Issue 13 Vol18

INSIDER 15.01.16 | Vol. 18 | Issue 13

KYMENLAAKSON UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES

A GETAWAY TO VIETNAM PART 1 IN THIS ISSUE The Campus Freshmen Party, Profile: Frank van de Voorde, Spicy Shrimp Soup, Bowie: Blackstar, Star Wars VII

STAFF

EDITORIAL

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CULTURE

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Welcome back!

Richard McGrath

Sarah Rosenthal

 @INSIDERKYAMK

INSIDER is published and printed at: Kymenlaakson Ammattikorkeakoulu Paraatikenttä 7 FI - 45100 Kouvola

Karoliina Niemi

Mai Lan Le

Khue Do

Roope Sorvo

Phone +358 44 702 8758 Fax +358 5 230 2433 E-mail insider@kyamk.fi Website insider.kyamk.fi Personal e-mails first.last@student.kyamk.fi INSIDER ISSN 1457-1587 Copyright © Insider 2016 Editor in Chief: Hugh Clack

Frank van de Voorde

Ekaterina Volkova

Hong Truong

We hope you had a pleasant Christmas time and an enjoyable New Year’s celebration.

2K16 is a new opSarah Rosenthal portunity to break your New Year’s resolutions, if you haven’t already. How about making resolutions that are actually achievable. Instead of planning to quit smoking maybe just vow to wear more black? Instead of telling yourself that you will from now on hit the gym every day how about just going for a small walk outside for your smoke instead of freezing on the balcony? Instead of this new trend of “cutting out all the toxic people in your life” just write a book and put in the disclaimer that “all characters are fictional and are not based on actual people”?

Whichever way you choose to go just make sure that 10, 20, 30 years from now you’re living the life you chose not the one you settled on because it seemed convenient at the time.

Also: Have fun, always!

Murderdome – Inner Demons @House of Rock Jan 15th - 22:00h Tickets 5 €

Joni Ekman & Koira Maailmanloppu - Ghost World Homespun - Gretel @Bar Downtown Jan 15th Tickets 5 €

JamGym Openstage @ Bar Downtown Jan 16th

A.Takalo & Takavalot @ House of Rock Jan 22th - 23:00h

Kouvola United Rockabilly Rockets vs. Loose Prick @ House Of Rock Jan 23th - 23:00h

U Rock @ BarQ

Jan 29th - 22:00h

SPORTS Ice Hockey: KooKoo-Kalpa

@ KooKoo-Kalpa Jan 15th - 18:30

Basketball: Kouvot – Bisons Loimaa

@ Mansikka-ahon urheiluhalli Jan 16th - 17:00h

OTHERS

Freshmenparty Begins @ Bar Q

Jan 20th - 17:00h

Afterparty @ Touba Jan 20th - 21:30h

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FEATURE

PROFILE

THE GREAT EXPERIENCE

FRANK VAN DE VOORDE

at the Campus Freshmen Party

Text: Lan Le The Winter break finally came after a long and exhausted exam week. Three weeks off had offered students enough time to make a long tour around Europe. Most of my friends chose that option and immediately left for Germany or Sweden or France. Unfortunately, the cold of the nothern European winter prevented me from going anywhere. Thus, I spent my first winter abroad in Kouvola. However, my holiday was not boring at all.

On Thursday last week. the 8th of January, the Campus Freshmen Party was once again held by the tutors and students’ organisations of KyAMK. The Campus Freshmen Party is an event held every semester to welcome the new student, to show them around the campus and, most importantly, to help them get to know each other and the senior students. In other word, this is a break-the-ice activity. For the Autumn semester, the Freshmen Party is held outdoor. However, last thursday, the event was held indoor due to the -27-degree-Celsious-Finnish winter.

The Campus Freshmen Party is usually organised as some kind of adventure journey. To begin with, the new students are asked to form a group with whoever they want. Apparently,going through the event as a group is more fun.

Plus, that will give the newbies chances to get to know their colleagues better which is very useful for their future teamwork while studying at KyAMK. After that, they are given a map which will guide them through all the checkpoints that have been located around the campus formerly. The checkpoints are like the different levels or stages of the journey. There are different game at each checkpoint. The groups of freshmen play the game and are given point according to their performance. This point at the end will be sumed up and the team which has the highest point will be awarded with a prize.

A few months ago, I had a great time enjoying the event as a freshmen. This time I also participated in the event but as a organisor of a checkpoint. I, together with Meri Ketonen – a Finnish student, was in charge of setting up a checkpoint for The Abroaders. The Abroaders is one of the students’ organisations at KyAMK which aims at connecting KyAMK’s students with short-term education opportunities abroad.

We took the checkpoint at the Freshmen Party

as a chance to raise awareness about our organisation among the new students. We came up with a simple game with the theme of travelling abroad with a view to sending out message.

The Campus Freshmen Party started at 12:15.

We were ready just a few minutes before that.

Our checkpoint is the senventh one so I was a bit unsure if people will visit it. Meri, who is actually one of the tutors, told me that last time (the Autumn semester Freshmen Party) there were very few students came to her checkpoint and she spent most of her time with nothing to do.

However, this time turned out to be totally different. There were so many students participate in the event this time. The groups of new students kept coming one by one to our checkpoint. I and Meri were kept busy the whole time but we were happily busy. We guided each group of new students through the game, checked their results and gave them the point. The new students were very good at the game, so much better than we had expected. And of course, after they had finished the game, we kept them a bit longer to tell them about the Abroaders, what we do and what we can offer them while they are studying at KyAMK. I was so glad that they were very interested in our organisation’s ideas and they seemed so enthusiastic to join our movements. And above all, Meri and I had a great time together and also a great time chit-chatting with the new students.

The event was planned to end at 3 p.m but actually ended at 2 p.m. All the students’ groups had finished their tour around the school through all checkpoints and they gathered in the first floor’s lobby to submit their point card and waiting for the result. As for us, who are the checkpoint’s organiser, it was time to wraped up and put everything back to its place. After having this kind of experience, I am so keen on signing up to be a tutor next semester so that I can, again, have chances to participate in organising and planning activities for the freshmen next year. Guess that “being a tutor” has become one of my many new challenges for the new year.

Get to know our new Insider Staff

Text: Frank van de Voorde As the newest member of Insider now is a good time to introduce myself. I am a second year International Business student with international trade as my specialization. My name is officially Franciscus van de Voorde but pretty much everyone, besides a couple of stubborn people, calls me Frank.

One of the first things you notice when going abroad are the differences in naming conventions between countries.

Most of you probably already right away noticed I am Dutch because of my strange looking last name, and yes the ‘van’ and the ‘de’ are not capitalized and they pretty much mean ‘of the’.

older, one learns to put things in perspective. In a distant past and in a land far away I used to study Business Engineering at the University of Twente in Enschede (if you can pronounce that correctly I will give you a cookie) but due motivational issues I called it quits during my thesis and moved to Finland.

Not just because Finland is a beautiful country where everyone wants to live but because I met this Finnish girl in the Netherlands, and well the rest is history.

Some of my passions are Dungeons and Dragons, programming, web design, reading and computer gaming.

Photo: Frank van de Voorde Especially D&D has been very useful for my personal develSome of my passions are opment, and I consider it the Dungeons and Dragons, I have been living in Finland main reason I don’t have that programming, already for quite some time. much anxiety when speaking web design, Long enough to be an avid fan in public; having been a dunreading and of ice hockey. Also long enough geon master for well over fifcomputer gaming. to realize that winter is a time teen years for a group varying best spent indoors; preferably from four to seven people was with a good glass of wine. One a good crash course in shakof the hardest things to get used to in Finland is ing that anxiety and gaining some confidence the cold. Truth be told I am still not entirely used when speaking in front of other people. to it but I have learned that it is all about the layers of clothing one wears, and it starts with My passion for web design and programming long underwear. A detail I recently mentioned got me a part time job designing and maintainto my mom who burst out laughing and honestly ing the website of a local newspaper in Hamina. thought I was kidding. Apparently, she has yet Unfortunately, web design continuously evolves to experience -20 degrees Celsius tempera- and it is near impossible to keep abreast of all tures. My parents live in a picturesque village in the developments in the industry. On the plus southwestern Holland near the sea where it real- side however the tools to design websites have ly doesn’t freeze too often which would explain also become much more accessible and sotheir lack of long johns. phisticated. However, I personally prefer to write code in just a text editor. Call me old fashioned Unlike most Kyamk students I actually live in – you wouldn’t be wrong.

Kotka and I make the arduous journey to Kouvola daily by train. I say arduous because the trains That is quite enough about me. It is important are archaic and the train schedule is nothing to realize that Dutch people are very keen on short of horrible; the main reason I am either late their privacy and do not like to talk about their or two hours early for class. Luckily, the Interna- personal lives. They even like it less to be asked tional Business teachers have been understand- about it. Remember that when you next meet ing of my situation. a Dutch person – it is considered extremely impolite. However, if you see me around and you I decided to apply for International Business want to talk about all things Dungeons & Dragin Kyamk because it gave me a chance to finish ons don’t be afraid to approach me. It is a topic what I started a long time ago. When one grows I can talk about for hours.

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COVER STORY

COVER STORY Text: Khue Do

Photos: Khue Do & Nguyen Quang Vu

A GETAWAY TO VIETNAM

Hanoi, my home city located in the Northern part of Vietnam, is known as the capital city with the population of more than 7 million people (in 2014) whereas the number of people living in Finland is less than 6 million. The weather, from a Finnish’s point of view, is really warm even though it is wintertime here when the temperature usually fluctuates between +15 to +22 Celsius degree.

Ignore those figures; Hanoi is beautiful in its own way and the face of the city keeps changing through time within a day. In the early morning, the streets are already full of people. Exercising is an everyday routine for the people here.

Usually, they go to the nearest park in the area to jog whereas the elderly gather in big groups to do the slow edition of aerobic to stay healthy.

The smell of the fresh air and some mobile flower shops on the street in the morning is always a great start for the whole new day. On the other hand, eating breakfast is also an important part of Vietnamese culture; hence, the breakfast cuisine is extremely diverse here. Noodles soup called “pho” is the most favorite breakfast dish. Most of the Vietnamese people are willing to get in the long line to have “pho” in some famous restaurants for breakfast. More interestingly, many people wake up very early just to visit the small “pho” stand in the Old Quarters, which opens at 4am and closes at 5:30am!

PART 1

Where did you spend your Christmas break this year? I say that some went traveling; some, unfortunately, stayed in Kouvola and most of the people including me came back home to celebrate Christmas as well as New Year with the beloved ones.

From 7am to 8am is the time when people go to school or work and from 5pm to 6pm is when they come home. During these aforementioned periods of time, traffic jam is inevitable. Quite many foreigners say that the traffic in Vietnam is crazy but the traffic in big cities like Hanoi is much crazier. In fact, people only care about how they can travel as fast as possible no matter how many rules they broke. Just imagine a traffic jam in a city full of rule-breakers to see how insane it could be. The noise of the vehicles and the drivers as well as the dusty atmosphere fulfills a very unique picture of the traffic in not only

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Hanoi but also Vietnam.

In the evening, when the lights are turned on, the restaurants and beer clubs along the street are busier than ever because dinner is considered as the most important meal of the day. Happy faces are seen everywhere since the people are enjoying the last moments of the day, when they have finished from work or school. Except for the bars, clubs and pubs, the walking street called Ta Hien is also famous for nightlife in Hanoi. People have fun while talking, eating and drinking beers with friends and family here. It is said that Hanoi does not sleep until midnight.

Kissing goodbye to Hanoi and let’s move to Phu Yen, a coastal province located in the central of Vietnam. I got to know about this beautiful city because the famous Vietnamese movie named “Yellow flower on the green grass” is filmed here. The pure nature beauty including mountains and beaches totally makes the 1-hour-and-45-minute flight from Hanoi worthy.

The blue sky above the wide green hills with cactus flowers and hundreds of cows immediately turns you into a lazy wanderer who only wants nothing but to lie down until dawn. That is when I truly stop thinking. That is when I am genuinely with nature.

Most of the people I met while traveling in Phu Yen have already spent almost their whole life on boats. The sea is their home. It feeds them; it grows up and stays with them. If there is any chance that you might come to visit Phu Yen, seafood is on the top of the must-try list. It is one of the main reasons why I came to Phu Yen. Traveling is a great way to experience and I hope that through the adventures I shared in this article, you might have some pictures about places in Vietnam. If you want more, keep stalking Insider in the next issues.

Cheers.

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EVENTS

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RECIPE

SPICY SHRIMP SOUP

Photo: Karoliina Niemi Text: Karoliina Niemi

Dear students and staff in Kyamk Kouvola and Kotka Campuses!

You are welcome to celebrate Kyamk´s 20 year birthday!

Coffee and bun are served in campus restaurants in Kouvola and Kotka on Monday 18th January at 13-15 o´clock.

You are warmly welcome!

Heikki Saastamoinen, The President of Kyamk

Olive oil 1 onion 3 garlic cloves 2 tablespoons chili sauce Salt Pepper 1 teaspoon honey 1 vegetable bouillon cube 390 g crushed tomatoes 180 g frozen shrimps 200 g Crème fraiche

Find a large pan, put it on a medium heat and add couple of lugs of olive oil.

Chop the onions roughly and mix them in the pan with minced garlic, chili sauce and spices. When your mixture starts to soften, add 5 dl of water, vegetable bouillon cube, crushed tomatoes and some honey.

Now you should listen Bohemian Rhapsody. Dancing makes the soup better. The song takes exactly as long as you need to boil the soup before you add the shrimps.

When the soup starts boil-

ing again, you can take the pan off the stove and add the crème fraiche. Mix it until the soup looks smooth and nice.

Serve the soup with freshly baked bread… Oh wait, who actually has that.

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MUSIC REVIEW

MOVIE REVIEW

DAVID BOWIE BLACKSTAR

STAR WARS VII

Text: Roope Sorvo David Bowie has made a long an impressive career by continuously drawing new influences and constantly renewing his image, from the Thin White Duke to Ziggy Stardust, becoming one of the most influential musicians of our time in the process. Over his career he has released 26 studio albums, of which the latest, Blackstar, was released only two days before his death. Being fully aware that he was dying, Bowie intended the album to be a sort of a parting gift to the fans.

So reviewing the record feels a bit weird, to be honest; kind of like correcting the grammar of the last words of a dying man.

Fittingly, whereas Bowie’s previous album, the comeback record The Next Day, was more of a celebration of his career until that point, liberally borrowing and recycling elements from his previous work, his swan song Blackstar is stepping bravely into the unknown: the album’s eerie sound is unlike anything else in his career, dancing somewhere in the crossroads of bebop, avant-garde jazz, art rock and electronic. The brassheavy tunes are accompanied by dissonant, otherworldly keyboards and ferocious, ec-

Despite the seemingly brooding nature of the record, Blackstar is full of variation in terms of both music and emotion. The title track features heavy choruses and a vaguely Middle-Eastern main melody, accompanied by computerized bleeps and static buzzes; slower “Lazarus” borrows its riff-vocals alternation from blues; the jarring “Sue (Or in A Season of Crime)” sounds like an unholy mixture of Pendulum and Nine Inch Nails.

Only the slower “Dollar Days” sounds like an intentional waltz down memory lane, with the first half of the song featuring instrumentation reminiscent of Bowie’s earlier material, especially “Space Oddity” and ”Starman”. It would be almost out of place if the second half of the song didn’t slowly shift back towards the impressive space weirdness of the rest of the album.

Genre Art Rock/Jazz Released 8 January, 2016 Producer David Bowie Tony Visconti Rating

static drumwork; with the lyrics littered with more or less cryptic and symbolic references to his impending death, Blackstar is the darkest and most experimental record of Bowie’s whole career. The whole album has an air of weightlessness to it, as if the listener was floating in the vast emptiness of space.

Deezer

Spotify

iTunes

Despite the claims of being ‘a parting gift to the fans’ Blackstar sounds very much like David Bowie’s record for himself. It is the work of a person with a clear creative vision and no intention to pandering to the radio stations, record label executives, nor fans, successfully reinventing himself for one last time.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Genre Action, Adventure, Fantasy Director J.J. Abrams Starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Issac, Adam Driver Rating

Text: Sarah Rosenthal Finally! 10 years after the last Star Wars movies came out fans finally got treated with a Star Wars movies that was not one plot hole glued to another.

The movie picks up three decades after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, a new threat arises. The First Order attempts to rule the galaxy and only a ragtag group of heroes can stop them, along with the help of the Resistance.

We get introduced to a whole new main cast consisting of a rogue Stormtrooper by the name of Finn (John Boyega), the resistance fighter pilot

Poe (Oscar Isaac), an orphan from the desert planet Jakku named Rey (Daisy Ridley) and the most adorable droid called BB-8. Along with an amazing supporting cast and almost everyone from the original trilogy they set out to defeat the new dark warrior and commander of the First Order Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Kylo is the son of *** and ****. He created his own new lightsaber, which for all intents and purposes is probably the most illogical thing about the movies as it is pretty much a danger to himself. In order to defeat him they need to find a powerful Jedi by the name of ****.

Their journey to find him is perilous at best and lethal at worst.

While many film theorists saw a different story for Luke Skywalker in these movies I think they did a good job on integrating him into the story. On the other hand some people might not be overly happy with one character demise in particular.

It was a courageous step by writer and director J.J. Abrams and many will be grateful for the all in all solid job he did on this franchise considering what he did to Star Trek when he got a hold of it. It will be interesting to see what he has planned for the next two movies, or four as four seems to be the new three in Hollywood terms.

Every generation has a story.

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Studio 1 Youth (12) 10€ RT: 1.58 Sat-Sun: 14:45 Noutin Vieresta (7) 10€ RT: 1.38 every evening 17:00 The Hateful Eight (16) 12€ RT: 2.48 every evening 19:00

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