Vol 16, Issue 12

Student Magazine of Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences | 13.12.2013. | Volume 16

Christmas Issue +ID gala 1

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EDITORIAL STAFF

INSIDER is published and printed at: Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences Campus Paraatikenttä 7, 45100 Kouvola, Finland Tel: +358 44 702 8758 | Fax: +358 5 230 2433 E-mail: insider@kyamk.fi Web site: http://insider.kyamk.fi Personal e-mails: firstname.surname@student.kyamk.fi INSIDER ISSN 1457–1587 Copyright © Insider 2013 Editor in chief: Hugh Clack

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EDITORIAL

It seems like only a short time ago that I was writing the editorial for the first issue of this academic year and already here we are at the end of the semester. It has been an interesting semester in Insider for both the staff and for you our readers. We have seen a new look come to Insider for our printed edition, we have introduced our new electronic version via Issuu.com, and lately our website has been transformed in a total makeover. We have also again started organising competitions and hope to continue to do so in the next semester.

In this week’s issue we bring you the Finnish Independence Day Gala celebration organised by Heimo in Kouvola last week. This has been arranged for 14 years now, and I can still remember the first time I went (although I was in the UK this time around), and it really was a special occasion. If you missed out on going yourself this year, you can read all about it and see the fine outfits people were wearing for this special night.

We also have some interesting Christmas articles this week as it is our last issue of the year, so it is our Christmas issue.You can prepare yourself a traditional Finnish rice porridge and read about Chrsitmas traditions around the world. We also have the Profile of an extra-special person for you to read about. The question you need to ask yourself (in a line from Terry Pratchett’s “Hogfather”) is “have you been naughty, or nice”?

My personal Christmas celebrations this year are going to be very low key, having just celebrated turning 50 (lots of partying), and also celebrating the birth of our first grandchild, Hartley, just two months ago. I feel now that it is time to relax as soon as the semester is over, in preparation for the New Year, but I will be getting in lots of downhill skiing. What are you going to be doing over the Christmas holidays? Whatever it is, I hope that it will be enjoyable, and that you will manage to relax and have fun.

For those readers that are returning to studies after the break, make the most of the Christmas holidays and come back nice and fresh in January.

See you all in the New Year.

Hugh Clack, Editor in Chief

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INSIDE INFO

Competition Continues Due to technical problems, the results of our Facebook photo competition sponsored by www.photokuva, due to be announced this week has been postponed. The new deadline for the competition is Friday 31.1.2014. There is a slight change in the procedure: now all artworks are welcomed (photos, drawings, illustrations…) and the theme is open, i.e. there is no theme just anything you like. Simply send you entry via e-mail to: insider@kyamk.fi. Entries will be judged by the Insider editorial team and the winner will be place on our Art Page in issue 16.

Judges decision is final. By sending in your entry you are stating that you are the author of the work and you give Insider the right to publish it.

KOUVOLA 13.12.Vuokko Hovatta & UMO: Traditional Christmas concert in the Central church of Kouvola From 19:00 to 20:30, Marjoniementie 5 14.12. Traditional Christmas event in church of Voikkaa From 15:00 to 18:00, Kirkkokatu 1 14.12. Hockey: KooKoo – Jukurit in the Icehall of Kouvola From 17:00 to 19:00, Topinkuja 1 14.12. Christmas market in Manski From 9:00 to 15:00 15.12. Christmas programme in Verla Mill Museum and rummage sale From 11:00 to 14:00,Verlantie 295 18.12. Symphonic Rock concert in Kuusankoskitalo Performing: Ari Koivunen, Kimmo Blom, Marco Hietala ja Ilja Jalkanen Start at 19:0, Kymenlaaksonkatu 1 19.12. Kymi Sinfonietta Christmas concert in the Central church of Kouvola Conductor: Juhani Lamminmäki, Starts at 19:00 20.12. Pre-Christmas in the Ski resort Mielakka 20.12. Kyamk Autumn Graduation Ceremony in Kouvola in Kuusankoskitalo From 13:00 – 15:30 20.12. Joulupukki and his wife Muori in Kouvolan matkakeskus Greetings for the visitors and passengers

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A Russian in Netherlands

EXCHANGE VIEW

Hello my dear readers! For those who do not know or remember, it has already been three months since I arrived in the Netherlands. One month is left before my departure back home.

Having a month in front of you means almost the same as having a week before the exams (I have a lot of them).

You start realizing that you will soon have to leave everything to what you have already gotten used to.You start thinking about how many things you could have accomplished. It still feels like I arrived just a couple of weeks ago. Time is always running out!

However, some exciting trips have been made during the exchange. In the end of October I and my two friends went to Frankfurt am Main. The trip was very productive; we visited a lot of museums and sights only within three days. Other exchange students did not lose their time either and travelled to France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and Switzerland.

After being here three months I can tell the differences between university life in the Netherlands and Finland. The first thing worth mentioning is the workload. Moreover, if you do not read books for the courses (which are actually hard to get and they are expensive) there is little chance for you to pass exams. Speaking about lecturers, they turn out to be more rigid regarding attendance, deadlines and exams. Finland is known for being mild to students and dragging the weakest.

Here, however, the “natural selection” principle applies.You either deal with the workload or you are out.You really have to fight for knowledge.

Text and photo: Polina racheeva

At the same time, the busy schedule does not prevent students from being creative. And, similarly to Kymenlaakso UAS, the organizers were students from International Business and Management Studies. Ironically, the event was called “IBMS got talent”. Here it was possible to observe the full range of talents students have, form singing and dancing to performing stand-up comedies (one of which was done by an exchange student from USA) and playing all the possible musical instruments. For some students the evening was an opportunity to do totally new things. I managed to get an interview from a presenter of the show, a second year student Dan Gerharts. The main question was about how he felt after being all the time on the stage. He said that he felt much better than he thought initially and doing things for the first time gives you energy for overcoming further difficult situations. He added there has to be a consistent balance between preparation and improvisation. The knowledge must be a part of you. Sounds like a good advice for anything you learn, does it not?

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Independence Day Gala It has come and gone as a Finnish tradition; the white cold winter time of the year is highlighted and warmed up with the most important national holiday in Finland. The spirit of a nationwide holiday spreads and fills up the whole nation with parades, patriotic speeches, special church services, cakes with blue and white icing and other festivities. It dates back to the 16th of December 1917 when Finland became independent from Russian Republic. And here in Kouvola, Independence Day Gala – Itsenäisyyspäivägaala took place on the 4th of December in Kouvola City Hall to celebrate the Independence Day with the entire nation.

Finnish Independence Day Gala (or ID Gala in short) has been celebrated in Kouvola for 14 years now. This memorable event was previously held

by Kapita ry, and now by Heimo ry. In spite of difficulties, Heimo members did bring us great event! Emilia Piirainen – the Gala organiser shared her feelings about the Gala: “I’m very happy, a bit nervous for the Gala at the beginning. We have to start from the empty table and we have only 11 members in our organizing team. Thanks to the enthusiastic members of Heimo we finally make it successful”.

Welcoming speech of Paula Luhtaanmäki from Heimo started warming up the evening. Everyone lifted up the sparkling champagne to cheers for the special occasion of the year: Bubbling white wine, bright smiles on all faces…All men were in black suits, women were in evening gowns. The dress code added up to formal atmosphere of the ceremonial occasion. The event was meant for all teachers and students of Kyamk in all campuses. Regardless of distance, a group of students from Kotka also came to join the big event.

All guests were served with three course dinner along with Finnish music. From all dining tables to little candles and lottery tickets on the table were nicely decorated with blue and white – inspired by the Finnish flag colors. Appetizers, main courses, desserts and drinks were offered with the perfect

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quality. Coffees and little sweet cakes served later satisfied everyone. After the dining came the most memorable part of the evening. It was the speech of the guest of honor that amazingly touched every guest’s heart. Speeches were given by three guests of honor - Pirkko Rautaniemi from Kyamk, Jari Larikka from Kouvola city and Aleksanteri Repo from Klaani. And all speeches were both in Finnish and in English, which showed the warm welcoming to foreign guests as well as Finns in the multicultural world. Pirkko Rautaniemi said that it was the second time she had been to this event and the first time she had given such speech in English. The entire room was silently listening to the speaker and finally burst into applause with the wishes for a peaceful and joyful Independence Day. Then came the liveliest part of the evening when the main hall was filled with Finnish music from the Secrets band, one of whom is from Kyamk. At first people were a bit shy and not confident with their dancing skills but then they were attracted by the beautiful rhythm and started moving and dancing impulsively. The dancing floor was then the most joyful place. During the dancing time, everyone could also participate in the shooting session with professionally prepared photo stand. All refreshments were offered during the whole gala, which pleased the guests. And the lottery winner announcement started catching attention of everyone. And those lucky winners were very happy with the nice prizes while the applauses echoed throughout the main hall.

Text and photos: Hoang Anh Nguyen

The Secrets band came back for the second time and followed by Emilia’s closing speech and thanks.

After the great evening celebrating in the Kouvola City Hall, everyone was full of happiness and emotion. They then had the chance to spend the rest of the night in Aula restaurant for the awaited after party, where Kyamk students could have lots of benefits from happy hour prices by showing their student cards. Everyone was very happy with the evening and it was such a special event of the whole year!

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-Christmas traditionsChristmas can obviously be named as the most well-known and common holiday in the world. A lot of people from absolutely different parts of the world feast it. Although it is a Christian holiday, it is widely kept by increasing number of non-Christians. Generally it is celebrated on 25th of December. However, it is not the same in some countries. The original day of celebration is 6th of January on the Gregorian calendar and it is still celebrated on this day in Armenia. In countries like Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Serbia, Egypt it is feasted on 7th of January. The translation of 6-7th January from Gregorian calendar to Julian is 24-25th December and these dates are the Christmas Eve and day in the most of places.

Let’s have a look how diverse Christmas traditions and meanings are in different countries and cultures.

Americans were the ones who created one of the main features of Christmas, the main attribute and character for children all around the world-Santa Claus.

In USA the traditional Christmas meal in roast turkey and as a desert they cook the special Christmas pudding. People exchange wrapped presents and kids wait for the Christmas morning to look under the fur-tree and find gifts from the Santa. Christmas preparations in US start around the end of November, people cover their houses with different lights and decorations.

In the home country of Joulupukki-Finland the main day is not the 25th of December like in the most of Christian countries but the Christmas Eve-24th of December. Every year in Turku, the former capital of Finland the special ceremony is held to declare the beginning of “Christmas peace” period, which starts at 12.00 noon and lasts for 20 days. For lots of Finns watching this ceremony, which is broadcasted all over the country, is essential part of the holiday. Going to the sauna before attending Christmas parties and dinners is also very common tradition for Finnish people. Finns prefer to spend this holiday with families and gather all together from toddlers to grand –parents.

Despite that there are very small percentage of Christian people in Asian countries like China and Vietnam and people now very few things about Christmas the celebration happens anyway. Generally in the big cities there are Christmas Trees, decorations and lightings in different shopping malls and centers. In China Santa Claus is called ‘Sheng dan lao ren’ (Traditional: 聖誕老人, Simplified: 圣诞老人; means Old Christmas Man) and in Vietnam -’Ông già Noel’.

In Germany the significant part of Christmas is Advent what is the period of 4 Sundays and weeks before Christmas. Germans use different kinds of Advent calendars in their houses.

There are some, which are made with wreath of Fir tree branches. In some churches the Advent candles are used. They are lit in the beginning of every week of the Advent. Father Christmas brings presents to children on 24th of December. On December the 6th what is St. Nicholas’ Day kids might get some small gifts like chocolates and candies from “der Nikolaus”. Some of the German children ask for presents not Santa but a Christkind, who is a young girl with blond curly hair wearing long white and gold dress.

In Russia Christmas is not as important holiday as New Year. During the time of Soviet Union Christmas was not celebrated very much. Nowadays the Christmas day is the 7th of January and religious Orthodox people mostly celebrate this holiday.

Christmas is a time of miracles and wonders! Pay your attention on these beautiful decorations and atmosphere. Spend Christmas with relatives and prepare nice presents for them.

Have a good holidays and celebrations!

Text and photo: Mariia Kiseler

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PROFILE

Santa Claus Q: Hello, Mr. Santa, what’s your real name?

Santa: No comments, sorry.

Q: But why?

Santa: Okay – it’s Nicholas Mirklinskiy, I just don’t like my real name – it is so long.

Q: Why do you live in the North, why not in the Bahamas?

Santa: Well my wife is a very jealous woman, that’s why we moved to the village. Now I speak only with my wife, elves and deer.

Q: Sorry for that. What position does your wife have in your firm?

Santa: She is a secretary since 1849, but she wants promotion.

Q: I see. Please tell me how many deer are there in your team?

Santa: We have nine: Dasher (“Swift”), Dancer (“Dancer”), Prenser (“Prancing”),Vixen (“Grumpy”), Comets (“Comet”), Kyupid (“Cupid”), Donner (Dunder) (from German and Holland “Thunder”), Blitzen (Blix) (from the Dutch “Lightning”) and Rudolf.

All of them sleep with us in our bed, because my wife always says: “what makes them worse than people?” – I can’t argue with that.

Q: Have you thought about changing your image?

Santa: Well, I like now fashionable acid colors and always wanted to try heavy metal style as well. Rudolf taught me how to play the electric guitar and we rehearse from time to time in the garage. I don’t know, but elves like our music. Maybe soon we will dress up for our concerts if everything will be okay.

Q: What kind of interior style do you have at home?

Santa: Ho-ho-ho, I do not follow such things. Actually I remember that elves were making all furniture for us, but now I see some stuff with IKEA labels.

Text and illustration: Iuliia Safonova

Q: That’s interesting. What can you wish to our readers?

Santa: I always said “live like the last day”. But I’m afraid my wife won’t like it, so I wish: happiness to everyone, true majestic love, peace in the family, that all dreams will come true and ROCK’N’ROLL BABY!!

Merry Christmas!

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CHRISTMAS FOOD

Rice porridge or ”christmas porridge” Rice porridge is traditional Finnish Christmas dish. It is easy to make, but takes some time and patience.You need: 2 dl porridge rice, ”puuroriisi” in finnish 2 dl water 1 l milk ½ teaspoon salt

Note!

Tradition is that an almond is hid in the porridge. The one who gets it is said to have good luck for the upcoming year.

ist:

Playl

auha yön r u l u o ää – J illanp ka Jar i S sepolk s i N – uomi Ville T onttu ri – T i o L i Matt ”The Vesafrom Auty. , r i a ter the

by Pe ng in Walki an”. Sung m Snow

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Text and photo: Reetta Somppi

Put water and porridge rice in a kettle and let it boil for 2 – 5 minutes until rice has absorbed water. Add milk in small portions and let it boil in low temperature for 30 – 40 minutes. Stir occassionally to prevent the porridge being burned. Serve with sugar and cinnamon, or blueberry soup.

MOVIE OF THE WEEK The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy Director: Peter Jackson Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen,

13.12.201

3.-19.12.2

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D:Smaugin

I guess it is fair to say that the 2nd Hobbit movie was one of the most anticipated movies this year and had some rather large expectation to fulfill. I’d say it rather did.

“The Desolation of Smaug” picks up where “An Unexpected Journey” left us of last December: 13 Dwarves, a Wizard and a Burglar trying to outrun Orcs. They are on their way to reclaim their homeland, the lonely mountain in the north named Erebor and they are running out of time. In order to reach the secret passage day before the last light on Durin’s day sets they have no choice but to take the danger-ridden path through Mirkwood, make their way through Esgaroth and the remnants of Dale.

Apart from Orcs from Dol Guldur, more dangers lie ahead, such as giant spiders (arachnophobics should not watch this movie in 3D, seriously), fabulous elves and of course the magnificent, the impenetrable, the tremendous: Smaug.

autioittam Fri-Thu 18 a maa :00 Sat,Su n 15:00|2h ..................

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LLINEN M IES|(K12)| Sat,Sun,Tu 10€ e,Wed 17 :001h36m HOBBIT 2 in D:Smaugin autioittam a maa Fri-Thu 19 :00|2h41m in PÄIVIEN K OUHU|(K 7)|6€ Thu 14:00 |1h35min

STUDIO 123 Kymenlaaksonkatu 1 45700 Kuusankoski 05 3792082 www.studio123.fi

Some of the scenes may seem over-stretched and some people may question some aspects concerning certain characters, but they ultimately contribute to the plot of the movie a lot. Personally I am glad, that the movie is quite a bit different from the book and explains a bit of the backstory. The story of the Necromancers return and how the Nazgûl came to be is explained a little bit more in depth, something that would have never fitted in any of the Lord of the Rings movies but something that is of such great importance to the understanding of the franchise for those who have never read any of the books (shame on you).

The greatest joy, however, remains Smaug. He finally comes to life and is by far the best CGI in the entire movie. It was fascinating and also a somewhat sad that they actually managed to get a dragon to look more life-like than a horse and that is the one point that I would take from the movie: CGI where no CGI is necessary. Go watch the movie, Mellon.

The royal ballet:PÄHKINÄNSÄRKIJÄ|26/23€ encore Sat 12:00|2h10min The royal Opera:PARSIFAL|26/23€ LIVE Wed 18:45 encore Sat 12:00|5h30min

NÄLKÄPELI-VIHAN LIEKIT|(12)|10€|2h26min Fri-Tue, Thu 17:00 LOTTA JA KUUKIVEN SALAISUUS|(S)|8€ 1h13min|Fri,Mon-Thu 16:30 15:25 ISÄNMAALLINEN MIES|(12)|10€|1h36min Fri,Tue-Thu 17:00 GRAVITY 3D|(12)|12€|1h31min Fri-Tue, Thu 20.00 VIIMEINEN RAKKAUS|(12)|10€|1h56min Sat, Sun 14:45 HOBITTI-Smaugin autiottama maa 2D/3D|(7)|10/12€ 2D every evening 18:00 Sat,Sun 15:00,18:00 3D every evening 19:00 Sat,Sun 14:00,19:00|2h41min

Sarah Rosenthal

POUTAPILVIÄ JA LIHAPULLAKUUROJA 2 2D|8€|1h35min Sat-Mon 17:00

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Photo:Hoang Anh Nguyen

Student Magazine of Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences

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