Shilpa’s Trans­for­ma­tion: From Trop­i­cal Heat to Oulu’s Win­ter Won­ders

In May 2021, my fam­i­ly and I made the big move to Oulu. At the time, the whole world was nav­i­gat­ing the uncer­tain­ties of the pan­dem­ic, and we were liv­ing in India when my hus­band got an excit­ing job offer from Nokia. My chil­dren, hav­ing grown up in trop­i­cal cli­mates, were about to expe­ri­ence a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent environment—especially with Oulu being cov­ered in snow for near­ly half the year. My son was born in Malaysia, and my daugh­ter was just two months old when we relo­cat­ed there, so this move was a thrilling adven­ture for all of us. We embraced the change, look­ing for­ward to new experiences and mem­o­ries in Fin­land.

We heard about Oulu through one of my husband’s col­lege friends, who hap­pened to live here. They pro­vid­ed us with valu­able insights about the city—what to expect, what to bring, and how to pre­pare for the Finnish way of life, espe­cial­ly the cold cli­mate. Thanks to them, we felt some­what ready for both the chal­lenges and excite­ment of mov­ing to a new coun­try.

When we first arrived in Oulu in May, the trees were just start­ing to turn green, and we were imme­di­ate­ly struck by the beau­ty and tran­quil­i­ty of the place. Oulu felt peace­ful, almost too qui­et com­pared to the bustling ener­gy of Malaysia and India. It took us a while to adjust, espe­cial­ly since the calm was quite a con­trast to our pre­vi­ous life, but as we began mak­ing friends, par­tic­i­pat­ing in city-orga­nized activ­i­ties, and set­tling into the rhythm of life here, we grew to appre­ci­ate the seren­i­ty.

Oulu is a city that bal­ances calm­ness with live­li­ness. There are times when the city feels like a peace­ful retreat, sur­round­ed by nature, but it also has vibrant moments, espe­cial­ly dur­ing fes­ti­vals and events. I was par­tic­u­lar­ly sur­prised by how safe it is here. My chil­dren are now inde­pen­dent enough to take pub­lic trans­porta­tion on their own and meet friends with­out any worries—something that still amazes me as an Asian par­ent.

One of the best things about Oulu has been the edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties, not just for my kids but for me as well. After tak­ing a long break from my career to focus on rais­ing my chil­dren, I’ve now returned to study­ing. I was accept­ed into a master’s pro­gram, which has giv­en me the chance to re-enter the work­force. At 40, I’m back in a class­room, learn­ing along­side oth­ers and work­ing towards a new chap­ter in my career. My chil­dren, too, are thriv­ing in the Finnish edu­ca­tion sys­tem, and it’s incred­i­ble that they’re able to study Hin­di and learn about our cul­ture while also adapt­ing to life in Fin­land. Oulu Inter­na­tion­al School has pro­vid­ed them with lan­guage class­es, and the city has even arranged Hin­du reli­gion lessons for them, which helps keep our tra­di­tions alive.

Com­par­ing Oulu to oth­er places we’ve lived, like Malaysia and India, it feels like Oulu offers a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent pace of life. It’s giv­en me time and space to reflect, grow, and start new pur­suits. The close­ness to nature here is some­thing we’ve come to cher­ish deeply. I love explor­ing the out­doors, and one of my favorite places to vis­it is the Oulu Mar­ket Place, espe­cial­ly dur­ing the sum­mer. It’s live­ly and full of ener­gy, and I also enjoy spend­ing time at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu, where the peace­ful cam­pus helps me focus on my stud­ies.

The inte­gra­tion process in Fin­land has been a learn­ing expe­ri­ence. I’ve made many new friends through the Finnish Inte­gra­tion Lan­guage Plan, where we’ve learned not just the lan­guage but also about the cul­ture. We vis­it­ed muse­ums, tried bak­ing, and enjoyed pic­nics togeth­er, which made the tran­si­tion eas­i­er. Study­ing Finnish has opened many doors for me. I’ve com­plet­ed the YKI exam and now com­mu­ni­cate with my chil­dren in Finnish at home, which helps us all improve our lan­guage skills. They’ve picked it up quick­ly and are now quite flu­ent.

One thing I found sur­pris­ing is how open and friend­ly Finnish peo­ple are. Despite what I had heard about them being shy, my interactions—especially dur­ing my intern­ships at Oulu Inter­na­tion­al School and OAMK—have been pos­i­tive. Peo­ple are will­ing to help and guide you, and I’ve made mean­ing­ful con­nec­tions that con­tin­ue to this day.

Oulu has offered me oppor­tu­ni­ties that I wouldn’t have found else­where. The chance to study again, for free, is some­thing I val­ue immense­ly. It’s also giv­en my kids the chance to learn not only our moth­er tongue but also to stay con­nect­ed to our cul­ture and reli­gion.

The advice I would give to any­one con­sid­er­ing mov­ing to Oulu is to embrace the Finnish lan­guage and don’t be afraid of the dark days or the cold. Prop­er win­ter cloth­ing and a pos­i­tive mind­set make all the dif­fer­ence. Stay­ing active and engaged with the com­mu­ni­ty helps, too. For me, the large Indi­an com­mu­ni­ty here, com­bined with the friend­ships I’ve made in Finnish class­es and at the uni­ver­si­ty, have helped me adjust. We cel­e­brate fes­ti­vals, play crick­et, and enjoy the sense of togeth­er­ness that comes from being far from home yet con­nect­ed by cul­ture.

Every day in Oulu brings new mem­o­ries.