“It is Wednesday afternoon, and I am in class. Online, as most days now. The teacher has just instructed us to move to our individual Teams chats to work on a group assignment. I find the instructions on Moodle and click to join the meeting, which has already been started by another student in my group. As I enter the meeting I overhear one of my classmates saying, ‘I am still getting over the shock that we have an exam next week’. Wait what? Did I miss something? Had I started daydreaming while the teacher had mentioned an exam? I am sure I was listening! Not wanting to admit to my fellow students that I had missed something I open Moodle and feverishly check the calendar and there it is: an eExam scheduled for next week Monday based on the required reading of about eight scholarly articles. How did this happen to me… again?”

In my first semester I continuously got surprised by assignments, especially since classes were (as they still are) online and I never got to talk to my classmates about what’s coming up next. I quickly realised that, for a slow reader like me, I had to manage my learning more carefully than others. I had to schedule time for reading in advance and I had to find alternative ways to consume knowledge. Now in my 4th semester, I want to share the tools I picked up along the way. If the above scenario fills you with as much anxiety as is does me, the below list might have some useful tips for you to help with your studies.

1. Snip & Sketch (Windows+Shift+S)

This may be more of a generic tool, but I use it all the time – all the time – both for my studies and in my private life. It’s a free app that should be preinstalled on all Windows computers. So far, I have always had to go into the Start menu and manually find it but I recently learned there is a keyboard shortcut to quickly open the app. The app allows you to take a screenshot of either your entire screen or just the section you select and saves it to the clip board. This means you can instantly paste it into a message or document, or you can open it in the app, crop it, doodle on it, and save it to your computer. I can’t imagine my life without it!

2. Gantt Chart

Figure 1. Screenshot of a Sample Timeline Created in Excel (Siippainen, 2021)

Some semesters are more stressful than others. When I have a semester that is laden with reading and assignments, I find it helpful to visualise deadlines. Personally, I like to use a Gantt-chart (Figure 1) inspired approach where I mark the dates in an Excel calendar and highlight the week leading up to the date. This way I can see when assignments are overlapping and can adjust my time accordingly.

3. OneNote


Figure 2. OneNote for Windows, Version 16001.14326.20674.0. Example of Organisation and Handwritten Note. (Siippainen, 2022)

When I first heard about OneNote I was unimpressed. Since then, I have been converted: when it comes to taking notes, OneNote is superior in every way to a traditional word processing program such as MS Word and Google Docs and here is why:
• You can sync it to multiple devices
• Rather than creating folders and subfolders to organise your notes you can use sections and pages – all visible in one look. You can even colour code your notes to distinguish between semesters or modules
• You can use a stylus with it and take hand-written notes or even draw (if you are a manual person like me)
• You can link between pages, when – like in my studies – modules are connected or related. In OneNote you can link one page of your notes to another to quickly switch between them
• You can share notes and collaborate
• You can dictate your notes or thoughts. I only learned about this tool recently, so I have not yet had a chance to give it a try but I can imagine myself using it for when I am stuck in an essay and just need to get an idea on paper without worrying about the wording or grammar.

At the moment I use it mostly just to take notes and to keep track of books and articles for quick referencing. But the OneNote is so versatile, I can even imagine using it instead of Power Point or Prezi to present the results of online group work.

Some of the information I listed above I got from a YouTube video aimed at GMs (Game Masters). While the video is intended for a different purpose the tips are relevant also for students so if you would like to check it out follow this link: https://youtu.be/2GBwxzRYOXE?t=240 (timestamp: 4:00-17:00).

4. Library

Concentration is an issue for most students. The amounts of times I have sat and tried to read a scholarly article only to be reading the same sentence over and over again are uncountable. There are benefits though, to picking up a book on the topic you are researching:
• Read the table of contents of several books – Which themes are repeating? Which sources are referenced a lot? Even if you don’t read anything else in the book this will help you narrowing down your Google search.
• Books are less compressed than YouTube videos or Wikipedia articles. This means they might expose you to issues adjacent to your topic which may lead you to discover new ideas or form new connections.
• The library has more than just books. Especially during those times when most of the lectures were online the library offered me the perfect study location: it’s quiet but not too quiet, a lot of information is at my fingertips, I know I am not on my own in my struggles because I am surrounded by others equally fixated by their screens. We are alone, together!

5. Podcasts, Video Essays, & Blinks

The production value and quality podcasts and video essays is increasing every day. If you have trouble focusing on reading something while sitting still in a stuffy room, see if there is a podcast on your topic from a respectable resource. As an example, the CIPD is a reputable HRM association and regularly interviews industry experts on current issues Figure 3.


Figure 3. Spotify for Windows Version 1.1.78.765.g5ea20b00 (Spotify AB, 2022)

If you love to absorb new ideas but you just can’t find the time, consider Blinkist (Figure 4) – an app that summarises non-fiction books into short 15-20min reads, so called “Blinks”. With a free account you get one Blink per day, and it gets even better: if reading just isn’t for you they also have an audio version of each Blink so you can listen to it on the move. Since I signed up in 2018 I have gained knowledge on many topics new to me like, what pirates were really like and what we can learn from them (Be More Pirate by Conniff) or how understanding our decision making can help us make better choices (Think Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman).


Figure 4. Screenshot from Blinkist App for Android Version 8.14.3. (Blinkist Labs GmbH, 2022)

It is important to note that you should distinguish between media that provides inspiration (Blinkist, most video essays and podcasts) and media which can be used as an academic resource (only some video essays and pod casts from respectable resources).

- Liisa, tourism student -

……. It was a Finnish assignment from my Suomi 2 course, we were to design an invitation card in Finnish inviting our friends to a party, including dates, food, color code and all.

I decided to design a card that represents the month of February, it’s the month of love, right?

February is always special amongst months of the year for several reasons, notable of course is VALENTINE’S DAY 😉.

All over the world there’s a lot of excitement in the air, the day is dedicated to romantic couples as a day to share intimate moments, ignite the flames of scented love feelings through romantic dates and heartwarming gifts.

I made a search about “Valentine’s Day celebration in Finland”, hoping to see a lot of romantic options but alas! I found a very interesting result: Valentine’s Day in Finland is called Ystävänpäivä! which literally means Friend’s Day.

In Finland the day is dedicated to friends and not just lovers and couples! The country (I found out it’s the same in neighboring Estonia) values friendship enough to make a whole day to celebrate it in the purest of forms.

According to sources, it all started in the ’80s (1987 is cited as the starting year), this special day was mainly a school celebration where students were encouraged to give hand-made gifts to their friends to celebrate their friendship. (YLE uutiset 2008)

While Ystävänpäivä was officially included in Finnish calendars in the end of 1980’s, the tradition has become deeply ingrained in the cultural fabric of Finnish society and today is widely celebrated throughout the country. Valentine’s Day is the second most popular card giving holiday in Finland.(Yle uutiset 2008)

All over the country there are decorations of love in restaurants and public spaces, and people buy and package lots of gift items for their loved ones, of course this includes couples however romance doesn’t take the center stage like in many countries, here FRIENDSHIP leads.

So, if you ever feel unaccommodated in the general mode of Valentine’s Day celebration and would rather be with friends and have a good time without feeling awkward, then Finland is the place for you!

I eventually designed my Invitation card and invited all my classmates to a “hypothetical “Friend’s Day celebration with the dress code being red (of course we can wear any color since it’s not exactly valentine 😊) there will be lots of cakes and wine, and we will merry as jolly good friends!

-Oladeji, Nursing student-

My name is Laura Tyimofejev, and this is my 3rd year at Lapland UAS as an International Business student. Being a foreigner in Lapland is hard in terms of finding jobs. Therefore, finding internships where you don't necessarily need Finnish language skills is also hard.

But luckily you can find entrepreneurs whom you can help and learn from. In my case I’m doing my internship at Riia Valvimo’s company, which she has been running for two years as a solopreneur at Rovaniemi. Valvimo - Happy marketing agency is focused on helping other businesses to improve their marketing.

For me it was quite interesting to get to know the Finnish working ethics and how businesses work here in Finnish Lapland. I’m happy that I have the opportunity to do my internship remotely from my home country Hungary. Luckily marketing is a field of business where it’s quite easy to work from abroad and still be efficient with the work tasks.

I’ve not only had the happy entrepreneur Riia Valvimo but also a Finnish business student Riika Saastamoinen to collaborate with. In our mutual communications we use English. I think there are no problems working with a Finnish student even though the language tricks us sometimes, but we managed to work efficiently.

Finding out the collaboration opportunities

During my internship Riia got the opportunity to work on a project for Lapland UAS and as interns we also got the opportunity to help her with it. The project aims to find out how Lapland UAS could help and support IB-students to get employed, find internships, collaborate with local companies, or become entrepreneurs in the Lapland region. I’ve been assisting in this project by doing research, reaching out to people, helping to plan surveys, and the list goes on.

I’m happy to invite English speaking entrepreneurs in the Lapland region to answer our survey which aims to find out the possibilities of collaboration between students and companies. Answer the survey here: Link to the survey

Joyful regards
Laura Tyimofejev

First of all, let me introduce myself, my name is Hien and I am an international student from Vietnam. I came to Lapland UAS in the Autumn 2019 semester and have been doing my studies in the Business Information Technology programme since then.

When I first came to Finland, my first impression was the cold weather, it was not a really good impression. However, it only took me few weeks to get used to the weather condition of Lapland, and that was the first good signal for a guy coming from a tropical country.

Then I had my first class, only few days after I made arrangements for my living. I suddenly realized that the teaching style in Lapland UAS, in Finnish universities in general, is very different from my home country. It requires from the students the ability for self-studying and doing research to acquire knowledge. Firstly, we received very helpful instructions from the teachers and were allowed freely to explore the knowledge on the internet and were always welcomed back and receive feedback from the teachers. That process really stimulated the creativity in every student, personally, I find I had more room and support to get what I want to learn in each course/subject. Secondly, the topics taught in each course/subject were very up to date, in my case, I had the chance to discover the newest technique for data analytics with Python, business intelligence (sorry for being academic in this sentence :D), and many other cool things which are beneficial for my future career. Finally, the thing that makes Lapland UAS differ from other UAS in Finland is that Lapland UAS is a relatively small and young, so everybody just knows each other. It made me feel like I was in a family, and the friendliness of the tutor and teachers make the students feel comfortable reaching out to them via emails for support in studying and in life. The support from the teachers and tutor had helped me getting through many obstacles during my time as a student.

About living in Finland in general, especially in Lapland, the variety of weather conditions throughout the year really strengthen my adaptability. From minus 30 degree in winter to 30 degree in summer, enrich my sense of experience for life. In winter, I was very surprised by a lot of outdoor activities that Finnish organize, such as national skiing, cross countries skiing, ice fishing competition, or just building snowman with family members.

Personally, I utilize the winter time to concentrate on myself, to reach into my deeper-self, equip myself with good habits for better “me”. In autumn, enjoying the sun, you would see a different Finland, a more dynamic one, the national festivals organized everywhere in the country. Especially in Lapland, the place you can see the clearest contrast between day and night, it is normal if someday the sun does not set. Personally, I traveled to many cities in Finland to explore the culture, during my first summer. I have been to Helsinki, Lahti, Suonenjoki, etc, and have made a lot of new good friends with whom I am still staying in touch.

Besides the weather, the Finns are very warm and friendly, which are completely opposite to their winter. There are many foreigners who said that Finns are very introvert and you can easily find a lot of meme on the internet about the Finnish “stereotype”. To me, Finnish people are so special and with extremely admirable virtue, they are shy in the crowd and barely express their feelings to others, but they have truly bonding relationship with their close people, truly know and understand who they are, which is lacking in so many other countries’ people, especially in the age of internet explosion and social media. I heard some people say you would have been very lucky to have a Finnish friend because it could be a life-time friendship.

That is about my personal experience about studying and living in Finland, and definitely not all about this magnificent country. I will leave the space for you, the readers, the future Lapland students, the foreigners to discover more beautiful things about Finland.

- Hien -

But first let’s start with who I am. I'm Laura Tyimofejev from Hungary and I'm an International Business student at Lapland UAS. I did my first practical training this summer at Valvimo. Valvimo is a happy marketing agency located in Rovaniemi, Lapland. The company is owned by Riia Valvimo. She is an entrepreneur and specialized in personal and expert branding as well as social media marketing and networking.

Tasks during my marketing internship

During the summer I worked as a marketing assistant for Riia and my tasks included photo editing, social media content creating, Instagram grid planning and online event planning and execution. I have created different kinds of visuals like presentation templates, document templates, Facebook Ads, social media cover pictures and I even had the opportunity to design a logo for Valvimo's client.

My biggest task was the brand manual and graphical instructions for Valvimo. For the brand manual I designed the visuals appearance and wrote the English content. If you would like to know more about the work I have done, you can take a look at my Portfolio.

(Portfolio can be downloaded from here: https://lucit-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/ltyimofe_edu_lapinamk_fi/EbElEPpBPSFIinST8cSqpDsBz_aBXSpxgU4tQ5wkTtpGGQ?e=tk9Ojg )

What are the benefits of a small company in terms of a traineeship?

I would say that a smaller company can be a better choice as a trainee since we all heard about the intern stories at big companies - “I have only learned how my boss drinks her coffee”.

You can get a better understanding of the business processes and an idea of what you have to do as an entrepreneur/small business owner. Also, Solo-Entrepreneurs can concentrate on you more. The downside, on the other hand, can be that they do almost everything by themselves so they are really busy.

But in my opinion a big company might also be a great choice if you already have some experience in a small business so you can see what is the difference between running a small business and a bigger company. I have experienced both and I think there is quite a big difference in terms of how you can get answers to your questions. During my traineeship, I only had to ask Riia to get an answer, but at a bigger company if I wasn't lucky I had to ask at least 3 people to get the answer that I was looking for.

Tips on how you can find a place which is suitable for YOU

First things first, you should know what is the field of business that you are interested in. For example, in my case, later on I would like to work in the field of marketing so I benefited from the traineeship a lot.

After you have the field of business figured out you can start doing your research. Look on the internet and don't forget to ask your network. And try to find companies in the industry that you have chosen.

Joyful regards,
Laura Tyimofejev ☀️
Second year International Business Student

As the summer in Finland gets warmer and warmer each day, the noghts become more nightless here in Lapland. The sun stays above the horizon even at times like midnight. This means only one thing - the Midsummer is getting closer! 

Today, the 19th of June, begins the time period in which the Midsummer celebration can take place. Midsummer celebration, also known as St. John's Feast Day or Juhannus in Finland (and in many more names around the world) is celebrated between June 19th and June 25th. ☀️

This is a celebration, which marks the middle of summer (Midsummer), the beginning of the Astronomical summer and the nativity of St. John the Baptist. Usually it is celebrated on the 21st, 24th, 25th of June or the days closest to the summer solstice 19th-25th of June.

But how do Finns celebrate Juhannus?

Well, as the english name hints us, the Finns have a feast! They would go together with friends or family to a summer cottage close by a lake (mökki) and they would bring a lot of food and beverages. Some of them might do some fishing in the lake as well. And as we all know - the sauna in the cottage must be used😄!

Long story - short: Finns would spend the time with their companions having lots of fun, food, drinks and sauna.

Some traditions, like the Juhannuskokko, would include the building of a huge bonfire. And, of course, there are also some superstitions related to Juhannus, one of them being that if you put flowers underneath your pillow you would catch a glimpse of your future husband/wife.

So, if you celebrate Juhannus where you're coming from, how do you celebrate it? Is it anything simillar to the way we do here? And if you're spending the summer in Finland, remember, you can now celebrate Juhannus with your friends/family and also see the magnificent Midnight Sun (or as it is called in Finnish Yötön Yö)!

- Boris Stoev, tourism student - 

In here I have prepared my thesis, had German language courses, and held meetings with teachers and group project members. Despite the extremely sudden turn towards 100% digital studying during the spring, I must confess that this digital semester of mine has proven to be quite successful one.

Despite the sudden change in the global situation, the actual studying experience remained largely the same. Many of my prior classes were already conducted through online, or at least had some elements that were completed with the use of online tools, so the concept was not unfamiliar to me. Moving my classroom from the campus to my own home office proved to be remarkably easy as I was already familiar with the online systems that the school uses.

There were, of course, some unavoidable technical difficulties occasionally, but those were fixed always quite quickly. The presence of helpful and immensely professional IT-experts were always present during online classes. Thanks to them, technical issues had no effect on my learning experience.

While I missed actual human contact that was present during the classroom, communication with teachers remained clear even through digital channels. The professionality and helpfulness of the teachers was still the same as ever, even if it was expressed through email and video chat.

My digital semester has also been extremely educational for me. It has been interesting to see how our everyday organizations have been able to respond to the challenges that the global health situations present us. I have also gained a newfound respect towards the IT-systems and the busy people that maintain them!

When the global health situation finally improves, and the school opens its doors, it remains to be seen how this experience will change the study process in the future? Will we return permanently to the classrooms, or make a migration towards entirely digital learning experience? That we will see in the future.

- Matti, Business student -

Federico’s home university is "Foro Italico" in Rome. The "Foro Italico" university is devoted to sport science. Federico arrived in Rovaniemi on 14 August and started traineeship on 15/08.

Federico decided to come to Lapland University of Applied Sciences because he likes the Finnish teaching method that is based on the idea of student independence and skills-based curriculum. Other attractiveness factor is Finnish nature! Federico praises the landscape around his studies as wonderful.

Federico stays with the Finnish landscape for six months, which means that he becomes familiar with various seasons that Lapland provides. In Lapland University of Applied Sciences Federico has various tasks. First, he is doing a practical training with several courses of judo (children and teenagers) and he is writing a review about AMID project (Athletic Migration in Dual Career) that will be his final exam at "Foro Italico" University. Secondly, he is implementing a course regarding human in cold. Thirdly, he has many kinds of support tasks linked with the AMiD project.

Federico has met many people during the orientation week and has made friendships with exchange students and tutors of Lapland University of Applied Sciences. He gets along well with local teachers and colleagues.

The tutors of Lapland University of Applied Sciences support the integration for the exchange students. The tutors are available to help the exchange students about everything (studies, practicalities and leisure). Every Thursday there is a tutor park where exchange students can come and ask questions or get help from tutors. In the end, once at semester they organize a trip for exchange students!

Photo: Federico Palumbo from University of Rome and Niko Niemisalo, staff of Lapland University of Applied Sciences

The IB18 group was represented this year by fourteen students from Russia, China, Bangladesh, Nepal, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Mali, Zambia and Finland. The Fair, which is part of the curriculum in International Business, involves preparations in theory and practice with a combination of contact lessons and independent study worth five credits.

The general objectives of the study unit are for the students to become familiar with various cross-cultural theories, principles and elements of intercultural communication, and primarily international teamwork. These theoretical subjects in the form of workshops, excursions and lectures prepare the students to critically understand cultural differences and the individuals behind the cultures, to work as team and as the ultimate result to implement an event together.

The International and Multicultural Fair also provides the first year IB students with an environment and occasion to demonstrate their oral and written English language competence as part of their studies in the overlapping English at Work study unit.

During the Fair day the organizing group IB18S showcased the cultures of their national countries in multiple ways featuring the theme of business etiquette around the world. A relevant topic in both global and glocal context.

The beautiful brochures about good business manners in respective countries, the skillful DIY deco in the lobby, and the interesting artifacts, self-crafted flags, ornaments, and photos on the country stands attracted a fair amount of passers-by to pop in, to ask questions or just to have a peek.

Several nursing, forestry and business students had an integrated English language or multicultural assignment to be completed in the Fair.

The organizing group of the Fair revealed and shared their talents through music performances, inspirational speeches and enlightening presentations. Each individual contributed to the relaxed and international atmosphere of the Fair enabling entwining of English language learning, multicultural skills, and perhaps most importantly encounters between Finnish and foreign students. This is something that is constantly mentioned as a development need in the feedback of both national and international students.

Students seem to want to have more study related opportunities to get to know each other and share their knowledge and skills.

The International and Multicultural Fair, featuring business etiquette around the world 2018, was a success in many ways and the IB18S received merely positive feedback for their efforts and energetic presence.

The following day the group gathered to a “debriefing” session over a cup of coffee in the campus cafeteria. In the discussions and reflections it became evident that the students had learnt even more than they had initially expected. The challenging event planning process that had started three months earlier had taught the individual students above all about teamwork and cultural diversity, resilience and learning by doing together.

The group had also gained a fair amount of knowhow on event planning and marketing and they had learnt the ABC’s of organizing an event. Most of all they had learnt how to work as a group. Despite the fact that they all came from different backgrounds, they had found themselves being determined and pursuing towards a common goal.

According to the students, it will certainly be useful to have events like this every year. In their opinion, because of the International and Multicultural Fair, they became closer to each other and stronger as a group. All objectives in the curriculum were met with flying colours. Learning happened and competences were demonstrated spiced with some excellent team spirit, a lot of laughs, and fun.

Congrats and thanks go to Nelli, Halsey, Eric, Kennedy, Maria, Vart, Mark, Alex, Long, Niia, Nissan, Nassira, Sushma, and Sewon for making the Fair happen and for having an ever so positive attitude towards learning and life even in the midst of darkness and ice outside.

The joint event report that the group wrote as a collaborative writing task to wrap up the entire semester, served as a source of information and feedback to even further develop events like this to happen more often. The advice and experiences that the group reported will be appreciated as hopefully a new group sets to make the International and Multicultural Fair happen again in 2019.

A direct quote from the IB18S group to their future IB peers seems appropriate here:

“Dear future IB students,
It is a pleasure for us to share our experience with you and give practical advice. First of all, it is important to mention that you do not have to be perfect. Learn from your mistakes and be persistent. You should always remember to respect your teachers and set deadlines. Work as a group and divide responsibilities and tasks equally. Do not forget that time goes past faster than you can even imagine, so do everything in advance, not the day before. For us this is only the beginning of our journey and you will hear more about us in the future.” (students from IB18S)

 

Taina Liu

My name is Tanja and I am a 23-year-old native Lappish woman from a small village not that far away from Rovaniemi, from the beautiful Tornio Valley beside the Swedish border. They say that the hospitality comes along with traditions of the region where I was born and raised during my childhood. My mom and grandmother have also worked in the same field, hospitality, so I guess it’s something important to me because of that as well. When we are thinking about it from these angles, it was a natural choice for me to apply for a school of Tourism and Hospitality Management.

We were the first group doing certain kinds of studies or we tested new study methods. It was both challenging of course for us and especially for teachers but also very rewarding. It also tells something about the practices of Lapland University of Applied Sciences. At least they do not stick with the old grey methods and dusty books lying in the corners of the library but they are always designing something new.

We had the pleasure to learn and practise our skills in the real life context. Probably SantaPark and Arctic Design Week have stayed in my mind best of all these projects where we had a commissioner involved in the study unit. Product development and experience design for SantaPark’s new Käpylehmä accommodation concept was really interesting and it was great to be able to be part of it. Arctic Design Week which gathers stakeholders from different levels – University of Lapland, City of Rovaniemi, Pilke House, Arktikum, Korundi and Rovaniemi Development Ltd for instance – was really a fascinating experience where we learnt networking and project managerial skills. We did our best for the development of it and it was a real learning situation.

I have been abroad during my studies all in all three times. During my Basic Training I was in Germany, in a small family-owned wellness hotel in a fairy tale kind of Alp village in the border of Austria and from there I flew almost straight to the other side of the world, the United States of America. In Missouri, there was a town called Cape Girardeau, where I spent four months in total doing business studies, making new friends from all over the world and getting valuable life experiences. I really got so much out of this journey and I warmly recommend everybody to go out there and see the world. Then there was a summer a year ago that I spent in London with a tour operator ScanAdventures and accomplished the Advanced Training. The real life experience with working in a tourism company like that widened my professional perspective more than ever during the studies.

All in all, I’m leaving behind me my studies with DPT13 with very nostalgic, warm and grateful feelings. I believe all of us have overcome ourselves, being excited about cool projects and events we have had the pleasure to be part of. I am closing the door of the school with bright mind and the pack bag filled with valuable skills and knowledge: so many nice experiences, new people in my life, I believe lifetime friendships, much of personal growth and career opportunities. In short, that was what my studies were about. I wish you all nice summer as well as good luck and bright mind if you are going for tourism studies!

Best wishes

Tanja <3