FOCUS Student Magazine - Issue 12

ISSUE NR 12 / SUMMER 2015

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20% DISCOUNT WITH VIA DESIGN AND AU HERNING STUDENT CARD!*

* Does not apply to special offers. stergade 16, 7400 Herning

1Im FOCUS Student Magazine. Check out what I have inside!

Hello!

LIFESTYLE

15 Success / aka common sense, dedication and attention to opportunities30 Summer Wallflowers / A peek into summers delicious new trends42 10 Tips on How to Barbeque! / Fiery grill, coal and skewers and youre ready for a juicy summer menu44 Strawberry Fields / Strawberries for breakfast, lunch and late summer dinners

CAREER

10 Internship Hunt / Get in the drivers seat and nail your career priorities12 In The Spotlight: AGURK / Scandinavian touch, minimum waste and feminine streetwear18 10 Tips on How to Succeed in A Job Interview / Exclusive insight from Bang & Olufsen

PERSPECTIVE

6 AU Herning: Explicit Version / ATTENTION! Abbreviations and highly judgmental stereotypes included!22 Meet Annet Muru / The feminine touch behind FOCUS Student Magazine25 Meet Janis Zirnitis / Our own Steve Mccurry and Bruce Wayne in one person28 A Story about Regular People / The ones you cross paths with every day, yet

CULTURE

4 A Sip of Vietnam / The shy people with a passion for white little lies38 Summer Travelogue of 2015 / East or West, (sometimes) home is the best

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20% DISCOUNT WITH VIA DESIGN AND AU HERNING STUDENT CARD!*

* Does not apply to special offers. stergade 16, 7400 Herning

Staff Contributors Special thanks

Contact us

EDITORS LETTER

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

SUB-EDITOR

PROOFREADERS

WRITERS

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

ILLUSTRATORS

PHOTOGRAPHERSCHAIRMAN

FINANCIAL MANAGER

Agata Doraczyska Liva Nackalne Bang & Olufsen A/S

The Old Irish Pub - Herning

Ileana Coco

Wojciech mijski

Edvard L. Tramsen Janis Zirnitis

Teodora AncaGrete AstoverIeva Ozolia

Annet Muru

[email protected]

Agnieszka ukasiewiczSigita SukackaitMaria Bilkiewicz

Ileana Coco Raluca DumitruLoredana Muat

Raluca DumitruSimone EriksenCristina MariaIeva Ozolia

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

COVER CONCEPTJanis ZirnitisGrete Astover

Eva Cao Thi

Annet MuruExecutive Editor

cited about the smallest things in life. Go outsi-de. Stare at the trees. Catch some sun While thin-king big spontaneous thoughts. Relax and give yourself that kind of mental leisure once in a while. #4 Dont give up. Did you ever take no for an answer when you really wanted something as a kid? It might have been a cupcake or the coolest new toy, doesnt matter a dream is a dream. And its worth fighting for. Your relentless inner child can help you not to back down when your dreams and desires are concerned.

To reconnect with the fun-loving and exuberant part of you, you have to do some soul searching because it might be hiding under the piles of responsibilities, expectati-ons, deadlines and life goals. But when you find it, refuse to outgrow of some of the childish things (in its very po-sitive meaning) when reality settles back in: #1 Forgive fast. Kids dont hold grudges and dont need long apologies. Just fix it, forget it and move on. Stop ob-sessing over small things. Let go of worries and see if the world around you tumbles. Surprise! It doesnt. What a lighthearted feeling!

#2 Have fun and laugh. How obvious, right? But its actua-lly astonishing how kids are always ready to have fun, no matter the circumstances. Because fun is a choice. And it leads to at least one good shriek of laughter. Your car-diovascular system flourishes with the entertainment! #3 Daydream. Every now and then, catch yourself dreaming about unsubstantial desires or being ex-

Remember what it was like to be a kid? Fun. Carefree. Remember that excessive fearlessness and recklessness? Everything seemed so easy and achievable, stress didnt exist not like now, right? I have something to tell you: you may be an adult now, but your inner child is alive and well within you, and it has got a lot of wisdom to share!

What were those childhood fantasies that made you feel happy and fulfilled? Build on those things even when being a responsible adult with a happy-go-lucky child inside. And I really do hope that some of the childhood dreams of my team members will eventually come true You can get a glimpse of what these are on the next page.

Stay adventurous and silly, and enjoy the simple things in life!

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What was your dream profession as a child?THE CREW

ANNETA class teacher. You know, when I was young and naive, and thought its surely such a fun and easy job to deal with 20 kids at a time. Well, now Im running 20 students for publishing a magazine... I can see the pattern already.

ILEANAMy gramma always used to say I should become a doctor, and cure her whenever she would be sick, so in a way, doctor seemed like the best job to have - save lives and keep family healthy...

SIMONE

Architect and artist. Im still dreaming / working on it...AGNIESZKAI dreamed about being Indiana Jones. That would be a combination of an archeologist and detective. Equipped with a whip, of course.

An artist or designer - I liked to draw a lot when I was young.SIGITA

WOJCIECHI always wanted to be a soldier... Honest version: the garbage truck driver.

RALUCA

During day-time a banker, because I assumed he has a lot of money, and a singer during the night.

TEODORAI had many dream professions as a child. I wanted to become architect, jeweller, professor, chemist or farmacist... actually I am still looking for my dream profession.

MARIAIve always been precise with what I was doing, so my dream was to become a pathologist (too many crime series). Nowadays Im cutting... fabrics.

CRISTINADream big wasnt a thing for me. I wanted to be a librarian. Still do come to think of it.

LOREDANAFunny enough, I wanted to be a nun. Not because of my deep love for Jesus, but out of laziness. Somehow I thought all nuns do is sit around the whole day and be really qui-et. So you know, chilling and daydreaming seemed like a pretty damn good job!

IEVA

Auto mechanic as Letty (from Fast and Furious)

GRETEStill wondering...

JANIS

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a dentist by day and professional hitman by night. Succeeded only by 50% - Batman power.

EVAI wanted to be a ballerina but then I found out that its not just about wearing tulle skirts so I switched to being any kind of driver. Yeah, I just liked cars that much.

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Contact us

EDITORS LETTER

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

SUB-EDITOR

PROOFREADERS

WRITERS

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

ILLUSTRATORS


FINANCIAL MANAGER



Ileana Coco

Wojciech mijski



Annet Muru

[email protected]






Eva Cao Thi








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SIMONE




RALUCA






IEVA



JANIS





Contact us

EDITORS LETTER

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

SUB-EDITOR

PROOFREADERS

WRITERS

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

ILLUSTRATORS


FINANCIAL MANAGER



Ileana Coco

Wojciech mijski



Annet Muru

[email protected]






Eva Cao Thi








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SIMONE




RALUCA






IEVA



JANIS




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Text and photos by Eva Cao Thi

Since many students from VIA Design are going on a study trip in Vietnam and many more are thinking about applying next year, we have decided to give you guys a taste of the land of non-stop smiling people before you pack your bags.

This is going to be a short story about a country that has always been just a memory for me, a land far far away. Its not going to be just descriptive, its not a clipping from a travel guide, I will share with you a piece of me.

Vietnam is a communist country which is in the bloom of consumerism. People are in the haze of buying, trying and being high on everything. Dont get scared away, the process here unravels itself differently than everywhere else; you can still feel the Asian culture in the air.

Vietnamese value family over money, and they still value Vietnamese over other nations. You walk into a street market as a foreigner and chances are youll most probably get screwed. You can never win a bargain with a Vietnamese. It is the same rule as you would never win an argument with your parents: they are always right. That makes this nation one of the best at doing business and they have been proving that everywhere.

People are in the haze of buying, trying and being high

on everything.

We are never on time and we expect you to know that.

We enjoy life, we eat anytime.

We lie, accidentally. In our core, we believe in truth, we hate to be lied to. White lies, that is our thing. You just have to dig really deep to sense that we are not completely blank about things. We avoid telling you anything straightforward. You have to be a master at de tails in order to manage to catch our lie. Small details are the core of our culture. When you serve dinner, the first people to receive food are the ones who are considered most important, hence the elders. You should never give another person something with just one hand; you deceive them in that way, use both of your hands. Age is very important for us; it indicates how you should behave. It is all about respecting the elder who knows better. We are never on time and we expect you to know that. Vietnamese weddings are full of delicious food and starving people. It usually starts a few hours later then it is written on the invitation. Dinner is served understandably with the same delay.

We enjoy life, we eat anytime. You can get any meal you want on one single street, just sit tight and enjoy the ride. It usually con-sists of a hot bowl of soup with any type of noodles, any meat or any veggies; super crispy cakes fried in a second, with fillings vary-ing from sweet beans with sesame to rice with meat in the middle. The only thing you are going to miss is the variety in the choice of alcohol. We are unfortunately not good drinkers. On the other hand, we are best in serving cold icy smoothies and totally yummy ice cream based fruit drinks. And our sweet and milky ice coffee? Thats a winner!

Lastly, your Denmark proven biking skills are going to save your life. The traffic there is terrible, but if you embrace your inner soul of a survivor, you should be fine. I would highly recommend taking a bike trip outside the rush of the city. The watery rice fields in combination with never ending green lands are to die for. The sea is going to take your breath away with its greatness and solitary rocks thrown about in the middle of nowhere.


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8WOULD YOU LIKE TO

INFLUENCE THE STUDENT LIFE IN

BIRK ... and make it m

ore

awesome?

It is your chance because Student Activity Association

is looking for NEW VOLUNTEERS!

CHEERFUL AND ACTIVE PEOPLE ARE WELCOME TO JOIN:

EVENT COMMITTEE

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE

PARTY COMMITTEE

Contact us NOW through our Facebook page! www.facebook.com/SAA.AUHE

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WOULD YOU LIKE TO



ore

awesome?




EVENT COMMITTEE


PARTY COMMITTEE



8WOULD YOU LIKE TO



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awesome?




EVENT COMMITTEE


PARTY COMMITTEE


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WOULD YOU LIKE TO



ore

awesome?




EVENT COMMITTEE


PARTY COMMITTEE



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WOULD YOU LIKE TO



ore

awesome?




EVENT COMMITTEE


PARTY COMMITTEE


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WOULD YOU LIKE TO



ore

awesome?




EVENT COMMITTEE


PARTY COMMITTEE



INTERNSHIP HUNTA hunt to trap yourself in the body of a narcissist.

Text by Eva Cao ThiIllustrations by Teodora Anca

VIA Design is known for offering students a mix of theoretical knowledge and practical experience. The schools mission is to function like a facility where we get the chance to transform ourselves into multi skilled professionals. Throughout the studies, we have a few chances to try out our limits outside the school properties. And the best one is an internship. Whether you choose to stay in Denmark or go abroad, it is still the nearest to reality option to find your true path.

In this article I would like to talk about the first step, how to introduce yourself to a company - just a few tips

for you to take under consideration. Nothing is guaranteed.

Where should I apply?

Alice asked the Cheshire cat, who was sitting on the tree, What road do I take?The cat asked, Where do you want to go? I dont know. Alice answered. Then, said the cat, it really doesnt matter, does it?

If you dont have your future lined up on a piece of paper, its the best time to find out what you want to do.

Dont restrict yourself by anything but your abilities. It is very useful to sit down and think about questions like: What am I good at?, What have I achieved so far?

However, these are not the hardest questions. You shouldnt be looking just at what you can do, use the analytical part of your brain and rediscover yourself - find out what you aspire to be.

What am I good at? What do I aspire to be?

Writing this down is like making lemonade, despite the fact that you do not have enough lemons. You just have to squeeze out what you got until the last drop. Then sweeten it up with enough spoons of sugar to make it the best lemonade in your neighbourhood.

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Gather the work done so far. Step back and be a good judge of yourself.

What have you actually achieved, what have you learned and what do you suck at?

On a second thought, throw away the last mentioned. You do not want to make lemonade out of bad lemons.

And the last question:

What could I do, but I never find time to do it? What do I love to do, but there is just not enough time to do?

My personal tactics are:

Now, you have plenty of options on how to display your work, do it with love and do not keep your creativity on a leash.

You are more than prepared to find your lemonade lover. Keep a neat database of the potential ones, just in

case somebody falls through. Give the name a face. Make the first move.

Lastly, the common idea of job hunting is: The company picks you, you have to fight for it. but if you take enough time and do

the picking yourself, you have higher chances to at least make the right kind of lemonade.

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From Sr. HR Business Partner Lone Qvist, Bang & OlufsenPhotos by Bang & Olufsen

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10 TIPS ON HOW TO...SUCCEED IN A JOB INTERVIEW

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FOCUS is always bringing you uplifting stories about outstanding people, enjoyable places and important happenings in and around the campus, but what we havent written about so far is even more influential in terms of making it all happen: the wonder-team behind FOCUS Student Magazine! So here it is - starting from this issue, we will introduce you the energetic and hard-working students who are putting all of their

efforts in making the student life in Birk more entertaining, one article at a time.

Text and illustrations by Ieva OzolinaPhotos by Janis Zirnitis

1. Tell us shortly about yourself? Where are you now? What are your plans for the next 5 years?Shortly, Im an overly-active person whose intention was to come to Herning just for 2 years to obtain a Mas-ters degree (in Marketing and Business Innovation), but life has had its own plan and most probably I will stick around much longer than I had initially planned. In five years, I will hopefully be working in a position where I can continue running around and being busy as a bee with different projects. And having the cutest dog as a pet.

2. You are the executive editor of FOCUS magazine... how do you feel in this position? What are your fears and accomplishments? Being in this position is a huge responsibility and there are soooo many different things to take care of. I have to be hon-est, I didnt expect THAT much work when I initially agreed on accepting to become an editor, but its definitely all worth it when another issue is successfully launched. The biggest fear, for sure, is to let my team down in any possible way.

3. How has FOCUS Student Magazine grown from its first issue? The framework of the magazine has been the same from the very beginning: giving students the opportunity to show their skills to the open public and get better at these article by article; and giving readers the opportunity to enjoy all kinds of entertaining and educating student-re-lated writings and being up-to-date with what is hap-pening around the campus. Of course, we have improved along the way and established some standards: worked out a new logo and chosen a fixed format, furthermore, pay-ing extra attention to the quality of the paper and colors.

4. How it is to be a part of such a creative and amazing team? Well, you already said it its amazing! I get to learn so

much every day, and Im incredibly excited and proud of my team members and the outcome of their work all the time. I have the deepest respect towards them.

5. It seems, you are very active in the student life, I bet there are other volunteer organizations where you invested your free time and skills?You can say so. I was the president of Student Activity As-sociation, also the chairman of the International Commit-tee in 2013-2014; a student representative of HK Studeren-de (former LAK) an organization for communication and marketing specialty students; and one of the organizers of the Startup Weekend Herning 2013. Outside of school, Im the board member of JCI Herning International. Plus, I like to volunteer at all kinds of sports events happen-ing in Herning. There is A LOT happening around here!

6. If you would make an article about Places you must visit in your life, what would you write about?Tartu, Tallinn, Vru, Prnu, Kuressaare, and other places in Estonia :)

7. What small piece of you could you share with the readers? Im a big dreamer and tend to be a bit too optimistic at times my personality test suggested to temper my opti-mism with realism and keep returning to the realities, haha. I am very keen on the saying: Everything ends well. If it is not well, it has not ended yet. (that is clearly closely con-nected with my optimism) I have the worst memory (ask my boyfriend what he thinks about that). Im quite of a grammar nazi and even won a regional linguistics competition in 9th grade (so much win). I played basketball and volleyball when I was younger, but now I probably suck at both of them


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Undoubtedly, the best illustration of me is drawn by 7-year old

Oskar: How would Annet look like if shed be a monster.

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Some friends of mine were already part of the team and I thought why not try something out of my comfort zone, so I joined Focus family. As it turned out it is so much fun, I have a chance to show others my way of

looking at the world through my Canon.Text & Illustratios by Ieva Ozolina

meet

Text and illustrations by Ieva Ozolina

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Crossroads are an interesting thing and I mean this in the most met-aphorical sense possible, unless youre some kind of road aficionado. Every now and then we find ourselves faced with one, and whether we like the choice aspect or the promise of change or not, these de-cisions are often reflected in those who surround us. Its easy to keep people close (is it?) when you want to, but what happens to all those that you leave behind - the acquaintances rather than the friends, not out of some sense of enmity, but simply because youre moving on.

Im a people person, not in the sense that I am a social butterfly who navigates between festivals and secret parties, but in the sense that I generally find people utterly fascinating and completely binding. Their strange quirks and secret gestures, coupled with some oddity that gives character to a sum of features, is what fuels my interest. Its why Ive always felt that photographs with no people in it, are a waste of paper. Nature is a wonder, but more so is Man. Spending a lifetime (at least thats how it feels) writing about extraordinary people has made me appreciate the ordinary ones so much more.

This being said, the international lives that we have and share here in these pages push us relentlessly to meet people and discuss, and to use that magic word that everybody loves nowadays, to network. We find ourselves stuck in this web of contacts and colleagues. We barely skim the surface of their personality, maybe weve only met on Facebook, but we always know the guy.

The Internet is the apex of knowing people that youve never met.

This situation got me thinking. In two years of university Ive come across more people than I did in 18 years of life. Add the fact that some were a motley crew of nationalities, others more exotic than the ones before, while most exhibited wild different customs from mine or barely any distinction other than a passport. A paradox al-together. I was fascinated before they even opened their mouths.

Text by Cristina MariaIllustrations by Grete Astover

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So there it was the first day of university. We were all random-ly thrown together, in a foreign country with nothing but hopes and dreams to keep us going, and the only thing I was able to thinkabout was just how many people had tattoos all over their bodies. Hers was a special one, a sprawling rose dead centre on her chest, colors and vines and thorns and all. Smoke was constantly rising up from the corner of her mouth and nimble fingers replaced cigarettes with practiced ease. Later, shed make a habit of wearing a military jacket that appealed to my inner comic book hero fan and I thought she was simply the coolest thing to walk the earth.

Her friend had plenty of tattoos as well, but in his case, it didnt draw the eye in the same way that the tank-top/shorts combo did. A man as laid back as possible, he betrayed his Scandinavian roots but lacked the general sullen look of a Dane. His way was that of tie-dye and galaxy prints, caps and no-name glasses as opposed to the Ray-Bans that were on everyones faces. It took a while to get over so.much.nonchalance., but I did and I realized I never met some-one with that kind of warp speed functioning brain, work ethic and a general endearingness that simply gets under your skin. I still cringe every time he curses in presentations, but you can blame it on the little Captain America righteousness in me.

Some of the people I met on that first day are the ones that I got to know quite well later. I spent my time in constant amazement, that students from the Baltic countries could look so much like Legolas, while navigating those awkward days with not knowing if I have to wave or hug or just pretend that I dont know you when I see you on the street. We are fortunate enough to be in a teamwork obsessed environment, therefore we have to interact with each other whether we like it or not. Its easy to find a comfort group and work within it every time, but novelty equals excitement, so branch out and mix things up. This was an opportunity for me to see how other people work, how the things that we chose to pursue influence our mind-set,

from the impossibly talkative marketing people to wildly imagina-tive designers. It adds to the regret as well.

I wish I had more chances to talk to the girl with the papaya tree in her backyard. She was a contrast in motion with everything that set her apart, buried inside a relentless mind and under impecca-ble work. Clean cuts, expert finishes and basic colors were the first things you noticed - so the soft spoken, delicate inflections of her voice were always a surprise. You wouldve thought she was Anna when in fact Grace had been her kindred spirit all along.

And then there were people who I never got to meet. That tall, skin-ny thing with curly hair and a contemptuous attitude to everything eluded my analyses every time, except for the rumors that he was as hard a worker as one could find. These guys became defined through associations. They were many others too: the girl with the black 14in Cambridge Satchel that I checked every other day to see if it was on sale; the one with the colors; the dancer...

All in all, we move on from this type of things with every crossroad that we face. There is no tragedy in it, only a little regret. New peo-ple will show up, networks will expand and soon enough well get in touch for a favor or two. Mock the Internet all you want, but it has made forgetting a lot more difficult. Exactly as it should be.

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This being said, the international lives that we have and share here in these pages push us relentlessly to meet people and discuss, and to use that magic word that everybody loves nowadays, to network. We find ourselves stuck in this web of contacts and colleagues.

Documents

FOCUS Student Magazine - Issue 12