UniOulu Applicant guide 2027 - Product brochure - Page 52
Kummi Family programme
is all about sharing
customs and experiences
A chance encounter at the first Kummi Family meeting
ended up becoming one of most significant friendships in
Finland for Colombian Master’s student Carolina Herrera.
Diving deeper into Finnish culture
Herrera’s curiosity about Oulu and the
programme at the university extends to
Finland and Finnish culture. The University of
Oulu’s Kummi Family programme is intended
to facilitate cultural exchange between
international degree students and locals in Oulu,
a two-way opportunity to meet new people and
get introduced to other cultures. The longstanding programme is very popular, and it has
resulted in life-long friendships.
Herrera had learned about the programme
from the university’s pre-orientation materials
before she arrived in Oulu and she wanted to see
what it was like.
“I knew about it beforehand and they also
talked about the Kummi Family programme
during the first week of introductory sessions at
the university, and I thought I would apply. The
idea of sharing experiences with a Finnish family
directly was very appealing.”
It turned out that chance played a role in
Herrera’s first meeting with her to-be Kummi
Family. Herrera’s original family
couldn’t participate in the first
Kummi Family meeting at the
Read
university, and she ended up
the full
sitting next to another family. As
story:
luck would have it, the degree
student who was paired with
this family also wasn’t able to
participate that day. Herrera
and the Hyrkäs family started a
casual conversation, which led
52
to both parties wanting to be paired with each
other. They just clicked, Herrera says.
“They are a big extended family, Silja and
Jussi with four kids in total and Silja’s parents.
We have celebrated a lot of the Finnish holidays
together, like Independence Day, Christmas,
Easter, and we also celebrated Artturi’s
birthday, who is one of Silja and Jussi’s young
children”, Herrera explains.
A tasty introduction to different traditions
Herrera says that the Kummi Family programme
has been a wonderful way to learn about Finnish
culture and society. She feels that she has a
certain advantage as a foreigner trying to get
familiar with the Finnish way of life because of
her connection with the Hyrkäs family.
“It is kind of a shortcut. I think it would be a bit
more challenging to navigate society and get
to know the culture without them, even if lots
of Finnish people speak English and are very
kind and willing to help. The family has been
very helpful with everyday things like going to
the pharmacy or figuring out some bureaucratic
thing”, Herrera says.
“Carolina has brought a lot of joy to our family.
One of the perks for the families participating in
the programme is that it helps you see Finnish
culture from someone else’s viewpoint. It helps
us see things that we take for granted with fresh
eyes. And we are eager to learn about Colombia
and Carolina’s culture, so it works both ways”,
Silja Hyrkäs says.
