House Oulu through­out the fes­tive month.

Below you will find a list of all of the events tak­ing place in April. Be sure to reg­is­ter for any of the events that spark your inter­est! Some events will be updat­ed dur­ing April.

• Wed. 3.4, 17.00–20.00. Vol­un­teer Work Oppor­tu­ni­ties Fair
  An infor­ma­tive net­work­ing event with pre­sen­ta­tions and stands from orga­ni­za­tions that offer vol­un­teer work to inter­na­tion­als, and a pan­el dis­cus­sion to shed light on prac­ti­cal­i­ties of vol­un­teer work.
  Reg­is­ter here: lyyti.fi/reg/Volunteer_work_fair
• Mon. 8.4, 13.00–14.30. Why learn Finnish, or should I learn it at all?
  An insight­ful ses­sion from dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives on learn­ing Finnish from lan­guage teach­ers, employ­ers, and immi­grants alike. You will also get some tips to advance your Finnish lan­guage learn­ing.
  Reg­is­ter here: lyyti.fi/reg/Learn_Finnish
• Wed. 10.4, 17.00–20.00. Board Games & Net­work­ing
  Our renowned month­ly board game event, orga­nized in coop­er­a­tion with Bloom Fin­land. We pro­vide snacks, valu­able tips for your life in Oulu, and a com­fort­able space for net­work­ing.
  Reg­is­ter here: lyyti.fi/reg/Bgames_april
• Wed. 17.4, 14.00–16.00. BusinessOulu’s Inter­na­tion­al Career Day
  At this event, you will hear first-hand suc­cess sto­ries from inter­na­tion­als that found employ­ment at Business­Oulu and get job-search­ing tips from Oulu Skills Cen­tre.
  Reg­is­ter here: lyyti.fi/reg/BO_visit
• Thu. 18.4, 9.30–16.00. Vir­tu­al com­pa­ny vis­it: Con­struc­tion indus­try
  This vir­tu­al event will high­light work oppor­tu­ni­ties in con­struc­tion, with mul­ti­ple ses­sions tar­get­ed at dif­fer­ent age groups. Note: Only one ses­sion is held in Eng­lish!
  Reg­is­ter here: lyyti.fi/reg/Worldsbiggestvirtualcompanyvisit2024
• Tue. 23.4, 9.00–10.30. Man­age­ment and com­mu­ni­ca­tion in a mul­ti­cul­tur­al work com­mu­ni­ty
  Online event for employ­ers in North Ostro­both­nia.
  Reg­is­ter here: lyyti.fi/reg/kv_johtaminen_viestinta
  (NB! The event is in Finnish!)
• Thu. 25.4, 17.00–20.00. IH Oulu’s Birth­day and Sem­i­nar
  Join Inter­na­tion­al House on the occa­sion of their one-year anniver­sary of its oper­a­tions to get more knowl­edge and inspi­ra­tion in rela­tion to employ­ment, find­ing your­self in Fin­land, and to sim­ply have a good time and enjoy your­self! More infor­ma­tion will come lat­er.
  Reg­is­ter here: lyyti.fi/reg/Bday_party