Taking over social media #bizlab #yrityslabra

Yrityslabra on viimein YouTubessa! Klikkaa linkkiä ja seuraa.

The Business Lab is now in YouTube, click the link below the text and follow us!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCrEiuD9Hr4

The exchange students are here! Vol. 1

For this spring semester, there are 11 of us exchange students from Belgium, France, Poland, Russia and Spain studying in Yrityslabra. We have been in Finland for a month now and we are beginning to get used to this new life. For many of us, the weather is hard, for others like Anna, who used to live in Siberia for 16 years it’s not a problem!

For now, we have already experienced:

Student’s tutors, fellow students of Businesslab and teachers are so great to us. We want to say a huge Thank You for everything you do for us, because without you the arrival in Finland would be very difficult. 

During the orientation days many people told us about all the widespread prejudices in Finland, but we can surely say that the majority of them is FALSE!

  No! None of the Finnish people (that we have met) are rude

  No! The Finnish people are not unfriendly

  No! There is no such thing as prohibition in here

But we can agree with the fact that :

              Yes! Finnish people drink a lot

             Yes! Finnish people are very punctual

             Yes! It is cold as…

             Yes! Walking 5km in the snow, accompanied by -10°C is not a big deal for the Finnish

             Yes! They actually wait for the green light to cross the street

But as we said, we have been here only a month, so maybe we will change our mind ;)

Anyway, we are excited to discover the rest of the country- the trip to Lapland is just in 2 weeks!!

Talk to you soon, bye!

Greetings from Mexico!

Something in english for a change.. As told, we have each year some exchange students from across the world studying in the lab. One of them was lovely Jimena from Mexico who studied here in fall 2013. We asked her to write something to the blog about studying and spending time in Finland for one semester. Lets see what she wrote! :)

On my stay in Finland I embarked on what was the most beautiful experience of my life till now. I met friends for all my life and changed my perspective of life. I discovered that the weather, the sunlight, the 8 hours of difference and the kilometers between the countries are just phenomena because at the end I discovered that Mexicans and Finns are more alike than everybody thinks. 

In that time of my life I began to think, to plan and to know myself. 5 months in where the most amazing and important part of the day was looking at the stars in the sky. I remember myself going out at 3 am in Lapland just to catch a northern light, I didn’t see anything, but maybe it wasn’t my time to see one, it was not the perfect moment (that make me feel that I must come to Finland again).

If I learnt something of Finns was that the life is full of small moments, moments that only happen once and they are like shooting stars, also that they can be anywhere, specially outside your window.  Enjoying the first snow like if it is the last one, protecting yourself from cold in the warm house of a close friend, tasting salmiakki and spitting it out every time I tasted it, I miss it a lot now!

When I think about Yrityslabra, I think the following:

1.      Its better to make 1 perfect thing than 5 imperfect.

2.      A good teacher is not the one who gives you 24 hours homework, it is who invites you a beer and helps you as if he was your best friend.

3.      There are so many ways to have a correct answer, and you have to find out the way.

4.      My family thought I wasn’t studying.

5.      Learning and working with a cup of coffee in a red sofa is much better.

6.      Grades are just numbers, the most important part is to realize how much you failed and how much you grew because of that.

7.      Drinking wine in school at a Christmas dinner is not illegal.

Nowadays Mexican schools doesn’t have kitchens or cafes in schools, not even a red sofa, the teachers think that not sleeping makes you wiser, going to school everyday is part of normal life and if you don’t get a good grade you are wasting time and money, and also gaining a big scold. Despite of these differences, I’m sure that there is something in common with Finns and Mexicans, the desire to be better everyday. I learned to work every day with heart and effort, to don’t give up even if I have a -1.

Once I had a dream to come to Finland, now its real; I met awesome people, I got to know a school warm as the hearts of its students, a landscape infinite in its beauty, a desire to live and grow that never ends and a lot of memories and moments that I cherish in the deepest part of me.

Jimena De La Vega Silva

Querétaro, México

Yrityslabran Kick-Off!

Yrityslabran uusi ja toiminnan täyteinen vuosi 2015 potkaistiin käyntiin Espoossa Juvanmalmilla Icopalin tiloissa. Matkalla Lohjalta Espooseen vaihto-oppilaat pääsivät kokemaan autoilua Suomen talven tarjoamassa extreme kelissä! Onneksi kaikki pääsivät lopulta paikalle ehjin nahoin, säästä riippumatta. Perjantai päivä alkoi lyhyehköllä kuvauksella kick-offin sisällöstä. 

Ensimmäisenä ohjelmassa oli jakautuminen neljään ryhmään. Jokaisessa ryhmässä oli täydellinen sekoitus labralaisia sekä tammikuun alussa vaihtoon tulleita opiskelijoita. Jokainen ryhmän jäsen piirsi vuorollaan jostakusta toisesta upean, lähes Pablo Picasson tasolle yltävän potretin. Tämän potretin ympärille koostettiin mielenkiintoisia sekä ehdottoman tärkeitä faktoja mallina toimineesta ryhmäläisestä. Harjoituksen tuloksena oli 18 uskomattoman luovaa piirrosta, jotka esiteltiin koko ryhmälle. Tietenkin kaikille yhteisellä sulavalla englannin kielellä. Tehtävä paljasti labralaisista uusia puolia, joukossamme on elämäntapa rastafari, lentäjäpojan sisarus, harrastelija leipureita, muutama hulluksi haukuttu kissanainen, DJ, tanssijoita sekä yksi Robin Hood.  

Luovan ja innostavan aloituksen jälkeen opiskelijat alkoivat suunnitella keväälle sijoittuvan Sosiaalisen Median Seminaarin järjestämistä aiemmin koostetuissa neljän hengen ryhmissä. Monikielisen ryhmän työskentelyä siivitti puheen sorina ja yhteistyö sujui jokaisessa ryhmässä mallikkaasti. Aika kulki kuin siivillä mielenkiintoisen tehtävän parissa ja kello 12.00 kaikki siirtyivät Icopalin tarjoamalle lounaalle.

Lounaan jälkeen ohjelmassa oli Icopalin yritysesittely, jonka opiskelijoille piti Janne Asuintupa. Labralaiset ja vaihtarit kuuntelivat yritysesittelyä mielenkiinnolla ja Jannelle sateli useita kysymyksiä muun muassa pihakansista sekä savunpoistoluukkujen toiminnasta. Labralaiset tutkivat innolla kattoturvatuotteiden toimintaa sekä Icopalin viherkattoratkaisuja. Loistavan yritysesittelyn jälkeen labralaiset sekä vaihto-oppilaat saivat kunnian vierailla Icopalin tehtaalla. Kattavan tehdas kierroksen oppaana toimi tehtaanjohtaja Tero Olander, joka sai, Jannen tapaan, osakseen innostuneiden labralaisten kysymysten tulvan bitumin sulatuksesta sekä sen erilaisista ominaisuuksista.

Icopalin yritysesittelyn sekä tehdaskierroksen jälkeen opiskelijoita odotti kahvi ja leivos tarjoilu. Kick-offin viimeisenä tehtävänä aamulla muodostetut ryhmät esittelivät Some seminaari ideoitaan sekä Labran kevään retkiä. Kick-off päättyi kello 16.00 aikaan, jolloin iloinen ryhmä opiskelijoita vetäytyi viettämään viikonloppua!

And a little summary of the text above in English for our international students!

The new year of 2015 started with a "bang" in Yrityslabra’s kick-off event at Icopal’s office in Espoo Juvanmalmi. Our exchange students got the pleasure of experiencing Finland’s extreme driving conditions first hand, as they made their way from Lohja to Espoo. Gladly, everyone got there moderately safe. The day started with brief introduction of the kick-offs program. First all students split into four different groups. Every group consisted of a perfect combination of Finnish students and exchange students. Every member of each group drew a portrait of one another with skill that can almost be compared with Pablo Picasso’s. Around this amazing portrait the group gathered essential facts about the person in the drawing. This assignment revealed some interesting facts about our Businesslab and exchange students, there is one who is a rastaman at heart, one a pilot’s sibling, some bakers, few crazy cat ladies, one DJ, couple of dancers, and a Robin Hood.

After an inspiring and creative start students began to plan Businesslab’s Social Media Seminar, which takes place in the spring. Room was filled with chatter when Businesslab’s multinational group worked with the assignment. When you have something interesting to do time flies by, and it was time for a lunch.

After lunch all students had a pleasure to hear Icopal’s company presentation by Janne Asuintupa and attend to a factory tour, which was arranged by Tero Olander. Friday’s last assignment for students was to present to the whole group the ideas for Social Media Seminar. Students also got to wish for companies and places, which they would like to visit during the spring. Kick-Off ended at 16.00 and a happy group of students headed home.