Category: In English

Juggling independence and uncertainty – what entrepreneurship is really like

What is it like to stray from the straight-forward path of a solid job? We talked with some entrepreneurs from Oulu to unveil their motivations for seeking out entrepreneurship.

In English Työelämä

TEKSTI Pablo Santur

Developing a strategy, paying bills, hiring people, contacting customers… the daily lives of entrepreneurs are anything but monotonous. However, there are also risks in the constantly changing situations of entrepreneurship. In this article we take a look to the lives of those who choose the path of building their own companies.

Until university, our paths are fairly straightforward and easy to follow. You start in kindergarten move on to school, institute, or university and finally get a degree. After that, it is not that easy. Maybe twenty or thirty years ago you wanted to find a job in a good company where to make a career, and then enjoy your retirement.

These days however, it is more common to change jobs several times during our professional lives. The recent economic crisis also turned the professional market more unstable. Facing this situation many still pursue a stable income as an employee, but others decide to create their own businesses to make a living.

If you decide to be an employee, you need to attract the interest of recruiters, find someone to hire you, adapt to your workplace and do your best being useful and proactive. If it is a win–win relationship, you get promoted, or just keep working in that company. If it is not, you will either seek another job or be fired. But what about those who instead of looking for someone else to employ them, start a company themselves? How does that entrepreneurship path evolve? What challenges and rewards does it offer? To solve these questions, we approached local entrepreneurs to hear their stories.

What is an entrepreneur?

If entrepreneurship is the activity of setting up a business expecting to get profit, then we can agree that an entrepreneur is a person who organizes this business venture. However, it is not an easy task to define entrepreneurship. For example scholars don’t seem to agree on how exactly to do it. Some of the variety of definitions include:

“‘The creation and extraction of value from an environment”

Alistair Anderson

“The capacity of seeing things in a way which afterwards proves to be true, even if it cannot be established at the moment”

Joseph Schumpeter

“The tactical invention of new practices that change styles of living”

Daniel Hjorth and Chris Steyaert

These definitions articulate two core elements of entrepreneurship: invention and action. Although partially agreeing with this, Mia Kemppaala, founder of the Polar Bear Pitching event, also adds other characteristics to define entrepreneurship. She considers that some characteristics common to all entrepreneurs are to be constant learners, problem solvers, and non-conformist people. In her words: “Entrepreneurs identify a problem in the world, and instead of complaining, they act and try to change the situation.”

This active attitude is also highlighted by Zara Kukkamaa, MBA graduate and CEO of Hohot Consulting, and Ville Saarenpää, chairman of the Oulu Entrepreneurship Society. When asked about entrepreneurship Kukkamaa referred to the Finnish word “yrittäjä”, which means “one who tries”. Similarly, Saarenpää points out entrepreneurship is about “doing things, trying things, and being curious about things to be aware of the possibilities”.

But is this “continuous trying” not also present in the life of employees? Either developing a product, organizing an event, or implementing a change, we must be curious and try different solutions. If you are at risk of losing your job or you need to find effective solutions to real-life problems, you need to try different options before finding the most suitable. So, if using creativity to find solutions is also a part of a “standard working life”, that isn’t enough to define entrepreneurship. Why is it so difficult to define what it’s truly about?

The cost of trying

Besides creativity another word usually associated with entrepreneurship is freedom. But not having a boss, managing your own schedule and setting your own salary also has a cost: uncertainty. You can follow the path, identify a need, develop a solution, test it, and then sell it, but you don’t know what can happen later.

In that sense, Hanna Manninen, CEO of MABD, says: “You need to learn how to live with the stress of the uncertainty because you never know where the next paycheck is going to come from.”

It seems the difference between being an employee and an entrepreneur lies on the consequences of failing. For most employees, the consequences of mistakes in their jobs is not something dangerous, but  for entrepreneurs it may imply losing clients, employees, and in worst cases, even the companies they have built.

Maybe this is the reason why the entrepreneurship path does not suit everyone. In the words of Kukkamaa: “Everybody can try entrepreneurship once in their lives, but not everyone fits in being an entrepreneur for the rest of their lives.”

Regarding risks, Manninen considers that a dose of madness is needed to run your own business.

“As an entrepreneur you can learn, but not everyone is made for it. For being an entrepreneur, you need to be a little bit mad to go after your dreams, but you also need to be brave and believe in your own skills”, she says.

Similarly, Vili Valolahti and Joonas Tapio, Vice-Chairman and Treasurer of the Oulu Entrepreneurship Society, respectively, consider that part of becoming an entrepreneur is managing risk.

Valolahti says: “As an entrepreneur, you have to be brave, but you also need to be careful”, and Tapio complements “without a risk, you cannot make a profit, but you need to evaluate and manage the risk.”

Trying to manage that risk, many times entrepreneurs face burnout, concern, and depression. When asked about their daily activities most of the interviewees included an incredible wide range of activities. As Toni Eskola, Electrical Engineering graduate and CEO of Qridi says: “I can’t even list them, there are so many. Sales, Finance, Management, Administrative Work, Product Development etc. More and more management things which I need and take time.”

In fact, in one of the first studies about mental health issues and entrepreneurship, Dr. Michael Freeman studied 242 US entrepreneurs, finding that 49 % of them had mental health issues. Acknowledging this complex situation, many interviewees tried to maintain a healthy work-life balance. In the words of Matti Haapamäki, graduated from Industrial Engineering and Management, and current CEO of Load Last Save: “A person can learn to do anything they set their mind to, but I don’t believe in always being able to give 100 % of yourself in every situation. Everyone has off days and we should not feel guilty about that.”

The effects of the environment

In a study published in 2018, Robert Fairlie and Frank Fossen divide business founders between “necessity” and “opportunity” entrepreneurs. For the former, entrepreneurship is a way to overcome unemployment, while the latter start their businesses when having a job. Likewise, Giacomin, Janssen, Guyot, and Lohest analyzed the profiles of 538 Belgian company founders, finding that their socio-economic characteristics (e.g. age, family, economic environment) could impact their approach to entrepreneurship. For example, children of entrepreneurs were more likely to fit into the “opportunity” category, while older people starting their own businesses conceived them as a necessity.

The results of Giacomin and colleagues partially confirm that a protective welfare system can lower entrepreneurial intent. Although Finland is a stable economic environment, not long ago, an unexpected situation pushed the emergence of many entrepreneurs in Oulu: Nokia’s collapse. Kemppaala believes this situation “challenged everyone’s assumptions about the future of the city, emphasizing the local characteristics to make a difference.” Against the odds, Oulu people embraced a Sisu attitude, adapting and turning the challenge into an opportunity.

But despite that specific moment in Oulu’s recent history, the Finnish welfare system provides safety. Here, more likely people will get a job with a regular income that assure them a good life and retirement. So, if there is safety in regular work, why take up entrepreneurship? For Kemppaala it is a potential side effect of the current socio-economic structure. “I do appreciate the social system that we have. I have been blessed by it. But I also think it can be like a double-sided sword. It is a good thing helping people to overcome their needs, but it can also promote some passive attitude.”

However, that same environment provides a safety net for entrepreneurs willing to innovate and add value. For example, the funding programs for students in the Oulu Innovation Center or the grant support for entrepreneurs from TE-keskus, plus all the options given by Business Finland. For Tapio the system helps those who dare to pursue creating a company. “You don’t learn about possibilities in the classroom, you have to go to the real world. Doesn’t matter if you fail, as far as you don’t have debts or anything like that, you will have second chances.”

The expected pay-off

If entrepreneurship is such a challenging path, what drives and helps entrepreneurs to persist when facing discouragement? Exploring in the interviewees’ stories, I found they persist because of the positive personal outcomes, as well as a strong sense of purpose. About the former, Kukkamaa realizes that her entrepreneurial role helped her to develop certain skills. “I have created my personal authority in the field where I am working. I have also improved my management skills to organize my team.”

Likewise, Haapamäki thinks he has become more adaptable. “Now I have a stronger ability to learn new things and take in feedback, both be empowered by the positive and learn from the negative.”

The sense of purpose is evident when talking with Manninen. She manages her art gallery with the confidence of the positive impact of art in people, and the impact she can make in Oulu with her company.

“There is a relationship between the entrepreneur and the community. We can change the way businesses are run and how people are managed. As an entrepreneur, I can decide what things to do, what my values are. I don’t need to fit into someone else’s culture, but I can create mine”, she says.

Aligned with this, Eskola considers his company as the place from where to contribute. “I see this as my own place to do good to the world. I am not trying to get there easily. Our vision has been and still is to have a positive impact on people’s self-awareness and learning. For that we work every day.”

Since the sustainability of a company is dictated by the income and profit made, it was interesting to notice that no interviewee considered money as a main motivator. Although some people may consider entrepreneurs greedy, Kukkamaa thinks this could be explained  by their willingness to talk about money. Considering the high rate of new businesses failure it is reasonable that entrepreneurs need to constantly talk about money. Either in their relationships with customers, investors, employees or colleagues, money is intimately tied to keep the boat afloat.

Instead, most of the interviewees understand their incomes as a consequence of their effort in helping people. In that sense, Eskola points out: “You have to make a profit if you want to become a sustainable company. But when and how much are other questions.”

***

The entrepreneurship path is full of twists and turns. Although it contains risks, it also offers rewards and fulfillment. Resilient, creative, eternal non-conformist learners, entrepreneurs overcome doubts and learn from their mistakes when building their businesses. Also, although we have presented entrepreneurs and employees as different, they can also be complementary. In the words of Haapamäki: “There are few things which have the perfect time to be done. Entrepreneurship is not one of them. You’ll always have doubts. But you can reduce them by being someone else’s employee.”

Employee or entrepreneur, employee while entrepreneur, employee then entrepreneur (or the other way around), … whichever your path is, if you belong to the yrittäjät, eternal and non-conformist learners, the seed of entrepreneurship lies in you.

Edited 15.10. Changed one sentence in an interviewees line per their request.

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Pablo Santur

Learning specialist in thesis writing mode. Former TV scriptwriter. Foodie. Anime lover. Twitter: @pablodsantur

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Pablo Santur

Towards new things – how to master the unknown

Pablo Santur talks about how to deal with facing new challenges. What is the difference maker between surviving and failing when new things happen?

In English

TEKSTI Pablo Santur

If you, like me, are not from Oulu, your arrival to this city was a moment of newness. An open door to new experiences and moments.

Since uncertainty was part of the combo, I had just a blurred idea of what I was about to face. Following my truthful desire to have a good experience here, I settled down most of those moments in my memory under a shining and beautiful light.

However, part of the journey was also this pandemic, a breakup, and really difficult times adapting to this new normality. So, why new flavors, experiences or colors in the sky can be beautiful but a newness shaped by a pandemic, or a sudden break up is the opposite?

The newness full of hope

Same as you, I have faced newness many times in my life. For instance, the first time I went to the school by myself, went on a date, or started in a new job position.

Following the latest, most recent change in my working life was the shift of profession. After working as a scriptwriter and living some years in Argentina, I decided to go back to Peru. However, the landscape was not as promising as expected and I did not find a job in the media. Although it was a difficult moment, it forced me to find another door. One that later on
guided me here.

In the years I was away from Peru the number of universities grew exponentially. Since new teachers were needed, I accepted a job offer.

On the first day, I was in front of the class, all nervous, stuttering and stumbling with my ideas. It was not as easy as I thought. Both my lack of performance skills and unrealistic expectations made it difficult.

I was expecting to find students eager to know more about the field, so we all would become a family in pursuit of knowledge (naïve, idealistic, but real at that time). Instead, some were truly interested while others were not (and others did not have a clue of what they wanted).

A hundred relaxing breaths later, I realized although I was a communicator, I did not know about learning or teaching processes. And the immediate feedback from my students yawning at the back of the class was totally different to get the rating results of the TV show I wrote. And I did not know fully how to handle that.

Tim Ferriss, American best-selling author, recommends exteriorizing our fears by listing them. In my case, it took me a while, but finally I was able to express out loud (because for that I have to accept that my worst fear became true) that I did not want to be a teacher disconnected from my students. By doing that, I was able to picture the situation with some distance and establish potential alternatives. Because of my inflated expectations, I had to overcome the evident results.

On the contrary, when I decided to come to Oulu, I was more cautious in my planning. First, since I was really methodical with my savings, I knew I was going to need some other funding. Then, I looked for internships and scholarships since my arrival, and luckily I got them. Second, since I lived abroad before I knew I was going to miss my family and friends.

Although my family is extensive, there was no other Santur in town, so I joined as many groups and met as many new people as I could. At that point, I felt ready to face any challenge. However, I skipped something.

In my mind, I was fully prepared to defeat the harshest winter ever. Packed in my bags was my jacket, gloves, and socks. So, cold was not going to be a problem (the only issue was that from 11 degrees in winter to -25, no matter how well I could have planned, it is still a huge gap). However, it didn’t even cross my mind to ask about levels of sunlight during the cold. In my inexperienced understanding of Nordic winter, I thought darkness only occurred at night.

Coming from a country near the equator I was shocked not having sunlight for weeks and months. The result? My circadian rhythm was totally blown up. I confused the hours, lost sleep and no trick I used in the past was working then. In a matter of days, all my inner confidence in success collapsed.

Resilience, Oh resilience

In her TED talk, Lucy Hone, resilience expert and researcher, shared three secrets of resilient people: acceptance, focus, and benefit assessment. First, resilient people realize that bad things happen. There is nothing they can do about it, it just happens. So, instead of tormenting themselves, seeking an explanation, they just accept it. Then, they direct their attention towards the positive away from pain. Finally, they decide on what to invest their attention in, considering if it is going to be bad or good for them.

As Hone also says, knowing about resilience and being resilient are two different things. And like her, I also learned the hard way.

First, as a teacher, I just accepted that I needed the job and I could do nothing to change the students. So, instead of complaining and overwhelming myself with unnecessary stress I digged into learning processes and prepared more carefully my classes. Thus, I signed in some courses about self-regulation and then in a full Master program about learning and teaching. As I was getting more familiar with terms like self-efficacy, motivation, engagement or collaborative learning, my path towards Oulu was being paved.

Months later, when facing my collapsed circadian rhythm, the first step to fixing it was to accept that as much I could complain, I was not going to change the weather. So, since I came here to complete my studies, and there had been foreign studies coming here for years, I was going to find a solution.

Also, realizing that any effort to study was useless without fixing my sleeping problem first, led me to focus all my energy into searching for sleeping techniques or apps that could help me to get some rest to fulfill my duties.

People and stress

During most of my life, when facing problems, I was reluctant to share my feelings. I did not want to make my stress and frustration the burden of someone else. But also, I did not want to seek help to avoid admitting I was not doing it okay. However, after opening that door, I felt quite relieved, light, and willing to do it again. Who would have imagined that it was because of the oxytocin I was getting?

Resilient people realize that bad things happen. There is nothing they can do about it, it just happens.

According to the health psychologist Kelly McGonigal that is what happens when we seek support or help someone else. In fact, this hormone not only strengthens our social bonds, but also helps us recover from stress, like protecting our cardiovascular systems from its effects.

McGonigal also shared another interesting idea, against a quite common belief. Stress is not bad per se. Instead, it is your perspective on it what determines whether you benefit or suffer from it. A study with 30,000 American adults found that people who suffered a lot of stress had an increased risk of dying. But… (important but) this was only valid for those who understood stress as harmful for their health. On the other hand, people who did not consider stress as harmful were not more likely to die. Even experiencing a lot of stress, they had a lower risk of dying than those who had experienced small amounts.

Is that the difference between the two unexpected situations described at the beginning of the article? A pursued moment versus a sudden and unexpected situation? Maybe that is why we are kinder to ourselves when making mistakes in a situation we were looking for.

At least that was my case. Despite knowing I was making mistakes in my adaptation process to Finnish cultural settings, I was confident that it was only temporary. On the other hand, when facing the pandemic, I felt helpless in changing what was going on. Then, the uncertainty became overwhelming.

However, if at the beginning of this pandemic, I was really scared about the decline of my professional life, after really considering the options I could figure out potential scenarios and solutions. Also, relying on my beloved ones helped me to realize that whatever happens, we can do small things to preserve ourselves and keep living this life together. In this city, another, or wherever we want to go.

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Pablo Santur

Learning specialist in thesis writing mode. Former TV scriptwriter. Foodie. Anime lover. Twitter: @pablodsantur

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Pablo Santur

Student lunch prices to go down in 2021

In Finnish. The Finnish Ministry of Finance decided in its budget negotiations on the 16th of September to compensate student lunch prices. The prices will go down from 3,06 euros to 2,70 euros maximum at the beginning of 2021. In August 2020 the government raised the student lunch prices due to increased ingredient costs. All […]

In English Yleinen

TEKSTI Anna-Sofia Tastula

In Finnish.

The Finnish Ministry of Finance decided in its budget negotiations on the 16th of September to compensate student lunch prices. The prices will go down from 3,06 euros to 2,70 euros maximum at the beginning of 2021. In August 2020 the government raised the student lunch prices due to increased ingredient costs.

All student restaurants have not increased their pricing to match the maximum price, which is currently 3,06 euros. Using the government funding is up to each restaurant, so not all restaurants choose to use the maximum funds for meals. Currently the maximum price for preparing one student meal is five euros.

At the University of Oulu, both Juvenes and Uniresta raised their prices to 3,06 euros. Oulu University of Applied Sciences (Oamk) students paid 1,1 euros for their lunches before the raise in August. Also affecting the price is the move to Linnanmaa campus. The Oamk students now pay almost two euros more for their lunch.

Most exchange students in Finland are eligible for student priced lunches. Since 2012 students have paid 2,60 euros for their lunches. Student lunch prices have varied according to the maximum production costs. The maximum costs define how much money can be spent on making one meal. In 2011 the price for lunch was 2,50 euros. From 2003 to 2007 the price was 2,55 euros. The maximum prices have risen approximately 20–30 cents. The biggest increase, 46 cents, happened earlier this year.

In the future students will pay a maximum of 2,70 euros for their lunch. After the increase this August, the price will not go back to its previous level. The student priced lunch will cost 3,06 euros until the end of the year and even next year the price will be 10 cents higher than at the start of this year.

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Anna-Sofia Tastula

Maisterivaiheen kirjallisuuden opiskelija ja syksyn toimittajaharjoittelija. Lapsenmielinen noolikontti, joka on kiinnostunut kuolemasta, kirjallisuudesta ja kuolemasta kirjallisuudessa.

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Anna-Sofia Tastula

The second teaching period will also be held remotely – the concern is student wellbeing

On the 16th of September the University of Oulu announced that teaching will be held mostly remotely during the second teaching period as well. Remote teaching continues both at the University and the Oulu University of Applied Sciences until the end of the year.

In English Yleinen

TEKSTI Iida Putkonen

KUVAT Anna-Sofia Tastula

Read this article in Finnish.

The University of Oulu announced that teaching would be arranged primarily remotely also during the second teaching period from 26 October to 31 December 2020. Remote teaching began in September and will continue until the end of the year. Students were notified via email on the 16th of September.

The decision to switch to remote studying was originally made regarding the first teaching period until the 25th of October. Oulu University of Applied Sciences (Oamk) announced they would continue remote teaching until the end of the year on the 9th of September. Teaching will only occur in person if absolutely necessary.

During the second teaching period the University’s policies will stay the same as the beginning of autumn. Teaching will be done remotely, with the exception of courses where being present in person is necessary. Such courses are for example those with teaching in laboratories. When teaching in person, the University recommends participants use masks. The University is also giving out masks to teachers and students who need them during lessons.

Oulu University’s Administrative Director Essi Kiuru says the decision was influenced by both wishes from faculty and students as well as national guidelines.

“Students and staff alike hoped we would reach a decision regarding the second teaching period as soon as possible. The same policies we currently follow will continue to be in effect”, Kiuru says.

For students this means that the campus doors will stay open during certain times and services like the library and laptop vendors will continue to be available for use.

Also influencing the decision were decisions made by other universities, but Kiuru says that safety is still the most important thing. Even then, she hopes to be back in normal conditions soon.

“Our greatest wish is that in spring the situation would be that we could open up the University like we normally would. Unfortunately the situation is not in any of our hands”, she says.

As remote teaching continues, concerns have been raised regarding the wellbeing of students and staff. To Essi Kiuru this topic is especially important.

“It concerns both our personnel and students. Anyone in our community can feel lonely or like they have no group around them. It is everyone’s responsibility to take care of each other.”

Kiuru says all available tools should be used to ensure no one is alone during these exceptional times. For example group assignments and recurring meetings are ways that could help.

Taking care of students and the quality of teaching

With remote teaching continuing the importance of the quality of teaching is bigger and bigger. The University’s Director of Academic Affairs Vesa-Matti Sarenius told us that they aim to improve quality continuously.

“We are continuing to educate our teachers in these matters. There are also guides being made nationally as we speak.”

According to Sarenius the transition to remote teaching was a surprise to many teachers and has brought challenges with it. As the situation continues in autumn the problems are being solved one by one.

“Right now universities have noticed that the problems must be dealt with. We aim to influence the quality of teaching via educating and informing”, Sarenius says.

The Academic Affairs team sees how the abnormal circumstances also affect students. Many are strained. Sarenius says that teachers are told to pay close attention to their students and how they progress.

“If it looks like a student is stuck, we aim to intervene sooner than before. The problem of course is that when you don’t have a group to teach, you can’t look at someone’s face and see that they aren’t okay”, Sarenius says.

As the Director of Academic Affairs Sarenius pays close attention to his own employees and their wellbeing. To him it is especially important to separate work and free time, especially during remote work.

“I try to tell everyone, also students, to pay attention to the relationship between work and studies and free time. Don’t just sit at your computer after your lectures. Take a genuine lunch break away from your laptop. These small things make up a difference between work and free time.”

When thinking about communality and the risk of alienation, Sarenius agrees with Kiuru. He hopes for togetherness and good group dynamics.

“Corona doesn’t stop social situations. Our teachers are told to invest in group dynamics also during remote teaching. Of course the University can only control what happens during studies. I recommend socializing with other students during your free time and seeing your friends, taking into account hygiene and social distance.”

Sarenius hopes that students would also use the offered support systems with a lower threshold. He sees that it requires students taking responsibility for themselves.

“The services for students are the same as before, they’re just organized remotely. I would hope students would be brave to use the available services and all the support systems available.”

Exchange is still on the table, though few apply

The University of Oulu also announced that even though remote teaching is continuing, student exchanges for spring 2021 are unaffected. Still, the safety measures have been tightened: arriving students are expected to have a corona test or quarantine and the leaving students will be recommended certain countries and a good insurance.

Corona has affected exchange students arriving to Oulu this autumn. The amount of exchange arrivals has been half of the normal amount and many exchange periods have been cancelled or rescheduled.

International Coordinator Marianne Isola says she is happy with the University’s policy. Even though the number of students going on exchanges is significantly lower than normal, cancelling future exchanges would have undercut a lot of work.

“We have been preparing the spring exchanges for a long time and I am happy we can keep preparing them. We will, however, keep safety as the most important guideline”, Isola comments.

Even though exchanges got a green light from the University, many of them have already been cancelled. According to Isola, many affiliate universities have already cancelled exchanges completely, both for outgoing and incoming students. Exchanges have also been moved from autumn to spring, but the biggest change to Isola is the lack of applicants altogether.

“There were less applications for exchanges than normally. On top of that there were more cancellations or reschedulings. The end result is that about half of both University of Oulu and Oamk exchange students are coming here and leaving.”

The future of student exchanges is facing a big change, Isola thinks. In the future exchanges could be held entirely remotely or only partly in the destination. Regarding the near future Isola only hopes that the situation won’t get any worse.

“It’s hard to believe we would be back to a normal level in students going on exchange. I would be happy if we had the same numbers as now during spring, so half of the normal amount”, Isola says.

Student restaurants aim to stay open

Remote teaching at University and Oamk is also affecting services on campuses. The CEO of Uniresta, provider of student priced lunches on both Oulu campuses, Kaija-Liisa Silvennoinen told us that the news came as a surprise.

“We had not received this information before. Now we will have to think about Uniresta’s situation in all this.”

The aim will be to keep the currently open restaurants Kastari, Medisiina and Preludi going.

“We want to keep our services open for as long and as well as we possibly can in this situation. Of course this remote teaching will affect our amount of customers, but even in this first half of autumn we have been able to keep our restaurants open.”

Helping keep the restaurants open have been reduced opening hours. Uniresta’s Campus Shop and H2O campus have also been closed during autumn. Silvennoinen says that Uniresta was planning on opening the Campus Shop and H2O after autumn break, but the University’s decision might just cause a change in plans.

“We will have to further think about whether opening in this situation makes sense and is profitable. It is of course an understandable decision, but in terms of business it’s rather unfortunate. I’m sure it will reflect in the amount of customers”, the CEO says.

There will be no further reduction to the currently open restaurants services. The planned expansions, however, are uncertain. For example Linnanmaa’s student restaurant Kastari’s opening hours were already supposed to broaden in September. Now the evening dining will have to be reconsidered.

“I would dare promise that we will not close any more restaurants and will keep the current ones open. We will try tooth and nail to keep lunch available both in Linnanmaa and Kontinkangas. We can still adjust our operation to the current circumstances. For example Kastari is already being run by a smaller staff than normally.”

Despite the circumstances, Kaija-Liisa Silvennoinen is grateful for students and customers.

“We have come nowhere near normal numbers during autumn, but the fact that customers have had the courage to dine in our restaurants is amazing. In relation to the circumstances we have been happy with the beginning of September. It is wonderful that even a part of our customers have lunch in Pekuri in the city centre or Kontinkangas or Linnanmaa. It is lovely”, Silvennoinen says.

The other business offering campus restaurants, Juvenes, also says they were not in the know of the decision to lengthen remote teaching until the end of the year. Juvenes restaurant and event manager Minna Gehör told us that the decisions regarding restaurants are made one week at a time.

“I haven’t had time to digest this information yet. We will go with what the utilization rate of our restaurants is.”

Currently Juvenes has two restaurants open, Foodoo and Foobar in the Linnanmaa campus as well as a cafe, Café & Juicebar. Gehör says these services have been enough in relation to customers during the beginning of autumn.

“Two restaurants and a cafe have been enough. Our customer numbers have been very small compared to previous years and autumn has been exceptional.”

In regards to the future, Gehör can’t say how it will be.

“We will have to see if the continuation of remote teaching will affect the current amount of diners. It is possible we will have to close our restaurants if the amount of customers drops radically.

Campus services are still available

After the campus shutdown caused by coronavirus, the University of Oulu opened its campused in August. Even though remote teaching will continue, the doors will stay open. Campuses can be accessed by anyone between 8 am and 15.45 pm during weekdays. Studying on campuses is allowed as long as you show no symptoms of a flu. Libraries and laptop vendors as well as Tellus are available for use. When campus doors are closed, the campuses can be accessed via 24/7-card.

Oamk announced they would move to remote teaching for all students, freshmen included, on the 21st of September. The Oamk campuses are still open for independent studying.

The electronic Exam will continue to be the main tool for assessing learning during the first period, but other alternative methods for completing courses can also be implemented, such as essays, home exams, or learning diaries. Traditional exams at campus are not recommended to be held on the general exam days but organised by the course teachers individually. However, general exams can still be arranged with the safety distance of 2 metres between the students. The same instructions will be upheld until the end of the year.

For further info regarding being on campus visit the University’s website or the Oamk website.

The University’s list of resources for remote studying

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Iida Putkonen

Oulun ylioppilaslehden entinen päätoimittaja. Tiedeviestinnän maisteri ja glögin ympärivuotinen kuluttaja. Etsii revontulia, riippumattoja ja juuri oikeita sanoja.

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Iida Putkonen

Tools and tips for the academic year that I wish I knew as a freshman

Studying is hard work, but the right equipment will make it a lot easier. In this article, Anca M. Catana shares her experiences and gives tips for successful student life.

In English Opiskelu

TEKSTI Anca M. Catana

There are things that will make studying a lot easier. Some of them might be obvious, but others not so much. Here is a list of things to consider, heading into the new academic year as a student. 

A planner

Coming straight from being a high school student, or from a job with a regular schedule, or from a parental leave with a very irregular schedule, the need for a planner might not be so obvious to you at this point. But once the courses get rescheduled, the assignments pile up and your free time gets crowded, you will definitely feel the immediate necessity of such an item. Luckily, there are several options regarding planners and I have tried them all. 

Online calendars. They are ok, but not great. I’ve been using online calendars as a back-up/complementary calendar to my paper planners, but never exclusively. The biggest advantage is that it’s always there, so you can easily book a date. The downside is I feel it easily gets more crowded than it actually is, and you might just “lose the track of time” if you ran out of battery.

Standard planners from supermarkets or book stores are for you if you just want to keep up with your lectures, assignments and student events, but are not the most hyper-busy type of student. Inexpensive (compared to other paper counterparts), ready to fill-in, with tons of design options to choose from, you just couldn’t ask more from a basic planner.

A personalized planner made-to-order. This is the option I chose for the upcoming year. If you can’t find your soulmate amongst the tons of ready-made planners, you can definitely create one fit for your taste and needs. The biggest downside: it is much more expensive than the standard one. Of course the production and shipment also take extra time. But if this doesn’t stop you from ordering one, you can finally become the organizing freak you were always meant to be!

Bullet journals. Some fall utterly in love with them. I love the time and money I save by not using one as my planner. If you have the time and inspiration to fill in a layout every single month/week/day and the money to spend on all the fancy accessories, go for it! After having a horrible time with a bujo last spring, I decided to opt out from using it as a planner this year, but I still bought a basic one (and the most basic accessories) for, well.. journaling. So I can keep all my 100 year-plans and 1,000,000 euro-worth ideas neatly in one place.

Writing tools

It’s a no-brainer. You’ve been buying writing tools since pre-school. But if you are one of those who fancy using a fountain pen, you might reconsider your choice, since the ink is very difficult to come across in the Finnish bookstores. 

Pencil and eraser. They never fail. I’ve seen people going through their uni years with only just that. So if minimalism is your way, just get your pencil and eraser (borrow the sharpener from your classmates when needed).

Erasable pens. If there’s something that I totally loved from my bujo adventure, that’s the erasable pens. When I first discovered them, I had a Eureka moment. How did I manage to survive some 15 years of education without ever using one is a mystery for me. But now, I can’t go anywhere without them. You need them in your life, too!

A laptop

This is another one worthy of “duh”. The point I wanted to make is that, when choosing your laptop, especially as a freshman, it is not a good time to get stingy. Do yourself a favor and go for a proper one. You will need it like air, because you need a tool that can keep up with you as well as your Zoom lectures.

A bag that fits your new laptop, if you are a minimalist. If not, you probably need a bag that is sporty, a bag that is more fancy, a bag that can resist a winter storm… and the list can go on and on. But really, you need some reliable ways of carrying your laptop around (or just go for a desktop instead), so the rain, snow and cold of Finnish weather won’t ruin your precious.

Discounts

Get all the discount apps/cards/coupons you can get your hands on (Tuudo app, Pivo app, student sticker). Now life in Oulu ain’t cheap, but over time, with a bit of diligence, you can save a fair amount of money by paying a close eye at all the offers available. There are student discounts for meals in university’s restaurants, bus card discounts, drinks, pizzas, movies, hairdresser, you name it, so you can spend the money on things that really matter (that laptop, I’m telling you).

A thermos

A reusable cup and/or a thermos and a water bottle. The winters are dark and cold, and coffee is your best ally ( we welcome tea-drinkers in our club as well). Do yourself (and the world around you) a favor and buy a reusable cup for when you need to run with your coffee from one place to another. A thermos will save you some nice money in the long run if you choose to bring your coffee from home. (It might not work that well if you like your coffee milk. As I learned, it starts tasting funny after using it for a few weeks). 

If you are going to follow your studies exclusively from home, nothing compares to a sip of hot coffee (yes, or tea) enjoyed outside by the fire on a freezing day!

A plan

While a planner will help you deal with day-by-day stuff, it is important that while in the midst of stress and rush, or the enthusiasm of a new academic year, you don’t let the big picture get completely out of sight. 

The beginning of a new academic year is a good moment to draw the big lines regarding the following semester and year. Think about your academic objectives and work life related objectives. 

If I learned something after four years of studies, is that you simply don’t have time to do everything you would like to do. You can’t take all the courses with catchy names, visit every event and fare, be involved in all the societies and organizations, while keeping healthy relationships and having a balanced lifestyle which includes lots of rest.

As an example, during my first semester as a freshman, I focused on the compulsory studies, and on the second one, I focused on studying Finnish. During my second year I decided to focus on my personal life and family, while during my third year I focused on catching up with all the school work. Last year it was all about gathering different experiences and networking.

Bonus tips

While this is not directly related to the studies, what I personally think works wonders for your well-being and time management is a fitness tracker. 

For example, if you decide to study using the Pomodoro technique (look it up if you don’t know it), you can set the countdown right from your wrist, so you won’t have to pick up the phone every time (and get tempted to check the notifications). 

A fitness tracker will let you know how little you moved around if you studied remotely, so it will motivate you to go for an evening walk or jog. It will also track your sleep, so when you will feel exhausted, you will know if you just need extra sleep, or it’s another culprit (lack of D vitamin for example). 

Finally, you should be able to set different alarms/notifications on your wrist, For meal times, or breaks or what not. The only one I don’t recommend is the morning alarm, it doesn’t work for me. And I am the one who never snoozes a morning alarm. 

An app and notifications blocker. The smartphone is a great tool for every student and an absolute must. But if you tend to get too distracted by it, particularly during lectures or study times, an app and notifications blocker might save you from lots of headaches and stress, and will make the study time significantly shorter and more efficient.

A multi subject notebook. You can go through your university years without touching a single notebook if you like. But if you are like me and remember stuff better when you write it, or get distracted by the laptop (aye for both!), a multi subject notebook might be great for you. Even if you do take notes during classes, there won’t be that much to write that you can fill-in a whole notebook for each course, and we don’t want to waste no paper, do we? Plus, it will be easier to prepare your bag if you just need to use one notebook everyday, instead of digging amongst ten different ones.

And finally, as your student career progresses I wish you good luck!

Julkaistu

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Anca M. Catana

Education student, theater enthusiast, nature lover. Curious, spontaneous and ambitious, open for new challenges.

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What kind of world to expect after this pandemic?– Part V: Culture

The current coronavirus pandemic has made a significant change on our daily lives across the world. On this series, researchers of the University of Oulu share their views on how of the pandemic has impacted economy, education, health, environment, and culture. On the last part of the series we focus on the effects the pandemic has caused on culture.

In English

TEKSTI Pablo Santur

KUVAT Anni Hyypiö

As gregarious beings, the isolation measures taken by different governments around the world, such as remote working and online learning, have profoundly affected our interaction with each other.

However, the prolonged time period alone has brought to light our collective resilience. Also, the particular vulnerability of some parts of populations, such as the elderly or asthmatics, has allowed the development of different strategies for their care. On the other hand, the fear of contagion has implied a change in our perception of physical contact, which could affect those cultures more prone to it.

To discuss the potential effects of confinement on our behaviour patterns and lifestyles, I talked with Hannu I. Heikkinen and Roger Norum. Hannu I. Heikkinen is professor and chair of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oulu, and has previously worked in the University’s Thule Institute in diverse of inter- and trans-disciplinary projects. Roger Norum has been a post-doctoral researcher in geography for the Relational and Territorial Politics of Bordering, Identities, and Transnationalization (RELATE) Centre of Excellence, and lecturer in anthropology at the University of Oulu.

Do you think culture affects the strategies different countries adopted regarding the pandemic?

Roger: “I think it is important to remember that culture is not fixed. You cannot point at people and say, “this is how they are”. Even though stereotypes can have a little piece of truth they are essentially exaggerations. So, it becomes dangerous to define culture according to certain parameters. Also, culture is always evolving and can change quickly.

One reason often cited for why Spain and Italy had such high rates of deaths and infections was because people are more social. That is, they are more concentrated in places. So, for example, in people’s home environments you often have several generations living together. However, this is only one element among others, such as geography, climate, or history.

Take the UK, which now has markedly higher infection and death rates than both Italy and Spain. This tragedy is something that many attribute to political decision making by its leaders. So cultural aspects are merely one factor that help explain how or why the disease spreads.”

In what way do you think social distancing measures will impact on people’s behaviour?

Hannu: “I think Finnish tradition with long social distances and tendency of social isolation and silence might strengthen, and probably shaking hands and other contact-based greeting gestures might become a bit tensioned and reserved only for close relatives and closer small groups. But I don’t dare to say if this pandemic will have long-term impact on cultures with stronger traditions of close social contact, such as hugging and cheek kissing.

Anyhow, already global discourses do have a tendency to have local impacts in general, from Me too campaigns to pandemics and climate change, in addition to the effects of direct physical impacts. Probably some even longer-term impacts for preferred social distances and social isolation might be expected. At least it has been an already visible trend in China for years that people have increasingly used face masks even without acute pandemics.

One aftermath of the corona pandemic might be that the “pandemic of loneliness” and lack of human contact will increase a lot among people of various ages, but especially with elderly people.”

Roger: “Humans are also creatures of habits. It is our nature to keep our way of doing things. When bars and restaurants reopened both in Oulu and Brooklyn, many residents almost immediately embraced their pre-corona modes of sociality. At Prisma now you can see some people behaving in a circumspect manner, and others acting as though there has never been a virus to speak of. My feeling is that most of us will remember somewhere in the back of our minds that there was this period of lockdown during which pretty much everyone isolated, but that this will not lead to any real change in behavior.

Take the anxieties surrounding environmental change, for example. There has been evidence of the negative effects humans are having on the climate since around the 1960s, but still most people have not changed their everyday practices – give or take buying some recycling bins for their kitchens.”

So, do you think the decrease in pollution rates in different cities will not affect people’s perception of our impact on environment?

Roger: “Sadly, not really. Early on in the pandemic we had some interesting infographics and satellite images about pollution-free skies, and some spectacular images of the air in Delhi and Shanghai looking like it did 40 years ago. But scientific data and public knowledge about the deleterious effects of factories, power plants and commercial air travel on the environment have been available for decades.

In actuality, the majority of people continue to see what they want to see, or what is convenient to see. In principle we – citizens, scientists, politicians, CEOs – might express more climatic anxiety or be more anthropocentically conscious , but in practice, most of us will continue in our self-satisfied consumerist comforts. I mean, I’d love to own a Tesla, but at the moment in Finland it’s unfortunately just vastly easier and cheaper to buy Diesel.”

Focusing on specific areas, what traces will the pandemic leave on the use of technology?

Roger: “Our relationship to technology has changed a lot over the past 20 years with the advent of the Internet, the explosion of Internet and virtual technologies, and the progression of mobile computing. We can now lead completely remote lives and still have nearly all the services and products we could ever need or want.

Indeed, the prevalence of digital platforms such as Facebook, Zoom and Amazon might be the primary reason the world didn’t completely fall apart during lockdown. It’s already clear that COVID-19 is pushing forward innovation in mobile computing and remote learning technologies, and in services related to data transfer, communication and e-health. Online pedagogy and electronic diagnoses of medical conditions have been available for some time now, but the pandemic has shown how developing these further is essential to our hypermobile lives.”

Hannu: “Working from distance will increase, and in some cases even continue as it already is after this rapid change due to the corona outburst, but only in certain fields that don’t necessitate physical contact and physical presence. Instead, and hopefully, for example caring professions will not turn any further towards caring from distance, because it might have other devastating impacts on human well-being and the functioning of society in general.”

Do you think the concept of well-being will be changed after this pandemic?

Hannu: “Not really, we have already two main discourses which are partially working in their own realms, but partially overlapping, and these discourse-practice realms are a) more holistic medical and medicine health focus, and b) sociocultural and mental well-being focus. So, this divide will probably just stay as it is, but issues and topics do overlap in certain approaches as it does already today.”

Finally, do you think COVID-19 will affect our conception of diseases?

Roger:  “While though I do think that our experiences of the pandemic will absolutely increase our appreciation for healthcare services and staff, and that we are likely to remain more aware about contagions and the transmissibility of diseases, I am hesitant to say that there are going to be long-term changes in this regard. That said, I’m not a doctor – or at least not the right kind.”

Read the previous parts of the series: Part I: Economy, Part II: Education, Part III: Health. Part IV: Environment and living

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Pablo Santur

Learning specialist in thesis writing mode. Former TV scriptwriter. Foodie. Anime lover. Twitter: @pablodsantur

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Pablo Santur