Vol 21 Issue 05

INSIDER 12.10.2018 | VOL. 21 | ISSUE 05

STUDENT MAGAZINE OF XAMK

FINNISH AND FRENCH EDUCATION

EXCHANGE IN HUNGARY FINNISH AND FRENCH EDUCATION A SAUCERFUL OF SECRET

RECIPE PROFILE

CHEAP TRAVELING FOR AUTUMN BREAK

EDITORIAL STAFF

Stela Demaj Kouvola Current Affairs

Leif Heflin Kouvola Current Affairs

Marija Marash Kouvola Current Affairs

Van-Trang Le Kouvola Current Affairs

Polina Vishnya Kouvola Current Affairs

Alisa Kivirian Exchange View Affairs

Minh-Trang Le Kouvola Current Affairs

Long Nguyen Layout Editor

Trung Dao Layout Editor/ Kouvolan Current Affairs

Nikita Munenko Kouvola Current Affairs

Hugh Clack Editor in Chief

INSIDER STUDENT MAGAZINE South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences Paraatikenttä 7 45100 Kouvola Editor in Chief: Hugh Clack INSIDER ISSN 1457-1587  /INSIDERSTUDENTMAGAZINE 2

PHONE +358 44 702 8758 WEBSITE insider.xamk.fi EMAIL insider@xamk.fi

EDITORIAL

Okay folks, let's get straight to it: I've totally forgot how to write a proper editorial with fancy words or may be I never knew how to so I'm somewhere in Kouvola to blame. I'm not trying to sell things here but this week features some cool articles from the members of Insider, although they just go and hide under a random cave for no specific reason.

Sounds kinda fun, ei? Wanna join? Our editor in chief is looking for someone who wanna help him with an event that we're having this Spring.

Anyhoo, enough with the digression, in this week, Leif is gonna play a professor in keeping your health in check so boys and girls, let's go on a diet, or is it a diet? Well, diet or not, it's probably wise to try on a new recipe by Minh-Trang Le. Next up we have a profile as usual from an exchange student by Stela and some experience as an exchange student point of view from Hungary by Alisa. We also have our newest member here, Lizzy, who we don't have her profile picture yet but you've already seen her when you picked up this issue, will share some thoughts on differences between education in Finland and the place where she came from: France. Wow, so many exchange related topics lately.

Last but not least, we're gonna have our autumn break soon, so if you wanna go somewhere with not much dough in your pocket, listen to what Marija has to share. We're all students with empty pockets here.

Well, that's gonna be enough from me. See you after the break folks.

Trung Dao

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A SAUCERFUL OF SECRET

Appetizer

The word diet has such a negative connotation. You and your friend will go to a restaurant and order the usual but when you interrupt and say, “I’m avoiding this food now.” You are met with an annoyed look.

“You don’t need to lose weight. You look fine!” or “Oh come on, a diet? How long will this last?” What if your answer was “this isn’t a diet, I’m just eating healthier in general.”

In the 1970s, the US recommended everyone to switch to low fat, high carb diet after a study which suggested the theory of a positive correlation between saturated fat intake and weight gain. The magazines of the time heard about this, erroneously stated it as fact, and here we are now, with a steady increase in diabetes and obesity since the 70s. Still to this day in American schools, students are taught to follow the “food pyramid” which says that a majority of our calories should come from carbohydrates and a minority from fat. Now the citizens of the US are the among the fattest in the world.

Before summer I bought a pair of skin-tight skinny jeans. I tried these same jeans after the holiday and was welcomed with a nice problem: the jeans didn’t fit, they were too big. I now needed a belt to wear these same pants and cover my ass. What happened in between? Watching the Joe Rogan podcast which led to changes in what I eat. Not drastic changes, just cutting back on one food group: carbohydrates.

Entrée

The body uses glucose as an energy source and this should not be ignored, but there is a lesser known fact – the body can generate its own glucose. Humans don’t need to consume any sugar to survive, it is merely a luxury. In its present state your body is likely burning sugar and storing fat which is why that weight seems impossible to shake. When one consumes more sugar than the liver can handle, insulin is produced. Repeating this process over and over during a lifetime leads to weight gain and diabetes.

If you aren’t producing insulin, you aren’t gaining fat. It’s that simple.

4

The two rules to live by: 1. Eat huge amounts of fat, not carbs Most of your diet should come from fat, whether it be from beef, pork, lamb, or fish. Fat is also found in avocados, coconut oil, olives and nuts among many other foods. Fat has more calories per gram than carbs, will satiate you faster than carbs, and will not spike your blood sugar, unlike carbs.

Nurture you gut biome Your gut bacteria are crucial to a healthy body and mind. Maintaining good bacteria in the gut can reduce depression, autoimmune responses, fatigue, and anxiety. I was taking medicine for Bipolar disorder for almost a decade, but I no longer do this because my biome has been restored to a healthy state.

2. To properly feed your gut bacteria, eat fermented foods such as piimä, sauerkraut, pickles, miso, tempeh, kimchi, banana chips, and yogurt. Unfortunately, not all yogurt is beneficial in this way.

Fortunately, Finland has made it quite easy, just pick yogurt marked as AB or A+ to be sure it contains the bacteria needed for gut health.

Double down by increasing your fiber intake. Fiber slows down the absorption of sugar in the liver and it can be found in vegetables, rye bread, and fruits (not juice). If you would prefer a list of foods, then google “keto diet” or “insert food here keto”. You will come up with a swarth of results to start with.

Dessert

I am not suggesting a full-blown keto diet because these diets exclude many delicious fruits and vegetables, which contain essential vitamins and minerals. My recommendation is to limit your daily carb intake to a maximum of 30g per day. Replace the carbs with fat. The first two days you may feel cramps as your body excretes the remaining glucose from your muscles but after that life will be very easy. The hardest part will be denying pasta or rice for every meal, but you will find that the less you eat of these foods, the less you desire of them. Soon you will realize that fruit tastes so delicious if you aren’t shooting up your sugar tolerance every day. It is okay to have one or two cheat days per week but if you really want to improve your life I recommend sticking to this plan and I guarantee you will see results in less than one month.

Grayson Leif Heflin 5

PROFILE

1. How did you find out about Xamk?

JAVIER COBOS

It was one of the options for my Erasmus exchange.

2. What are you studying here in Xamk?

I am studying game design.

3. How long are you planning to stay here?

Until the end of April! So the whole academic year.

4. What’s a big difference between Kouvola and your home town?

Kouvola is a lot smaller than Madrid, and only has a few streets that make you feel like you're in a city.

5. What’s the one thing/person you miss the most about your home town?

I really miss Sam, my girlfriend and I can’t wait to see her soon.

6. What’s the one thing you hate about Kouvola?

Maybe the prices? But that's for the whole Finland, it's a lot more expensive than Spain.

7. And what is the one thing that you really love about Kouvola?

The fact that I can bike everywhere and also be surrounded by nature Stela Demaj 6

MUG CAKE Have you ever gotten the munchies at three in the morning but too lazy to actually cook something and the last pack of instant noodle has already been consumed the day before when you were in the lazy mood as well? Do I have good news for you. This is the ultimate life hack for when you are craving cakes but cannot bother to bake a humungous one and wait for 45 minutes, or when your oven is acting up. May I introduce, the glorious mug cake!

Over the years, I have tried several recipes but always ended up with hard-as-a-rock texture; but, finally I have come across an amazing recipe that guarantees moist, oven-baked-like cakes every time. Let’s dive right in.

Instruction: 1.

In a bowl, mix together egg, sugar, melted butter and vanilla extract 2.

Add the cocoa and whisk everything together to a glossy mixture.

3.

Add the chocolate chunks/chips and toasted nuts of your choices.

You can also go all the way by adding in M&M if you want to.

4.

Slightly whisk in the milk. Lastly, mix in the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt till smooth.

5.

Pour the mixture into your favorite (microwave safe) mug. Set the power on high and leave them in there for ~1 minute. The batter will rise and look like it will overflow but it wouldn’t; it will collapse as soon as you turn off the microwave.

6.

Take the mug out and if everything is done properly, we should have a very close resemblance of an oven-baked chocolate cake. Top it with a bit of whipped cream and/or ice cream and dust it with cocoa powder for the aesthetics.

Ingredients: 1 egg ¼ cup sugar 1 tablespoon melted butter ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract 2 tablespoon cocoa powder 3 tablespoon milk ¼ cup all purpose flour ¼ teaspoon baking powder a pinch of salt toasted almonds/hazelnuts chocolate chips/chocolate chunks

And there you have it! Five minutes to prepare, one minute to “bake” and a cake is born. You can also alter it by making a confetti or red velvet version. The possibilities are endless. Enjoy!

Minh-Trang Le

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THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION

Hello guys, I am new in here!!! It is so wonderful writing for Xamk Magazine. I am so excited about this. So, my name is Elizabeth (but you can call me Lizzy). I am from Dunkirk, France. (#importantstrategicplaceduringthe2ndWorldwar). Info: We have the best Waffles and confitures in France.

So, I was pondering about what to write and I eventually want to point out differences in studying between Finland and France. I love France “Le pays de Baguette, French cheese, wine…chocolate and even perfumes. And yeah… I would love to tell you differences in French educational system and that of Finland. I have been schooling in here for more than two months now, but I must confess that education in Finland is more fun, interesting if you know how to manage your time. Lecturers are really open in here in Finland than in France, so this fear of asking them questions is automatically eliminated as the bridge between students and lecturers are really close. For example, you must call lecturers “Madame or Monsieur” (Madame or Mister). It is a sign of respect but here in Finland, we call them by their first names!!!!!.... (#thatsstillhardforme) Second, teaching methods in France is quite individual… Projects at school is all about YOU alone but in Finland, I have come to realize that 95% of projects are made in teams (groups of at least 3-4 students) ... What a shock for me!!! As I was already used to the “DO IT YOURSELF METHOD”. But 8

this Peer-learning technic is really good. I am becoming more and more creative and wanting to know about other people point of view. Furthermore, I have never worked in a very diversified environment, there are a lot of international students in here than universities in France. For example, International students in a French class could be only between four to five students. But in Finland, 95 percent of the students comes from abroad, Russia, Belarus, Estonia, Sweden, Germany, etc.

In addition, before coming here, I have always thought that Finland will be a very expensive country, this wanted to even draw me back from coming here. But when I found out that the school canteen fee is just 2,60€ per meal for a very balanced meal. My heart was jumping for joy…. I paid 3.50€ per meal in France. Yes, France canteens are more expensive. Of course, you can always have French fries (#yummy), Boeuf Bourguignon etc.

Moodle system in Finland is really amazing. The website is very attractive for students. In there, you can find Discussion Forums with students and teachers, materials resources for homework and studies, etc. In France, we also have quite the system, but we only have direct messages to our teachers and no forum. Forums in Moodle is very useful as we get to communicate and share our ideas publicly to our teachers as well as your colleagues.

Lammy Lizzy 9

CHEAP TRAVELING FOR AUTUMN BREAK

Hi there again, It is me the usual Marija trying to find out some very helpful and interesting advice for all of you. I wonder if all of you have the same problem that I have lately. I guess you all know that that time of the year is very close. What time? The time that we get our autumn vacation. Yes, that is right a free week, where we can do whatever we want and go wherever we want. Of course we all have different desires to go and travel in different countries, but there is always a “but”. This time the “but” is very easy. Where the hell to get all the money to travel everywhere that we want? Well I have an easy solution for all of you: Different countries that you can visit in a very cheap price, or maybe not only one country, but a little tour in 2-3 countries.

I personally, have decided to go and spend some days in Budapest, Hungary. I have never been there before even if it is close to my country and actually very cheap to go. First of all, the ticket from Helsinki airport to Budapest airport costs only 110 Euros, including two ways and a luggage of eight kilos.

Very cheap right? After that, something that concerns all of us is the accommodation. Well, no worries I got you covered. You can find very cheap personal houses in Airbnb that start from 9 euros for two people. If you want to stay somewhere closer to the center the price would be 15-20 euros per night for two people.

When it comes to the transport from the airport to the city center you can take a taxi, a bus, or the metro. The prices range from 10

1.40 euros for tram or busses and the taxi price starts from 5 euros which is for three miles and so on. As you can see Budapest can be a perfect choice for all the students as it has so much to offer. If you want to do some different activities or visit museums the entrance will not be more than 20 Euros.

The next option that you should all consider is to take a tour to three amazing countries: Belgium, France and Netherlands. Since the countries are next to each other it is very cheap to travel between them. First, the ticket from Helsinki to Brussels would be around 130 euros. After that you get to go in Paris, France with only 10 euros. Amazing right? And if you want to go from Paris to The Netherlands you get to pay only 15 euros for the bus ride.

When it comes to accommodation, I would say that you can find affordable options in Paris with Airbnb again for only 20 euros and in good areas as well. The same thing counts for Brussels, while in Amsterdam Netherlands you can find places to stay that start from 10 euros.

As you can see there are a lot of options for all of us to travel cheap and have fun!

Marija Marash

STUDIO 123 Kymenlaaksonkatu 1 45700 Kuusankoski 044 375 3686 www.studio123.fi 12.10 - 18.10.2018 STUDIO 1 OPERA DE PARIS: TOSCA (S) | 23€ | 2h52mins Sat 12, Tues 18 PIKKUJALKA (7) | 11€ | 1h37mins Fri 17:15, Sat 15:00, 17:00 Sun, Wed - Thurs 17:15 IHMEPERHE 2 (7) | 11€ | 2h6mins Sat - Sun 14:20, Mon 17:15 VENOM (12) | 12€ | 1h52mins Fri - Sun 19:35, Mon 19:40 VALMENTAJA (7) | 11€ | 1h52mins Wed - Thurs 19:15

STUDIO 2 JOHNNY ENGLISH ISKEE JÄLLEEN (7) | 11€ |1h28mins Every Evening 17:00 ON CHESIL BEACH (12) | 7€ | 1h50mins Thurs 13:00 VALMENTAJA Premiere celebrations live from Stad (7) | 11€ | 1h52mins Tues 17:00 starting film at 18:30 OLAVI VIRTA (12) | 12€ | 2h05mins Fri - Mon, Weds - Thurs 18: 45, 14:45(s1)

STUDIO 3 URPO JA TURPO JOHTOLANGAN JÄJILLÄ (S) | 10€ | 1h00mins Sat - Sun 15:20 CHRISTOPHER ROBIN (7) | 11€ | 1h44mins Sat, Mon - Thurs 17:00 BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE (16) | 12€ | 2h22mins Sat, Mon, Wed 19:00 ILOSIA AIKOJA, MIELENSÄPAHOITTAJA (12) | 12€ | 1h58mins Every Evening 18:45 Sat - Sun 14:30, 18:45 Silver-Star show Thurs 13:00 FIRST MAN (12) | 12€ | 2h21mins Fri, Sun, Tues, Thurs 19:00 Students/armed services, pensioners 1€ discount on all full priced tickets of 10€ or more

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HUNGARY EXCHANGE VIEW Esztergom Trip: Walking to Slovakia For many people exchange means a lot of traveling and exploring new places. And that’s exactly right! My Hungarian exchange is not an exception.

Erasmus organizations are planning and providing many outstanding opportunities for foreigners to communicate, make new friends and travel. For example, one of the Sundays during the first month of my stay in Budapest we visited an old capital of Hungary – Esztergom.

The town is located right next to the Slovak border, only 1 hour away from Budapest in the train. By the way, with the student card, it’s possible to get huge discounts – a one-way ticket to this place was less than 2 euros! Seems impossible after prices in Finland. Esztergom is famous not only because of the status of the old capital but also because it has the biggest cathedral in the country. Even though it is called ‘the biggest’ it is actually not that huge. However, you can climb the top of it and enjoy a very nice view of… Slovakia!

Yes, Esztergom has a water border with Slovakia. There is a bridge between the old Hungarian capital and a little Slovak town called Šturovo.

On the Slovak side, there’s, frankly speaking, nothing special except the stunning view on Hungary. And cheap and good food! You can get a big glass of wine only for 70 cents and a huge portion of halušky, traditional Slovak dish, only for 4-6 euros! Oh, magical Eastern Europe.

Overall, even though both places are not the most amazing destinations on the planet, the process of crossing the border by foot was a good fun. As well as the process of traveling on the train. Trips to somewhere always unite people even if they didn’t know each other before. Time for new places and new friends is always here, especially during your Erasmus Exchange!

Alisa Kivirian 12