Insider Volume 24 Issue 1

INSIDER 10.9.2021 | VOL. 24 | ISSUE 1

STUDENT MAGAZINE OF XAMK

STAFF

EDITORIAL

Editor in Chief: HUGH CLACK

JOONATAN BERG

EVA MOROVSHCHIK

JOONA RÄTY

DOUAA CHALOUN

PHONE +358 44 702 8758 WEBSITE insider.xamk.fi EMAIL insider@xamk.fi INSIDER STUDENT MAGAZINE South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences Paraatikenttä 7 45100 Kouvola INSIDER ISSN 1457-1587

2

QUYEN HUYNH

EDITORIAL Welcome back to the autumn semester!

If you are a regular reader of Insider, you will know that the past year of Insider was more challenging than most. We normally cover campus events and student happenings, but due to the Corona crisis there was very little going on. Luckily our editorial team was able to come up with articles to keep the website (if not the presses) running and we are now back with old and new team members.

Although we have not produced printed issues over the last academic year, we will be continuing with printing this semester, albeit at a reduced capacity due to less people on the Xamk campuses.

However, as from November, our management has decided that the crisis will be over (?) and that campuses will be back to “normal”. Let’s hope they are right and that we can get but up to speed with studying and teaching.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the editorial team for their dedication last year, and to those that are now leaving us – some after a short time, others after longer service – I hope that you had a good experience with Insider. To the new staff I’d like to welcome you to the team, and am looking forward to your articles, ideas, and suggestions for moving forward with Insider.

To those students that are returning to campus, I hope that you welcome the return to “live” studying, and to those new students, don’t worry about the lack of people and “life” on campus currently, I am sure we will see much more activity from November on.

As for my Xamk colleagues, we all know it has been a challenging year of providing online teaching, and for many it was a new and challenging role, but we are now gradually getting back to a “normal” routine, although I believe that some have embraced the new normal of remote work and teaching. Is this going to be a new trend at Xamk? Stay tuned for more insights this autumn…

For now, a warm welcome back, and let’s not dwell on how hard things have been over the last year, let’s instead think of it as an experience that has hopefully also taught us something.

Hugh Clack Editor in Chief

3

STUDYING

From Science to Business This will be my first post in Insider magazine and I’m honestly wondering if my articles will please you but I hope so.

First let me introduce myself my name is Douaa Chaloun I’m 18 years old, I'm an international freshman at south-eastern UAS and I’m coming straight away from Morocco. I was born originally in El Jadida a small city which is maybe most of you won’t know it but I would like to say it’s close to Casablanca!

This year was my last one in high school and as most of you know we’re all torn and we don’t know what we’ll do. I was looking for in the internet seeing videos on youtube wishing that I can find something interesting but it didn’t help me at all even the orientation week in my school didn’t help me I was confused and afraid of studying something that I won’t like Then I wrote on google the well-paid jobs and guess what it was all related to business But how? I’m a scientific student I was only studying physics chemistry maths science! How a scientific girl can become a business student?

I started searching the criteria of a business student so I found out so many that match my requirements such as being curious ambitious and one who likes working and being able to work in a group. Personally, I always believed the importance of working and being within a group is the easiest way to fulfill and accomplish a purpose.

For instance, I have witnessed and lived so many 4

"Fragments"- series of paintings

experiences as a freshman in high school: we interviewed people we worked and presented projects together but the most important thing we learned how to become a self-confident person and how to face our fear as well.

Hopefully, my family supported me a lot especially that their work is related to business My mother is an accountant and responsible for sales administration my father is a tradesman and my brother is currently studying finance as well So that was a huge convenience for me to apply for this program “Digital international business “ But then being so far away from your family approximately 5000km is this convenient too?

Well, I would say bravery is the most crucial of all the virtues since you can't regularly practice any other virtue until you have courage!

Text by Douaa Chaloun Photos by Douaa Chaloun

GUEST WRITER What Have You Sought?

Hello readers, I hope you all are healthy, happy, and progressing well in your lives.

You all must remember those days when we used to play hide and seek. It is one of those games that were loved by everyone in their childhood. All of us had some favorite place to hide but at last, we all had been sought.

While I was having a cup of coffee today, I was thinking about the past two years, how the pandemic came and how dramatically everything changed. Humans who loved to travel, work, study, and enjoy their lives in their respective ways had to hide. We were all confined to stay home, some of us were alone, some with family, some with friends but somewhere, somehow, we were all hidden.

When I was enjoying coffee and looking at the usual cloudy sky of Helsinki, a thought crossed my mind and helped me think about Hide and seek differently. We all know the basic game where all players will hide, and one will seek, but at that moment I realized that the sun was hiding but was not sought by some else rather, it sought something in it and brought it to us, to the world and it is sunshine. So, I was wondering when we had to hide, some of us found our favorite places to hide, and in some cases, people found a place that is their favorite, but they have never been there.

If you have not guessed till now, I am talking about passions, interests, and hobbies, where we hide ourselves during the lockdown and I believe that like the sun we all sought something in ourselves.

I know that for some people it was hard, for some it was a break, for some it was an opportunity, and some called it a new normal. I would like to say that I see it as a game of hide and seek, but this time we hide, but we were not waiting for someone to find us instead we had a time or let us call it an opportunity to seek something in ourselves that we have never looked at before or we do but we did not bring it to the world as we do now. Some of

us found gratefulness, some found compassion, some became more empathetic, and some started to help others in their tough times. We all started and wanted to make life easy for others and today when we all know that we are soon coming back to our normal lives and as a student, we will be back to campus within a couple of months, I would like you to appreciate for everything you have been through and to congratulate you on anything that you have sought.

In the end, I will ask you one question and say goodbye!

What have you sought? Just bring it with you, this world still needs it all.

Goodbye and have a wonderful week!

Text by Hamna Khawar Photo by Hamna Khawar 5

BOOK REVIEW

Fog Island, Mariette Lindsten Bauman falls in love with Franz Oswald, a leader of a new movement called ViaTerra. After a while Sofia sees herself working for the movement.

Life is good and everything seems to go well.

This is just what she needed, something new and exciting. There are just few things that don’t add up. Why is the movement based on an isolated island? Why are the mobile phones collected from the staff? What is ViaTerra? These are the questions you must find answers by yourself.

Hello readers. I am Joona Räty from Finland, and this is going to be my first article here on Insider.

As a person who loves listening to audiobooks, I am going to review one trilogy I listened through on summer.

So, today I have decided to tell you about a trilogy called Fog Island. I listened it in Finnish but the first two parts of that trilogy are also available in English. Other languages include at least German and Swedish.

Personally, I enjoyed the book. While the overall plot was kind of simplistic and predictable, it kept me intrigued to go through the whole trilogy. The story went on naturally, from the perspective of a young woman with thirst towards new experiences. The main character seems believable, but the setting has been aged. While a combination between modern world and a dark mansion located on a picturesque island might have sound realistic a decade ago, it doesn’t anymore. Yet I find the setting classy and appealing, a bit of nostalgia from the good old times. I would rank the book 3.5/5.

So, first some information about the author.

Mariette Lindstein is a 63-year-old author from Sweden. She got inspiration for this trilogy from her own experiences with the Church of Scientology.

She encountered the movement when she was a 19-year-old young woman. After 25 years she finally escaped from the movement which she later started to call a cult.

The book under a review is the first part of the trilogy. A psychological thriller called Fog Island was Mariette Lindstein’s debut. Despite being published in September 2015 the book received Crimetime Specsavers Award for the best debut novel of 2016.

It all starts from a lecture. Main character Sofia 6

Text by Joona Räty

QUEST WRITER What Have You Sought?

Hello readers, I hope you all are healthy, happy, and progressing well in your lives.

You all must remember those days when we used to play hide and seek. It is one of those games that were loved by everyone in their childhood. All of us had some favorite place to hide but at last, we all had been sought.

While I was having a cup of coffee today, I was thinking about the past two years, how the pandemic came and how dramatically everything changed. Humans who loved to travel, work, study, and enjoy their lives in their respective ways had to hide. We were all confined to stay home, some of us were alone, some with family, some with friends but somewhere, somehow, we were all hidden.

When I was enjoying coffee and looking at the usual cloudy sky of Helsinki, a thought crossed my mind and helped me think about Hide and seek differently. We all know the basic game where all players will hide, and one will seek, but at that moment I realized that the sun was hiding but was not sought by some else rather, it sought something in it and brought it to us, to the world and it is sunshine. So, I was wondering when we had to hide, some of us found our favorite places to hide, and in some cases, people found a place that is their favorite, but they have never been there.

If you have not guessed till now, I am talking about passions, interests, and hobbies, where we hide ourselves during the lockdown and I believe that like the sun we all sought something in ourselves.

I know that for some people it was hard, for some it was a break, for some it was an opportunity, and some called it a new normal. I would like to say that I see it as a game of hide and seek, but this time we hide, but we were not waiting for someone to find us instead we had a time or let us call it an opportunity to seek something in ourselves that we have never looked at before or we do but we did not bring it to the world as we do now. Some of

us found gratefulness, some found compassion, some became more empathetic, and some started to help others in their tough times. We all started and wanted to make life easy for others and today when we all know that we are soon coming back to our normal lives and as a student, we will be back to campus within a couple of months, I would like you to appreciate for everything you have been through and to congratulate you on anything that you have sought.

In the end, I will ask you one question and say goodbye!

What have you sought? Just bring it with you, this world still needs it all.

Goodbye and have a wonderful week!

Written and image Khawar Hamna 7

MOTIVATION All about motivation!

Hello guys,

How to gain motivation?

Are you a student at XAMK? I guess you are or maybe not. This is my first article as a member of INSIDER. Anyway, before doing something big and impactful to your life, you always have motivation. So let us explore the world of motivation.

or me personally, set up goals and seek for opportunities to get yourself close to your target. In addition, you can find and talk to a person or a group who have the same interest as you, not only it will boost your confidence, it will also help your motivation status. It always helps when you have a proper plan before you do anything, you will be well-prepared to deal with problems. Then when you start reaching your goal, that is what we called motivation, you are ready to move and achieve your own goal. But, the concept about motivation are always different, that is why some way only work for some people and I looking forward to hear about your motivation and what makes you start working/studying.

Quick Introduction I am Quyen from Vietnam and right now I am studying at XAMK in Finland at Kouvola campus. But why did I choose to move to Finland, an European country which is 8241 kilometers away from my home country? Well, I want to experience new things, explore the outside world, the scenery, the people, and the culture. That is my biggest dream and it starts to fulfilling when I have arrived to Finland.

What is motivation?

Motivation is to make you do something to achieve a certain goal, for example, you drink when you are thirsty or eat when you are hungry, you study to gain knowledge. You need to have motivation since it makes your “engine” start working and reaching your goal.

Why you need motivation?

As I mentioned before, it is crucial to have the motivation to do your works efficiently.

You do not want to go out when you do not have the energy, the motive. It is exactly like when you studying or working without gaining anything. You just do not want to do it, you could be bored, tired or lack of motivation. As Steve Jobs – CEO and co-founder of Apple Inc used to say: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” So remember to have an interest in what you do. You can gain motivation from that too, you know. *wink* 8

WHY YOU NEED IT STUDIO 123

How motivated are you?

The size of motivation also affects your work/ study path. For instance, I saw students who want to finish their studies in 2 years and students study Finnish online to master the language. I saw an employee who started working as a dishwasher then saw her became a manager after 3 years. Every individual has their own plan in life and their own motivation.

Conclusion In my opinion, motivation has brought me to Finland, guild my way to INSIDER, and helped me reach many goals. A quick tip from me, you should focus on only things that really matter to you, have a big impact. But I really want to hear from you guys!

What are your tips? Do you think only motivation is enough? I hope I can have your answer!

Thank you so much for your time.

Kymenlaaksonkatu 1 45700 Kuusankoski 044 375 3686 www.studio123.fi 10.9-16.9.2021 STUDIO 1 ISÄ (12) | 12€ | 1h37min Every evening 17:15 LUOKKAKOKOUS 3 SINKKURISTEILY (12) | 13€ | 1h44min Every evening 19:15 STUDIO 2 PERTSA JA KILU (7) | 12€ | 1h26min Every evening 17:00 STUDIO 3 SANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (12) | 13€ | 2h12min Every evening 18:45 PERUNA (7) | 12€ | 1h49min Every evening 17:30 HOPEATÄHTI-screening (8€) Thur 14:00 REMINISCENCE (12) | 12€ | 1h50min Fri, Mon 19:30 FREE GUY (12) | 12€ | 1h55min Sat-Sun, Tue-Thur 19:30

Text by Quyen Huynh Photos by Quyen Huynh

Students/armed services, pensioners 1€ discount on all full priced tickets of 10€ or more

9

X K M A N I/E .F

We want you to be part of the Friend Family Programme at Xamk (Kouvola and Mikkeli campuses) and Aalto University, Mikkeli Campus.

THE FRIEND FAMILY PROGRAMME offers foreign degree students the opportunity to get to know Finland and the Finnish culture, language and lifestyle through local families and their everyday lives.

YOU GET TO SPEND TIME WITH a Finnish family in everyday matters. You and the family can freely plan different activities within the framework of your own resources and schedules. The Finnish friend family is not a host family.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO EXPLORE the Finnish culture in a unique way? The application period for the Friend Family Programme is between September 1 - 27, 2021. We will do our best to connect you with a local Finnish family!

TO PARTICIPATE YOU NEED TO FILL in an application for the programme.

The application and more information is available at xamk.fi/ new-student

and

into.aalto.fi/display/enbscba/ Friend+Family+Programme