”Oulu is a help­ful place for inter­na­tio­nal stu­dents, and people are nice”

Kiran Pandit riding by bike

Kiran Pan­dit came to Fin­land in 2008 and comple­ted a Bachelor’s Degree in Inter­na­tio­nal Busi­ness at Oulu Uni­ver­si­ty of Applied Sciences (OAMK). He is a chair­per­son of the board of Pin­ta­mes­ta­rit, and he has been wor­king with them for 13 years now.

Who

My name is Kiran Pan­dit, and I’m from Nepal. I came to Fin­land in 2008 to stu­dy for a Bachelor’s Degree in Inter­na­tio­nal Busi­ness at Oulu Uni­ver­si­ty of Applied Sciences (Oamk) and gra­dua­ted in 2012. It’s been a whi­le.

Why

I got to know about Fin­land from the Fin­nish embas­sy back in Kath­man­du, Nepal. They were loo­king for inter­na­tio­nal stu­dents to come to the count­ry. When I finis­hed high school in Kath­man­du, I was loo­king for whe­re to go afterwards for my hig­her stu­dies.
I went to ask the Fin­nish embas­sy what the oppor­tu­ni­ty was about, and the advice was excel­lent. They showed me how to apply to dif­fe­rent poly­tech­nic uni­ver­si­ties to do a bachelor’s degree and said that after a bachelor’s degree,

I could apply for a master’s pro­gram­me also. The educa­tion was free, but other housing accom­mo­da­tion and other basic need, we must arran­ge our self. I deci­ded to give it a try. When the col­le­ge sent me the accep­tance let­ter, eve­ry detail was the­re, inclu­ding how to get to Oulu from Hel­sin­ki and that the­re would be a tutor to gui­de you. It was very nice because they give you a comple­te road­map and tell you how to apply for a resi­dence.

I got a room at PSOAS, which is the stu­dent resi­dence in Oulu. They have so many dor­mi­to­ries and houses for stu­dents the­re, and I got a room at Välk­ky­lä.

Kiran Pandit

What

It was qui­te dif­fe­rent when I came here the first time. It was surpri­sing that eve­ryt­hing was nice and clean. Also, the­re were fewer people.

I came by train from Hel­sin­ki to Oulu. Back home, there’s no train, so I had never been on a train. It was nice expe­rience.
In my first year, I got a house-clea­ning job. The work invol­ved orga­ni­sing and the kinds of house­hold clea­ning I used to do back home. At home, my parents taught us how to clean our room pro­per­ly, how to mana­ge it and how to clean whe­ne­ver you eat. My emplo­yer was impres­sed by my work, and she refer­red to her hus­band who has this com­pa­ny Pin­ta­mes­ta­rit.

I did an interns­hip at the same com­pa­ny whe­re I work now, and I also did my bachelor´s the­sis for the same com­pa­ny. Whi­le I did my trai­ning, I told them that I could wri­te my the­sis for this com­pa­ny. When I asked if they had any topics, they told me that I could help pro­mo­te the com­pa­ny as eco-friend­ly. The com­pa­ny does roof res­to­ra­tions, and they wan­ted to mar­ket the fact that they use eco-friend­ly mate­rials and recycle the was­te that comes from the res­to­ra­tions. I comple­ted my the­sis, and it was appro­ved, and I think it’s still somew­he­re in the uni­ver­si­ty libra­ry.

I’ve been wor­king for this com­pa­ny for 13 years now. We had some tur­bu­lence in the com­pa­ny and some twists and turns. At that time, I took over the com­pa­ny with our friends. We plan­ned, and we know this busi­ness very well because we’ve wor­ked the­re for many years. We made a good pro­po­sal, applied for tran­si­tion, had the right paperwork, and agree­ments were made in 2017. We chan­ged our busi­ness ope­ra­ting model, which will give bene­fit the com­pa­ny and wor­kers, more impor­tant the good qua­li­ty of our work.

I am chair­man of the board of Pin­ta­mes­ta­rit. I super­vi­se sales, con­duct the qua­li­ty ins­pec­tion, over­see how the work’s going and if the­re are any records or recla­ma­tions from the cus­to­mer, we try to figu­re it out why they are not satis­fied by our work.

Kiran Pandit

Whe­re

In sum­mer­ti­me, you can go to the beach area and small lakes whe­re you can swim, which is very nice. Sum­mer in Fin­land is beau­ti­ful. Whe­re­ver you go, it’s nice. Now, it’s a beau­ti­ful time because the sun is always the­re.

For example, you can go to Nal­li­ka­ri Beach if you walk for less than half an hour, and the sur­roun­dings are beau­ti­ful. You can rent a boat the­re in sum­mer. The­re are also some concerts during this period, and you always see people smi­ling and laug­hing.
You can also take part in win­ter acti­vi­ties. I tried ice fis­hing a few times, but it’s real­ly cold. You have to be patient, stay and wait, and that’s not good when it’s minus 25! One thing I haven’t tried is down­hill skiing.

Kiran Pandit

How

Basical­ly, just be who you are, try to learn about the Fin­nish cul­tu­re, try to get invol­ved and hang out with your Fin­nish friends. Then, you will adapt to the sur­roun­ding envi­ron­ment, and you will beco­me more fami­liar with the Fin­nish people. When you inte­gra­te and learn about the cul­tu­re, the­re won’t be any problems. You’ll make money. Learn the cul­tu­re and slow­ly inte­ract with people, try to search and don’t be shy to try anyt­hing. It’s just like you start; from the­re, you grow step by step
I can say that the Fin­nish people are shy, but when you start to have more inte­ract with them, they’re not shy any­mo­re.

My school­ma­tes and I used to par­ty and hang out toget­her. Eve­ry­one was friend­ly, very coo­pe­ra­ti­ve, and help­ful, and our teac­hers were also nice. I remem­ber one teac­her from our school who was very cool and sup­por­ti­ve.

I think you can sur­vi­ve easi­ly. Try to learn the lan­gua­ge; it will help a lot. When I came, I didn’t know anyt­hing, so it was a litt­le bit dif­ficult. But when you try to work, com­mu­nica­te with some people, and learn some basics lan­gua­ge and they will help. Your friends can cor­rect you, and slow­ly, it gives you con­fi­dent, and you start to speak. Learn and copy and try to inte­ract with people; it’ll help a lot and you’ll get it. I say to whoe­ver comes to Fin­land, take at least one year to stu­dy the lan­gua­ge.

After gra­dua­tion, I applied for a master’s degree and was accep­ted by Uni­ver­si­ty of Eas­tern Fin­land. I stu­died my master’s degree on Inno­va­tion Mana­ge­ment. At the same time, I was doing our busi­ness I couldn’t give full time to my stu­dies still my master’s the­sis is left. May­be this year I´ll try to comple­te my master’s degree.

This is my sto­ry. I go back home eve­ry year on holi­days. I got mar­ried, and my wife is from Nepal. She moved here with me in 2019, and we’ve just had a son. He is three and a half months old. She’s a cer­ti­fied nur­se, and now she’s on mater­ni­ty lea­ve.
I think Oulu is beau­ti­ful, small, and very help­ful place for inter­na­tio­nal stu­dents, and people are nice. Your friends and col­lea­gues will help you, don’t hesi­ta­te to ask. If you are loo­king for job or place­ment your uni­ver­si­ty will gui­de you or go to emplo­y­ment office. Try to crea­te your network, which you will need the most.

Text: Débo­ra Oli­vei­ra
This article was ori­gi­nal­ly publis­hed at oulutalenthub.fi

Kiran Pandit

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