Stockholm School of Economics in Riga Students' Magazine

Aikanysh Atakanova, Kyrgyzstan 

Country

I am from Kyrgyzstan (KG) which is a very mountainous country with  a population of over 5 million. The capital is Bishkek city (used to be called Frunze in Soviet times in the honor of the commander). Kyrgyz people are very hospitable. These are some of the most interesting facts about KG:

• Issykkul lake - the world’s second high-altitude lake (after Titikaka)
• Epic “Manas” - the world’s biggest epic. (Longer than Odisseya and Illiada together. Longer than Mahabharata even) “ Manas” contains about 800,000 lines which are full of Kyrgyz history  and traditions.
• Victory Peak - the highest peak of Tyan-Shan mountains (7400m). The second highest peak in the world.
• Nothing tastes more delicious than hot bread and Kyrgyz water-melons!!! In Bishkek in special places you can buy bread that is served straight from the furnace to you.

Home University vs. SSE Riga

My home university is American University of Central Asia (AUCA) and I decided to come to SSE Riga because the academic programs were the same, classes taught in SSE Riga 100 % match with those in my university. However, there are many differences between the two universities. For example, the seminars are taught by TAs at SSE Riga, whereas in AUCA they are taught by regular lecturers. Also both lectures and seminars in SSE Riga require much more of self-studies and devotion than in AUCA. Other than that, I think the systems are similar.

Students and Social Life at SSE Riga

Talking about the SSE Riga students, I find them very welcoming. The atmosphere within the university itself is very peaceful, but at the same time it is very competitive, which is an advantage to my mind.

The social life here really differs from the one I am used to.  If a traditional Kyrgyz girl would come to an SSE party, she might have a little shock J, because Kyrgyz people, especially girls, are conservative. As for me, luckily I haven’t experienced any culture shock yet here in Riga, because I am used to live far away from home.

Hobbies and Dreams

I love hiking (3500m is the highest altitude subjugated so far), trekking, horseback riding and reading Nietzsche when I am bored. Talking about Riga, I am dying to cruise in the Baltic Sea.

Career

I dream to spend one day in the NY Stock Exchange just to feel how it is like to work there.  In general, I want to work in the sphere of investment banking.

Final Remarks

I hope that SSE Riga would teach me a lot not only from an academic perspective, but also would become a school for life for me.

Once someone said “The more countries and cultures you experience, the wiser, more broad-minded and free of national prejudices you become”.  I find these words very true and therefore, I wish SSE Riga students to experience something different from what they are used to and enjoy every second of their lives.

Manuela Prack, Austria

Country

I am from Vienna, which is the capital of Austria. Viennese people are not very popular in Austria, as they have a cad-image. Austrians love to complain but also have a very charming and cozy manner. Most of the Austrians love to drink wine.

If you want to visit Austria, there is something interesting for everyone. In the winter it is great for skiing, snowboarding, bob run. We have very nice lakes, mountains, fairs, old-towns (my favorite is Salzburg), Christmas fairs, and solid meals, which are similar to Czech kitchen. The number of immigrants is constantly increasing (this trend is forecasted to continue until 2035). Most of them come from ex-Yugoslavia.

Austria is famous for its wine restaurants (especially in the summer), in the countryside many people like to wear attire, particularly on special occasions like a ball or when going to church (men wear "Lederhosen" and women wear a dress called "Dirndl")

There are lots of festivals like Wiesn, Salzburg Festival, Donauinselfest - every year in June one weekend many bands give concerts in Vienna and people don't have to pay and can enjoy concerts for free three days long. The highlight is the amazing firework.

Our national symbols that are most widely known all around the world:

Composers Mozart, Strauss (father and son)

Empress Elisabeth

Unfortunately Hitler

Viennese Waltz

Red Bull

Manner

Schnaps (the farmers produce pure alcohol out of different fruits)

Viennese Escalope

Apple Strudel

Sacher tart

Finally what I love most in Austria: the four seasons, the cozy mentality, security (concerning nature & politics), dialects (we have lots of them within the country, sometimes people from the east have problems to understand people from the west - e.g. Vienna and Vorarlberg), Salzburg, the inner-city of Vienna, vegetation and the versatility.

Home university vs. SSE Riga

I always wanted to visit the Baltic States. Riga is a great city and SSER is a partner university of my home university in Austria.

However, there are plenty of differences among both universities. In my university of applied sciences there are more students and more study programs such as tourism management, export management, biotechnology and some more. We do not have elective courses. SSE Riga is way smaller and everybody seems to know each other.

SSER is more multicultural than my university. I like being here so far but as my courses will start after several days from the moment I am writing, I can't say too much by now. I have chosen only Y3 courses ;) Here is a very strong focus on socializing and spending time together with other students.

Students and Social Life at SSE Riga

Everyone here is very helpful. The colleagues seem to be nice and bright and besides they seem to be able to party hard and study a lot ;) As far as I have met the other exchange students, I liked all of them and I like spending time with them.

Concerning social life I have been spending my spare time mostly with the other exchange students who’ve been great so far. People in Latvia seem to be very helpful in general, when I have questions, even in the street everyone seems to be very openhearted and caring. I admire the ability to study hard and party harder - or the other way round...? ;) As the Latvian culture does not differ so much from the Austrian one I did not have a cultural shock.

Hobbies and Dreams

I love travelling, sports, playing piano, reading, clubbing, meeting and caring about friends & of course spending time with my family. I am interested in languages, health, and psychology.

Career

I would like to do something in relation with consumer behavior - purchase decisions & motives, research, in one word marketing ;)

Final Remarks

SSE Riga will change my life for 4 months actually ;) As every day has been different in my life so far I think I will keep on going like that ;)

Dawid Klorek, Poland 

Country

My country is situated in the middle west of Europe with about 38 million people. In Poland people are very open and hostile. Family is regarded as the highest priority. They have a special ability of being unified in the situations where there is something they need to fight for. Apart from this they are very patriotic and even though many of them have emigrated, they maintain a strong relationship with Poland or eventually come back home.

Home University vs. SSE Riga

After the secondary school I chose to go to Germany (Stralsund) in order to study International Management. After four semesters there, I used the Erasmus program opportunity in order to study in Riga. I was always curious how the studies look like in such a reputable school. This is a challenge for me and also a very good chance to gain new knowledge.

Students and Social Life at SSE Riga

It is a different approach then the one we have in Germany. We are very much project and practical problems oriented. There is much more theory here that a person needs to learn. Apart from this I like the Swedish way of organizing the schedule.

The lectures are quiet similar except for the professors at SSE Riga which are more demanding, but also more knowledgeable, which makes lectures more interesting.

I really appreciate the involvement and help that I have received here. I think people are very caring and ready to support me in my study problems.

I have not experienced a cultural shock. People are very open and friendly, which is very similar to my culture.

Career and dreams

My hobbies are mostly focused on sports. Sport is a huge part of my life and it helped me in a lot of situations and I owe it a lot. It has a particular influence on my character giving the power and motivation to fight for what is important for me. That is why in Riga I practice Taekwondo 5 days a week. I am also interested in economics and management particularly in leadership.

Talking about my future life, I would like to work as manager in the car industry (BMW), being responsible for sales or marketing. It is important for me to keep the balance between the work, family and social life.

Final Remarks

I think I will get the additional knowledge and the approach that will definitely contribute to better performance in my future career. It will help me to understand the problems quicker and to find good solutions.

Caglar Demirsoy, Turkey

Home university vs. SSE Riga

In order to participate in exchange program students in our university have to fulfill three requirements. First of all, the list of schools where we can apply with Erasmus exchange program is announced. After that we choose 3 of these schools. Then we take a foreign language exam. After that exam, we have an interview with professors in our faculty. And the third condition is the grade point average. These three requirements are taken and then the exchange students are chosen. I think it is going to be a tradition for a guy called Caglar to come to SSER every year. And I have already started recommending my friends to come here.

The studies are almost the same like in my home school, but here it involves much more studying and alcohol . For example, for some courses we have the same textbooks as in Turkey. But the system is different. Here we can only take one main course at a time and sometimes one elective but in my home school we must take all the courses at the same time. And in the middle of semester we have mid-term exams and at the end of the semester final exams and the final party.  

Regarding the students here, if you want me to be honest and compare you with the Turkish, people here are colder and not so friendly/crazy. I know that this is not true for all of you. Anyway I would like to meet a lot of new people so they can prove me wrong.

The biggest cultural shock for me is the huge amount of vodka and Russian guys in Latvia. Social part of SSER is really nice and solid. I really like parties and the kind of activities like Summer Symposium. And I think the Student Association works really hard.

Hobbies and Dreams

It is a really predictable answer: I like to play and watch football like almost all Turkish guys. It is not only football: I also like other kinds of sports like skiing, tennis, table tennis. On the other hand, I would like to read books, but not novels; I prefer political and historical ones. So I am really keen on politics. And I really like to meet new people from different countries and cultures and drink with them :)

Talking about dreams, I had a dream job before I came here, but vodka changed my life. So now I want to be an expert in tasting vodka and to grow apples to make a lot of apple pies :). Jokes aside, I want to have a job connected with sports, maybe sports management. But my first aim is to become a football referee. It is really irrelevant with my major, but I would like to do what I like.

Coming to SSER is a very important decision in my life, because after my bachelor degree I would like to go to USA for the Master’s degree. So this is the first step to make my dreams to come true.  Also the name and the reputation of SSER will help in my future life. So I am really happy to be a part of Rigas Ekonomikas Augstskola and to meet the members of this unreal school.

Final Remarks

Thank you for giving me a chance to make people clear about myself and my home country.

Jean Damien Lemettre, France

Country

Saying a bit about my home country is very vague. What’s really important, in my mind, is what you know about my “too” famous country. 

However I can tell you some little elements to understand our nation. First of all, we are undoubtedly the most pretentious nation all over the world, after the USA. We are quite hypocritical and we like to criticize what others do in the world, but we have never accused ourselves for our history. M. Bush wants to invade Iraq, of course it’s not the best project ever, but what did Napoleon do when he wanted to bring “freedom” to the entire Europe? Or to give another example, we say we are the human’s rights’ country, but first of all, Jefferson wrote the declaration of independence and the American constitution before. And when we have to respect them, for example during a war, we prefer to use torture (Algerian war in the 60’s)…

Be sure that only a small number of people think like me, it’s only because I’m very interested in history and political science.

Some facts which can look funny/crazy for you:

-Radioactive clouds after Chernobyl’ explosion has never gone through the French border, which has allowed French farmers to continue to export cereals.

-It’s quite unbelievable but the communist party was the second/third in France until 1970 and they still believed that Stalin was an angel (Even after going in URSS and the Khrouchtchev’s secret report’s became public). And when they finally noticed that URSS was not anymore a good example, most of the members, and leaders became Maoist!

- Now that we do not believe in communism, we have a political party who has for only program to make a revolution and this party obtains 5% of votes.

About politic in France, there is lot to say, but I’ll summarize it quickly:

Left parties (democrats) have an unworkable plan (in the middle of a crisis, the want to increase the minimal wage, to increase the country’s spending)…

Right parties (conservatives?) wants to decrease the states spending (workless and social insurance mostly, number of civil servants…) but it’s not possible because of the huge number of strikes. So, most of politicians only want to insure their old days and to earn money… We even have a special institution for retired people, the senate, which has no role, except to read again the law projects (300 persons, 6 years mandates and 5000€ of remuneration per senator each month!).   

So, as you might have already understood, France is not a perfect country, far from it. But the most important is that France is a symbol, everybody might love. It symbolizes freedom, independence, and equality. As I said in the beginning, the most important about France is how you imagine it. Paris, the city of romance, France a country of culture and principles (for others)!

Home university vs. SSE Riga

My home university is Sciences Po Paris and it is mandatory to go abroad for the third year. We can go everywhere in the world and in the most famous universities because this school has a huge number of partnerships. Then, at the end of this third year, we obtain a first diploma and we can study the master of our choice. 

Why SSE Riga? This question is a bit embarrassing for me, because I do not really know. First of all, I wanted to stay in Europe, because I cannot afford to go to USA or Japan! 

It’s quite important to say that I’m very attracted by unknown places and it is the first time I come to the Baltic States. I wanted to discover the ambiance in these countries, where my mother’s family has lived two centuries ago. This is the reason why I chose to go to an eastern country. 

After my studies I would like to supervise art, so I need some business and economics knowledge. When I have been told that there will be a new partnership this year with the best school in the Baltic, I didn’t hesitate a second. A new partnership, adventure, high level in that school, I do not need more information to make a choice. And for me Riga is not a very expensive city and it’s quite comfortable to live close to the school in a wonderful area (as I wrote it before, I love art).

My school in France is completely different form SSE. When we are undergraduate students in my school, we can choose courses in a lot of different fields (from history to economy or law). There are only 4 or 5 mandatory courses by year. Then we only specialize for the master we want to make. 

Studies at SSE only focus on business and management. It’s interesting too, particularly for me because I used to study mostly history in my French school.

Ambiances are very different too. There is only one building at SSE Riga. In Paris, we have 4 different buildings now for approx 6 000 students. They are all located on the left bank, between the Senate and the Eiffel Tower.  

Regarding the lectures, for important courses, we have both lectures (our lecture hall can receive 700 students) and seminars. For other courses, for example, languages, we only have seminars. All courses last an entire semester and we only have exams at the end of the semester.

Talking about students here in SSE Riga, I feel good with other exchange students, especially because they have to speak in English. It’s more difficult for me with other Y1 students, because they often start to speak Latvian, Estonian and I, of course, do not understand anything. But when we have a work to make, it’s absolutely not a problem and I can even say that it is an advantage to be French, because I can bring some personal experience that local persons have not got. 

My social life is mostly out of the school, and I keep of course contact with my French friends. 

I have not experienced a culture shock, at least not yet. I even do not like this term, which is linked to S. Huntington’s research. I have just visited Riga and Sigulda but there is not o lot of difference from my home country, except that vegetation is not exactly the same.

Hobbies and Dreams

My hobbies… I have a lot of them! I can start with literature from all the countries… I haven’t got any TV in France and I had to do something with my time. Horse riding and fencing are my two favorite sports, but I also like endurance race. I’m interested in graphic design as well as culture and history (mostly the nineteenth century).

My dream is to manage an art gallery, but it’s a very long term project. 

Final Remarks

There is something I am dying to find in Riga. A place where I could find French bread (a real one, not Cadets de Gascogne, where bred doesn’t look like anything) and a French wine called “Coteaux du Layon”…

By Vladimirs Zlotnikovs