My journey to Finland

I was done with my bachelor's degree in 2019, and I was looking to advance my studies and career by going for a master's degree. But then the pandemic hit the world in 2020. With lockdown restrictions everywhere, it wasn't easy to apply to schools without certainty of going to the country to experience the whole study and cultural experience that comes with studying in another country.

When the lockdown restriction started getting relaxed towards 2020, I was hit with another dilemma of where to study. I already knew what I wanted to study, but deciding where was another struggle. But with the help of the master's portal, helped me to narrow down my options to the right fit and budget for me; that is where I came across the University of Oulu.

I read about the Wireless Communication Engineering programme and the 6G, and I was interested right away. Luckily for me, the admission portal was going to open in a week, so I had a week to prepare the required documents, and then when the portal opened, I submitted my application.

I had about five months to prepare before the start of my study programme, so I had enough time to prepare.

I remember the day I got the email that I was accepted to study at the University of Oulu, I was so happy, and I shared the news with my family, and the preparation started.

The first thing I did was read up the covid restriction for people coming into Finland. After this, I paid my tuition fee before the deadline and sent my transcript and registered for my courses.

Now let me talk about the resident permit process. This process is very long because of the pandemic going on, so you have to book an appointment early with them, and it is preferably you fill an online-based application instead of filling a paper application because the online base application is processed quicker. Check EnterFinland to know more about the paper and online base application.

I got an appointment with VFS to submit my document and my biometrics. I was invited to the embassy for the interview the following day. Three weeks later, I was granted the decision. But I had to go two extra weeks to get the resident permit card before travelling to Finland.

I could remember watching many videos about Finland and the weather condition, the culture, and the food. I had a culture shock, a climate shock, and a food shock, among others. When I finally arrived in Finland, despite all these, I would say it has been an exciting experience so far. :)