FOCUS Student Magazine - Issue 10 by FOCUS Student Magazine

Hello! I’m FOCUS Student Magazine. Check out what I have inside!

p40

LIFESTYLE 40 46 38 24 18

Trend Report / Winter does store the best trends around Some Bangs and a Curl Made Him Leave in a Swirl / Hair is a powerful indicator of identity 10 Tips on How to… Be More Sustainable / Being environmentally conscious isn’t that difficult as you’d think… 10 Tips on How to… Fight Hangover! / Because it has happened before and it will happen again! Fifteen Minutes with Muay Thai Coach / He will let you kick him... if you do it right.

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PEOPLE 10 5 30

Jacob Kjær Eskildsen / The man who will give educational experience an ‘uplift’ Uddannelsesby Herning / A tool made by the students, for the students! Students without Borders / They’ve come a long way and we want to know why

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PERSPECTIVE 44 14 16 22

Almost Human Part 2 / See what happens next in one of Focus’ most thrilling stories… Minorities in Society / An open letter to each and every one of you... Growing Up for Yourself / Don’t dress for anybody else other than yourself! Consumerism / The things you own, end up owning you

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CULTURE 20 26 34

p14 Photographic Beauty in Herning / Up close and cozy... Walk the Line / A different angle of one’s Manchester Exchange Program Christmas Traditions around Europe / Various ways the winter’s most beloved feast was celebrated

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Conflicts naturally arise when one group of people possess or seek to posses power over another. The number of examples supporting this idea is substantial: the attempt to attain power over Jerusalem has led to religious conflicts in that area for millennia; colonization is a historical example of social and economic subjugation that have led to military and social conflict for centuries ahead the effects of which are present even to this day. What are wars if not an attempt on behalf of people and states to acquire territory, wealth and power from other people and other states? Arguably, this open letter chases to raise the question of what can we do to minimize group conflicts, and at the same time increase our potential to live in a more harmonious society. Even though power relations among minorities and the rest of society cannot be avoided, solutions to this predicament may revolve around the rise of a capitalist system that can put minorities on a more equal playing field, or around an increased recognition of literature, philosophical ideals or other successful role models that minority groups could use as paradigms for success. Steps could even be taken on a more trivial level to minimize conflict and promote social harmony and mutual acceptance, through the use of social media and popular culture. Taken together, all these ideas could work to increase our understanding of the treatment of minorities in this almost broken society. Just take this piece of writing alongside my fellow writer’s “Walk the line” (p.26), and you might start to see the light at the end of the tunnel as well…

EDITOR’S LETTER “Today is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.” This was my wish to all of my friends that I posted on Facebook on 1st of January. And I meant it. Just like writers get their inspiration for their books from something they have experienced before, and have some kind of vision of the story’s journey that they will adapt accordingly along the way – the same goes with real life. In spite of those many people repeating that every day is a perfect day to start living life better, and one does not need a new year to make changes and promises to self, I still kind of like the idea behind New Year’s resolutions (if they are within reason, of course). I take these resolutions as a thoughtful process of looking back at the past year, drawing a subjective conclusion and grasping that something you either want or need to work on the most hereafter. Undoubtedly, the best feeling is when your accomplishments of the past year outweigh the failures and you find gratitude for where you are today – which in turn helps you set even deeper goals for the year ahead. Note that I used the word ‘deeper’ instead of ‘higher’ on purpose. It is because I hope that people remember to think about themselves in greater depths, and seek to fulfill their most utterly intimate and sincere wishes, and not just dream about being more successful at work, or losing those five kilos to look better. While New Year’s resolutions are most often about cutting back on things, then ours will be about doing more across the team – write more, create more, design more and just have fun more! Besides, what you are holding in your hands at the moment is already our 10th (!) issue of FOCUS Student Magazine! The fact that we have made it this far fills us with excitement and self-confidence to continue with what we are doing, with high hopes to achieve even further success, while never forgetting to keep the collaborative spirit alive in the crew! Our team wishes you plenty of focus and fearlessness to unfold your horizons, catch on to your dreams and make this your best year yet!

Staff Executive editor

Annet Muru

Sub-editor

Valeria Solonari

Graphic Designers Alina Vlaicu Annika Ganson

Agnieszka Łukasiewicz

Ileana Cocoş Raluca Dumitru Loredana Muşat

Financial manager

Writers

Chairman

Edvard L. Tramsen

Cover Concept Katrina Eglite

Photographers Simone Eriksen Maria Bilkiewicz

Contributors

Special thanks

Sigita Sukackaitė Aneta Junková Claudia Marian

AU Herning KONTRAST Herning

Proofreaders

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Wojciech Tomasz Żmijski

Annet Muru Executive Editor

Alina Vlaicu Raluca Dumitru Frida Hoffmann Loredana Muşat Ileana Cocoş Cristina Maria Simone Eriksen

Illustrators

Katrīna Eglīte Alexei Patrascu Maria Bilkiewicz Teodora Alexandra Anca

Copyright is reserved. ® Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited. FOCUS Student Magazine uses all the materials with permission from the owners. 2015 ®

THE CREW

What is your New Year’s resolution for 2015? Teodora

ANNET “Something that I always tend to forget: devote more time to myself and my loved ones.”

“To get the best results in all the upcoming exams and get on the right path towards my future career.”

ALEXEI “ 600 dpi”

VALERIA “For 2015, I’ve ordered more spontaneity, to be a better friend and be less possessive of material things.”

KATRINA “Do more yoga, dance with kids from tribes, give more than I get, learn how to pronounce ‘union’”

FRIDA “My biggest goal is to grow my hair during this year. And then cut it again..”

loredana ILEANA “Finally go on a yoga retreat..”

“I think every day is a good day to start over, make a change or work harder towards achieving your goals. So, I don’t have any New Year’s resolutions, because I don’t believe in them.”

RALUCA AGNIESZKA “ I don’t belive in New Year’s resolutions. But as I’m getting older I think more about doing good things.”

“Get healthier, relocate and continue to work for achieving my dreams..”

ALINA WOJCIECH “Defeat Sparta.”

“To start reading again. In the last 2 years, my reading has been limited to business and fashion books... My comeback is with ‘Catch 22’.”

Simone “Stay adventurous, keep calm and do my best..”

Maria “Not to make resolutions, but plans.”

ANNIKA “To love myself like Kanye loves himself and believe in myself like Kanye believes in himself...”

For students, by students Text by Ileana Cocos

Five

years ago not many people would identify Herning as a student city. Five years ago many foreign students would apply to Aarhus University programs and would go to Aarhus when studies would start - not knowing that Aarhus University existed as a branch in Herning too. Not many things were as they are today - five years ago. The Herning-Ikast-Brande area was not as an attractive option as bigger cities of Copenhagen, Aalborg, Aarhus or Odense and not a priority for many of Denmark’s - and not only - students and that had to change. The area is well known for its international airport, companies such as LEGO, Bestseller, Siemens and many others and what better place to recruit newly trained academics than Herning and Ikast-Brande themselves? In 2009 the local educational institutions together with the Herning and Ikast-Brande municipalities developed and implemented a strategy, which would help develop the area and create that oh-so-necessary network among students, companies and the city itself. The goal was to brand Herning and Ikast-Brande as a student friendly cities and place it in the top 5 of the country’s most attractive study areas. UBH became a tool that any business or person could use for free to reach out and make something exciting spark in the Herning student life. But figuring out how to do that could only come from the source, and that was indeed the student. What UBH didn’t realize was that ‘the new student’ was a very busy person, and in between struggling with finding a place to live, work and fit in, was left little spare time for the daily guilty pleasures.

Betina Horsager (AU Herning) “Uddannelsesby Herning is a fantastic initiative that helps young people, that are about to choose a study program and thus a study city, learn what Herning and Ikast-Brande has to offer. Additionally it manages to sum up all the relevant choices for study institutions in the Herning and Ikast-Brande municipalities, so that the future students could get a general feeling of how it is being a student in this area.”

The purpose and top priority of UBH was to create activities and events for students and give a valuable opportunity to connect with what the area of Herning-Ikast-Brande had to offer. At first, UBH would organize welcome parties each year in August, either in the city center or in Birk, offering students free access to concerts and different activities, but what really mattered was not what UBH had to offer to the students, but that what was offered would be “for students, and by students”. “We were willing to make anything happen.” (Anne Sofie Persson) Anne Sofie is the UBH project leader and she believed in the students and their ideas, and by giving them a free hand in organizing events they wanted and needed, the summer Road Race event appeared. Students would make their teams and their own Race Cars, and actually race them! People really got involved in personalizing their ‘rides’ and it was an overall success because they gave students the kind of activities they were craving for. Tailoring those activities to the everyday student life is crucial, because many of today’s students are not as loyal to the promises they make unless they receive something valuable in return. Therefore a high focus in involving students is needed, putting them in connection with the available internships and mentor companies, creating a strong student network that they would use even years after they would have graduated and not be a part of the student scene anymore.

Maria Schifter Jensen (Erhvervsakademi MidtVest) “For me, Uddannelsesby Herning is an important part of the student’s life prosperity in the city. This is where you will find the passionate souls who want to bring out the best both for the city and the students. It is creative, talented and visionary people who support the communities dispersed around the study programs and trying to involve students in the process. The contagious drive found in the UBH project brands you immediately, and that alone has been a decisive factor in my personal commitment to the student life in Herning.”

UBH also tried to reach out to future students, and educate them in being brave at voicing their opinions before enrolling in universities. Just last month, tens of high school students experienced the ‘Studie Praktik’ – a three day programme where they could try-out the student life in Herning, have classes simulations at AU Herning, TEKO, Pædagog uddannelsen in Ikast and EAMV (Erhvervs Akademiet MidtVest) and go around to the main ‘Destination – Herning’ in order to discover the most exciting places that it had to offer. Places like Kontrast, the JBS Company, the Kultur Fabrikken, the ice-hockey arena, the vintage shop Magpie Lane and finally some hygge time in the Herning Library to end the day. Discovering Herning doesn’t have to be that hard, as long as you know in what places to look for that thing that gets you going.

What UBH has strived to do is give the power of voice to the student and make him follow his own initiatives, as his future will solely depends on his bold actions. Many students are not aware of the obvious three: 1. If you want to do something, YOU ARE ALLOWED to do it; 2. YOU CAN DO IT – because people will literally ‘throw stuff’ at you the moment you show some initiative; and you definitely should 3. DO IT! – because people and projects like UBH are friendly and will support you 100%.

This is how leaders are born, and many examples of that can be seen in all student-managed voluntary groups such as the Student Activity Association or the FOCUS team, perfect examples of what students can achieve if they put their mind and shoulder to it. But UBH’s job is not done yet, what it has put in action will have to grow and produce a snowball effect, hopefully raise politicians’ awareness and inspire them to invest in pro-active students and develop more study programs – such as the new AU Herning collaboration with Stanford in creating a ‘Peace Innovation Lab’ – in order to make Herning THE place to come to.

InstaGuest

UBH came up with one of the most engaging weekly activity in the Herning student life. It took local Instagramming to a totally new level! Every week a new #InstaGuest takes over @ubherning and becomes the storyteller of its personal student journal. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a perfect way to peek into the lifestyle of a design, economy or even high school Herning student.

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herning HF

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HerningsHolm

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Eveli Erhvervsakademi Midvest

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Minorities in Society a letter to the people Text by Valeria Solonari

Dear reader, In a 1949 treatise on the condition of women, Simone de Beauvoir sought to explain how it came to be that women came to be regarded as the ‘other’ as opposed to just equals. Using the term as a springboard for an honest discussion of minorities and their subjugation, I am simply asking you to put any sort of judgmental sensibility aside and just dwell upon it for a second… You might already be aware of this fact, but women and minorities have always been resilient because they needed to face and overcome barriers constructed by the society we live in. The challenges they encounter on a regular basis include, but are not limited to, institutionalized racism, sexism and other obstacles that prevent access to social and economic networks and greater professional opportunities. Moreover, women and minorities often must battle dominant ideologies about womanhood, femininity and sexuality, while the inextricable link between race, class and gender only adds more complication to their experiences within our community. But women aren’t the only ones in society that are regarded as the ‘other’. Minority groups of homosexuals, religious fundamentalists, and even archetypes such as politicians and corporate executives are also victims of objectification. Even in an egalitarian society of supposed equals, the threat of the tyranny of the majority is an everpresent danger. Are you a person of color? Are you a gay man? Are you a woman struggling to work yourself up the professional ladder? Chances are that even you belong to some sort of minority bunch.

Thank you,

Just an ’other’ one of you.

Winter Time Up close and cozy in Herning

Visit

the motorway bridge for a new perspective on traffic.

- the forests of Knuds Mose for a visual hug by nature. - the city center for some hot chocolate at sunset. - a friend and do a funny photo shoot. - a waste bin and be creative with old magazines in the light of candles. - the North Sea shore and dance like no one is watching. - Fuglsang lake and dare to walk on the ice...

Notice the beauty of winter and

Walk outside

Text and photos by Simone Eriksen

“The things you own,

You’re in a pub with friends, having a few drinks, socializing and at a certain point you start arguing as to why your cereal brand is better than theirs. And that’s just the way it is, isn’t it? You love some brands and you absolutely resent others and you’re more than willing to advocate your reasons to whomever is willing to listen to you. Did you ever think that by doing that you’re not simply expressing your opinions, but rather marketing those products for free? This is just one example of how brands have infiltrated several aspects of our lives. How do you choose your products? What’s the thought process behind all that? Sure, for most people it’s about quality vs. price, but it’s a great deal about the brands as well. What the majority fails to realize is how often they are persuaded to buy something by well-placed ads which inflict a fake need in them by appealing to their emotional side. The joy of finding a product which you can relate to and which will satisfy your needs and yours only (though let’s be honest, most of the times you don’t even need it) masks the fact that there are several thousands (or more) out there who are experiencing the exact same feeling. You’re basically being put in a box which is supposed to define you because market research indicates that humans are creatures of habit, therefore they are expected to behave and buy in a particular way. Everything around you is aimed at making you consume more. You’re the target of product placement more often than you’d think, which is one of the reasons why it is rather difficult to show people that consumerism benefits no one, except for corporate interests. Another reason would be the fact that consumers are now trained into assimilating advertising from an early

end up owning you” Text by Loredana Musat Illustrations by Sigita Sukackaitė

age. Almost all marketing and advertising nowadays is aimed at and created for children, because they are the easiest to manipulate. A team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health conducted a study on the “nag factor”, namely children exposed to ads will nag their parents to buy certain items. In most of the cases the parents will give in and indulge their little ones. It is not about portraying some extremist solutions or life styles (but it’s totally up to you if you want to live without money in a hippie commune – others have done it and it looks fun!), it’s simply trying to point out excessive buying behaviors, which at the same time, encourage the enormous amount of waste happening in our society. Think of all the pretty useless things you’ve bought which you don’t ever use. Think of all the still edible food being thrown away every day by restaurants, canteens, supermarkets, and then think of all the people who haven’t had a decent meal in days. Learn to buy only what you truly need. It can be hard not giving into temptation, but it can be done. Buy local. Support small shops. And most importantly, do not make it about brands, make it about people. No one cares about your shoes or tooth-paste brand and the people who do, don’t deserve to be around you. This is how inequality is created and those who lack some self-confidence are led to believe they are not good enough and society will never accept them if they can’t afford expensive watches or haute couture clothing. We are better than that. Realize that you don’t need all these material possessions and they don’t define who you are, and you’ll be set free. What a liberating thought. THINK ABOUT IT!

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Denmark is one of the few countries in the world that is a proud supplier of one of the tastiest tap water, so it would be a total shame to buy the bottled water with the dreaded plastic bottle pollution burden on your consciousness. Find a plastic bottle that would fit your bag perfectly and have it around at all times, and tank-up wherever you need to. Water might even taste better depending on where exactly you are in Denmark. You might not have known, but Danes are so proud of their water, that they hold a yearly Danish Water Grand Prix.

Investing in expensive body products is sometimes a shame, when some of them you can mix up in your kitchen in no time. If you espresso boil or just boil regular grinded coffee, make sure to save up the grounds and mix the with your shower gel to make the most energizing body scrub. No store-bought product will smell so good and leave your skin baby soft. Sugar or rock salt works as well if you are looking for a rougher experience.

All you have to invest in is a metallic or any kind of colored spray and use up ribbons you have lying around from old gifts to turn into ribbons. Any kind of cardboard boxes you have lying around, like shoe boxes or any other intact box, you can use to spray into any color you want and use as gift boxes.

Depending on whether you need some new clothes, bags, bike, furniture, sports gear or even some house supplies, check out your local thrift shops for hidden treasures or the online communities such as www.trendsales.dk, www.dba.dk, www.guloggratis.dk and the Facebook groups.

Razors are one of those beauty product you can’t really replace (unless your dad is a old-fashioned barber or…no, you really can’t), so if you are one of the people that buy those one-time razors, it would be a shame not knowing you can loooooong prolong their life, by using just a scrap of old jeans. All you have to do is go opposite your normal shaving direction across a jeans material about 20 times, and repeat in the other direction. Repeat anytime your blade goes dull.

Share with your friends not only your personalized gifts, but also the new sustainable habits you have gained, and make it your friends’ and families’ next year resolution. Pass it forward and have no doubt, people you have shared the nice sustainable spirit with, will not delay to inspire you with their own new, exciting ways to be sustainable.

Omg! Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;m so i n love !

bald! :) ca n be be I May

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