I interviewed my former college and friend Elmita who came to Finland from Nepal.
I met Elmita a few years ago when we were working in the same company, and we quickly became friends because we had similar interests. In addition to our shared interests, we have shared experiences from each others cultures and learned alot from each other. I has tought me about Nepalese weddings, clothings, food and festivals and I have introduced her to Finnish festivities, food and culture. Despite being in Finland already for many years, she did not have many Finnish touchoints in her life. Now 9 years later she is settled and enjoys living in Finland but the road here has not been easy.
Elmita came to Finland to study in 2015 when she got accepted to Turku Unviersity of Applied Sciences to study a bachelor’s degree in engineering. When she was doing her bachelors thesis she got a job after doing her thesis for a company. This job then led to her current job, as an software engineer for an RFID company in Salo. That is where we met. During the week Elmita is working and in the evenings and weekends she is writing on her Master’s thesis at Åbo Akademi.
Elmita was drawn to Finland because our structured and efficient education system. The universities in Finland have a student friendly atmosphere and they offer many English programs. This was a huge plus for Elmita who did not know the language.
Coming from Nepal, adjusting to Finland’s cold, long winters and short daylight hours has been challenging for her. Another difficulty is the language. Although she has survived without Finish until now, trying to learn Finnish has been a huge challenge becaue of the complex language. Elmita is also feels homesick from time to time, she misses her family and struggles with the fact that she cannot visit her home country, family and friends that frequently. Ite very expensive to travel to Nepal and takes a long time.
Today Elmita feels at home in Turku. Her Fiancée moving to Finland two years ago also has a positive effect on this. She has gotten used to the peaceful atmosphere, nature and high-quality life in Finland. Over time she has learned more about Finnish culture, she has celebrated Finnish festivities and made Finnish friends.
All of these factors have made her feel at home here. However, she ends with saying that the language barrier and feeling homesick makes it hard to fully feel at home.