Bulletin 2 - 2019

BULLETIN II/2019

Bulletin II/19

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Probba.org probbary 2

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Bulletin II/19

BULLETIN I/18

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Inside this Edition Bulletin II/2019 Editor-In-Chief: Simo Halme Editors: Säde Torkki, Pyry Laitinen, Dimitri Eskelinen, Simo Lehtovirta, Aarne Nykänen, Niklas Juuranto Cover picture: Simo Lehtovirta Publisher: Probba ry Printed at: Grano Oy Mikkeli

4 Editor’s Note 5 President’s Two Cents 6-9 Pictures from Vappu 10-11 What’s up New Clubs?

12-13 Egypt and Finland 14-21 Baba Fashion 24-25 Alumni Stories 26 Mikkeli Mysteries Bulletin II/19

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Editor’s note

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magine the most comfortable you can be. A place where you can feel safe and be who you are.

A situation you can be at peace in. To feel happy and content with what you have and where you are right now is one of the most valuable things in life.

All of us are able to control our attitude towards life on some degree and we’ve all met people who seem to have the incredible ability to face life with never ending enthusiasm and be truly happy with whatever their life is at the moment. Although this positive view on life can be beneficial, it is good to remember that life isn’t all about being happy with the current situation. Life is about change.

At least in this one aspect, university is a lot like life. You can get the best out of both by embracing new things, challenging yourself and leaving your comfort zone. I am certain that this was one of the reasons why many of you applied to Mikkeli. I only come from two hours away, so I can only imagine that as much as my life has changed here, there are plenty of those who have experienced far more unfamiliarity.

Leaving your comfort zones and a life you’re content with is never easy.

These situations you have put

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yourself in might have more unpleasant challenges than you’d like. But through these challenges we can all grow and when we go back to our lives outside Mikkeli we have invaluable experience to help us on the way. Even if you could’ve learned all the same things about supply, demand and SWOT-analysis in the university nearest to your hometown, the decision to challenge yourself and leave to Mikkeli means you’ve learned far more than a few theories.

For a moment, go back to the most comfortable setting you can imagine.

Remember that place. Cherish it and visit it when you need the strength it gives you. But outside that place is a world of wonders and change. This is the place to be.

Best regards, Simo Halme Editor-In-Chief of Probba ’19

President’s Two Cents

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he final exam is getting closer, there are still tons of slides to read through, and you know you will be disappointed with any other grade than 5. The group project is approaching its finish line, but there’s still too much work to do, and you should also find time to meet up with the group. And you shouldn’t forget the work you are doing at the same time for one of the school’s clubs; the events don’t organize themselves without you and the other people working behind the scenes. It might also be kind of essential for you to have time to eat, sleep, exercise and see your friends too. However, as you very well know, day only has 24 hours in it.

I am certain that all of you are rather familiar with stress. Stress is a normal part of life and especially here in Mikkeli the work load can feel a bit too hefty from time to time. However, it becomes problematic, when the balance between other aspects of life gets blurred. School work is important, and the assumption is that it does take big part of student’s time. Precise time management can help to some extent, but does it solve all the problems related to the stress?

We’re all human beings, and the stress related issues aren’t most likely solved with only mechanical functions, such as better scheduling or time management. Being there for your friend when needed can be immeasurably valuable; “kultaakin kalliimpaa” as one would say in Finnish.

Be a shoulder to lean on when needed. Be a helping hand for your friend in a task they are struggling with. Talking with your friends, just being there and listening can be priceless. Do something fun together that makes you both forget the rush for a moment. The ways are many.

While the term “Mikkeli spirit” can sometimes feel a bit worn out, the friendships and relations formed here can become some the most important you ever create in your life.

So be there for your friends, because like in the immortal words of Troy Bolton: we’re all in this together.

Säde Torkki President of Probba ’19

Look around you. How are your friends doing? What if today you asked them how they are doing. And I don’t just mean small talk with this.

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New Clubs

What’s up New Clubs?

As you know, three new clubs have joined the ranks of our Baba community this semester. It’s time to take a look at what kinds of things have they done recently in their first spring.

Text Pyry Laitinen Photos Phương Nguyễn & Ada Fong

Baba Debate Club & BnB: A Taste of Something New On Tuesday May 7th Babas Debate Club hosted an international dinner in collaboration with Boardgames and Babas Club. Treats such as Butter Halloumi, Classic Vietnamese spring rolls and Chinese barbecue pork were served. Everyone was having a blast tasting new delicious foods and enjoying the company of others. And then the board games arrived. Huge stacks of boxes were dropped on to the table, names such as Catan, Coup and Trans Europe shone from the box art into the watering eyes of the participants. Although their stomachs had been filled, their souls still craved for sustenance. And so, one of the greatest events of all time was born.

The international dinner event has been, in my opinion (which I´m not supposed to give), the best event of the year.

Bounty of delicious foods (Photo: Phương Nguyễn)

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A combination of delicious foods, good company and entertaining games became the embodiment of the Mikkeli Spirit.

To get the full scope of this amazingness (yes, that is a word), I interviewed the participants and here´s what I got: The most memorable things were “Indulging myself in great, new friendships!” and “Using my brain in ways never imagined as possible to humankind before!”. The best food discovery was the fried bananas with a comment “Ugh, I cannot even use words to describe how great they were!”

To wrap this up, I´m going to quote one of the interviewed participants by saying: “Please have another one!”

Bounty of delicious people (Photo: Ada Fong)

New Clubs

Baba Beer Club at Saimaa Brewing Text Simo Halme Photos Asko Keinonen Our brand new Beer Club decided to journey into the wildlands of Mikkeli to rediscover a long lost truth: where exactly do these mysterious Saimaa Beers come from?

All of our questions were answered as we arrived to Saimaa Brewing Company’s brewery in western Mikkeli. There we were greeted by Jenni Kehusmaa, the Operations Manager of said brewery. With her lead our curious explorers found answers to every question they had and even to some questions they never thought of asking. We toured around the brewery as she walked us through their entire brewing process. At least I must confess that I didn’t understand half of the steps we took, but our club was founded on the idea of learning more about beer so our confused bunch bravely pressed on.

Speaking of trying new things, we each got a taste of their California IPA straight from the production. The beer hadn’t gone through the final stages before canning, but was still recognisable and definitely drinkable!

It was also pleasure to notice that our host and guide wasn’t just anyone, but also a person passionate about beer. Many of us joked that if we ever need a summer job, this place might be worth looking into.

Our trip would obviously have been incomplete without a visit to their brewery store, where we each, inspired by this opportunity, bought something for the long way back!

Thank you Saimaa Brewing for this opportunity!

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Egypt and Finland

Salam Aleykum Text Dimitri Eskelinen

During spring break me and Osama went to Egypt for a week. Then somebody got an idea to write about the differences between how people live in Finland and Egypt, so here I am.

As a brief outline, our seven days were mostly in Cairo with a two-day trip to Alexandria.

Besides the touristy stuff, during the week we went horse riding, visited a pharmaceutical factory, took pictures with random people, rode in the trunk of a car and much more (details from Osama).

Obviously, life is drastically different there.

The first thing is the chaotic nature of life in Egypt. You can see this particularly well in the Cairo traffic. There are no speed limits anywhere and the traffic doesn’t really seem to

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be following any particular rules. In the middle of that, you can also see horse carts being used as a serious means of transportation, cows being transported on pick up trucks and all kinds of motorcycle shenanigans. Three people riding the same motorcycle is not a strange sight in Cairo. Once I even saw a fellow riding on the shoulders of the motorcycle driver. Helmets are obviously not a consideration at this point.

Finland has a million rules and regulations that would get you fined three seconds after driving like that. On the other hand, in Egypt you get to decide how to get from A to B. I got to experience first-hand the amount of excitement that comes with everyday life in Egypt. You could call this reckless and unruly,

Egypt and Finland

but you could look at it as a different way to live. It is also important to consider that the circumstances in these two countries are very different. Egypt has about 19 times more people than Finland and the GDP per capita is about 19 times less there, so I would imagine wearing a helmet is not the first concern to many folks.

Besides the chaotic, Egyptian society also has an incredible sense of community. On numerous occasions I saw people who met each other three minutes ago act as if they were best friends. By Finland’s standards, this is particularly strange, as getting to that level of familiarity requires much more time and usually involves some drinking. Overall, I got the vibe that everybody somehow knew each other and was ready for a friendly chat at any second. Tip: knowing a couple basic Arabic phrases goes a long way with Egyptian fellas.

Many locals offered juice, coffee, cigarettes etc.

When I tried to refuse, I usually got a strange look and an explanation that I simply have to accept. Nowhere else have I really been taken care of as an guest to such an extent.

Obviously, there are many more things, but Simo imposed a limit on my writing, which I have probably already exceeded. I will conclude by saying that I really enjoyed the trip and would encourage anybody to go see how other people in the world live. Finland is an idealistic place to live, but is not representative of the majority of the rest of the world. Sorry about the cliche, but travelling really does broaden your mind and makes you understand how priviledged you are in comparison to others.

And when you go, always try to get a local fellow to show you all the shady places (thanks Osama).

No story about egypt would be complete without mentioning their hospitality. ”No thank you” doesn’t really seem to be a thing there.

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Text Simo Lehtovirta Photos Simo Lehtovirta

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Baba Fashion Editorial

SOFIA Sofia combines modern minimalistic and simple garments with yesteryears’ retroesque older pieces of clothing with ease.

Sustainability means a lot to her when it comes to consuming fashion products.

She is very educated on the environmental downsides of fast fashion production, and therefore prefers to buy second hand pieces. Sofia claims not to have any specific sources of inspiration, but her style choices just come naturally.

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Baba Fashion Editorial

FANNY Fanny’s style consists of classic staple pieces, but it still evolves constatly. It is easy for her to combine old and new garments together. She values aesthetics, and when she considers buying new pieces of clothing to add to her wardrobe it is paramount that the garments can be mixed and matched with what she already owns. Many of Fanny’s garments have been a part of her outfit routine for years, but she also pays attention to current trends and follows blogs and social media.

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OSKAR Premium is the word Oskar lives by.

Quality is important to him: His simplistic casual pieces need to withstand wear and tear. Oskar aims to keep his wardrobe dynamic. The pieces that he buys should be compatible with his current selection of garments. Oskar follows GQ’s Instagram profile actively and also pays attention to the new posts of several brands, such as Nudie Jeans and Herschel. His style icon is actor Jeff Goldblum.

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Baba Fashion Editorial

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Baba Fashion Editorial

LIIA

Liia is a price-conscious consumer when it comes to clothes. Nevertheless, she does not want her garments to look cheap. Accessories, shoes and bags are the items she invests in. She keeps herself up-to-date on the latest trends, but her style changes based on her current feelings and moods.

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Osuuspankin omistajaasiakkuudesta saat paljon hyötyä ja iloa arkeen.

Tutustu ja tule omistaja-asiakkaaksi: www.op.fi Tervetuloa meille!

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Looking for a career within your own field?

We have it.

Check our open positions: https://jobs.academicwork.fi/

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Alumni of the Edition

Sanna Palmu BBA 5

After graduation Sanna has worked for multiple international consulting companies in various positions regarding IT outsourcing. Five years ago she wanted to take a time out of her current career and went to Perho Culinary School to study. Two years ago she graduated as a chef and now her goal is to open a restaurant in Helsinki with her business partner. At the moment she works in her family business and on free time she likes to exercise, read and sing.

What was Mikkeli like back in your day? What did you do after your time in Mikkeli?

When I moved to Mikkeli in 1993, the town felt really small to me. I was sharing a flat I applied for a scholarship to continue my postin the middle of the center just next to the grad studies in London. Once I was selected to market square and you could easily walk or be a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar I moved to cycle around the city. We were the first ones London and started my studies there. I finish to start our studies in the new school building my Master’s degree in one year and moved to so everything was brand new when we started Sweden to sell business games. After a while I moved back to Helsinki and started my career our journey in Babaland. in IT outsourcing.

What are your three most memorable What is your work history like?

Mikkeli moments?

One of my most memorable Mikkeli moments were the Grand Annual Balls, when you were able to dress up and have fun with friends. I also have good memories from our yearly skitrips to Lapland, when we took a bus all the way from Mikkeli to Pyhä or Ruka.

The most memorable Mikkeli moment was our graduation in 1996. We ended up partying with friends night before the graduation and we did hardly have any sleep before the official graduation ceremony. Anyhow, we all made it to official ceremony since one of our mottos back in the days was “Party hard, work harder”.

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I have worked in IT outsourcing for almost 20 yrs. I started my journey to the world of IT with EDS. I was lucky to have excellent leaders to guide me in the beginning of my career and a learned a lot about IT outsourcing business during my years with EDS. After working in various roles in EDS I joined Capgemini.

During my EDS times I was travelling a lot, but as I joined Capgemini, I had a chance to spend more time at home than in airplanes and hotels. My last stop in IT industry was with Accenture. During those years I was able to fully utilize my capabilities that I have earlier learned from EDS and Capgemini. However, after 5 years of working there I felt that I needed to learn something totally different.

So I resigned and started my studies in Perho Culinary School in 2015. It was so refreshing to start at school after so many years!

After I graduated from Perho, I decided to join our family company and start to grow the business together with my husband.

Alumni of the Edition

What is your current position like?

We run our family company together with my husband. He is taking care of of sales and production and I take care of client service and marketing. We are selling iron casting products to Finland & Baltics. Product development & design is here in Finland and we produce our goods mainly in EU. While you were studying, did you ever expect to be working in your current position?

I was looking for an international career and I got what I wanted. However, I did not expect to be working in a small family company with my husband, so life had some surprises for me as well.

What skills or lessons did Mikkeli teach you that were most helpful in your career?

Team work was the most valuable lesson that I learned from Mikkeli.

Any tips or greetings you would like to send to the current Babas?

Remember to have also fun while studying and do not take life too seriously!

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Mikkeli Mysteries

Mikkeli Mysteries

The Curious Case of Rubber Ducks Text Aarne Nykänen & Niklas Juuranto Photos Aarne Nykänen It´s a beautiful day outside (at least I hope it is when you are reading this). Spring is making itself more present day by day. The snow is melting and the birds are returning from south. However, despite I enjoy watching the snow melt after a long winter, the grass is not the only thing that gets uncovered: rubbish and dog poop is appearing everywhere.

ridiculous, people constantly tell me that there are more than five hidden somewhere around my house all the time. I’m tired of looking inside my couch (yes, one has also been there).

Join the Mikkeli mysteries when we uncover the most interesting and random happening in our community. This time we are focusing on a mysterious event, in which a local student Niklas Juuranto has found other unwanted guests than tired party people: rubber ducks.

I had the chance to interview him.

To be honest I’m not sure. Between 10 and 15 approximately. The reason I am not sure is because the ones I have found seem to magically hide themselves again.

Since we have never seen this kind of a phenomenon before, could you please tell our readers what’s going on?

I collect them on top of my bathroom sink.

The most I have had there is 11 but now there are only 8. Like I said before, they seem to magically hide themselves again. I also have one of the ducks hanging from my overalls.

Oh, and one is attached to the flag of NESUEnklaavi so keep an eye out for that the next time you go to Lappeenranta for a sits-party!

Originally it started from a stand-up act

by James Veitch. In the bit he describes a prank he did on his roommate – hiding more and more rubber ducks in their bathroom.

Inspired by this my neighbours - Ida and Aarne - had bought a few ducks of their own.

However soon they had an idea that it would be funny to prank me and hide some ducks at my place. So, they bought 60 of them, or that’s the number I am aware of at this point.

When did this start? And where did you find the first one?

It started before Probba Pre-Christmas which was at Amarillo around November. First one I noticed was taped on a shower hook in my bathroom. Soon I noticed one on my shower handle, in my bathroom cabinet, inside my washing machine. They just kept popping up from the weirdest places! A month ago, one was inside a lamp! At this point it’s getting

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How many ducks have you found so far?

What do you do with the ones you find?

Anything else you would like to tell our readers?

I hope this phenomenon has not spread any further from my home but if you too are affected by the duck curse then know that you are not alone. We can defeat them, together!

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Leading the Way The Bachelor’s Program in International Business The Bachelor’s Program in International Business, also called the BScBA Program, is offered at the Aalto University Mikkeli Campus.

Key Aspects • • • • •

Studying in English Highly respected professors from around the world Intensive three-week modules Study abroad for one semester Automatic study-right to continue a Master’s Degree at the Aalto BIZ Campus

Master’s Programs in the School of Business The School of Business offers various Master’s Programs in English: • • • • • •

Accounting Creative Sustainability Economics Marketing Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management Finance

• • • • •

Global Management (CEMS) Information and Service Management International Design Business Management Management and International Business Marketing

More information aalto.fi/studies/mikkeli biz.aalto.fi/en/studies

Facebook: @BScBAmikkeli, @aaltobiz Instagram: @aaltomikkeli,@aaltobiz