Follow the Southampton’s adventure of Marguerite and Guilhem from the IEMN-IAE, Nantes, France.
Summary Episode:
Drum rooooooll! It’s Diwali! Discover a little bit of Hinduism culture.
SOU-LANTA / Diwali
Monthly Archives: November 2016
Meet the Reindeers
Hi !
Last week end we decided to rent a car to go to the Loch Ness. In our way we stop in Glenmore to visit the Cairngorm Reindeer Center. We took the “Hill Trip” which allow you to go to feed reindeers in their natural habitat.
The weather in Dundee is still very nice and not to cold so we were very surprised when it started to snow in the mountains.
When you arrived at the reindeer center, you are able to rent a pair of welly which I recommend since the mountains are quite muddy.
Then the trip starts with a little walk to go and find the reindeers, during the walk the guide will tell you everything about the history of the reindeers in Scotland and how the climate is perfect for them over there.
Once you find the reindeers you will be able to feed them and take selfies with them if you want to. Reindeers are very friendly animals.
Koitelinkoski
One Saturday, we decided with others exchange students to take our bike and go to Koitelinkoski situated at 24 kilometre from Oulu (we cyclied during 3 hours to go there). Koitelinkoski is an outdoor recreation area located along the Kiiminkijoki river in the Kiiminki district. This place is nicknamed “Rapids” and are about four kilometres from downtown Kiiminki. The area consists of a small islands dividing the free-flowing river into smaller streams and rapids. It’s a beautiful place for people who love nature, and visiting tourists. The Koiteli region is surrounded by rich vegetation, and its many islands provide excellent opportunities for fishing, canoeing and kayaking, and trekking. The Koitelinkoski rapids are an excellent fishing spot for the whole family. During the summer, it’s possible to take a guided canoe or Kayak tour along the river. On the other hand in the winter, we can exploring the area with ski or by snowmobile.
The larger islands are connected with a suspension bridges. We can find on the site a summer café “the Tunnelmatupa” on Sahasaari island and several campfire sites where we can prepare our food and enjoy some refreshments. We took the opportunity to burnt marshmallow ;)!
Halloween in Scotland!
In Scotland Halloween is more famous than in France and they have lots of old traditions which I’m going to present you.
First of all, the fancy dress is the most important. In Scotland lots of people disguise themselves, and not only children, teenagers and adults too! So you will probably see spirits, witches, devils or skeletons in the street if you come in Scotland at Halloween.
Then, children go knock on the doors of their neighbours to have some sweets. In the traditions, before to have some sweets, children have to sing, recite a poem or a joke. But now children just knock on the doors and say “trick or treat”.
But Halloween is not only the day where children eat lots of sweets, it’s also a day to have a party!
For the party you have to decorate your home with lots a terrifying things, especially by carving pumpkin lanterns with creepy grimaces.
Then, to animate the party, games are indispensable, and in Scotland they make games especially for Halloween.
– Bobbing for apples: This game involves trying to grab apples floating in water using the mouth and with the hands tied behind the back.
– Treacle scones: In this game, participants have to take a bite out of treacle scones hanging from ropes.
To finish, you have to cook. Necessarily, you have to buy lots of sweets for the Halloween party but it exists other specialities at Halloween, as the sausage rolls. According to the legend, a witchcraft act of 1735 forbidden the consumption of pork pastries on Halloween. This act was repealed in 1950’s and the sausage rolls became popular at Halloween parties.
There are lots of events at Halloween in Scotland, so I’m going to present you some of them.
- Scotland has lots of castle and many of them are apparently haunted. So, at Halloween there are lots of ghost tours to do, for example you can do the Haunted Tour in Glamis Castle or the Original St Andrews witches tour.
- Then, there are two popular festivals in Scotland: the Glasgow horror festival and the Samhuinn fire festival in Edinburgh.
The Glasgow horror festival takes place in the city centre of Glasgow. The festival lasts 12 hours and includes indie film screenings, costume prizes, live music and more.
At the Samhuinn fire festival you will see colourful costumes representing characters from ancient folklore, fire, musical and street theatre shows.
- In Dundee, the biggest Halloween party for students is The Legendary Halloween Party at the nightclub the Union. It’s a busy night so you have to buy your tickets before, the price is £7.50.
Happy Halloween everyone! Have fun!
The labor market in Norway
Do you know which country has an unemployment rate of 5% in 2016? It’s Norway.
Currently, in France the unemployment rate is about 10,5%.
According to a ranking made by the OCDE in 2012, Norwegians earn $6670 by month versus $3797 for a French citizen.
Living cost in Norway is very high as I can see during those months. But it’s normal according to Norwegians salaries. The purchasing power is higher here than in France. Further, Norway is well-known to be a fair country for gender equality (including wages).
Indeed, wealth’s repartition is better here. To illustrate this fact, we can use the Gini coefficient. According to Wikipedia, Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income distribution of a nation’s residents, and is the most commonly used measure of inequality.
Below a World map with Gini coefficient. If the country is in dark green, it indicates one of the most fairly country for income distribution. For example, South Africa have a bad Gini coefficient. That’s mean, a few people receive the majority of incomes.
Norway is a wealthy country. Thanks to petroleum exploitation, they created the Sovereign wealth fund. This fund is managing more than $700 billions.
Wealth allows some social advantages, like long break after a child for woman and also for man. Moreover, it’s unpopular for a mother in Norway to go back to work quickly after the birth and also to go back to work full time. Actually, most of the mother go back to work for a part time schedule. This is not the same way of thinking in France.
Nevertheless, as reported by La Tribune, very high salaries can be a problem. In fact, in the last 20 years Norwegian’s wages grew very rapidly. Therefore, many people have made a choice: a part-time work. With free time, they are taking care of children, go skiing, hiking or take some rest in a cabin. People earn more and work less. The result of this is a lack of market share. But Norway is still one of the most efficient country like France.
Have a nice week-end,
Pierre.
Trolltunga
Today, I want to return on one of my best experience in Norway: The Trolltunga hike. Trolltunga, translated to “Troll’s Tongue”, is a famous hiking in Norway.
The mountain is located at three hours of cars from Bergen. Thus, we woke up at 3:30 AM to start the hiking at 7 AM. It is a long and hard hike of 22 kilometers. We spent around 9 hours: 4 hours to go up, 3,5 to go down and 1,5 hours at the top.This is one of the most physically demanding adventures I have ever done on in my life! The first kilometer is harsh and you are surprised when you get to the first kilometer sign because it feels like you have done a lot more than that…
But the view was worth hiking this mountain. The landscapes are just breath-taking all along the way! You will see gorgeous blue lakes and impressive landscapes that cannot be described…
And after 11 kilometers… ultimate aim:
The rock is situated about 1100 meters above the lake Ringedaksvatnet so the view was just awesome, as you can see on this picture.
It is a touristic walk but dangerous. Indeed, you should be ready! Like said our exchange students’ responsible: “Never enough food”. And you should be prepped physically! Thus, some Norwegian students at the beginning of this year organized some workouts.
Since the middle of September, it is too late to hike this mountain alone: you need a guide.
Lofoten trip
ESN (Erasmus student Network) organizes a lot of trips. I booked one of them: The Lofoten trip. Lofoten is a Norway archipelago, located well above the Arctic Circle. This jewel of nature offers landscapes that are difficult to forget. Breathtaking mountains, wonderful fjords and beautiful beaches are unforgettable memories. The schedule of the trip was varied: group excursion around the fjords and hiking, boat trip on Trollfjorden, two nights in cottages, frozen bath, visit of the cities and ice bar… This trip gave us an opportunity to meet new people and just enjoy being together. Strong ties of friendship were cultivated during this week. If you ever get a chance to do your Erasmus in Oulu, one advice: book for this magic trip.
Local company : Bonar Yarns
1- The company, the history:
Bonar Yarns is one of the oldest independent (and most successful) producers of synthetic yarns, created in 1965 by its parents group Low & Bonar. On this way the company has been synonymous with synthetic turf since the late 1970s and founded on over a century of expertise and experience in the manufacture of fibers.
Currently the company are well respected in the marketplace, sitting on advisory Boards and providing advice and consultation to organisations in the sports sector but also on the landscape sector.
Bonar Yarns is a global market leader in supplying the most advanced yarns to the world’s synthetic turf producers and woven carpet manufacturers. The company has two manufacturing plants dedicated to yarns. The first is in Dundee and the others in Abu Dhabi (but can sell in all the world) through strategic distribution hubs, to provide a local and comprehensive service
2- Products and services
The product that Bonar Yarn sells is synthetic yarn for turf and woven carpets. The idea of their product is to replace traditional natural grass surfaces for sports grounds and gardens. The benefit of this type of product to the customer is that is it low maintenance, more durability particular useful for contact sports and it is usable in all types of weather.
3- Production
Bonar Yarn is very efficient and precise in their operations, just by looking at their innovation, production and website information. Just as the slogan reads ‘greatness is in the detail’, they ensure their product machinery is serviced and maintained to a very high standard. Furthermore Raw materials, semi- finished yarns and completed products are checked constantly against relevant parameters ensuring every detail is to a bench marked standard. These extensive tests and quality checks at all stages ensure the company maintains a high quality image. This is a strength in their strategy and could allow for higher prices or greater emphasis when marketing amongst competitors.
4- Brief market analysis
Bonar Yarns products can be sells to two different groups of consumer:
- Sport: the sport companies (like FIFA) for the grounds of their event, or the cities for the public grounds or the sport club. (with sub-segmentations corresponded to different sport: soccer, hockey, tennis …)
- Leisure & landscaping: the city for the public playground, hostel, private individual etc.
On the following diagram we can see the activities with major synthetic turf installation. The major installation is for contact sports (soccer, American Football and rugby) following by leisure.
Market analysis
Final Stretch at NHH…
Beginning of the Norwegian November, first temperatures below zero and finally we embark upon a new phase of our semester: exams. In Norway, this month is dedicated to exam, which means no more parties, busy library, tension and stress. To access to these exams, on the first part of the semester, we had to deliver assignments and term papers. Most of them were pass/fail, some represent half of the grade. In my case, I had several oral presentations, case study analysis on companies regarding my various courses and so forth.
NHH is one of the best place I have ever experienced to study: big study rooms well equipped, cosy library where you can discuss with groups, separated group rooms that you have to book in advance through the website… These very rooms have different spirits that make them even more appreciated. Furthermore, we can also access to NHH 24/7 thanks to our student card and codes. In short, you can study anytime, in couches, soft chairs, relaxing rooms…
No excuses to miss the exams then…
University meals
At University, we can lunch between 10.00 and 18.30 in up to 8 restaurants !
Restaurants are private companies. We paid 2.60€, there is no VAT. The real cost of the meal is 7.60€ but companies 5€ in receive state subsidies per meals served.
For this price, you can have :
A typical lunch at the Uni.
- Starter: a plate of various saladsand dressings ( Green salad, chickpeas, Tomatoes , cucumber, , tomatoes, chickpeas, onion olive oil, several sauces).
- Bread: (many varieties,up to 6) with butter, margarine or tapenade.
- Main course: For example, pasta and tuna casserole, salmon in tomato sauce with potatoes and rice
- Water, homemade beer (really bad taste…), many, many kinds of milks (5 choices of milks, yeap Finnish love milk ! ).
Above, you can see the 6 restaurants managed by the company Fazer group: “The company operates almost 1,100 restaurants in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The range of food services provided by Fazer Food Services includes e.g. student and personnel restaurants, cafeterias and restaurants in department stores, catering services at schools and public institutions, restaurant services at large-scale public events as well as organising festivities. Fazer Food Services is also responsible for catering at functions of its customer companies.”
When you want to eat healhy food, you can also try one of the three salad bar stand in the university !
Another restaurant is managed by Uniresta, This company provide the same restaurant services as Fazer food company, but this one is much smaller.
Oooh, yes, I almost forget to speak about dessert… When you want to have a dessert such as cakes, yogurts, you pay an additionnal fee.
.. Or you can go to the brand new Subway ! Yes, the world most biggest fast food in the world has got a restaurant inside the university. (unbelievable in France !)
For approximatively 5€, you can have a 12 inches Sandwich and a big soda.
Bon appétit!
Arthur Leblais
P.S: Don’t bother yourself trying to find the best desserts in the university, they are definitely the Subway Cookies ! 
