- Stockholm School of Economics in Riga

INSIDER SPECIAL
uccess,
Alumni about S
d
Arrogance, an
Real Life
The Economics of
Migration
by Morten Hansen
Exchange Update
:
Kentucky & Paris
Discover
SSE Riga Staff
PARTNERS
GENERAL PARTNER
GENERAL PRINTING PARTNER
HOMECOMING SPECIAL
Making It Feel Like Home: Interview with Ramona
PAGE 6
Linking the Past with the Future
PAGE 9
Words of Wisdom from our Lecturers
PAGE 13
How I Met My TA
PAGE 16
INSIDER SPECIAL
Dialogue with Alumni
PAGE 14
INSIDE SSE RIGA
Interrogation of Freshmen
PAGE 8
Interview with Mr. Benkovskis
PAGE 12
Meet the Administration
PAGE 20
How to Graduate in 3 Years?
PAGE 22
Wise Flexibility
PAGE 25
Gossip Page
PAGE 26
AROUND THE WORLD
Morten’s Column: The Economics of Migration
PAGE 5
La Vie en Rose
PAGE 10
My American Dream and Nightmare
PAGE 11
My International Friend
PAGE 24
EDITORS’ PAGE
by Violeta Ţoncu
Welcome Home!
/SSERigaInsider
@SSERigaInsider
It takes guts, big hearts, arrogance sometimes, effort and grace
to BUILD a home like SSE Riga.
And who made that possible if not
you? Yes, you – the students, the
alumni, the professors, the stuff,
you – our Alma Mater!
The special Homecoming edition
of the Insider is intended to celebrate our unity and achievements;
to reflect on the past and focus on
the exciting future. But don’t forget
to live in the present and dive into
Morten’s column about the economy of migration, or discover why
SSE Riga is the place to be from
Ramona’s perspective. Find out
from our experienced alumni how
come not all in life is about success
or money. Of course not everything
is perfect in our school, but it certainly brings people together, sometimes even hosts their wedding!
Love is powerful and we have to love
life because “La vie en rose” – as our
exchange students would say. Well,
some would argue that exchange is
a nightmare, but our reader is our
judge, so keep reading my friends.
Finally, we would like to welcome
to our family Maksis, Krista, Mara
and Nika, the Insider’s fresh journalists, who brighten and add value
to our community every day!
Congratulations & welcome back!
Special thanks: Morten Hansen, Irēna Galiča , Ramona Ozoliņa, Anders Paalzow, Ģirts Zīle,
Ana-Maria Tecuci, Konstantīns Beņkovskis, Yekaterina Pogrebnaya, Jurga Kupstyte, Uldis and Madara Tēraudkalni,
Elīna Vecumniece, Raimonds Graudiņš , Lauma Vernere, Jānis Bošs
Ieva Pecukevičiūtė
Alexandra Lapitskaya
Violeta Ţoncu
Editor
Vice Chief Editor
Chief Editor
4
Reinholds R. Razums Jekaterina Gornostajeva
Graphic Designer
Editor
Nika Firgere
Māra Deksne
Maksis Gauja
Krista Kaaver
Junior Editor
Junior Editor
Junior Editor
Junior Graphic Designer
AROUND THE WORLD
by Morten Hansen
Morten’s Column:
The Economics
of Migration
This time the Insider asked me
to write about migration from an
economic perspective. It is an issue that decides elections in my
country of birth and it is the current dominating issue in many EU
countries so it is indeed a topic
worth looking at.
A simple economic model would
start like this: assume homogenous labour, i.e. people are perfect
substitutes for each other. Then
assume that for some reason one
country has a higher GDP per
capita than the other, i.e has higher marginal productivity and thus
also higher wages. With free labour
mobility people will move from
the low wage country to the high
wage country. This will decrease
GDP in the former and increase it
in the latter country, but by more
than the decrease – world
GDP will grow. With
diminishing
marginal returns, labour productivity
will grow in the
poorer country
and decline in
the richer until
wages equalize.
And I could make
a nice graph if I had
space for it…
What we observe in
reality is indeed the impact
on GDP as the model suggests and
also some wage equalization, but it
is not complete as labour is not fully mobile for a variety of reasons:
language barriers, different skills,
cultural differences, climatic differences, and what have you.
In the past 10-15 years we have
observed the results of migration
flows from many eastern European countries to various parts of
the west. Indeed, such barriers as
mentioned above make it difficult
for many migrants to find a good
job, except for places such as the
UK or Ireland where English is
the primary language. Danish civil servants are 99.999% protected
from competition from e.g. Lithuanians due to their command of the
Danish language. But we are nevertheless talking about migrants with
a not-too-different cultural background.
This changes quite dramatically
with respect to the refugees from
the Middle East, many of whom
are from Syria.
In the Danish debate some have
argued that many of these migrants are highly skilled
and will thus bring
a lot of value, but
wait a minute?!?
Can
anyone
name a prestigious university in Syria?
And even with
skills/education that are acceptable in Syria
they may not meet
European standards.
Anyone who is willing to
undergo surgery by a Syrian-trained
doctor?
My main concern is almost always about employability – due to
aging in many European countries,
migrants should be employable in
order to be an asset, but I highly
doubt this is the case. Rather, with
language barriers, poor skills and
possibly cultural differences that
preclude some women from the
labour market, many of these migrants will add to structural unemployment for the foreseeable future.
Moreover, given relatively poor
skills, first-generation migrants will
end up with relatively poorly paid
jobs and will become some sort of
underclass in society.
In short, I don’t buy much into
the idea of enormous benefits from
migrants/refugees coming from a
background that is very different in
terms of skills, languages and culture/religion – and that is roughly
also what the basic model outlined
above will predict.
And this is just the economics
of this issue. In addition, one may
consider initial costs of accommodation and integration, the absorption capacity of different countries
– can Sweden really accommodate
200,000 refugees this year alone? –
and the pressure that will come, on
what is for me absolute and non-negotiable values such as democracy,
freedom of speech and the equality
between men and women. Islam is
just not a friendly religion when it
comes to such values.
Finally, what about potential
migrants e.g. here in Latvia? No
offence – but I think they will feel
they lost in the lottery, and, when
they have a chance, they will be off
for Sweden too. And Sweden will
be the big migration economics
laboratory in the years to come. I
will watch with interest. But from
a distance. OK, that’s what I do
with everything that takes place in
Sweden…
THE INSIDER • NOVEMBER 2015
5
HOMECOMING SPECIAL
by Māra Deksne
istant
Ramona Ozoliņa, Administrative Ass
in 2003.
Started working at SSE Riga
ore.
Has worked as a hairdresser bef
autumn she picked 103
is
Th
.
Loves picking mushrooms
mushrooms in one take.
o pancakes.
Favourite food at Daily – potat
kan Lyckeborg.
Favourite faculty member – Ha Graduation.
the
Favourite event at SSE Riga –
Making It Feel Like Home
“Ask Ramona” – the phrase that solves almost all problems here at SSE Riga. But how much do you actually know
about Ramona? She has seen SSE Riga and its students change over time. She is a true patriot of the school and will
never hesitate to help. Open, warm-hearted and always smiling – our Administrative Assistant Ramona Ozoliņa
will tell you why SSE Riga is the place to be.
What were your main tasks when
you first started working at SSE
Riga?
My main place of work was the
copying room. We had digital
copying machines, which are now
considered very old. I had a colour
printer and a cash register. I copied
materials for students and charged
a fee for copying. I was responsible for all the copied material to be
ready on time for the course.
How does your day look like now?
I communicate with students
way more than before. I like
our students a lot. Once
you are with them, you
feel like a student yourself. I always look at
them and think of how
young, beautiful, and
smart they are. Every
time the admission tests
take place, I look at the
young people with amazement and ask myself – how
6
can they know so much?
Regarding my tasks, you can basically come to me with all kinds of
questions, and I will try to help as
I can. We have an unwritten motto
amongst the staff which is to try to
make the students feel as comfortable as possible, to make them feel
like at home. The students have a
huge workload and they are under
a lot of stress, and I can see it daily
– a student comes in, signs up for
a class and
forgets his phone. On an average
week, there are around 5 wallets
and 7 mobile phones returned to
my office. However, I am happy
that students are very responsive
and always bring the found items
to me.
I always see the students’ faces
when they arrive in the mornings
– some are smiling, some are more
thoughtful. But when FE starts, it
will all be faces of exhaustion. There
have been cases when we had to call
the doctor because of all the sleepless
nights and studying hard. But the
bright side is that in the end everyone does well in life. These 3 years are
often the most beautiful of one’s life.
The students have so many opportunities here with all the professional
lecturers and student organisations. I
especially love the SSE Riga choir, I
feel like their eyes always sparkle with
joy.
I am happy to work with such a
great team where everyone is very
professional. We all try to do our
Riga. They become more down-toearth. For example, a Y1 may come
in and tell me: “I have lost a Hugo
Boss scarf” and make a scene out of
it. It’s funny to see how, at the start,
students, especially the young men,
like to show off – hair is very important, they sometimes style it in a
special way or wear these funny hats
in lectures. But it all fades away very
fast, and in the graduation, when all
the students are on the stage, I look
at them and think about how much
they have changed. To be honest, I
Have the students changed over always tear up a little. The boys are
suddenly so manly and handsome!
time?
I feel like the communication has When they arrived, they had this
become easier. I think the students boy-like look and after the three
have become friendlier amongst years here, they are completely differthemselves now. Especially nationali- ent. But it mostly applies to the men,
ty wise – years ago you could see that the women are pretty from the start.
the students communicated mostly
only with others from their home How has SSE Riga changed
country. You can really feel the inter- during your years of work here?
Things have changed a lot – now
national spirit in the school now.
I have also noticed how students everyone has a laptop and almost
change during their studies in SSE all the material is available online.
best for the students. We also have
the most gorgeous building. I love it
when students’ parents come to the
school. This is very hard for me to
imagine, but it happens so often that
the parents see the school only on the
day of graduation. Many tell me that
there is a special aura in this place.
Don’t hesitate to show your parents
around the school, take them to the
library, and let them see the environment in which you spend so much of
your time.
Back in the days when everything
was on paper, and when students
had the finance courses, they had
an awful lot of materials to copy.
All the reading material and the
problems were copied, and the
students carried around enormous
amounts of paper. Sometimes it
looked like they could barely carry
the copied material home, because
it was so heavy.
How do you imagine SSE Riga in
10 years?
Who knows, maybe there will be a
new building? The modernisation
process will continue, but I believe
that paper will never fade away.
The book is a value that will stay.
For example, getting an SSE Riga
diploma would not be such a joyful
moment if it was in a digital version. It must be on paper.
THE INSIDER • NOVEMBER 2015
7
INSIDE SSE RIGA
by Krista Kaaver & Nika Firgere
Interrogation of Freshmen
Year 1s and exchange students might have got used to SSE Riga life, but answering random questions in random
situations is a completely different ball park. Some go deep, some keep it simple.
Do you have any special
talents?
If you had one day to live,
what would you do?
Kristijonas (Y1): First of all, I
would call all my teachers, parents,
grandparents, friends, and other
beloved people to say how much I
appreciate everything they did for
me. Then I would be longboarding,
parachuting, and jet skiing all day.
Finally, I would gather my family, my best friends, and Kendrick
Lamar to celebrate my last 5minutes on Earth by listening to “Final
countdown”, eating lasagne, having
Edward or Jacob?
champagne showers, and fireworks
in the background.
Аrtjoms (Y1): Seriously?
Maksis (Y1): Finish everything I
Maksis (Y1): Jessica.
Kaur (Y1): It’s a stupid question. have started, buy a cake, go to the
most scenic place I can find, eat the
Charlie Sheen.
cake and then die.
Filipe (Exchange): I would write
a letter dedicated to everyone who
What superpower would you
has given my life its current shape,
like to have?
showing my appreciation and love.
Alan (Y1): Super memory. Every- Then I’d find my lover, get a car,
thing I do, see or read, everything drive with no direction into the
will be instantly saved on my super wilderness at high speed with loud
music on the speakers. And at the
brain.
Kristijonas (Y1): I would LOVE end of the world, love as intensely as
to fly, that would be really cool. possible until my day would be over.
Like Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Alan (Y1): I would abandon everyArtjoms (Y1): Making money from thing and walk away all by myself,
and I would walk until the day
air.
Jörgen (Y1): I would like to read ends. I would force myself to think
and create something that could
people’s minds.
Ingus (Y1): Ability to have couple leave a mark of my existence. For
of hours more than 24 a day when- others I would be gone already.
ever I need them.
Maksis (Y1): The ability to pass all
the exams.
What is the craziest thing you
have ever done?
Anna (Y1): No, except making
things more complicated than they
should be.
Adellina (Y1): Doing the most important thing in the last moment
and pretending it was done long before the deadline.
Tatjana (Y1): I can play the piano
with closed eyes.
Nikoloz (Y1): Drunk skiing.
Anna (Y1): Getting a driver’s license.
Adellina (Y1): I went to the NewAnna (Y1): I have no life since comers Camp.
August.
Can you describe your life
with a 6 word sentence?
8
What is something you cannot
live without?
Kristijonas (Y1): Ummmm, food,
water, and the Internet obviously.
But seriously, social interactions
with people, including my family,
friends, Maxima cashier I met yesterday, and everyone else around
me.
Ingus (Y1): Ice cream... I somehow manage to eat at least one a
day even during winter. Might be
the reason why I’m losing shape,
but, meh, who cares about shape if
you have ice cream.
Jörgen (Y1): From time to time
I really need to do extreme trashtalking with my buddies, and
sometimes I really need to talk
about philosophy.
Kaur (Y1): Alcohol.
What would be your perfect
Daily offer?
Simon (Exchange): Time.
Kaur (Y1): A lot of money.
Ingus (Y1): Beautiful and pleasant
weather, and smiling people.
Alan (Y1): Perfect daily offer
would be an invitation to space. A
small trip to stratosphere and back
would be nice.
Artjoms (Y1): A button that would
transfer you to any destination your work, vacation, home etc.
Jörgen (Y1): It would be awesome
if Daily had an offer like this: 1st
dish – Tom Yam soup; 2nd dish
Crispy Duck in plum sauce; 3rd
dish – Napoleon’s cake. And that
all for 5€.
HOMECOMING SPECIAL
by Anders Paalzow
Linking the Past
with the Future
Friday, November 6
14:15 - 15:00 | Room 311
Graduate Study Opportunities
16:30 - 17:30 | Soros Auditorium
Alumni Experience Sharing
17:05 - 17:45 | W32 auditorium
Leif Muten Society: Throughout the Years
17:30 | SSE Riga Lobby
Networking Event
saturday, November 7
11:30 - 13:00 | SSE Riga
Alumni-Student Mentoring Brunch
14:00 - 15:30 | Soros Auditorium
SSE Riga Student Research Papers 2015
16:00 - 17:00 | Soros Auditorium
Presentation on SSE Riga News
17:00 - 17:30 | SSE Riga
Meet the faculty and staff
17:00 - 20:00 | Burga, Dzirnavu 36
Debate Society Alumni Luncheon
18:00 - 19:00 | Ave Sol Concert Hall, Citadeles 7
SSE Riga Mixed Choir concert
19:00 - 22:00 | SSE Riga, 6th floor
Executive MBA Reunion
19:30 - 22:00 | SSE Riga, 4th floor
Staff Reunion
19:30 - 21:30 | Gallery Park Hotel, Kr. Valdemāra 7
President’s Dinner
19:30 - 22:00 | Albert Hotel, Dzirnavu 33
Homecoming Cocktails
22:00 - 24:00 | SSE Riga, Room 303
Debate Society Informal Event
22:00 | SSE Riga
Homecoming Party
Homecoming not only means
that we welcome a lot of ‘old’ students coming back to SSE Riga
together with former faculty and
staff members, it also means that
we celebrate the School’s birthday. This year SSE Riga turns 21,
which means that it has passed
a milestone and reached the age
when it is older than most of the
students currently being enrolled.
On a day like this it is, of course,
natural to look back. To recall
what happened at the back row in
Soros during the finance course.
To remember that party when
your first real big love entered
your life. Or just recall the feeling
when it was well beyond midnight
and you had not gotten anywhere
with your teamwork.
As the past year has shown,
getting older sadly means that
the number of absent friends
increases. Although they are
not with us any more, their presence is, through the memories we
shared, in particular, felt on a day
like this. They all have a very special place in our hearts.
In all nostalgia associated with
the Homecoming Day, it might
be refreshing to look into the future – the future that soon will
make up the memories of the future Homecomings. So, will the
memories of the graduates coming
home to their Alma Mater twenty
years from now be very different
from the ones of the current generations? I do not think so – students will still be human beings.
As such they still have to struggle
with the indifference curves of
the micro course, no matter what
gadgets they have, it will still be
an intellectual challenge. The food
might differ but the line to the cafeteria will still be there. And there
will for sure be a Green Book to
Anders Paalzow
Rector
sign in the first day of studies at
SSE Riga.
Other things might change. The
physical environment, although
still “SSE Riga green”, will most
likely not only be different, but
hopefully also bigger, providing
more space for individual and
group studies. The George Soros
Auditorium, on the other hand
(beautifully renovated this summer thanks to the generosity of
our alumni), will still be there
ready to create new chapters in the
history of SSE Riga.
No matter what the future brings,
there is one asset upon which the
entire School rests – the SSE Riga
students. As long as they are up to
the standard, the School will thrive
and produce graduates who will
serve as ambassadors of the School
attracting the ‘right ones’ of the
coming generations, thereby, linking the past with the future.
Finally, I would like to welcome
you all home to your Alma Mater. To a Homecoming where
old friends will re-connect, new
friendships across generations will
be established, and more SSE Riga
memories will be created.
Welcome back!
Anders Paalzow
Rector, SSE Riga
THE INSIDER • NOVEMBER 2015
9
AROUND THE WORLD
by Ana-Maria Tecuci
La Vie en Rose
Name: Ana-Maria Tecuci
Exchange university: Paris Institute of Political Sciences aka Sciences Po,
France
Your biggest shock so far about
the culture/country you live in
now.
Heavy price discrimination. As
a young person I feel extremely
well here. I was expecting some
discounts for students, but not
everywhere. If you come to
France when you are young, then
you can be sure that your EU ID
card (showing your age) or student card will be your best friend.
You can for example get a ticket
to opera for 10€ instead of 120€,
and get a free entrance to almost
all the museums.
How is your university different
from SSE Riga?
Firstly, physically the university
is much bigger. There are 2 libraries(the old and the new one, each
having 5 floors), several school
buildings near the Seine(I still can’t
say exactly how many, but approximately 8). Secondly, because there
are many departments, all the students can choose the courses they
want to study from a wide range
of courses. This gives them the
opportunity to focus on the matters they want to link their future
with. Thirdly, there are many,
many, many students. Only
the exchange students are approximately 1300, which is 3-4
times SSE Riga number of students. This also means not only
a much more international environment but, what is more
important, very different views.
In one class there might be students whose primary field of
studies are different, and this
gives you a much wider range
of knowledge in class. Besides,
they can also “afford” such
Partner Universities as Harvard
and important figures like presidents, ministers, economists,
etc., as guest lecturers.
What are your favourite dishes from there?
Fromage, fromage, and, again,
fromage; baguette and wine.
How are the people, how is
the atmosphere, do you feel
that you made the right decision to go on exchange?
Yes, definitely yes. Sciences
Po is actually a place where
people go for networking,
I think, at least judging on
the number of Sarcozis, Chiracs, and Hollands who studied
at this school, and what people
here have said. They have a very
strong alumni community too.
And, as this life is not only networking, from personal experience I can say that you can find
good friends also.
What do you miss most of all
from SSE Riga?
Free places in the library and in
the yard.
10
AROUND THE WORLD
by Ģirts Zīle
My American Dream
and Nightmare
Name: Ģirts Zīle
Exchange location: University of Kentucky, Gatton College of Business and
Economics, United States of America
Culture:
One of the first things I noticed here
is that everything is big: cars, buses,
houses, campus – everything. Another thing is that Americans are
obsessed with private houses, meaning that everyone wants to live in a
big private house and almost none
prefer apartment houses. Safety is a
major concern here; our university
has its own police with several police
cars which only guard the campus
territory. In addition, university provides free taxi for its students every
Thursday to Saturday from 11 pm
to 3 am, so you don’t need to worry
about transportation at night. Safety is indeed a big issue, for example,
during the two months of my stay
here, three people have been killed
in the range of 5 km from my house,
news from time to time report that
some criminals are in the town and
people should be careful.
University:
University of Kentucky is a lot bigger than SSE Riga in every aspect.
There are 30 000 students studying
here and the campus is the size of
the old Riga, if not bigger. But the
good thing is that despite the size,
the school approaches every student
individually and makes him/her feel
like home.
In addition, the university provides
so many opportunities for students;
there are many student organizations, a sports complex in size of
Olympic Centre in Riga, school’s
own hospital, etc. It is hard to imagine something that you can’t do here.
surprise people are not that fat like
I imagined. At first, I thought that
I made a biased conclusion, since
I am surrounded by a lot of students and they are likely to do more
sports, but after visiting Chicago I
understood that “fat Americans”
are not actually that fat. About
food: they eat a lot more chicken
in various forms and also a lot of
pizza. However, the biggest difference is in the size of the portions. A
medium meal is more than enough
for me, I have no idea how a person
can eat a large portion alone.
Americans:
Everybody is very open and polite. At first it was fun to speak with
strangers but after a while you get
tired of it. Interestingly, but many
Americans have heard about Lithuania (probably because of the
Basketball team), while few people know something about Latvia. Saying “Hi, how are you?”
or “What`s up?” to a total
stranger is very common.
The sad part is that no one
actually cares about how
you are doing. “Sorry” is
a widely used word, in
some situations where
Europeans would never
look back,
Americans
almost always apologize.
Most missed things:
I miss crazy SSER parties in the
school premises until the sunrise,
because all of the parties here are
usually held in houses or pubs.
They are fun, but everybody stops
partying at around 2 am since all
of the bars close at 2:30 am. The
same happens in house parties,
everybody suddenly leaves when
Latvians just get warmed up. Another thing which I miss is SSE Riga
challenging environment, where
everything pushes you to do more
and put additional effort into your
work. Here I am more relaxed, it
feels like being on vacation. Maybe
exchange should be that way but after a while I realized that I prefer the
home way of doing things.
Food:
Fast food restaurants are literally
on every corner. However, to my
11
INSIDE SSE RIGA
by Violeta Ţoncu
Konstantīns Beņkovskis, Lecturer
Age: 36 years old
oStudies: RTU & the University of Latvia (Economics, Econ
metrics)
Job: Researcher at the Bank of Latvia, professor at SSE Riga
Favorite author: Kurt Vonnegut, modern classics
Favorite movie: 8 ½ from Federico Felline
Travel destination: Vienna, Rome
Favorite dish: beer, you can eat anything with beer!
regress K_Benkovskis social_life:
Unexpected Findings
We all know him as our International Economics and Econometrics teacher. We’ve seen the statistical proof of his
kindness and heard his well-prepared spicy jokes, but who is he as a person? Although Konstantins Benkovskis tends
to explain everything with empirical examples, this time we tried to discover his “other side” by getting a glimpse
of his interesting personality!
How were you as a student?
Hmm… not too bad, not too good.
I always liked exact subjects and I
hated everything related to languages. I was really selective in terms of
what I wanted to study.
Why economics?
It was way back in the 90’s. Physics wasn’t a very good option so I
thought that the field of economics
is more perspective. Moreover, I was
interested on how the world economics system operates. I had no big
thoughts on teaching at SSE Riga.
By the way, I tried to enter it in 1996
and I failed after the interview.
sports, reading books, or attending
concerts. I currently practice jogging but I used to do power lifting
for many years, I’ve played tennis
and hockey as well.
researching, the more you discover,
the more questions you have. Moreover, economics is a live system that
changes all the time, so it’s a never
ending story actually.
What is one of your biggest successes?
Teaching here is a big success, also
the fact that I was able to participate
in many European projects together
with colleagues from the European
Central Bank.
Tell us a strength and a weakness
of yours?
Maybe I am too kind sometimes,
but I’m learning to be strict. Also I
don’t like to concentrate a lot; I am
more of a sprinter rather than a long
distance runner if compare it with
running. In that sense, the ability to
concentrate intensely for short periods of time is also a strength.
…and failures?
Maybe the fact that I was not able to
enter SSE Riga (laughs). I regret that
I never tried to go to study abroad.
Where you a hard working student? It would be quite hard to do it
No. Definitely not. That is why I now, as I can’t simply quit teaching,
understand people not attending all my job at the bank and go study
my lectures, this being the reason somewhere abroad.
I put all class material to the web.
Actually, I always hated listening to How do you find motivation to
lectures, I prefer to take the book move forward in life?
I don’t always have this motivation,
and study by myself.
sometimes I want to go to sleep and
not to do anything. The secret is
What do you do for fun?
You mean except econometrics? that I like doing research, and for
Quite a lot if I have time, either me, my job is interesting. While
12
How do you see yourself in 10
years?
Definitely alive! The world is changing so rapidly that I am not sure that
the education system will be the way
we know it today. Maybe I would
end up being a teaching assistant of
Paul Krugman or Mark Watson. I
am not sure we need so many professors in each county when learning
can easily be done via the web. As for
research, I can survive for the next 10
years and even improve my position!
HOMECOMING SPECIAL
by Violeta Țoncu
Words of Wisdom
from Our Lecturers
“We all know what happens to
those who consume extreme bundles. They are put into rooms with
big locks.”
“I see the vice-rector is there, but
she is not allowed to see this.”
“I still can’t believe how 115 students can consume 125 handouts.”
“Lecturers have to earn more
money than students, otherwise my
life sucks.”
“You come here on your free will.”
“The world is not full of Estonians.”
“Students are supposed to be
poor.”
“If tears were made of gold, I
would have a fortune just from
grading your exams!”
“You could say that Zimbabwean
currency is advanced toilet paper.”
“Of course there is ‘Don’t know’
option, but then you slap people in
the face and you get the answer.”
“Can you smell it? It’s FRIDAY!!!”
“Insert infinity here, insert infinity there, and you’ll be infinitely
happy.”
“Monday: well, this is horrible,
but that’s what it is.”
“I actually enjoy life sometimes
when I see tears in people’s eyes.”
Morten Hansen
BSc Courses: Microeconomics,
Macroeconomics, Statistics
“Econometrics is like sex - for
sure you have to know some theory, but you should know more
about practice as it is more fun!”
Showing a graph of International Economics results where at the
threshold pass-fail there is a weird
shape: “This is by the way, the
proof of my kindness”.
“You know expected value, right?”
“Well the intercept is a BORING
parameter… that’s another animal.
Means that the model is crap.”
“Is everything clear? (Students are
silent) It means that we understand
each other!”
“No explanation, besides that
she/he is a buddhist.”
“This model is total crap, are you
with me?”
The lecture before the Boat Trip,
after some complex derivations:
“Well, now you have a good excuse
to drink a lot today”.
“Mathematics is not a science,
it’s an art.”
When asked about why particular numbers are substituted with
lambda: “Special things get special
names.”
When being carried away and
not noticing that we should have a
break at the time: “Well, time flies
so fast when you’re having fun!”
Student: “Why are we doing
this?“
H.L.: “Because brand loyalty! “
“There’s something wrong with
the D.”
‘’There is a very simple way to
do that, but it will take two hours
to explain.’’
“Now all we have to do is put it
in there.”
“You only want to use nice
numbers.”
“Special cases are special because
they are special. Isn’t that just special?”
Konstantīns Beņkovskis
BSc Courses: International Economics,
Econometrics
Håkan Lyckeborg
BSc Course: Mathematics
“Imagine I am a function.“
“You forgot to mention the most
important kind of bond: James
Bond.”
“J.E.: What is a derivative instrument?
Student: dy/dx.“
Elchin Jafarov
Elective: Financial Mathematics
“Yesterday we have studied a few
minutes more. And today as well.
But I can pay you back by reducing the time of your exam…”
“Do you remember when I told
you yesterday that you are the best
class I’ve ever had? Now I changed
my mind.”
“Imagine I am a balance sheet, if
you do it, you can leave in peace.”
Gunnar Lindholm
BSc Course: Financial Accounting
THE INSIDER • NOVEMBER 2015
13
INSIDER SPECIAL
by Violeta Țoncu
What Would You Say if I Told You
Life is not Just about Success?
We are proud to be SSE Rigans. But, are we indeed? What are the perks of being arrogant if we really are like that?
Or if we need to change, what should we fix? Yekaterina and Jurga are telling us how they see SSE Riga now, after
more that 10 years passed since their graduation. Find out what has SSE Riga taught them,if anything, and what
they wish they knew back in their study years.
We all have heard that the real life
starts after you step outside the
university, face the labour market, and are totally on your own.
What does that mean from your
experience?
Yekaterina: I believe that one’s life
starts whenever one decides to start
living it consciously every day. I’ve
met people in their 60s who haven’t been living their lives and very
young people who lived it every day.
The real life is the one you openly
face waking up in the morning.
Neither labour market nor other
circumstances are going to make it
more meaningful and real to you –
it’s your own choice which you can
make right this moment by asking
yourself what it means to you.
Jurga: Well, as I said, currently I am
not facing the labour market. I am
not on my own, I have family and
friends. In a sense, I even haven’t
fully stepped out of the university,
because I do a little bit of teaching
back there. Does that mean my life
is not real? Or is it only our obses14
sion with progress, which makes us
think that real life is somewhere in
the future, and now is just a preparation/repetition/you name it?
How do you see SSE Riga now,
after some years after you graduated, compared to when you were
a student?
Y: I don’t feel like it changed so
much.
J: Similarly as more than ten years
ago, I see it as an exceptional example of Art Nouveau architecture.
What this probably means in practice is that with the years passing
by, I tend to attach less and less importance to the fact that I obtained
my BSc degree in this Alma Mater.
Especially since I am on a very different road with my subsequent
education.
Who was your favourite lecturer
at SSE Riga? Why?
Y: Peter Högfeldt impressed me the
most, because he was different from
any other lecturer. He also failed
me by just 3 points in SSE Riga
finance exam, which, I think, was
the most meaningful experience for
me during the years of studies.
J: Peter Högfeldt. I certainly admired his ability to inflict fear and
horror, desperation and angriness
on students. He certainly knew
how to push beyond the limits, although his methods seemed inhumane to some. He also had an exceptional memory and a very sharp
mind, which combined into a very
twisted sense of humor. RIP, Peter
Hogfeldt.
Do you think that SSE Rigans
are arrogant? If yes, how could
we fix that?
Y: People are arrogant. This doesn’t
have much to do with our school
per se – I never felt that our school’s
culture would specially nurture
arrogance in students. However,
somehow it feels for many that SSE
Riga attracts students who might
be more arrogant on average, due
to the “better start” they had,
Yekaterina Pogrebnaya, Class of 2003
Student organizations: We had this “tradition” of just
one girl elected for the Investment Fund team – I was
that girl in 2001-2002. I also have been in Days of
Opportunities organization team.
Current job: Co-owner in COPYWRITER Ltd.
Hobbies: Writing, painting, travelling.
Jurga Kupstyte, Class of 2004
Student organizations: The Insider
Current job: Currently, full time occupation called
‘early motherhood’, and I consider my second education, social and cultural anthropology, to be my vocation.
Hobbies: Thinking and observing, reading, social activism, probably, educational theories and practices.
which also gives them more confidence, not always well-deserved,
I guess. I think it can be fixed by
explaining the pros and cons of arrogance, how it is expressed sometimes without you noticing and
how it can weaken you on your life
journey. Also, what humbleness
means and how in fact it is your
real strength rather than arrogance.
A closer look and research into the
topic of arrogance would put many
things in places.
J: I think quite a substantial part
of SSE Rigans have an exceptional
amount of self-confidence. This is
part of the culture that this school
cultivates. And when you are young
and have little experience, more
often than not this self-confidence
tends to expose itself as arrogance.
However, under proper life circumstances, this arrogant self-confidence transforms into a drive
for leadership, or entrepreneurial
drive, or drive to be politically and
socially active – you name it. Given
these transformations, I don’t think
much needs to be fixed, you just let
the time to do its job; from time
perspective, being ‘arrogant’ is simply a part of the evolutionary process in building one’s identity for
life. But please, don’t forget that
the hardest times are not on those
who have this (arrogant) self-confidence, but on those who actually
don’t have it, yet try to live up to
this cultural norm.
“socially acceptable” success will
make one happy.
J: In my opinion, success – similarly
as progress – is a very pervert concept
that we tend to overindulge with in
our lives. An even bigger problem
with success is that we strive to
somehow measure, or - even worse
- quantify it. So in my opinion,
one needs to – be it at SSE Riga
or in life in general - relax, take it
easy, stay alive inside one’s heart,
and maybe even avoid success
(and progress) zombies. Oh, and
also, drink plenty of water.
What are your plans for the future?
Y: Continue being happy and try
making people around me happy.
(smiles)
J: To be honest, I am still very inexperienced with my current occupation, which makes any long-term
planning a rather overstretched
exercise. I have some dreams for SSE Riga taught me that…
the future, that’s for sure, but I Y: … anything is possible.
J: … nothing unique, maybe that it
keep them to myself.
brought me to Riga. (smiles)
What is success in your opinion?
And what does one need to do in When I was a student, I wish I
order to succeed at SSE Riga and knew…
Y: … that real value is in relationin life in general?
Y: I believe that nowadays success ships that you build during your
is ability to be yourself despite the life.
pressure of how others see you or J: … that I would stay here for 10+
choices others would like you to years and counting… I would have
make. And if you’re not yet sure attended more local raves back
what defines you, then success is then, it’s a bit of a pity that I got to
being on that journey and keep know all those amazing people that
searching. I believe that without I befriended in this city so much
that knowledge no other type of later in their lives.
THE INSIDER • NOVEMBER 2015
15
HOMECOMING SPECIAL
by Ieva Pecukevičiūtė & Maksis Gauja
How I Met My TA
We bet you all have noticed a Facebook post a month ago about a couple that got married at SSE Riga, and you
probably asked yourself a question “Why here?”. We had the same thought in our minds, that’s why we approached
the couple – Uldis and Madara Tēraudkalni – in order to find out more. We invite you to discover their love story
and the role of SSE Riga in it. Who knows, maybe your wedding will be the next held at our Alma Mater.
How did you come up with the
idea to have your wedding at SSE
Riga?
Madara: First we decided that we
want to get married in Riga, but
rather than a church, we preferred
registry. However, we didn’t want
to do it in their premises, thus it
made us wonder where else we
could do it. Somehow we thought
of SSE Riga as it is the place that
meant something in our lives, so
we wrote e-mail to Diana Pauna
and she agreed.
Uldis: I think that one of the reasons was also that we wanted to
get married in a place that we
were sure was going to be around
after ten, twenty years and we
could come back at any time to
reminisce.
16
How did you actually meet?
M: We met in the School. I was in
my second year and Uldis was in
the third. We had actually studied
together for one year, but we hadn’t
noticed each other.
U: Not even the slightest idea about
each other’s existence.
M: But then I had International
Economics and Uldis was a TA…
U: It happened by chance; I had
been chosen to be a TA in the third
year and it turned out to be a lucky
choice. I was leading seminars and
Madara was sitting in the last row
not really minding anything I was
doing, just her own business. And I
guess that’s how it all started.
Who made the first move?
U: I think I did. We had had
some encounters after seminars,
but only relating the IE stuff and
some other casual hallway conversations, but it was the Baptizing party when I walked up to
her and started talking. And you
know how SSE parties are like…
[laughs]. Then we started dating
and took FE together, because I
had to retake it, and during that
time we realized that we had
something serious.
It is sometimes said that relationships are bad for studies, but
in your case it was the other way
around?
M: It was actually really good that
we studied FE together, because
at that time you basically do not
have time for anything else.
U: Relationships are bad for studies if you do not study the same
things and the subject is difficult.
Otherwise, it’s easy to manage the
time and explain to the other person that you can’t go to the cinema tonight because you have to
study. But FE was the only subject
we had together.
Did you start to live together
during studies?
M: We had our own
places during studies,
but we were always
staying at each other’s apartments.
U: We only moved
in together when
Madara started
her second semester of the third year.
M: Yeah, so it was a bit
more than a year after we
started dating. But then Uldis
went to study in Sweden for two
years, so we spent some time separately. I was living in Riga while he
was living in Stockholm. And then,
when he came back, he proposed.
How did he propose?
M: I was on a trip with my SSE
Riga course mates – we went to
visit one of them in Germany. We
were there for a week and it was a
tough week, because we partied a
lot. When I came back, Uldis was
home, waiting for me and preparing dinner.
U: I was making lasagna very stressfully, which was the first dish I have
cooked for her years ago when we
started dating. It was also one of the
last, because I don’t cook too much
(laughs).
M: And after dinner he proposed. It
was very nice – no random people
around, just us two.
like a very logical step. I got my
job, did some side-work, got some
money in, bought a ring and then
waited for the right moment to propose. I had a good opportunity to
surprise her after she came back
from Germany.
Where did you hid the ring?
U: Madara was talking all the time
about how she wanted to learn to
play the piano. We had a
spare one at my parents’
house. I thought: “If
she says she wants
to play the piano, I’m going to
bring her one”.
So, I brought her
the piano and
hid the ring there,
because I knew that
the second she comes
in, she wouldn’t even
take off her coat, and just
go to the piano and start playing.
I had hid the ring on the strings,
so she would realize that it doesn’t
work and, of course, go “Uldi, it
doesn’t work!” “Hmm, how mysterious… maybe let’s look inside.”
We looked inside and there it was.
What is the craziest thing you
have done for each other?
U: I don’t know. Pass FE?!
M: You sound like a nerd...
U: No no, I know I did a pretty
crazy thing, which was not really
for her, it was more for me, and it
was that I went to study in Sweden. The craziest thing she did for
me was surviving those one and a
half years that I spent in Sweden.
M: Yeah, I had to live alone. And
I’m really afraid to stay home
alone.
U: And she took those terrible
boat trips to Stockholm, which
was pretty crazy. I took some as
well, with all of those construction workers on the Tallink boat.
Sometimes ex-cons talking about
prison life in Norway or just people getting totally drunk in those
four square-meter cabins.
What are your fondest memories
from SSE Riga as a couple?
U: The best thing was probably
that after five years of dating I
managed to get Madara to play for
our Summer Symposium team,
because until that she was with
her own friends. That was a very
big step for us. First you have to be
in the same Summer Symposium
team and then you can get married. P.S. I take Summer Symposium very seriously.
There is Morten!
How did you react?
M: I wouldn’t say that I was really
surprised, because I kind of felt like
we were going in that direction, so I
was just very happy and said “Yes!”
U: After I came back from Sweden,
we realized that our relationship
was stronger than ever, so it seemed
17
M: I don’t
actually remember a
lot because we started dating when Uldis was in the
third year, so he wasn’t at
school very often. I don’t think
we spent a lot of time together
here.
U: Yeah, about SSE Riga times is
not that much to say. This school
was the place where we met; a classic, well, not teacher, but teacher-assistant and student type of
relationship, which was kind of
unexpected part. After that, everything else has been like for a normal couple. I don’t think we have
ever broken up, we just had some
minor arguments. I just agree to
everything what she says
and that’s the key. She is
always right.
M: Right, the key of
success.
U: Exactly (both
laughing).
Did the faculty
take part in the
ceremony?
U: Yes. Haha.
M: No… Because it was
in the middle of the summer and the School was closed.
U: Yeah, there is only one picture
where we suspect that Morten is
larking from the glass stairway.
You can’t really tell from the picture, but one guest said that it was
18
U: There were pipes
and hoovers in
front of the door,
which, unfortunately, didn’t look
so glorious.
M: And the
guests saw that
we are standing
there and can’t
get out, but then
the guard came and
saved us. He was really upset afterwards that
he did not know that he had
to open the doors…
U: Yeah…He thought he ruined
the ceremony.
M: But it was funny.
U: Yeah, it was just a good laugh.
Morten who was standing and
watching us. Otherwise, we were
quite private with the event. We
didn’t invite pretty much any colleagues or business partners. It
was only friends and family, with
whom we are really close.
M: But we definitely had many
friends from SSE Riga.
Did you have
any unexpected moments
during your
ceremony?
U:
Yeah.
There was
the guard,
who helped
us to get in,
because
we
couldn’t get in…
M: Ah, yeah, that was
funny. We agreed with our wedding planner that we would enter
the yard from RGSL side. When
all guests were already sitting, we
wanted to enter but the doors were
closed.
How was your wedding day?
U: It was very nice, just a perfect
day and the yard looked very nice.
Of course, it was such a major risk
for us to get married outside, because there wouldn’t have been a
place to hide if the rain had started.
Certainly, there is the lobby, where
perhaps, is not the most romantic
place to get married. Even though
it was raining all over Latvia, it
was sunny and warm wherever we
went; we even had a small outdoors
picnic after the ceremony.
Were you the first ones who
‘’changed rings’’ at SSE Riga
premises?
M: Yes, we were the first ones,
according to Diana Pauna.
U: True. When we first approached
Diana she found it very fascinating, since nobody had done it
before. She booked a date for us
and marked the wedding date in
big letters on the calendar to make
sure that nobody has plans at
School on that day. The School was
very supportive and we didn’t have
any problems with that. Where do you work now?
M: I work as a Client Executive in
SEB banka Latvia in the Corporate
Department.
U: And I work as an Investment
Manager at Eko Investors, a ven-
network is more valuable rather than only the education and
knowledge.
U: I agree. From a professional
side, I would say that network is
very strong and beneficial in business and getting a good job. It is
like a stamp of approval. When
you meet an SSE Riga graduate,
you most of the time know what to
expect from his or her perforDid you even work together?
U: No, we didn’t. When I left SEB mance. On the other note, there
for Stockholm my boss asked me are great people and opportunities
whether he could offer my job at SSE Riga. For example, getting a
to Madara to fill in the spot after smart and beautiful wife (laughs).
my leave. Actually, it turned out
that she was very successful in the Do you have any advice on passfield. So, I think it was a very smart ing FE?
U: Get a smart girlfriend (laughchoice for SEB to hire her.
ing).
What would you say is the best M: I think we had a great formula:
studying only during the workthing about SSE Riga?
M: I guess people are the most days and going out in the weekimportant, because afterwards the ends. That really helped, because
ture capital fund and private
equity management company.
I manage existing portfolios of
companies and also do new investment projects. I got the job thanks
to alumni of SSE Riga whom I
approached and asked whether I
could join the team. Previously I
worked at SEB.
when you study too much your
brain just overheats. Also, don’t
stress too much about it.
U: Yes, the most important thing
is to have a balance, because at
the end of the day for students it
seems such a big workload, but
then again, afterwards you will be
working at least 40 hours a week.
And I am not that sure that a lot
of students spend 40 hours studying for financial economics. If you
will end up working in a dynamic
and competitive environment you
will have to work a lot more.
M: Just get used to it...
U: Yes, get used to the fact that
you will have to find a balance in
life between working and yourself, otherwise, you will get overwhelmed at some point. I think
our merging and finding a balance
was a very successful…
M: …union.
19
INSIDE SSE RIGA
by Alexandra Lapitskaya & Jekaterina Gornostajeva
Meet the Administration
While some members of SSE Riga faculty do a job that is noticed and appreciated by almost everyone, others are less known and stay in somewhat of a shade for us. But it’s important that everyone at school
knows whom to thank for an invisible yet amazing job done. That’s why we welcome
Elīna Vecumniece and Raimonds Graudiņš to tell us more about themselves.
Elīna
Vecumniece
BSc Programme Academic Administrator
Friends call me: I have no special
nickname, just Elina.
Family Status: The only proper
answer would be married, right?
Well, I am not (yet). :)
Favorite movie: Pride & Prejudice,
I love it even more than the book.
All of the Harry Potter movies are
on my list as well (I re-watch them
every autumn).
Favorite book: It changes from
time to time. Now it is “Gone with
the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell,
but my all-time favourite would be
“Three Comrades” by Erich Maria
Remarque.
Favorite Music: I have had the craziest taste in music over the years
– it makes me blush to even think
about it! Now I listen to Russian
pop music every morning, it loads
me with positive energy and various
emotions.
Crazy about: Cherries. I just cannot say no to any sweets with cherries in them.
Cannot spend a day without: My
morning coffee. I like to spend time
in countryside with no internet or
cell-phone connection, so it does
not scare me at all. I can even spend
20
a few days with no make-up. A day What is your educational backwithout coffee, however, would be a ground? In a few months I will
graduate from the University of
nightmare.
Latvia with a Bachelor of Social SciI have never: Nothing comes to ences in Economics.
my mind when thinking of things
I have wanted to do. I’ve had my Previous experience: I have encrazy years, when I have tried joyed working in international coreverything I wanted, and still no porate banking, as well as for one of
regrets. I think it is important the “Big 4” companies. Bank was
to enjoy life and all of the crazy more interesting…
things while you are young. However, it is more important to real- What is your biggest dream and
ize when you have had enough of fear? I cannot really say what my
it and you are ready to move on to biggest dream is, I make plans for
different periods of time and work
the next challenge.
hard on reaching my goals.
Country of dreams: Georgia, but
not like a regular two-week vacation. Who would you be if not an adI want a full-on countryside life for ministrator? I would probably have
the whole summer – no internet, a job where I can learn about busino shopping centres, no neighbours ness.
around. Just three months of sun,
good wine, interesting food and What are your hobbies? In summer I like to spend as much time
silence.
as I can outside, I enjoy gardening.
Languages spoken: Latvian is my When it is not so warm anymore, I
native language, English is my sec- enjoy working out in the gym.
ond. I spent a year in Germany,
but I am already starting to forget What would you like to say to SSE
the language. Also Russian (did not Riga students? In order to achieve,
learn it in school, so please do not you have to know exactly what you
want from life. Yes, sometimes things
make me write anything!).
come just too easy, but you should
Red wine vs. white wine: Red wine. never depend on it. Work hard and
Kindzmarauli or Alazni to be exact be humble, it will make others want
to help you along the way.
(both Georgian).
Raimonds
Graudiņš
Chief Financial Officer
Friends call me: Ray
What is your educational background? I have graduated from SSE
Riga in 2003. Afterwards, I went
Family Status: Not married yet
to Sweden and obtained a Master’s
Favorite movie: Citizen Kane (1941) degree from Karlstad University. I
have also completed two years of
Favorite book: I enjoy reading books the Ph.D. programme at the Union various subjects, entrepreneur- versity of Latvia.
ship, history, philosophy, as well as
professional literature. Therefore, it Previous experience: Prior to joinwould be difficult to single out one. ing SSE Riga I worked at the headMy recent favorite is autobiography quarters of Latvian Railways, which
of Lee Iacocca, an American automo- by many standards is the largest corporation in Latvia. My duties includbile executive.
ed internal consulting, management
Favorite Music: which I perform accounting, and support to CFO. I
also gained managerial experience as
myself.
a project leader and head of the corCrazy about: Doing the right things porate development department. My
other employments include various
and doing things right.
positions at KPMG, Latvian ParliaCannot spend a day without: Com- ment, Swedbank, and the University of Latvia. I was also elected as the
ing up with new ideas.
vice mayor of the local government
in my hometown for the term of 4
I have never: Stopped learning.
years, and I still continue serving as a
Country of dreams: My country deputy in the municipal council.
of dreams is where I can realize my
goals and aspirations. An ideal coun- What is your biggest dream and
try does not exist, but at the moment fear? My biggest dream is to live
I think that Latvia, which is my place a good life and share it with peoof origin, is the best for me. Never- ple whom I love. My biggest fear
theless, I enjoy travelling when an is that external circumstances will
opportunity arises. My most memo- work against it.
rable trip so far has been to KazakhWho could you be if not CFO?
stan.
I would probably be a consultant,
Languages spoken: Latvian, English, teacher, or a salesperson. Some peoRussian, a bit of Swedish, and a bit of ple have urged me to go into entertainment business, but I prefer more
French.
fundamental occupations.
Red wine vs. white wine: I would
actually prefer grape juice – appears What are your hobbies? Winston
similar and also contains antioxidants, Churchill once wrote that “To be
so one can skip the alcohol and still really happy and really safe, one
get many of the same health benefits. ought to have at least two or three
hobbies, and they must all be real”.
Therefore, I take my hobbies seriously, and my major interests are
sports and music. I have played
competitive handball and recreational ice hockey, and participated
in many interesting musical projects, including television show for
choirs. One of my engagements
turned into a part-time job as a
musical director for a vocal group,
and, believe it or not, it was a
very useful leadership experience. I
learned that leadership is less about
charisma and more about results,
and those good results can only
be achieved if you have good and
motivated singers in your ensemble.
What would you like to say to
SSE Riga students? The mission
of SSE Riga is to provide state-ofthe-art education that contributes
to the economic and social development of the region. Whereas
we tend to focus on the first part
of the mission, I would like to see
bigger impact from our graduates
in all areas of economic and political life. They are prominent in
financial services sector, but, when
I was working in real economy or
in politics, I really felt like a lonely wolf. Perhaps it is just a matter
of time until they reach influential
positions in their careers. But maybe our student and alumni organizations can do something to unify
SSE Rigans into a more powerful
economic and social force.
Anyhow, I wish all students success in their academic endeavors
and their private and professional
life. I also hope that they will be
active members of the alumni community after they graduate.
THE INSIDER • NOVEMBER 2015
21
INSIDE SSE RIGA
by Ieva Pecukevičiūtė & Violeta Țoncu
How to Graduate
in
Jānis Bošs
Class of 2015
3 years
Lauma Vernere
Class of 2014
What was your biggest motivator to finish your studies?
I knew I don’t want to have any re-exams or leftover
debts, because it would make it much harder to get a
full time job, since employers are usually looking for
people who can manage to finish university in 3 years,
just how they are supposed to. Another motivator was
that if I have gotten into this university, then I am definitely able to do this and it should not be so complicated, so why not just do it?
I strongly believe in the idea that if you make a decision
to spend your time doing something, you should do it
well and gain the most out of it. This is the principle to
which I tried to stick to during my studies in SSE Riga
and thus I considered not graduating the school on
time or failing a course as being disrespectful towards
my own time and efforts. This was sufficient motivation
for me to do my best and graduate SSE Riga on time.
Have you attended parties when you needed to study for the exam?
Yes. (laughing) I am not the best example for “smart
studying”, though, I was more like a student learning
in the ‘student way’: I always said “yes” to every party,
because I knew that if I skipped one and stayed home,
I wouldn’t be able to study from the middle of the day
till late night, so, before devoting myself to studies
completely, I always made sure to have some time to
relax as well, otherwise it would have driven me a bit
crazy. But sometimes during parties you talk with your
coursemates about studying stuff, so it is not that awful.
Looking retrospectively, the quality of the time spent
in SSE Riga is heavily dependent on your time management skills. Neither exams nor parties are some
unexpected events which suddenly happen. So if you
can manage your time properly, going to parties before
exams should not be problematic. I was managing my
time quite decently and thus attended (too) many SSE
Riga parties (including the party during Financial Economics).
Did you surf the net with your smartphone during lectures?
I’ll be honest – yes, who doesn’t do that? But I think
it is not good, because once you get into this “internet
surfing mood”, it is very hard to stop and come back to
the lecture. Thus, better not to or do it at least in the
very end of the lecture, if it is really that boring.
22
Short answer: yes. Longer answer: I think that you can
do side activities during lectures if it does not impair
your study process. It is important to understand when
you are productive and when you need to be productive. I know that I cannot follow lectures when I am
doing side activities. So if I thought that a certain
lecture is important to me, I did not even consider
checking my phone. If I felt comfortable with a certain subject, I spent the time doing some side activities
which I personally considered to be more productive
and useful. In principle I do not see any problem with
surfing the net during lectures.
Jānis Bošs
Lauma Vernere
Works in draugiem.lv as a project manager,
more specialized in game projects.
Senior Consultant in Transaction Advisory Services at EY
Co-Founder and Board Member at QUO tu domā?
Class of 2015
Class of 2014
Did you ask for help when you did not understand?
Yes, definitely. I wasn’t that confident to go to lecturers
most of the time, but I knew I can ask my course mates
and they will help me, though, quite often I was the one
explaining to my friends, so it was kind of sharing. But
you shouldn’t be afraid to approach lecturers, because
you might find out some interesting facts or knowledge that he or she did not share during the lecture, for
instance.
I asked for help only when I knew what the specific
thing I needed help with was. In a situation when you
do not understand something it is important to take
a step back and look at the basics. By indicating the
exact step of the process that is unclear, you can formulate more precise questions that will lead to more useful
answers. I believe that this is the only productive way
of asking help from others as it allows leveraging your
own knowledge in the areas that are particularly useful
and necessary for you.
Have you always read additional material that lecturers were providing?
No, even though most of the time I thought it will be
interesting for me, in some courses I didn’t find it practical at all. I understood that sometimes it just doesn’t
add anything and I should better focus on the main
things rather than additional. But if you like the subject, then you, of course, can read additional material,
especially in courses that you like and would like to relate your future career to.
The best approach to studies is not the same for all people. For example, I gain more from practical rather than
theoretical study process. As the time for studies was
limited, I did the things which gave me the highest added value. In most of the cases it did not include reading
the additional materials provided. Overall, I think that
it is important for each individual to reflect internally
and understand how to channel their efforts to succeed.
What are the benefits of being a student for just 3 years?
Well, you graduate with your fellow course mates, not
some people you don’t know. Also, the feeling when
you graduate is way better. For instance, if you finish in
the 4th year, you most probably have already worked for
a year and when the Graduation day comes, you don’t
have same deep connection with the School anymore,
therefore, you won’t be too excited about the Graduation day as well. And other than that, monetary benefit
is that you don’t have to pay for re-exams in the 4th year,
also, there is a big motivation to fight with yourself to
finish in 3 years.
From a slightly lyrical perspective: SSE Riga has a fundamental impact on one’s life and it is a great feeling
to celebrate the graduation together with people with
whom you shared this journey.
From a more practical perspective: it is quite nice to
start earning money instead of spending it.
THE INSIDER • NOVEMBER 2015
23
AROUND THE WORLD
by Maksis Gauja & Krista Kaaver
Me and My
International Friend
One of the many great things about SSE Riga is the community. The international friendships play an important
role in school’s life, however, they seem to be somewhat underappreciated. And guess what amazing people we
found; true friends, from different countries and backgrounds whose chances to meet would have been close to
0 if SSE Riga hadn’t been the place of their bonding. In order to strengthen through diversity, the Insider and the
Information Committee are launching the campaign: My International Friend.
Agnese and Filipe
Agnese (from Riga, Latvia) is “the
most beautiful girl in the world”
and Filipe (from Porto, Portugal)
is an exchange student who, for
his birthday, got a super-tall candle that came with the comment
“Something hard for you”. They
told us a bit about their friendship.
Filipe: We met in the Baptizing party, Agnese was talking to
Sureya, who is a friend of ours.
Agnese: I was hanging out with
Sureya in the party, and afterwards we went to the Old Town.
We were dancing together in a
circle and I remember seeing
Sureya dancing dirty with him,
so I walked up to her and said
“But you have a boyfriend!” And
she replied “Oh, it’s OK. He likes
guys.” And afterwards, when
we were going to another pub, I
started talking to him. We went to
Rock-café and there was this one
very creepy guy who was coming
after me, but another guy stepped
in his way, saying “She doesn’t
want to dance.” So I just
turned around and started slow-dancing with
Filipe, who was protecting me. That’s how we
met.
Filipe: Agnese is a very
peculiar Latvian. From
what I’ve encountered,
Latvians in general are
usually good persons, but
so reserved that sometimes
it’s hard to keep in touch.
24
Nothing specifically bad, but
sometimes you’re just being honest with someone and share something and want them to open up,
but it’s like talking to a brick wall.
You can talk all you want, but it is
not going to listen to you. Agnese,
on the other hand, is nothing like
that.
INSIDE SSE RIGA
Wise Flexibility
Diāna and Dmitrii
„It was faith.“ That is what both,
Dima and Diana, SA vice president
and president claim without hesitation, when asked about how they
met. „Not wanting to sound very
couple-ish, but when we met, we
really clicked and understood each
other. We did not have doubts,“
Diana reminisced the beginning
of the election process. Dima also
added that in his opinion, the factor that really contributed to their
relationship (still friendship, no
rumors), was their affection for literature. Diana said: „Yeah, I guess
that the books actually played a big
role, because I do not know a lot of
people in this school that read a lot
of books, and Dima for sure reads
a lot, and that was like: „Wow!
Finally, I’m not the only bookworm! Actually, Dima reads too!““
When asking about how their
friendship works, both do not
deny ups and downs. One worth
mentioning was just before the
elections. Dima stated even that
they were actually considering not
participating. Diana: „It was very
close to the process and we got
cold feet at one point.. Academics, the pressure, and everything...
People are putting very much pressure on you and as a 20-year-old,
you are not experienced enough to
handle this for sure.“ But here they
are. President and the vice-president. „But we really worked it out.
It took us a lot of coffees and a lot
of talking. It was not easy for sure,
but it really made us think that we
really want to be in the position.“
No doubt that SSE Riga is a
powerful community, a live
system that changes and grows
constantly, relying on its core
values. But, wait a second… isn’t
one of our values explicitly saying that “[at SSE Riga] a positive and friendly atmosphere is
created”? Then why does it take
ages and tons of nerves to negotiate, for example, a different
re-exam date for International
Economics. Especially when all
the re-takers and the teacher had
agreed on that. The big picture
is that when we tried to even
discuss the situation, administration’s response was negative
from the start; we felt miserable,
not understood and not respected. We totally discern that our
school “adheres to high ethical
standards by applying accountable administrative policies”, but
aren’t we – the students –, a vital
part of this community?
On the other hand, why should
we even consider negotiating
a different re-exam date when
51 students failed the exam,
meaning that we are not able to
meet the school’s demand for
intellectual rigor? Probably we
should give in and welcome “No
Easter breaks”, “Poor internet in
dorms forever”, “Little cooperation with Student Services”,
etc. Or we should address our
concerns to the Student Support department, which is technically supposed to SUPPORT
students. But maybe that is just
in our dreams of an utopian
university.
A fact is that we are all gifted
with wise flexibility, it’s written
in our DNA. The problem is
that not all of us acknowledge
this gift and therefore, are not
able to use it properly. Maybe
one of our core values at SSE
Riga should be Wise Flexibility?
“The measure of intelligence is
the ability to change.”
– Albert Einstein
THE INSIDER • NOVEMBER 2015
25
GOSSIP PAGE
THEY SAY THAT…
… wearing your Riga State Gymna- … the younger boys in parties are
sium No.1 hoodie to the math exam less satisfied ever since Eliza L. left
doesn’t help.
for exchange.
… Econometrics is like a bikini,
what they reveal is important, what
they conceal is vital.
… after a year of search The Flying … some Y1s didn’t bother putting … Latvians watch other students
Dutchman Aigars (Y2) has finally their alarms on to wake up for the exam results and discuss on them via
Facebook… The questions is: Who
found a port…
Mathematics exam.
has time for that bulls*it?
… IT Committee is doing a very … Ilva (Y1) tries really hard to make
good job, working on his next per- people believe that bridge is a very … during lectures Santa Clause says
the word “Ok” an average of 2.78
sonal project. #caseclosed
cool and exciting “sport”.
times per minute. That’s a total of
… Alesya was extremely furious at … Ričards and Toms (Y1) took the 5628.5 “OK” said during the entire
Aleksandr for flirting with his shad- second part of the SA’s motto very se- course.
ow.
riously, but they didn’t forget the first
part so they came to school after an … there is a new reason to go on exchange – political economy.
… Junior Peak Time will probably adventurous night. Just to sleep…
ask the participants to bring their
own lunch.
… Artjoms can pick up a girl faster … Ričards K. (Y2) says that we
should only communicate in Enthan Santa can say “Well…”
glish. Guess he forgot to tell it to the
… Elīna Banziņa is trying to start
the West coast VS East coast battle … one of Y3 students casually breaks Russian speakers…
in SSE Riga.
hearts with a hammer as a hobby.
… Artis (Y1) had to leave a party
… nothing says “humble” as private … Ingus (Y1), is too confident early to go mushroom picking. Those
parties in the SA Room for the board about becoming the next SA Presi- better be some good mushrooms.
during regular parties.
dent. Someone should grow up.
… several guys mistook Kristijonas’
… the more Y1s understand math, … the problem with Belarusian mom for his sister during the Interthe more Uģis uses his Russian vo- girls is that you never know just how national Evening.
cabulary during seminars.
young they actually are.
… Justinas and Maksis (Y1) are long
… Toms B. and Klementine (Y1) … the number of Y1s who are older lost twins.
enjoy all the perks of the last row in than Y3s is too damn high.
… Māra (Y1) says Yes to everyone.
Soros.
… it’s physically impossible to say
… Agnese G. (Y1) is the most beau… Dārta and Daniels might be in a anything nice about Klāvs (Y1).
tiful girl in the school. List of people
secret relationship.
… choosing a mentor is like pick- who agree includes Agnese G. (Y1).
… if the trend continues, the age ing a topic for Financial Economics.
of Y1s in 2020 will vary between 14 9 out of 10 times it’s not your first … there are way too many wannabe
SA presidents.
and 37.
pick.
26
WARNING! THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH SOME READERS MAY FIND OFFENSIVE.
THE INSIDER TEAM DOES NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENT APPEARING
HERE. IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU COULD BE OFFENDED IN ANY WAY, SKIP THIS PAGE. AND
REMEMBER, THIS IS JUST FOR FUN!
… Klāvs is a lot like Kanye, but, instead of making hit songs, he solves
math problems. And just like Kanye,
he’s not very good at it.
… RGSL went full retard when they … more time was spent looking for
decided to puff a smoke during our the drunk debate than participating
ITC exam and Executive lectures.
in it.
… someone should really install
… Netflix and chill is the thing of a liquor vending machine in SEB
the past. The trendy thing now is lounge.
International Evening and chill. Just
… there is a growing latvian “Zole”
ask Artjoms.
club.
… Ion has fallen in love with Elina
… everyone is so disappointed that
Banzina.
Anete won’t be leading AF this year.
… Investment Fund guys are too
… Sigita changes her presidential
hot.
partners more then her socks.
… Laima says that Santa is so cute
she wants to hug him and never let go. … some girls seemed to be regretting something about the 1st night…
… Dainis & Agnė have started
thinking about the name and the … they say that Dainis (Y2) believes
mother tongue of their future child. that 3+3=6
Should we be prepared for a little
Christmas miracle?
… the Boat Party was the time for
many good girls to go bad.
… Alan (Y1) loves going to Coyote
Fly so much that he might already be … some say that if you show titties
a father of three.
to Uģis, you will pass math exam
… Erasmus is where the magic
happens.
… Ralph’s (Y2) rap was a disaster.
… Boat Trip’s official slogan should
… some Lithuanians had the most be “Ejam bimbazīt!”
productive preparation for Micro
midterm on Friday night.
… Richie Rich (Y2) and Yulia (Y2)
are a beautiful couple.
… Maksis (Y1) says that the only
reason he might be going for the … being greedy on alcohol is not
info.com chair is that his legs feel the best way to pickup girls, Max.
tired. He is the only one who finds
this joke funny.
… some say that next Eminem’s single will be recorded with Ralph
… Diana treats her team (the SA
Board) better than Ernests treated SA … falling asleep before the ship has
last year, but the results are different even left the port is not a good way to
too. The next president needs to keep represent the school.
a better balance.
… now we have doubts whether
… Krista hasn’t attended any of the Vova is better in Micro or drinking.
school’s parties. Instead, she sends
her twin sister to mess with every- … the only one who finds Y1 Klavs’
one’s heads.
jokes funny is Klavs himself.
… some people could not go to
their cabins, as some marathons were
happening.
… they say that if someone will find
the lost camera with all the photos
and videos, he will have a great time
and hopefully he won’t upload any
of those on facebook. Otherwise, the
whole SSE Riga is screwed.
… the SA of Stockholm School of
Economics has an very interesting
fashion sense.
… Uģis (Y2) seems to abuse his authority as T.A. against his students all
too often.
… it seems as though Ralfs (Y2)
and Uģis (Y2) were solving their beef
next to some angry mothers.
… people ask why is the SA’s
anonymous ask.fm page deactivated? (by the way, it’s here: http://ask.fm/
SSERigaSA) Why you so irresponsible? Why don’t you keep traditions? No Hektors for SASSE but
spending money to fly on a trip
to Sweden? Last year the SA went
together with all students to save
money. This year you saved money
by having NCC on weekdays but
people could not come because
of work. Just because you are not
working, does not mean others
are relaxing just as much as you…
Please think about responsibility
in your future lives. This is no good
example for the future SA boards
and the problem is that there will
be another either too irresponsible
or stuck-up presidents/boards that
care too much about PR, prestige
and showing off. All people of SSE
Riga – stop being so stupid and
behave like adults.
THE INSIDER • NOVEMBER 2015
27