Root­ed in the North: A Life Reimag­ined in Oulu

Md. Golam Muh­tasim, orig­i­nal­ly from Dha­ka, Bangladesh, holds degrees in busi­ness and engi­neer­ing, and has worked in logis­tics and oper­a­tions for top firms. In Sep­tem­ber 2024, he moved to Fin­land with his wife, who began her Master’s in Bio­med­ical Engi­neer­ing at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu. He feels Oulu gave him space for per­son­al growth and trans­formed his life.

Muh­tasim first learned about Oulu while assist­ing his wife with her uni­ver­si­ty appli­ca­tion. As they explored poten­tial des­ti­na­tions, Oulu emerged as a strong con­tender – not just for its world-class edu­ca­tion but for its bal­anced lifestyle, inno­va­tion-dri­ven econ­o­my and rep­u­ta­tion for safe­ty.

He arrived with a few assump­tions: that the coun­try would be qui­et, the peo­ple reserved and the win­ters bru­tal­ly cold. But he also sus­pect­ed that Fin­land might offer some­thing rare – space to grow, breathe and become some­thing more.

First Impres­sions: Silence that Spoke Vol­umes

When Muh­tasim first stepped foot in Oulu, it was the silence that struck him most. Not the absence of life, but a kind of peace that felt inten­tion­al.

Streets were pris­tine, strangers nod­ded in mutu­al respect and life seemed to move at a steady, unhur­ried pace. For some­one from a city as vibrant and noisy as Dha­ka, this con­trast was strik­ing – yet some­how calm­ing.
He recalls the odd mix of dis­ori­en­ta­tion and admi­ra­tion that marked those ear­ly days.

Oulu’s Rhythm: Qui­et Yet Alive

Oulu is not noisy, yet it is far from inac­tive. Under­neath its tran­quil exte­ri­or is a city alive with inno­va­tion, stu­dent activ­i­ties and sea­son­al fes­tiv­i­ties. This rep­re­sent­ed a rev­e­la­tion for Muh­tasim.

While the world was fix­at­ed on speed, Oulu appeared to pri­or­i­tize depth.

He found the city’s rhythm – delib­er­ate yet unhur­ried – to be refresh­ing and ground­ing.

Unex­pect­ed Dis­cov­er­ies and Cul­tur­al Shifts

The biggest sur­prise? The inte­gra­tion of nature into dai­ly life. Muh­tasim had nev­er seen city dwellers ski to work or plunge into icy lakes for a sauna rit­u­al.

The cul­tur­al empha­sis on hon­esty, self-respon­si­bil­i­ty, and respect con­tin­ues to impress and hum­ble him.

Com­pared to oth­er cities Muh­tasim has lived in, Oulu stands apart in its design and ethos. Where oth­er cities press for out­put, Oulu invites reflec­tion. It pri­or­i­tizes liv­abil­i­ty over spec­ta­cle and depth over den­si­ty.

He describes Oulu not as bet­ter or worse, but as rad­i­cal­ly dif­fer­ent – and bet­ter suit­ed to his evolv­ing val­ues.

Per­son­al Growth in North­ern Silence

Muhtasim’s per­spec­tive has been fun­da­men­tal­ly altered by the move to Oulu. He has freed him­self from the dis­trac­tions of his for­mer life and found time to reflect, recon­nect with his pur­pose and explore new pro­fes­sion­al avenues.

Since then, he is work­ing as Com­mu­ni­ty and Event Coor­di­na­tor in Bloom Fin­land and sup­port­ed mul­ti­cul­tur­al events- These efforts have helped to ground and empow­er him.

Oulu trans­formed from mere­ly a res­i­dence into a space for per­son­al devel­op­ment.

A Deep Con­nec­tion with Nature

Liv­ing in Oulu has rede­fined Muhtasim’s rela­tion­ship with nature. Here, the for­est is nev­er far and the sea is a con­stant com­pan­ion. Whether it’s watch­ing the north­ern lights dance across a win­ter sky or hear­ing the crunch of fresh snow under­foot, nature offers a dai­ly kind of ther­a­py.

He no longer sees nature as some­thing to “vis­it” on week­ends, but as a co-inhab­i­tant of every­day life.

Soul­ful Activ­i­ties

Among the many joys of life in Oulu, Muh­tasim trea­sures long walks along Nal­likari Beach and time spent in Lin­nan­maa, where uni­ver­si­ty life puls­es gen­tly in the back­ground.

Attend­ing lan­guage cafés and sauna evenings helped him inte­grate, while also deep­en­ing his appre­ci­a­tion for Finnish cus­toms.

These seem­ing­ly small rit­u­als have become the qui­et anchors of his new life.

A City Designed for Humans

Oulu is unique­ly liv­able due to its scale and infra­struc­ture. All key ameni­ties are eas­i­ly acces­si­ble and the pub­lic trans­port sys­tem oper­ates accu­rate­ly. The design of the city encour­ages walk­ing and bik­ing through­out the year, includ­ing dur­ing snow.

He per­ceives Fin­land, espe­cial­ly Oulu, as being struc­tured around prin­ci­ples of dig­ni­ty, ease and envi­ron­men­tal respect.

Lan­guage: The Bridge and the Bar­ri­er

The Finnish lan­guage first pre­sent­ed itself as a daunt­ing ter­ri­to­ry – abun­dant in gram­mat­i­cal rules and strange-sound­ing.

How­ev­er, Muh­tasim took on the chal­lenge with enthu­si­asm, sign­ing up for lan­guage class­es via OSAO and prac­tic­ing every day.

For him, learn­ing Finnish goes beyond mere sur­vival; it rep­re­sents a ges­ture of belong­ing.

He views lan­guage as a bridge that con­nects not only to employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties but also to a deep­er cul­tur­al immer­sion.

Peo­ple and Com­mu­ni­ty: Earn­ing Trust Slow­ly

Oulun ihmiset – peo­ple of Oulu – may appear reserved at first, but Muh­tasim quick­ly learned that behind this quiet­ness lies sin­cer­i­ty. Once trust is estab­lished, rela­tion­ships grow with depth and hon­esty.

He describes the com­mu­ni­ty as sup­port­ive, and authen­tic. The mul­ti­cul­tur­al ini­tia­tives he joined cre­at­ed spaces for dia­logue and inclu­sion, fur­ther cement­ing his sense of belong­ing.

Oulu gave Muh­tasim more than he expect­ed: a chance to rein­vent his career, recon­nect with pur­pose and live more inten­tion­al­ly.

He believes that the sup­port­ive infra­struc­ture, slow city pace and high qual­i­ty of life cre­at­ed oppor­tu­ni­ties for growth that he might nev­er have found else­where.

Best Mem­o­ry: The Ini­tial Snow­fall

Amid a mul­ti­tude of mem­o­ries, one is par­tic­u­lar­ly vivid: the ini­tial snow­fall. Muh­tasim recalls remain­ing motion­less while the silent flakes descend­ed, cov­er­ing every­thing in a white lay­er.

What was once the city mor­phed into some­thing mag­i­cal, peace­ful and near­ly divine.

He states that at that moment he gen­uine­ly felt wel­comed by Oulu.

Chal­lenges Faced, Lessons Learned

Yes, there were hur­dles: moments of lone­li­ness, the daunt­ing Finnish gram­mar, and pro­fes­sion­al uncer­tain­ty, but Muh­tasim tack­led each with resilience. Vol­un­teer­ing filled the ear­ly gaps, con­sis­tent net­work­ing opened doors and study­ing Finnish turned into a source of pride.

His jour­ney is proof that chal­lenges, when met with courage, become cat­a­lysts.

Muh­tasim advis­es any­one think­ing about relo­cat­ing to Oulu to come with an open heart. Wel­come the qui­et, acquire the tongue and throw your­self into the sea­son­al changes. Par­tic­i­pate in com­mu­ni­ty events, inquire when nec­es­sary and allow your­self a peri­od of adjust­ment.

And above all – allow your­self to be trans­formed.

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