STUDENT HANDBOOK STUDENTERSAMFUNDET’S
Welcome to Aalborg University! You are about to embark on the five most educational, most fun and sometimes most exhausting years of your life – but they will be worth it. Your first weeks here will be filled with new people, parties and lectures. Your Student handbook will help make the start of your studies manageable and give you an overview of the most important things you need to know when you start at Aalborg University. We hope it will help you to a good start. Enjoy, and good luck! Best regards
Mathias Jensen Executive editor, Student Handbook 2017
Editor-in-chief Writers Alexander Kokkedal Mathias Jensen Redaktor@agenda.aau.dk Simon Mæng Tjørnehøj Christina Nielsen Layout Jeanne Wislund Hansen Jens Albæk Aarup Lukas Bjørn Jaarup14@student.aau.dk Kenneth Kastaniegaard Camilla Ann Fjelsted Photo Dianna Korshøj Lisa Klemm Rikke Sønderby Nielsen Jens Albæk Aarup
Proofreaders Alexander Kokkedal Maria Lykke Møller Mousing Anders Risgård Tranholm Sales and distribution Erhvervsgruppen Salg@s-et.aau.dk Print Rosendahls
CONTENT AALBORG UNIVERSITY 06 08 12 16 22 24 26
GREETINGS FROM THE RECTOR START-OF-TERM PARTY A GUIDED TOUR THROUGH PBL A BIT ABOUT YOUR START OF STUDY AND IT 5 TIPS TO SURVIVING THE NEXT 5 YEARS STUDY ABROAD DURING YOUR EDUCATION? LOST AT CAMPUS? - AAU MAPS
STUDY LIFE 30 32 34 36 40 44 46 50 52
GREETINGS FROM THE CHAIRMAN AT STUDENTERSAMFUNDET STUDENTS’ POLITICS STUDENTERSAMFUNDET’S BARS STUDENTS HAVE INFLUENCE! UNIFITNESS VOLUNTEERING – NOT A WASTE OF TIME! AGENDA - YOUR STUDENT MAGAZINE UNIRUN BOATRACE 2017
AALBORG 56 GREETINGS FROM THE MAYOR 58 10 SIGHTS IN AALBORG 62 THE UNIVERSITY CHAPLAINS + VENTILEN – YOUR PLACE TO VENT
VELKOMMEN TIL
AALBORG UNIVERSITET
WELCOME TO
AALBORG UNIVERSITY
AALBORG UNIVERSITY
Welcome to Aalborg University
I am happy and proud to welcome you as a student at Aalborg University. You have chosen a really good university to be the home of your studies!
The Student Handbook can help make you quickly feel at home at the university and make the most of your new life as a student. The start-of-study period may seem overwhelming, but remember that Aalborg University has around 23,000 students divided into campuses at Aalborg, Esbjerg and Copenhagen, so there are a lot of people you can ask for advice or share your experiences with. On behalf of the entire university, I hope that you will soon start to feel comfortable as a student at AAU. Our study method – Problem-Based Learning – means that you will soon be part of a study group. Through the study group, you will make contact with fellow students, so you can help each other manage and structure your daily study work. The study group not only supports you in terms of your studies but also helps ensure that you feel at home at the university and – if you have moved here – in your new city. 6
The Student Handbook gives you a shortcut to an active and rewarding life as a student at Aalborg University. The Student Handbook is written by students and for students. In the Student Handbook, they share their experiences with you, to quickly give you insight into how the university is organised and works, both academically and socially. I dearly recommend that you use the Student Handbook to quickly get a good start at AAU. The daily work in the study groups takes place in close contact with a supervisor, who offers both academic supervision and guidance for utilising the groupbased method of working to the fullest. One of AAU’s goals is to offer you and your fellow students
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an education of a high academic standard and at the same time provide you with the necessary tools for being able to collaborate as part of a well-functioning team. Among other things, this happens when you solve projects in collaboration with companies or organisations outside the university. It is our experience that solving problems that ’real’ companies and organisations are struggling with is highly motivating and engaging for both students and researchers.
For many people, their student years are an eventful and defining period of time in their lives. Here, you give your life after your studies direction, and I urge you to engage both academically, socially and in all the activities going on at and around the university. That is how I experienced my own student years, and it is my hope that in the future, you will be able to look back at your student years at AAU as some of the best years of your life. Once again, welcome to Aalborg University. Per Michael Johansen Rector
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START-OF-TERM PARTY
HEARD ABOUT THE STUDENT SOCIETY’S START-OF-TERM PARTY? Perhaps not yet, but it is the biggest party for freshmen at Aalborg University. 4,000 students from all faculties get together in Gigantium for one hell of a party.
We go all the way to guarantee you an amazing start of your studies! Food, cheap drinks, music and free transportation to the party. Doors open at 5PM, and all freshmen will be welcomed with a bit of food. At 7.30PM, the party really gets going, and all current students are let in. From this point, there will be live music as well. You will be hearing a lot more about the party on September 1st, where your tutor will help you find your way to the party. You can buy a ticket with or without a membership of the Student Society. As a member, you will get the ticket at half price.
Buy your ticket as early as August! Drop by our Facebook page, LIKE us and get more info about the party and ticket sales: facebook.com/studentersamfundetaau
WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU
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A guided tour through PBL By Christina Nielsen Aalborg University functions in accordance with the PBL model. A model that Aalborg University is widely renowned for, because it is a special way of working that has turned out to create extraordinary results. This means that many people look to Aalborg University for inspiration. We as students generally complete our studies at close to the prescribed time, which is often attributed to the PBL model, and at the same time we gain strong competences that are in demand in companies. But what exactly is PBL, and how does it function in practice? This is a guided tour through PBL and group work at Aalborg University: How does it work? What is it good for? And what happens in practice once you have been divided into groups?
What is it? PBL is short for Problem-Based Learning. At (almost) every semester, you will be writing a project that takes its point of departure in a realistic problem, and in this way we learn by working with real problems that we can observe in the real world. It is a very educational method if you dedicate yourself to it. It takes a lot to write a project, but you can also learn a lot! You learn theories that you would not otherwise have learned at any lecture, you learn a lot about a field ‘out in reality’ and gain insight into what is going on and why it is happening. You learn to take a critical approach to a subject and to analyse a problem. This is valuable knowledge for later when you are writing your Bachelor’s project and your Master’s thesis, because by then you will have tried it before and know what it is all about. When you are going out to find a job after your graduation, it may also give you a significant advantage, because you will know much more than just what is in the books. You will have knowledge on fields in the real world, and you will know how to solve a problem.
The framework for group work The projects are often written in groups of varying size, which are composed at a group formation meeting. There are several ways to approach group work, but some methods may be more productive or efficient than others. That all depends on how you prefer to work in your group. Some see a group as extra man power, others see a group as a forum where 1+1 can make more than 2. As mentioned, that may vary a lot. Throughout my own studies, I have built up quite a bit of experience and found out what works and what does not, not least about how you can organise your group work. There may be different reasons for forming a group together. Maybe you share an interest in a topic, or maybe you are good friends and want to find a shared interest to write about. Maybe you will be spending most time together while doing group work, or maybe you will also be spending a lot of time together when not studying. One is not better than the other. It all depends on what works for you and your group. But no matter what, you will always experience challenges along the way. It was once presented to me as ’stormy weather’. All groups will at some point have to go through the so-called stormy 12
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weather where you argue and maybe even ’quarrel’ because you disagree and get frustrated with each other – consciously or unconsciously. Once you get past this point, you will be able to laugh about it, and afterwards your work will be more or less painless, because the rules have become norms that you no longer think about. You have to go through the stormy weather before everything runs smoothly. It may sound worse than it really is. The point is that you need to adapt your expectations as to how to behave during your group work, in order for it to eventually become a norm for how to collaborate in the group. If you are to reach a good result in your project, it is also important to be able to offer each other criticism. It is important that everyone takes responsibility and offers criticism. Criticism in the constructive sense. This means that neither the person offering the criticism, nor the person receiving it should see it as something personal. It is important to understand that the criticism is not aimed at you as a person, but at your academic production. In other words, it is about the text and not the writer – about the ball and not the man. Maybe the criticism should rather be seen as a compliment, because you will be offering each other criticism because you have an interest in making the project as good as possible. Through criticism, your academic writings are continually refined and corrected, and in addition, having more people read the material never hurts. Discussions and criticism are the basis of a good project, because the material will be thoroughly worked out, and the choices made along the way will be well-considered.
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Group work in practice Now we have talked a bit about the overall framework for group work, but how do you do it in practice, then, once the groups have been formed and you need to start working on your projects? As mentioned, there are many ways to use your group. Some see the group as extra man power, while others use their group for providing feedback. Some distribute all chapters of the project and gather them into a whole at the end, while others write it all together. Some rarely meet up, others meet every day. It is all about adapting your expectations before you start making clear agreements on how your group work should function. This will take a lot of potential conflicts in the bud. It may be a good idea to make a schedule with a clear structure for what you want to get done and when you expect a chapter to be completed. This can be done very simply with an ordinary calendar printed from the internet or in a more advanced way with a so-called Gantt chart. If you have set up deadlines for the completion of each chapter and what you need to be working on when, this will give you a certain level of peace of mind to do your project work. You will not have to discuss every morning what you will be working on that day, and the delivery date will not sneak up on you and surprise you like a thief in the night. The project work becomes way more controlled if you spend a little time making a schedule before you start. The more times you try it, the better feeling you will have for how long each part of the project will take. Now that you are in a group – and have to be there – it is all about utilising the potential that lies in being more people collaborating on a project. When you are several people in a group, there will of course also be several different points of view. There will be many who have something to offer, and there will be many to take part in a discussion. Use your group as a resource and ask the others if you are in doubt about anything. Use each other for getting feedback and discuss your shared project. Discuss what you have written. Discuss the theories – do you all understand the theory in the same way? By discussing the elements of the project, you ensure a shared understanding, and sharing an understanding is always an advantage, so that the project does not stray in many different directions. One of the best compliments you can get when it comes to your project is that it is well-written and that it looks like it has been written by one person because the language and writing style is conform all the way through. The discussions can also work as an accumulation of knowledge if each of you has been responsible for individual chapters. Through discussions, you will ensure a shared understanding and a shared point of departure for your next step, and this makes it worth your while to discuss your project along the way. Discussing the project is not a waste of time, because it will give you a clear advantage during the next steps if you all have the same point of departure. Perhaps you are now wondering how you will be taking the exam and how your examiner (who will be your supervisor) will know which amazing chapters derive from your hand. He or she will not. The group has a collective responsibility for the project, so the excuses ”that wasn’t my chapter” and ”I didn’t write that” will not benefit you at all. You need to be familiar with it all, which underlines my point above about the discussions. They are important, because they give you the shared understanding of everyone’s chapters.
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At the exam, you will all be in the room together. In fact, the exam usually works more like a conversation or a discussion where you put up your hand when you want to answer a question. You may experience being asked directly about something, but that usually happens if examiner and censor are unsure about which mark to give you or if you have not said very much. You each get an individual mark, even though you are taking the exam together and have written the project together. This also means that there is a chance that you will not all get the same mark.
What is it good for? Doing problem-based work gives you strong competences that may bring you to the front of the job queue once you have graduated. Graduates from Aalborg University have skills that others do not have. We know how to collaborate and how to think analytically. Perhaps you think this sounds mundane and a bit silly. Collaborating is not hard, solving a problem is not hard. But it is actually harder than you would think. Through project work, you learn how to work with a problem, theorise it, analyse it and arrive at a conclusion. In addition, you learn how to collaborate with others, how to be a valuable part of a group and how to manage a project. These are valuable competences on the labour market, and they may make you a valuable employee, exactly because you are capable of independent thought and know how to be part of a team. This also means that it is worth your while to put your back into the project work, so to speak. It will not be easy, I might as well tell you that from the start. It is a lot of hard work, and it will quite likely be a lot of very long days where you spend more time with your group than with your boyfriend or girlfriend. But you learn a lot in a very short period of time, more than you could learn by just attending lectures. During the projects, you learn a craft – writing academically and working with a problem. It is a simple craft that takes a lot of practice before you master it. This practice will benefit you on your 6th semester when you work on your Bachelor’s project and again at your 10th semester at your Master’s thesis. By then, you will have tried it before and know your craft. With this guided tour through PBL and group work, I hope you have gotten an idea of what PBL means, what project work is all about, and what you need to bear in mind when doing group work. Utilise your group, discuss the project and offer constructive criticism, and you are highly likely to end up with a good project where you have all gained knowledge and experience and become good at your craft. It is hard work, but it is definitely worth it in the end, because you will be more knowledgeable within a topic and more skilled in your craft. Good luck with your project work! 15
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A BIT ABOUT YOUR START OF STUDY AND IT By Alexander Kokkedal
There are many things you need to take care of when you get ready to start your studies. In order to help you get an overview, we will give you some information on your start of study and quite a bit about IT, where we will focus on the most important systems you will be encountering during the start of your studies. Please note that you will be encountering more IT systems later on in your studies.
1. Your first days at university
The first day of study is a central event for new bachelor students. No matter whether you will be studying at AAU Aalborg, AAU Esbjerg or AAU CPH; if you are a new bachelor student, your first day of study on September 1st will include being welcomed to the university and meeting the tutors who will be helping you during your first days at the university. During this day, you will receive a lot of overall information on Aalborg University as well as more specific information about your study programme. You will be meeting your lecturers and get a guided tour of the buildings that will be the location of your lectures.
You can read more about the start of study at http://www.newstudents.aau.dk/. In addition, this list of info can be a useful read prior to your start of study: http://www.newstudents.aau.dk/ bachelors-aalborg/information. International master students will be going through an introductory programme called ”Arrival and Welcome Days”, and they will be assigned a ”buddy”, who is roughly the same as a tutor. You can find further information at www.newstudents.aau.dk – note that the first days of study for master students vary at the three campuses. For instance, if you are a master student in Copenhagen, your first day of study will be September 1st, while it will be on September 4th in Aalborg and Esbjerg. If you are a new bachelor student, you will be welcomed by our tutors. Tutors are students just like you, who have been attending university for a longer time than you and have volunteered to help freshmen during the time up to, during and right after the first day of study. Your tutors will be attending or have been attending the same study programme as you and know what demands the study programme will place on you.
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The different tutor corps will introduce you to a number of things, including the study method used at AAU, the expectations you will experience as a student and the academic identity of your study programme. They will also be organising social events where freshmen can get acquainted with each other. And there is of course the freshmen’s trip, which is organised for each study programme and consists of a mix of partying and getting information about the university. You can read more about tutors and their tasks at www.tutor.studentersamfundet.aau.dk, note, though, that the page is mainly aimed at tutors.
2. IT information
UniStart is one of the first things you should make yourself acquainted with. At the website http://www.en.unistart.aau.dk/ you need to start by selecting the study programme you will be attending (bachelor or master student), whereupon you can log into UniStart. At UniStart, you will find information on your AAUmail and can order your AAUcard. AAUmail The first time you log into UniStart, you will be choosing a new password, which will also be the password for both your AAUmail and Moodle. You will get your AAUmail email address, which will have the domain @student.aau.dk, and which you must use for all communication between you and the staff at Aalborg University. You can log into your AAUmail at mail.aau. dk. AAUcard You must order your AAUcard in UniStart. Your AAUcard is the access key to the buildings where you will be attending your lectures. You will also need to present or display it at every exam you will be taking, and it will be your library card for the university library (AUB) and
be used for operating the university’s printers. You can read more about AAUcard at http:// en.aaucard.aau.dk/ where you can also activate your card and choose a PIN code. If you have a Danish postal address, you will receive your AAUcard in the mail once you have ordered it at UniStart. If you do not have a Danish address, you will receive your card during your Arrival and Welcome Days at AAU. When you have activated your card, you will need to contact the officer of the buildings who can give you access to the specific buildings you will need access to. The officers of the buildings are organised in service teams, and you can visit www.campusservice.aau.dk/servicekontorer in order to find the service team or service organisation you need to contact. The Moodle system is used at Aalborg University for easy and digital access to relevant materials such as slides, hand-in assignments and links for course literature, as well as contact to your lecturers. The website is www. moodle.aau.dk. Most students will find that the courses they will be attending are already set up in a timetable there the first time they log in. However, at some study programmes you will need to sign up for the courses yourself.
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The user name for Moodle is your AAUmail, and the password is the same as for your AAUmail. The first time you log into Moodle, it is a good idea to enter your mobile phone number at Profile → Preferences → Edit profile → Optional. If you do that, you can receive text messages from your lecturers, who will then have an easy way to tell you for instance if a lecture has been cancelled. You can find more information about Moodle at http://www.en.its. aau.dk/instructions/Moodle. Please note that there is no standardisation of Moodle across study programmes with regards to layout and where to find what information. The setup of Moodle for you at your study programme does not indicate how it will be set up for others at different studies programme. You get online by using one of two wireless networks at AAU; either AAU-1-Day, where you will only be logged on one day at a time, and which is mainly used for guests or for the IT introductory programme, or AAU-1x, which is the best connection to use for you as a student. The password for AAU-1-Day changes every day, and the password of the day can be found at the AAU-1-Day website. Here, you will find the password for the actual day and four days ahead. Alternatively, you can make things easy for yourself and download the AAU-1-Day app in App Store or Google Play. Read more about AAU-1-Day at http://www.en.its.aau.dk/instructions/wifi/aau-1-day. In order to get access to the AAU-1x WiFi, you will need to download some files. Visit the ’AAU-1x and eduroam’ page at ITS’ website, where you will find links to Aalborg University’s section at eduroam.org. On this page, you will need to choose your platform (Windows, Apple, Linux etc.), whereupon the necessary files will be downloaded. Run the installation and use your AAUmail 18
with associated password to get access. Read more about AAU-1x at http://www.en.its.aau. dk/instructions/wifi/aau-1x-and-eduroam. You can download various apps developed by Aalborg University to give yourself easier access to important information, including your timetable. The AAU-1-Day app has already been mentioned, but a new and particularly useful app is AAU Student, which can also be downloaded from Google Play and App Store. You can log in with your AAUmail, and the app will show your timetable with all your lessons already indicated. In AAU Student, you can also subscribe to news about topics such as research, study environment and study service. There is also the AAU Map app, which will help you find your way around AAU, as well as AAU Building Support, which you can use for reporting faults and deficiencies in buildings and on furniture and equipment. They can also be downloaded from Google Play and App Store. Read more about the different apps at http:// www.en.its.aau.dk/app.
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tips to surviving the next 5 years Text: Christina Nielsen (Currently studying to become a MSc Public Administration in Politics & Administration) & Jeanne Wislund Hansen (MA in International Business Communication, Spanish). THIS COLUMN IS AN EXPRESSION OF THE WRITERS’ OWN OPINIONS
It is like your first day at school all over – except this will be much harder. You have chosen to study at the university. Why is not for us to say, but there can be many reasons: Influence from family, friends and high-school teachers. Hopefully, the main reason is that you are passionate about what you are about to study – whether it is medicine or philosophy – and that you can imagine spending the next five or six years on it, because that will be your driving force. Believe us when we say: We know! We have been through every emotion and mental stage in the journey of studies. We have had the ups and the downs. The optimism and the despair. We have had moments where we have been thinking along with the great thinkers and felt that ”I actually understand Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics!” just to sit there two minutes later and be close to tears because once again, we are back to not understanding. We have also realised that the more we know, the more we know that we do not know – knowledge is inexhaustible. 22
We can also tell you that procrastination is a quite normal part of studying. Depending on whether you are a Games of Thrones person or an Orange Is The New Black person (or whether you are just watching Friends for the 117th time), HBO and Netflix will be your new best friends. Watching series may be a way for you to relax, because having said that, you will without a doubt experience periods of stress during your studies. Our first – and perhaps most important – piece of advice is that you must never (!) let others tell you when you are stressed. People who have not gone to the university do not necessarily understand. They will not always understand how you can get stressed from ”reading all day long”. You can, because the stress you will experience at university will be the pressure of always being able to do more to do better, and never have time completely off. Bad conscience will be your constant companion, but you can learn when to listen to it and when to ignore it.
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We will now give you our five best pieces of advice – perhaps we can rightly call them our most important lessons learned – that may help you get through the next five years in a good way. We are not talking about typical advice such as ”get a social network”, ”don’t forget your lunch”, because you already know that. Our advice is of a different calibre:
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STRUCTURE: Structure your day and remember to give yourself time off. Once you start having your document open on your computer but do not actually do any work on it, it is time to take a break. Leave it and return later – that is way more efficient, and you will get some time to relax and think.
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STRESS IS A NO-GO: Being busy is good – stress is not. Do not let anyone tell you when you are stressed. You, and only you, can know that. Some people get stressed during the course of the semester because of the constant workload, others because of the pressure during exams. Get to know your stress tolerance threshold and listen to your body. Stress will not do you any good.
you could and should). Prioritise and structure your reading according to how you learn best – whether that means intricate colour codes using markers, elaborate notes or a wealth of post-its. Our advice is not aimed at making you the ultimate student – it is aimed at bringing you through your studies as a complete human being. We neither encourage nor ask you to cut corners, as this will only come back to bite your own ass, but we are letting you know that if you need to choose between keeping your mental health or reading 100 pages in Karl Marx’ Capital – then choose your mental health. It is okay to put yourself above your studies once in a while to ensure that you get through it all in one piece. You must give yourself time to enjoy it and have some fun along the way. Enjoy your studies!
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REALISTIC AMBITIONS: Getting a 4 is okay. We know it goes against everything you have learned in high school, and we know that ’only’ getting a 4 is painful and irritating, but here is the deal. It is a number, life goes on, and you cannot be the best at everything.
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SELF CONFIDENCE: Believe in yourself and your abilities: Do not let anyone tell you that you are ”just another academic”. You are not. You are a person with an academic degree, and that is quite an achievement. SYLLABUS: You cannot read a syllabus of 1000 pages a week and expect to remember it all – and that is okay (no matter how loudly your professor preaches that 23
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Study abroad during your education? By Alexander Kokkedal
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s a freshman at Aalborg University you will be spending the weeks finding your feet within your study programme. As time goes by, you may start to consider studying abroad for a shorter or longer period of time. Planning a study abroad is a major process, and this article will provide you with some basic guidelines.
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f you want to study abroad, make contact with the International Office at Aalborg University. It is located at FibigerstrÌde 10. During opening hours, 12 noon – 3PM, you can show up without an appointment and ask the staff about the possibility of studying at one of the universities that AAU has a partner agreement with. This office has a dual function: It is the bridge between you and the university abroad, and the nice staff members can tell you about a range of things, including financing your study abroad through scholarships and grants, any language tests that apply, getting grants from the State Education Fund during studying abroad, as well as about culture shocks.
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n order to get your study abroad approved, you need to obtain a pre-approved credit transfer for the studies you want to complete abroad. A pre-approved credit transfer means that you get a certain number of ECTS
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points up front, corresponding to the study activities you would have completed if you had been studying at AAU. Each semester you need to sign up for 30 ECTS points, and this also goes for studies abroad.
P
repare yourself thoroughly! It will be a great help for both you and the staff at the International Office if you show up well prepared: Go to the website of the International Office, www.internationaloffice. aau.dk, and read about the process leading up to a study abroad. The better prepared you are, the bigger the chances of having a good stay. Be sure that you really want to study abroad. In particular, be clear about whether you want a project-based study stay (internship) or a study trip – a study trip can never be a Plan B if you do not achieve a project-based
stay, as this will inconvenience our partners abroad and occupy a student place that someone else could have benefitted from. At the end of the day: Be quick off the mark – student places for studies abroad are offered by academic year, that is, every second semester. This means that it is important that you get all the documentation sorted out. The sooner you start preparing, the better (1.5 years in advance is the most reasonable and recommended starting point). 25
Lost at campus? Do not despair! As a freshman, it can be difficult to find your way around campus. That is why AAU has a navigation app that can show you the way to your destination – all up to the specific room or auditorium. The app includes all AAU’s campuses in Aalborg, Esbjerg and Copenhagen and is available for free for iOS and Android via the respective app stores – just search for ’AAU Map’. 26
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Study life
GREETINGS FROM THE CHAIRMAN AT STUDENTERSAMFUNDET Dear new fellow student, on behalf of all students at AAU: Heartfelt congratulations on your new student place. I hope you will quickly feel at home at AAU, where collaboration and a nice study environment are key values. The welcoming study environment starts as early as the first day of study, where we at Studentersamfundet host the big breakfast event at Gammeltorv. Here you will also meet your tutors for the first time. Many tutors are volunteers from Studentersamfundet who have gotten out of bed at 4 in the morning in order to make sure that everything is ready for you and your fellow freshmen. During your time at AAU, you will hopefully make use of some of the many great offers from Studentersamfundet. These offers include AAU-Lan, bars organising Friday afternoon beer get-togethers, parties and free draught beer. All these
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events are organised by the volunteers in our organisation, and if you are considering doing something for your fellow students while reading this, and you have the energy and passion for making it come true, the doors are always open for you at Studentersamfundet. One of the very major things that Studentersamfundet organises is the Start-of-Term Party in Gigantium. This is always one hell of a party and a really good opportunity for getting to know your fellow freshmen. The party starts with a dinner for all freshmen and their tutors. Naturally with food sponsored by Studentersamfundet. Later, the doors are opened to students attending later semesters as well. We of course guarantee good bar prices, a huge dance floor and great artists on stage. When you want to buy a ticket for the party, you will be of-
fered a membership. I of course think you should accept this, but then, I am not exactly neutral in that matter. Therefore I would like to tell you a bit about our very nice member benefits. Some of the really cool ones are: 40 percent discount for swimming pool tickets at Gigantium, free draught beer on the last Friday of every month and great offers in various relevant stores. Furthermore, you will always get tickets for our events at a discount. In addition, the money goes to helping the students make their voices heard and gives them the chance to get financial support for events, for instance through our funds.
To round off, I would like to say a little about the good life as a student, because in my opinion what happens after you have gone home from the university is just as important as the time spent in group rooms and lecture rooms. This is where you establish an extensive network that may affect yours and other people’s daily lives. It is important to have a good time while you are studying at university – because it is when you enjoy life that you learn best and catch every detail, ensuring that you, along with all the rest of us, can help ”MAKE IT REAL”.
Johannes Hellmers
Chairman at Studentersamfundet
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STUDY LIFE
Students’ politics – Not for politicians, but for all students!
The term ”students’ politics” may well make even the most curious student lose interest as if by magic. But only a small number of the students involved in students’ politics that I have met during my time at Aalborg University are dreaming of a political career, and even fewer see themselves as politicians. But if so, what are students’ politics, and why is it such an important topic? Students’ politics are the foundation of all the things that make your time as a student at Aalborg University a success – your studies as well as your spare time. What students’ politics really are often ends up being explained in very general and not
very specific terms. As students, we all agree that certain things are extremely important to us, but unfortunately explaining students’ politics in that way often means that we as students never really find out exactly what we can do! Therefore I will give you some examples of what you can actually do through students’ politics: Through students’ politics, you can get influence on which chairs and tables are available in the rooms where you study, ensuring that you and your fellow students do not get bad backs – and that there are power outlets for your computers. Through students’ politics, you can get influence on which courses and modules of your study programmes are updated and improved, so that your education is improved. Through students’ politics, you can help organise events that create a strong sense of community across the classes of your study programme. You can read more about how to do this in practice at AAU in the article on councils and boards on pages 36-37. But there are also other sides to students’ politics! As you have probably heard a ton of times, and maybe experienced yourself, we are stronger together – ”Together we have a louder voice” – and in a financially strained and overly politically regulated educational sec-
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STUDY LIFE
tor, this also goes for us as students! When you represent students, you need a support base to rely on and get feedback from – quite simply, we create better solutions for the problems when we work together! For this purpose, many study programmes and unions of study programmes have established local student associations that both support the local, elected students as well as organise identity-creating topical events and social gatherings and parties that facilitate a well-functioning study environment. Under Studentersamfundet, these include ESS at the Department of Electronic Systems, the Student Council for Psychology and FakSUND for everyone at the Faculty of Medicine. They all contribute to facilitating a solid, local study environment and to optimising your time at university, and just like any other volunteer association they will always welcome new pairs of passionate hands and voices who dare state their opinions! In addition to their local engagements, Studentersamfundet is naturally also an umbrella organisation for everyone elected as well as for the local study associations. Within Studentersamfundet, we have the Student Forum in order to ensure a larger support base for cross-discipline problem solving and
knowledge sharing. The Student Forum meet on the first Monday of every months, and you as a student are of course more than welcome to show up and state your opinion on an equal footing with everyone else – oh, and there is free supper, so you can kill two birds with one stone! To sum up, students’ politics are not about high-brow political topics but about your daily study environment, and we are not student politicians but representatives for our fellow students! Life as a student is not always a bed of roses, but in order for us to be able to continually improve it, it is important that you as a student remember to get involved! If you want to learn more about how you can do that in practice, or if you have any other questions, you can always contact me at politik@studentersamfundet.aau.dk – And I hope to see you at the Student Forum either on September 5th or October 2nd! I wish you a good start of term and an even better time at Aalborg University! Best regards, Simon Mæng Tjørnehøj Vice-president and students’ political spokesman at Studentersamfundet
Studentersamfundet’s
BARS
urggade Aalbar is located in Create (Rendsb pretti14). At Aalbar, where the university’s plenty est students hang out (!) you will find two or r of opportunities for enjoying a bee h wit out at a reasonable price and hanging h bot of your fellow students to the sounds e mor w old and new hits. If you want to kno an p kee , about upcoming events at the bar e. pag ok ebo Fac ar’s Aalb eye on
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Bajers Baren is and technolog the place where healthcare y day between students meet up every Fri2PM and 8PM and put down their scalpels an beer and rela d computers to enjoy a cold xe narily good co d atmosphere in extraordim welcome! You pany. Everyone is of course w Bajers Vej 7E, ill find the bar at Frederik E2-104, and yo uw access to two table football ill have free tables, area, card gam es and much m lounge ore.
Barbaren is the big interdisciplinary bar that serves thousands of thirsty students over the course of the year. The bar is a gathering point for many students from all over the city due to its many big events, but we always have time to hang out with and pamper every single customer. We are located upstairs at Fibigerstræde 15 in the big canteen.
Every Thursday, DE-Klubben opens its doors, and the club fills with people converging at Aalborg’s best (and cheapest) Thursday afternoon beer event where the bar sells draught beer, specialty beer and much more. Here, students can drop by and meet other students across classes and disciplines and talk about life outside their studies while enjoying a beer together.
BasisBaren is the place where fres hmen meet to take their first few tum bles out into university party life. Cosy and intimate, with a location in the canteen at Strandvejen 12-1 4, it offers plenty of opportunities for forming friendships across study programmes from the very start.
ies students’ Mærkbar is the humanit AAU, located Friday afternoon bar at member that at Kroghstræde 1. Re nt than your socialising is as importa Friday beeducation. Drop by every d enjoy the tween 1PM and 8PM an cold draught nice atmosphere and a ies from the beer or other delicac bilePay. fridge. You can pay by Mo
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STUDY LIFE
STUDENTS HAVE INFLUENCE!
By Lukas Bjørn
Aalborg University is a huge organisation where management, secretaries and lecturers constantly make decisions on a daily basis that affect us students. This may concern everything from whether there is acceptable coffee in the canteen to whether the quality of our study programmes is high enough, and whether what is being taught is relevant. This makes it important for us as students to engage in the various councils and boards at AAU to ensure that we get influence on the development of new study programmes, evaluations, exams and the study environment. Every year, students are elected for handling students’ needs. You can also run! Read more about the different councils and boards on the next page.
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STUDY BOARDS The study boards work with:
Approving curricula Ensuring the quality of study programmes Approving dispensations and credits Improving teaching
DEPARTMENT COUNCILS The department councils work with:
Hiring researchers/lecturers Improving the physical environment E.g. desks, chairs, group rooms Teaching and research
ACADEMIC COUNCILS The academic councils work with:
Developing the faculty Drawing up the internal budget Improving work and study environments Plan strategies and vision plans
How much work? About 5 meetings each semester How many are there? Very many! 42, to be exact. Who sits on them? Up to 6 students Up to 6 researchers
How much work? 2-3 meetings each semester How many are there? 19 department councils! One for each department. Who sits on them? Up to 3 students Up to 6 researchers Up to 3 technical staff The Head of Department
How much work? 2-3 meetings each semester How many are there? 5 academic councils! One per faculty. Who sits on them? 4 students 10 researchers The Dean (Head of the faculty)
STUDY LIFE
UniFitness
By Kenneth Kastaniegaard
UniFitness is AAU’s on-campus gym. Here, you can nurse your healthy lifestyle while also expanding your university network. UniFitness is an association whose basic thought is that students and employees at AAU should have access to training in their everyday lives – especially the students who may be limited by living off their study grants. Therefore, UniFitness focuses on offering the best workout options possible for a low monthly price. UniFitness offers unlimited fitness exercise and team training for only DKK 98 a month. An personal training program is included in the price.
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We focus on beneficial training in UniFitness. This is why customising a personal training program for you is free – both if you need one from scratch and if you need an update for your existing one. Training should never get boring, and this means that variation is important. The programmes are tailored to each member, as the goal of the training may vary markedly from one person to the next. Team training in UniFitness includes boxing, spinning, dance-mix, karate, fitness boxing, powerpump, step, yoga, zumba (general & toning) and last, but not least, crossfit. We have something for everyone – from those
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STUDY LIFE
who want to do yoga to get more supple, less tense and not least more conscious of themselves and their bodies, to those who want to do the explosive crossfit, a dynamic strength and cardio form of training with constantly varying exercises, a high level of intensity and functional movements. Crossfit differentiates from common strength training through its high intensity and thereby offers both physical fitness and endurance as well as strength. You can inspire your sense of rhythm in our Zumba training, a fitness dance that takes its point of departure in Latin American dances and songs. Zumba gives you physical fitness with a high level of calorie burning and a unique dance experience where the music ensures that you always leave in a great mood. If you ask day-to-day head of UniFitness, Kenneth Kastaniegaard, why you should choose UniFitness, he argues that – in addition to all that has already been mentioned – UniFitness wins in its relaxed atmosphere and the chance of meeting new people. Both young
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and old, employees and students train there, and training sessions do not only result in bigger muscles and better physical fitness. - ”I myself met the main supervisor for my PhD project at one of my team training sessions. We started chatting, and I dare say that my project would’ve looked completely different if we hadn’t met at that team training.” UniFitness is not just a chance to strengthen body and mind. It is also a chance to expand your network both socially and academically, as UniFitness is not just a training centre – it is an association built on a sense of community.
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STUDY LIFE
Volunteering – Not a waste of time! By Simon Mæng Tjørnehøj
During my time doing volunteer work, I have often been met with a slightly derisive sympathy for the work I am doing. ”It’s so grand of you to put so much work into it without gaining anything from it yourself,” and ”You’re so noble-minded to bother putting so much work into wasting your time.” But is volunteering a noble way of wasting your time? Let me start out by offering you my very clear, personal opinion – No, of course it is not! Yes, it is true that there is no direct, financial reward for you as a private individual and that you do not always feel that your work is appreciated. But as a volunteer you get to do some things that you simply will not get to do anywhere else! Let me introduce you to six quick things that volunteering will give you:
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Volunteering means that you can launch exactly those projects you want to work with, instead of doing whatever your boss places on your desk!
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Volunteering means that you can quite flexibly turn your workload up and down to fit it in with the rest of your life – also when your life changes!
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Volunteering gives you the opportunity to test your own abilities as for instance manager, financial manager and communications guru, without needing any other qualifications than passion and drive! And it will look very, very good on your CV!
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Volunteering creates an almost religious community – the community of volunteering. We have no deities; we just get together around the joy of being part of something bigger!
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Volunteering means that you meet people from places you would not ever have met otherwise, and this creates friendships across study programmes and across the entire university!
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And last, but not least, volunteering means saving on your food budget, as voluntary work, at least at Studentersamfundet, comes with food!
STUDY LIFE
If just one of these things has caught your interest and makes you want to learn more, I fervently urge you to take the leap and give volunteering a try. It costs nothing to try, and as it is voluntary, you will neither have to commit yourself for a fixed period of time, nor to sell your soul, and I can personally guarantee that volunteers do not bite! (Except into their free food). Now that you are, of course, eagerly on your way to try out volunteering during your time at Aalborg University, I would like to give you one more piece of advice. Volunteering can be many different things; everything from being student representative for your fellow students, over planning events for 4,000 students and to manning a bar or being party attendant a couple of times a semester. Just as we are all different as people, we are also different as volunteers, and like with most things in life you may not hit the mark in your first try – but remember to test your
ground! Personally, I have now tried volunteering at 23 different functions during my time at university, and I would not want to have missed any single one of them, as they have all helped me developed as a person and find where my passion lies! Being part of the community of volunteering is not for everyone, and not everyone benefits from volunteering in the same ways – but if I am to sum up this post for you as freshman, I will say that it will be a major error not to try out whether volunteering is something for you, and there is no better time for doing it than your time here at university! Now that this post has awakened your curiosity, go to Studentersamfundet’s volunteer page studentersamfundet.aau.dk/bliv-fri villig, or just grab hold of any volunteer you encounter during your freshman period. We are all ready to help you join our community!
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AGENDA - YOUR STUDENT MAGAZINE
WE NEED YOU!
Agenda is the student magazin e at Aalborg University. The magazine is pro duced by an editorial staff consisting of volu nteer writers, photographers and proofreade rs. We provide our readers with study-related , socially relevant and humorous articles in the hope of providing a bit more colour to your student life. Would you like to join us? We are always on the lookout for new volunteers, writers and proofreaders as well as photographers. So if you dream of being a journalist, are a grammar-and-punctu ation whiz or are bitten by a mad photographer? Then write to us at redaktor@age
nda.aau.dk
The magazine is published by Stu dentersamfundet and comes out eight times a year – both online and in print editions that are available at var ious locations at campus. Drop by and like us at www.fa cebook.com/Agendaaau to get the latest news. Also check out our website: ww w.agenda.studentersamfundet.aau.dk Happy reading! Best regards, Mathias Jensen Executive editor
Bliv en bedre studerende Magistrene vil gerne hjælpe dig gennem studiet på bedst mulig måde. Derfor tilbyder vi vores studie medlemmer en masse værktøjskurser, som både kan styrke dine kompetencer på studiet, men også på studiejobbet og i livet efter studiet. Vi udbyder blandt andet:
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UniRun STUDY LIFE
By Camilla Ann Fjelsted
The university running event, UniRun, has existed for nine years and is the running event for all students and employees at Aalborg University, where even Rector himself participates. You can sign up either as a team or individually, and you can run a distance of 5 or 10 km. You can of course participate in the running even if you are neither a competitive person nor the best sprinter at campus. You can also walk or jog the route with one or more of your fellow students. It is all
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about having fun and being active with a lot of other people. A number of cool and awesome prizes will be awarded, including to those showing extra energy across the finish line, but naturally also to the three fastest women and men at each distance. In addition, a range of different sponsors have sponsored various goodies and delicacies for the goodie bags where you will also find your running t-shirt and race number.
STUDY LIFE
The goodie bags will be handed out to all participants during the days leading up to the run. If you are not the running type, you can show up and cheer on your fellow students and lecturers. At the lawn at KroghstrĂŚde, there will be tents where you can participate in competitions and get a bite to eat.
In keeping with tradition, UniRun takes place on the last Friday of September at KroghstrĂŚde 3 at the AAU Campus. So join up with a fellow student, participate in the run, help as a volunteer or come and cheer on your fellow students and have a nice afternoon. PS! Costumes make for even more fun.
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STUDY LIFE
BoatRace 2017 On September 22 it is going down. The place is Fibigerstræde 15 by Klingenberg lake where Barbaren again will host this year’s Boat Race! The bar opens at. 12:00 and the Boat Race competition starts at 13:30 and is scheduled for completion at 16:00. It is free to join :)
The rules of the event are simple:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
The boat must be “home-built” or something that is not a boat that you can get floating. Paddles must be “home-built” or something that is not a real paddle, but is possible to paddle with.
No motors are allowed, only the good old rye bread engine.
You have to have shoes on when sailing.
It is not allowed to board other boats until after at least one keg has been picked up, however, do not ruin the boat of other teams.
7. 8. 52
Do not try to damage other participants, you may however cast “soft” thing after opponents, for example, beach balls, inflatable crocodiles etc. You MUST be four people to form a team. Sailing is only allowed when the entire team is on the boat.
STUDY LIFE
There will be great prizes for the winners in addition to the honor and most importantly - bragging rights! Team signup is done by sending a message to Barbaren here on Facebook, stating the name of the team. The teams that have signed up will receive further information on the event day. Mark the date in your calendar now. Even if you are not part of a team, you simply must show up and experience the amazing atmosphere! You will not go thirsty, because Barbaren, DE-Klubben, MĂŚrkbar and Bajers bar will make sure there is plenty to drink. CafĂŠ Campus will also have a booth where you can buy food. Share and invite your fellow students! We look forward to seeing you at the wildest outdoor event at AAU in 2017! Regards, Barbaren
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HUSET I HASSERISGADE
NORDKRAFT
REBERBANSGADE
STUDENTERHUSET
JOMFRU ANE GADE
AALBORG TEATER
HOVEDBIBLIOTEKET ØSTRE ANLÆG
9000AALBORG
HAVNEFRONTEN
KILDEPARKEN
AALBORG
AALBORG
A big and warm welcome... … to the city, to your dream education and to some of the best years of your life!
The time at the university is an amazing time – it is fun, challenging, difficult and wonderful all at the same time.
In Aalborg, we highly appreciate both new and “old” students, because each one of you add a little bit of spice to the city and contribute to making Aalborg an even better city with lots of The time at the university is probably life and joy. the time of your adult life, when you are going to meet the most new peo- In return, we in Aalborg do many ple, and many of the people you meet things to be an attractive educational and have a daily life with, are actu- city – and the last few years our city ally people who have made some of has gone through an amazing develthe same considerations about your opment. education as yourself – and some of them share your interests. And many We build student accommodations of them ends up being your friends like never before – and in a much for life! larger scale than any other big city in Denmark. We constantly improve I am both happy and proud to wel- both culture and spare time offers come you as a student in Aalborg. which means that we have someHappy because you have chosen Aal- thing for everyone. I hope that you borg as the city that will frame your will see them, experience them and time at the university, and proud be- use them! cause Aalborg is a city that has a lot to offer and because we can welcome you to a university that yet again is a widely popular place of study.
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In Aalborg, we have a great collaboration between the educational institutions, the business world and the public sector – a cooperation that produces both student jobs and internships. I hope that you will have some amazing years in Aalborg. We have made the setting – and I hope that you are ready to fill it, so that your time in Aalborg always will be seen as the best years of your life! If you want to know more about your municipality, you can visit us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or on aalborg. dk. Best wishes, Thomas Kastrup-Larsen Mayor
Photo Lars Horn / Baghuset 57
AALBORG
10 sights in Aalborg
By Alexander Kokkedal
Aalborg is an old industrial city that has developed into also being a city of culture and education. There is plenty of opportunities for taking advantage of the city’s many cultural offers and the scenery that Aalborg has to offer. Here is a list of cool places to go to kick-start your life in the city – culturally as well as socially.
1. Hovedbiblioteket – The Mail Library
The Main Library is located in Rendsburggade and provides a great setting for learning, which is why many students use the place for studying or doing group work. They have plenty of books and music, but you can also make use of a variety of arcade games, table football and a piano. They often do topical events where they use interactive media for illuminating a particular theme, for instance ‘children’s living conditions’.
2. Nordkraft
Nordkraft is located at Kjellerups Torv, and back in history the building provided electricity for the city. Nowadays it contains a variety of cultural offers, primarily different events in the big hall, Kedelhallen, including the Ordkraft book fair, a food market, free movie showings in summer and much more. In addition, you will find restaurants, tourist information, the sports centre DGI-Huset, Teater Nordkraft, the music venue Skråen and the Biffen cinema that shows many critically acclaimed movies.
3. Østre Anlæg
This huge city park is located in the Øgadekvarteret and consists of green lawns, pretty flower beds and a big lake. From Østre Anlæg you will have a nice view of the bell tower of the church Sankt Markus Kirke, and the park offers you a nice oasis from the busy city life where you can enjoy nature in quiet and peaceful surroundings. As a continuation of the description of Kildeparken, it should be noted that Østre Anlæg is also a highly popular destination for the majority of Aalborg’s students, who take advantage of the city park’s wonderful nature – during summer months, you will be lucky to even find a vacant spot in the parks.
4. The harbour front
Within recent years, the formerly unimpressive harbour front has received a face lift, and it is now teeming with cultural offers including playgrounds, an open-air harbour bath, restaurants and comfortable seats. When the summer sun is high in the sky, it is crowded with people fishing, enjoying the view over the Limfjord, eating ice cream and taking runs. The harbour front also extends over a larger area where the annual Aalborg Regatta takes place with a variety of concerts and other activities on land as well as on water. For those with an interest in maritime life, the fjord is filled with a wealth of beautiful ships year after year. Aalborg Regatta is by far one of the most popular summer events – and it is free!
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5. Studenterhuset – The Student House
Studenterhuset is located at Gammeltorv and is run by volunteers. It contains a bar, table football and an upstairs reading room with room for 130 students. The Student House regularly organises concerts with Danish and international artists, as well as events for international students. The Student House also lends its premises to talks and presentations and houses a variety of associations, including the University Chaplains.
6. Reberbansgade
This street has a central location and offers a wealth of eating places where you can get anything from sandwiches to Thai food and falafel. Due to the location of Aalborg University Hospital Section North in the street, as well as the many restaurants, the traffic in the narrow street is quite busy. We recommend that you park your car elsewhere and walk there on foot if you want to avoid the annoying traffic.
7. Kildeparken
On your first day of study, you will be going to Aalborg Congress & Culture Center (AKKC). This is located right next to the park Kildeparken (or ”Kilden”, as it is also known), where you will find a small pond, beautiful iron sculptures and musical trees where loudspeakers play songs by the artists who have planted the trees. During the last weekend of May every year, the Aalborg Carnival presents an amazing line-up of artists at a concert in this lovely park. Also note that a large number of the citizens of Aalborg celebrate Labour Day in Kildeparken on May 1st, where the agenda includes various talks by select politicians, musical entertainment from a series of skilled artists, as well as proper Danish ”hygge” where you can enjoy a beer in the (hopefully) lovely spring weather with fellow students or friends. In general, Kilden is one of the more popular locations for different kinds of social gatherings.
8. Jomfru Ane Gade
This street branches off the pedestrian street and contains several pubs, bars and discotheques wide widely different concepts in terms of décor, atmosphere and music. During weekend nights, the street is completely packet with people who move from one place to the next. It is a great place to get acquainted with your new fellow students, because it has something for everyone. Even if you just want to experience the atmosphere. Jomfru Ane Gade/”Gaden” (”The Street”)/”Byen” (”The City”) (it goes by many names) is the most famous street in Aalborg, and if you are equipped with a slightly stronger heart for partying, this (in)famous street is the perfect spot.
9. Aalborg Teater
Aalborg’s old theatre is located in Jernbanegade, where its beautiful facade faces the street and always shows ads for current plays. At Aalborg Theater you can experience plays based on Shakespeare, H.C. Andersen, Henrik Ibsen and many more – always with a modern twist that borders on the experimental. If you want a break from parties and studies and prefer a profoundly cultural experience, Aalborg Theater is the perfect choice.
10. Huset i Hasserisgade – The House in Hasserisgade This independent house of culture always welcomes its guests with open arms and offers concerts, talks and plays. In the café, you will find delicious and healthy food at student-friendly prices, and if you are a creative soul, the House’s workshop is at your disposal, free of charge.
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The University Chaplains
By Dianna Korshøj
You have started on a new education; whether it is your dream study or your second choice, you have been accepted and can look forward to several years as a student. Your studies may be demanding, and even though sometimes the best thing to do would be to sink yourself completely into your studies, we all know that that is not always possible. There is a life outside your studies, and
if you have problems in one of those areas, your studies may become difficult to handle.
Christen Staghøj Sinding is 58 years old. He has been a university chaplain and a chaplain at Budolfi Cathedral since 1997. His earlier experience includes eight years as a consultant and general secretary at two church youth and student organisations. Through the years he has received continued education on e.g. counselling and guidance. Privately, Christen is married to Kirsten, who works as a chaplain, work counsellor and mediator, and they have two grown children. He lives in Løkken with the North Sea as his neighbour.
Hanne Dahl is 45 years old. She started as university chaplain in April 2014 but has been a chaplain since 1998. During this time she has spent a longer period of time in Brussels as part of organisational work. Outside her job as university chaplain she is also working on her PhD thesis at the Centre for Comparative Welfare Studies. Privately, Hanne is married to Mogens, a lecturer at Aalborg University. They have three children at the ages of 6, 18 and 21 years, and live at a former small farm south of Aalborg.
Are you having doubts as to whether your choice of education is the right one for you? Is your group work giving you trouble? Do you have trouble at home? Do you feel all alone in the world? Is this your first time living away from home? Is
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it difficult to balance all that you want to do with the limited time you have available? Or do you just feel a little ’lost’? Then you might consider contacting the University Chaplains. As chaplains, they can of course help you with any religious questions, but they can also help you with a lot of other things. They both have theology degrees and have completed extensive further training, including within counselling. They have seen and heard it all, and everything you tell them is confidential, so you do not need to worry that these conversations will come back to haunt you later in life. If you need to give vent to a problem or need answers, they are ready to help you so you can face tomorrow with a weight off your shoulders. They are not specialised within your exact field of study, but they have many years’ experience with the problems that you may be facing now and later in life.
Unlike the student counsellors, they do not need to focus on how they can help you through your studies, but rather give you space for talking about the things that weigh on your mind while you are studying. You can call them for a casual chat or make an appointment where you can vent your thoughts. As the chaplains themselves say, the first contact may be a bit difficult, because often people have a certain idea of what a chaplain is, but as soon as people meet them, their title becomes less relevant and the conversation becomes the focal point – even if it does not have anything to do with God at all. Right now, you may not think that you will ever need to make use of this free offer, but cut out the business card and keep it somewhere safe, so that if anything should happen, they are only a phone call away.
Someone to talk to The University Chaplains Aalborg University Fibigerstræde 15, room 2.233 DK-9220 Aalborg East
The Student House (Studenterhuset)
Gl. Torv 10, room 221 DK-9000 Aalborg
Phone: +45 99 40 90 96 or email: praesten@adm.aau.dk
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Ventilen – your place to vent Your upcoming freshman period was created with the aim of establishing good relations among the students, but it may seem overwhelming, and what do you do when the freshman introduction period is over? Even if you belong to a study programme among many other students and will become part of various project groups, you may sometimes feel alone even among others. If you have moved away from your friends and family, some periods of time can be particularly hard, and perhaps your studies themselves get hard as well. No one should feel alone, but the feeling can be hard to change if it appears.
In several locations in Denmark, the organisation Ventilen (”The Vent”) has opened its doors to young people – including in Aalborg. Ventilen is a place where young people between 15 and 25 years of age can meet to chat or have fun together. People meet up every Sunday to chat, play games, go on trips and so on, as well as on two Mondays a month for communal eating. Here, you will always find high spirits and plenty to do. They even organise a communal trip every other month, where the location may be a bowling alley, the Karolinelund park in Aalborg or the amusement park Fårup Sommerland, and if you stick with them long enough, you can even join them for the annual summer trip for people from all Ventilen’s locations.
Find company outside your studies Ventilen v/ KFUM og KFUK Danmarksgade 52 DK-9000 Aalborg Email: aalborg@ventilen.dk
Phone: +45 42 46 10 51 Open in daylight hours on weekdays. If they do not pick up, they will return your call within 24 hours.
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Going to a new place where you do not know anyone can be intimidating, but if you get past the first fear, this will leave room for many positive experiences: “I was surprised to see how many feel the way I do.” So says a young student after the first visit to Ventilen. The place brings together many different people; from students and interns to people with full-time jobs or people on sick leave. Everyone is welcome. Even though people at Ventilen are all different, they share a social need that may have been replaced by loneliness. “Give it a try – you won’t gain anything by staying at home.”
couch and meet others in the same situation, this opens up for some amazing, shared experiences. There are many different ways to take the first step. Call or send a non-binding email, or show up at Ventilen on a Sunday at 2.30PM where one of the volunteers will welcome you and talk to you about their many different offers. You can also visit their website at www.ventilen.dk. Even though you may not need any help right now in the middle of all the exciting things going on at your new place of study, you may need it later. Cut out the business card and save it so it is at hand if you ever need any help – it is also a great place to offer to do some volunteer work later.
So says a repeat visitor, and that is as true as can be. If you stay at home, your problem will not be solved. Take the first step – from then on it will only get easier: “It’s a good idea to visit the meeting place at least twice – the second time it’s less overwhelming. If you come here several times, you’ll get to know the others better.” Because it is easier to get to know people in a casual setting where you share the same kind of feeling. Every single person there could have chosen to stay at home, but because they get off the
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