NO 12

THIS ISSUE

School event

KYAMK DESIGNMARKET 2014

21st century Finland

MARRIAGE RIGHTSTO SAME

SEX COUPLES

Hobbies

BOFFERING

STUDENT MAGAZINE

KYMENLAAKSO UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES | 05.12.14 | Vol. 17

INSIDER

HOANG ANH N

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RAH ROSENTHAL

DIANA KAMALETDINOVA

MATTEA NÄVERI

BAC LE

ANNUKKA RE

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IULIIA POGORELOVA

ALEXANDRA IVCH

EKO

VA

KA

ROLIINA NIEMI

RIIA JÄRVINEN

ANNA G

ELYU

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ALENA KIIA

NICH

ENK

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INSIDER is published and printed at:Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences Campus

Paraatikenttä 7, 45100 Kouvola, Finland

Tel: +358 44 702 8758 / Fax: +358 5 230 2433 E-mail: insider@kyamk.fi Website: insider.kyamk.fi

Personal e-mails: firstname.surname@student.kyamk.fi

INSIDER ISSN 1457–1587Copyright © Insider 2014

Editor in chief: Hugh Clack

INSIDER MAGAZINE

EDITORIAL

There is only one week before the

exams, and cold winter evenings

do not help our students to tune

into educational mood. Insider team

was not discouraged, and we pre-

pared for you a lot of interesting

events that will turn you into the

right mood!

Firstly, be sure to visit hockey, which

will be held December 6th. Hockey

- is the real source of the northern

Finnish culture, which you can learn

so easy in the winter season.

We also want to draw your attention

to our great exchange students. Many of them

have already visited Rovaniemi, and made a

wish under the shine of the Northern lights. If

you have not decided where to travel on your

vacation, then Rovaniemi, indeed, one of the

must-have places this season!We hope you

will have many interesting stories on vacation,

which you can tell to the Insider as well as with

the entire university.

We wish you success in your exams, nothing

worth comes easy! Do not forget to leave time

for yourself, a little rest and interesting events

helps to work more efficiently and make unfor-

gettable moments of our lives!

3

Alexandra

INSIDER MAGAZINE

EXCHANGE VIEW

4

My friends in Carlow are mainly

exchange students. Unfortunately I

don’t spend my days with that many

Irish people, so at the moment my

strength isn’t the knowledge about

Irish Christmas. However I have

learnt something about the Christ-

mas in France, the Christmas in the

Netherlands and the Christmas in

Tampere. Last week I learned about

not only the American Christmas,

but also about the Thanksgiving.

We have one exchange student

from America and she treated us

with proper Thanksgiving meal with

turkey and cranberry sauce. It’s

great that it takes only one girl from

Texas to hold an American tradition

with international friends in Ireland.

If she introduced the thanksgiving to us, what

have other nationalities shared here? The

German people here have introduced their

mentality about studying. I’m seriously afraid

of them, as they are all really good students

with high expectations to success. However,

they are good motivation for others too which

is absolutely great.

As I live with my lovely French roommates I

have had a great chance to get to know their

food culture. They have cooked for us so many

times that we are all familiar with their apple

pies and cheeses by now.

The Dutch boys don’t probably even realise

themselves, but they have introduced their good

manners. They never let anyone walk alone, they

always open the doors and are every time ready

to help. It might be that the boys have been

taught well when they were younger,

but I believe it’s also a Dutch thing.

So what are we going to share about

Finland? We are preparing to have

Finnish Independence Day get-to-

gether next week with all the nati-

onalities. We are not probably going

to stream the president’s gala and

watch that, but so far we have ga-

thered some Finnish music to share

with everyone. We are going to make

Robin internationally successful.

Of course this isn’t as deep as good

manners or high motivation to suc-

cess, but maybe that’s our thing.

Gathering people together and en-

joying each other’s company.

Text & Photos: Karoliina NIemi

INSIDER MAGAZINE5

FINLAND TO 21ST CENTURY

On last Friday Finland was anxiously

waiting parliament to vote for equal

marriage rights. The voting started

at 13.00 and one hour later our capital

Helsinki was filled not only with Christ-

mas markets but with happy people

wearing rainbow colours. The Finnish

Parliament voted 105-92 in favour of

a citizens’ initiative to extend marria-

ge rights to same-sex couples.

The difference wasn’t big between NO

and YES –votes but Finland has come a

long way from year 1906 when it gave

foremost to other European countries

rights for women to vote.

Even though most of citizens showed

their support spreading YES I DO! –

photos In Facebook, some were real-

ly against the change of the law. The

strongest arguments were based on

religion and rights of children but after

all, in my opinion, for children it is best

to have two parents no matter what

gender they are and what it comes

to religion – We all have our different

beliefs so the law must therefore be

equal to all.

When some of the members of the

Parliament who were against the law

gave the last minute interviews peo-

ple saw them doubting and losing

the poker face so they noticed that

Finland was closer than ever to be

the 12th of European countries gi-

ving the same marriage rights to sa-

me-sex couples. Some said that the

voting had already come to the point

that if it doesn’t go through now it is

going to be reading for that long that

it goes through.

The next step will be presenting the

decision to the Grand Committee

of the Parliament for consideration,

then again to the Parliament for final

approval. If all the necessary chan-

ges are implemented before the end

of 2015 the first same-sex couple

could marry earliest on 1st of March

2017 in Finland.

The decision was the same as 65%

(based on March survey) of Finnish

citizens hoped for. The road to this

day was a long and rocky but the

selected direction looks good and

can give an example for other coun-

tries to do the same.

Text : Riia Järvinen,Photo:Solene Roussel

INSIDER MAGAZINE6

Text & Photos: Hoang Anh Nguyen

Hi there, have you felt the festive

atmosphere around the corner?

Kyamk Design Market was brought

back as a tradition, spreading sea-

sonal atmosphere. The novel Christ-

mas Market experience was created

thanks to enthusiastic and hardwor-

king design team. It was on Saturday

29th of November that Kyamk’s

Paja was lightened up with festively

meticulous decoration. Pine cones,

Frosted Liberty Star, twinkle lights…

made up such a quirky theme!

What the unique market offered this

year? The Design market was open

for 7 hours of the day from 10 am

to 5 pm in Paja. About 15 talented

lovely vendors hosted their own small

stalls, selling various self-made stuffs.

You would fall in love with diverse

DIY colourful knitted hats, woollen

headbands, bandeaus, mittens and

scarves. Tote bags and wallets were

also offered in different hand-printed

styles. More notably, you would be

overwhelmed with a wide range of

eye-catching handmade jewellery:

rings, bracelets, necklaces, hairpins

and especially earrings were avai-

lable in different materials, colours

KYAMK DESIGN MARKET

and styles. Whilst some of them were made of

leather, plastics and wools, others were made

from piece of wood or metals with great dex-

terity.

Wasn’t it a good chance to choose some spe-

cial Christmas gifts for your beloved? Even if

you already got your prepared presents, you

would be likely to come up with many extraor-

dinary ideas for customising your own cards.

Many beautiful and creative cards were nicely

made in vibrant hand-drawing and painting for

your choice. From cute multi-coloured cards,

to vintage designed ones were very attracti-

ve. More interestingly, home décor accessories

were other appealing stuffs in the market. Some

of them were brought from the wood academy

with beautifully hand crafted pieces for your

Christmas home decoration.

Simultaneously, the market was filled with plea-

sing music by Jouni Kuivainen as the DJ. It’s

even more entertaining while live music was

performed consecutively almost every hour by

Uliana Kovaleva, Jouni Kuivainen, Hana Culková

& Tereza Vyhlídalová, Menno Snel, Ringo, Miska

Karvinen, Liya, and Miska & Mattea. Attendants

could also enjoy the great atmosphere of music

and shopping or grasping some sweet cakes,

candies or warming up with some hot drinks

and coffees selling by Loma Cafe. The café was

hosted around the little lounge, enabling atten-

dants to have the chance to sit down for a small

talk or just for enjoying the cookies

before going another round to the

market. People had a chance to join

as both sellers and shoppers. Besides

students from our university, there are

lots of local people who came around,

making the atmosphere feel more like

a local market.

At this time of the year, it’s very com-

mon that the weather is not favourable

for the events with a wet snowy day. It

was held on the weekend when many

folks prefer to stay at home for a warm

long sleep. Those were probably the

reasons why the market was not really

crowded as expected. It is guessed that

it would attract more people if the mar-

ket would last longer and take place

together with some more activities like

last year such as the Christmas wishing

trees or Kyamk’s Christmas Kirppis.

Above all, it was a good chance

for all people to come and admire

talented Kyamk-ers! Visiting the

Design market, many people might

get unique Christmas gifts for your

beloved and some might not. Even

if you couldn’t buy anything, it has

been such an inspiring experien-

ce to see how creative and skilful

Kyamk’s artists are!

INSIDER MAGAZINE7

INSIDER MAGAZINE8

MENNO & RINGO

Text: Alena Kiianichenko, Photo: Uliana KovalevaHow it feels to be on exchange in cold and “boring” Fin-

land for two energetic, full of life and passion Duch guys?

Let’s find out!

Hi, what degree program you are at here?

Menno: I’m studying International Business.

Ringo: I am studying International Business. It’s more or

less the same that I’m studying in the Netherlands. In my

home country I am studying Small Business and Retail Ma-

nagement, so it’s actually mostly business, but more related

to own company.

Why have you chosen to study at this particular field?

Menno: This is because for me it’s an extension of my own

education in the Netherlands: I study Media Entertainment

Management and I believe that in this kind of field it’s im-

portant to have some business knowledge. We don’t have

a particular business education in my school which I could

follow, so I was looking for business exchange program and

Kyamk University in Finland was highly rated, that’s why

I’ve chosen it.

Ringo: My relationship with business started with my

family. My whole family: my mother, father, uncle, grandpa-

rents had and still have their own company. I grew up with

it. In addition, I think I have some skills which suit business

management. Therefore, my interests are completely focu-

sed on business.

What is the most significant difference between Kyamk

and your home country university?

Menno: We talked a lot about differences with other Dutch

students, for example with Ringo. We came up with the idea

that the biggest difference is the social bound between stu-

dents and teachers. In the Netherlands the teacher is a do-

minant person who explains what you have to do, but here

in Finland, which is positive in my eyes, you are more on the

same level with teachers, sometimes even close to friends.

When I talk with teachers here, I feel like I talk with my fri-

end, sometimes on the subjects you wouldn’t expect to talk

about with a teacher. It makes it fun, it makes it social. If you

have a teacher that is socially interested in you, you feel like

this person can help and teach you. That’s a valuable thing

that sometimes is missed in the Netherlands: the teacher

is not there to help you; you have to do more on your own.

Ringo: As Menno already said, the distance between tea-

chers and students is different. Furthermore, it’s the size of

the university: my university has 21000 students, so it’s qui-

te a lot. My university is way bigger that this one. Moreover,

studying process here is more laid-back but the content is

way more complicated. Another difference is that even if

my school is big, we have a lot of departments, which are

located close to each other.

The biggest challenge you experienced being a student

in a foreign country?

Menno: The biggest challenge for me was to bond with local

people because bonding with exchange students is rather

simple – we live together, we party together, and we are

basically on the same boat. There are also a lot of Russian full

degree students living in our buildings, so it was also pretty

easy to bond with them. Speaking about Finns, we have

some distance between us and them. You only meet them

when they go out and when they do go out, they are shy:

they don’t want to talk; they seem to be a little bit introvert,

&

INSIDER MAGAZINE9

which we are not. So, creating a real bond

and friends in Finland with Finnish people

was the most challenging thing for me.

Ringo: For me, the first challenge is living

on my own. Second one is that you go

on exchange to a foreign country for 4

months, knowing no one, so everything

is completely new: studies, the people,

Finnish culture, Finnish circumstances like

weather, food. Actually, everything was

completely new for me, but it was still inte-

resting because I am always curious about

new things, challenges and experience

which make me energetic and passionate.

What is the most memorable thing you

will remember with your Finnish studies?

Menno: The most memorable thing is fun

that I had during classes. Being not serious is

interesting for me. If I was asked about Fin-

land, I would tell people that I was studying,

but I never felt I was studying. I was just

having fun, and even with teachers and they

accepted it – there was time for jokes, time

for relaxing. You are learning by having fun!

I was always told by my parents that it is al-

ways important to like things that you learn.

Ringo: I think that was a course on Interna-

tional Negotiations which was interesting

for me: we were learning how to make a

research for a company. For me it was fas-

cinating to discover new strategies, to learn

to think in another way and to take a look

inside a company which I was never doing

before. Besides courses, I play the piano a

little bit, so along with my friends we did

and going to do performances at Kyamk.

I love it, that’s my passion! Following your

passion is the best thing you can do.

Have you participated in any projects,?

Menno:Yes, together with some of my fri-

ends I participated in Innovate or Die last

week. For those who don’t know what it

is, Innovate or Die is a project in which six

companies are given the actual problem

and they asked to solve this problem with

presenting it with innovative and creative

idea within the time of 24 hours. Our compa-

ny was Taffel chips, which is a market leader

in selling snacks in Finland. Together with

our group which consisted of Anke, Anna,

Azzurra and Ringo we worked 24 hours fin-

ding a solution for increasing sales of this

company. We worked in a cottage somewhere

near Jyväskylä. After working for 24 hours, we

presented our ideas to the head of innovation

and marketing director of Taffel Company. We

received great feedback, had great results. We

did not win, but it doesn’t matter because we

had experience, which is the most important

thing. That was the most interesting project

I participated in. For the rest, as the greatest

passion of mine is music, I did some projects as

a musician at Kyamk. I performed with Ringo

and Finnish friends on several occasions. It was

extremely nice to keep with my musical passion

and contribute to these events and to make peo-

ple happy with what makes me happy.

Ringo: I participated in Innovate or Die. For

me, it was fascinating to brainstorm, which is

very important in problem solving and decision

making. The brainstorming sessions were good

with a couple of ideas which were quite com-

plicated. The biggest problem we faced during

our collaboration was that we didn’t know

which idea to choose, so the decision making

part of the Innovate or Die was the hardest part

and most interesting at the same time.

Do you think Finland is a good place to live?

Menno:Yes, it is a good place to live, but it has

to fit your personal character. There’s nothing

wrong with Finland: the society is good, the

economy is stable, and the people are nice. So,

it’s a nice environment to live in. However, for

me, I am from the Netherlands, you see that

the life is totally different – our life is busy,

unpredictable, you never know what you get.

The culture of my home country is very ener-

getic. Here in Finland it is more laid-back. So,

Finland is a good place for living, but the

question is, do you really want to live in

this kind of environment.

Ringo: Yes and no. Yes because the Fin-

nish way of life is very relaxed, the eco-

nomy is stable; the health care is quite

good. Saunas everywhere! I’ve learned

that there are 2 million saunas in Fin-

land, which is quite a lot. No, because

there are big distances between cities.

Moreover, Finnish people are strange to

me: Dutch people are more extroverts

and Finnish people are so introverted.

It feels like home here mostly because

of exchange students, I think. If there

were no exchange students, building

relationships with Finns would be com-

plicated for me.

If you had a chance to stay here for a

longer time, would you stay?

Menno: Yes, but it would be possible if

I had the opportunity to do an interns-

hip at a bigger company. It wouldn’t

be school related since I am a 4th year

student and I am graduating next year.

This means that I’m finishing my studies

with internship. The only reason I would

stay in Finland is the internship. After

exchange I’ll go back to Netherlands to

do the internship or in another country.

In the future I’ll definitely come back to

Finland to my friends, but most likely not

for a living. I have the feeling that bigger

cities in the Netherlands or somewhere

else would suit my personality more.

Ringo: To have fun – yes, to learn so-

mething – no. I would like to live here,

if I stayed with the same exchange stu-

dents: we had a lot of parties; we are

enjoying our time every day, so I don’t

want to go home in three weeks, but, on

the other hand, I look forward to going

back home and go on internship. Living

here is not challenging enough for me.

INSIDER MAGAZINE10

BOFFERING

Have you ever had that day dream

of just getting your hands on old

timey weapons and just have it

out with with that one annoying

person you dislike so much?

Now, what is Boffering?

The term comes from the word “bof-

fer” which is generally a weapon

made from lightweight materials

such as wood and then covered in

padding material like foam in or-

der to prevent injury when fighting

with them. These weapons can be

swords, daggers, bow and arrow,

axes, throwing weapons, shields and

anything else you can think of.

If you are wondering why anybody

would go through all the trouble of

building themselves weapons and

then cover them up? Well, obvious-

ly if you want to actually use your

weapons but also have a strong

aversion towards going to prison

for accidentally maiming/killing a

fellow human being, this just might

be a clever idea.

Boffering is often used as part of bigger LARP whenever there are battles part

of a particular stage within that LARP.

But why though?

It is undeniably a great means of exercise. You can vent your anger at life the universe

and everything at people instead of eating all the feels and at the same time meet new

people and learn to work in a group and become a team player. If you are interested

in history and reenacting historic events you can do that without the dangers of real

weapons. And even if history is not your thing than maybe the battle of the five armies

is something you can enjoy. You can do all of that while safely learning martial arts.

Boffering in Finland

The biggest Boffering event in Finland with about 600 participants is Sotahuuto

which takes place every year. There is an extra training camp for it called NOXBO.

Another annual event is Ropecon. Other events are Vainovalkeat, a two day around

the clock survivalevent in the summer as well as Orivesi training camp next wee-

kend on the 29th of November. This camp is more of an athletic competition where

people compete in small groups or on a personal level.Especially in winter though,

events are rare with all the cold weather and such.

Curious yet?

I would not be writing this if there was not a big reveal at the end that you can

actually become active in this sport here in Kouvola. In spring last year a Boffering

group was founded by a student of Kyamk: Noora Saarinen. As of yet, there is no

official team but you can join the group by going to their meetings. If you want to

find out about those check out their Facebook group “Boffaus Kouvola” (https://

www.facebook.com/groups/337364723071599/).

Text:Sarah Rosenthal, Photos:Juho Jurvanen

INSIDER MAGAZINE

MOVIE REVIEW CINEMA

05.12.2014.-11.12.2014.

STUDIO 123

Kymenlaaksonkatu 1

45700 Kuusankoski

05 3792082

www.studio123.fi

TEATRO ALLA SCALA:FIDELIO|(S)|26€

LIVE Sun 18:30|2h45min

AUTOLLA NEPALIIN:UNELMIEN

ELOKUVA|(S)|8€

Sun-Tue 17:15|1h43min

MIELENSÄPAHOITTAJA|(S)|10€

Fri,Sat,Wed,Thu 17:15|1h43min

NIGHTMARE 2-PAINAJAINEN

JAKTUU|(16)|10€

Fri,Sat 17:00|2h15min

INTERSTELLAR|(12)|10€

Fri-Tue 19:15|2h49min

NÄLKÄPELI|(12)|10€

Fri,Sat,Mon,Tue 18:45, Sun,Wed,Thu 19:30

|2h03min

HOBITTI-VIIDEN

ARMEIJAN TAISTELU|(12)|10/12€

2D Wed 00:03, 18:45, Tue 18:45

3D 00:03, 19:45, Tue 19:15|2h24min

YLLÄTYSLEFFA|(12)|8€

Fri 19:30|?h??min

WISH I WAS HERE|(12)|10€

Fri,Sat,Wed,Thu 17:15|1h46min

KROKOTIILIN KELTAISET

SILMÄT|(12|10€

Sun-Tue 17:15|2h02min

GLORIA|(16)|10€

Sat,Mon,Tue 19:30|1h50min

11

This family drama, somewhat a thriller, is about a very successful lawyer, estranged from his

family, coming back home to help defend his father, a famous judge accused of murder, and

the process of bringing him closer to his family.

The cast alone, is worth seeing this film. Robert Downey Jr. once again does a fantastic role

playing a strong, heard headed and brilliant man. With some love interests and marriage issu-

es, everything is complicated in his world. If you added millions, knowledge and a fancy iron

suit, you could easily have Mr.Stark. If you want to watch Robert do his „thing“ ,you should

definitely go see this one.

The story of who did what, when and how keeps you interested and guessing of the truth. The

dramatic family feuds give the film the depth of emotion it needs on top of the base story. As the

movie goes, you keep on guessing, watching a man crumble, a man succeed, and the story evolve.

Somewhat silly of me, but I like the colours in this movie; the leather and the wood, the suits

and ties and the leaves in the trees. It gives you the feeling of depth and texture and makes

this movie so much more interesting. The title of the movie, the feeling of it all makes you think

of gentleman’s clubs, which, I believe, was the point. Well done, this movie has it all; life, death,

disease, sex, hate and love. Definitely worth watching!

THE JUDGE(2014) / Director: David Dobkin / Genre: Drama / Starring: Robert Downey

Jr., Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga / Rating:

Mattea

INSIDE INFO

KOUVOLA

06.12 Irina @ House of Rock

Starting 23.00

House of Rock / Kouvolankatu 28

06.12 Ice hockey: KooKoo - Leki

Starting 16.00

Kouvolan jäähalli / Topinkuja 1

Tickets: starting from 9€

11.12 Students’ Board Game Night

Starting 18.00

Ravintola Aula / Sokos hotel vaakuna

HELSINKI

05.12 Church Festival

Temppeliaukio

Tickets: 10€

10.12 Enrique Iglesias

Starting 18.30

Hartwall Arena / Helsinki

KOTKA

06.12 Hiphop X-mas

Starting 14.00

Ruonalan palloiluhalli

Tickets: starting 23,50€

LAHTI

10.12 LAMKO’s Pre-Christmas Party

Starting 22.00

Tivoli / Lahti

Tickets: 2€ student card / 4€

13.12 Skate with Pelicans

Starting 9.00

Isku Areena / Lahti

STUDENT MAGAZINE

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