Friday at the office

The top of the Astronomy tower shines in the autumn sun, a lovely Friday that bodes well for the upcoming weekend. At the base of the tower lies what one might call the heart of the natural science studies in Lund; the Science Student Union, LUNA. Well, that and the actual Faculty of Science.

To the left of the entrance, facing out towards Sölvegatan the union office is located. When entering the room seems a bit deserted, now that the office hours have past, but just an hour ago the room was filled with laughter. Students filled the room and sofas, discussing upcoming adventures, contemplating their studies, and simply enjoying the chance for some company.

In the back corner, behind his desk, we find the union vice president, Theo. The soft clicking from a computer keyboard gives away that work is being done. What are you up to? “Working a bit on the webpage. My Friday entertainment.”, he answers.

We pour up some coffee and gaze out over the room. The sun shines through the curtain and showcases the usual mess. Cozy.

Now the coffee is all finished and the sun is surprisingly still shining. The fiery autumn leaves move in the proper Scanian (sv. skånska) wind. Time to head out again.

LUNA will be back on Monday, as always.

~ Interviews with students of LUNA ~

It is time for a very special text from the Information Committee’s research project Nadir. We infiltrated one of the Mentor Committee (FU) meetings and made some observations. This transcript is highly classified material, which is now leaked to all members of LUNA.

We give you

‘Observations from a Mentor Committee meeting’

by Sebastian Wolsing.

“Cellphones are being passed around, with more or less funny pictures. It is noticeable that this is both fun and serious. The chairperson of the Mentor Committee, Hanna, tries to take a firm grip of the attention by introducing the first topic of the meeting. She reads the Crisis Management Plan and the members listen carefully.

Vassily laughs a bit as he looks over at Eric. It looks like they have something to say. Hanna keeps reading. Ebba is looking at her phone and John is munching on the cookies that were bought just for this occasion. This is no ordinary meeting, this is an FU meeting where fun and serious are entwined into a mess of cookies and laughter.”

“Vassily shouts “Coffee break!” and goes out to get the coffee (that apparently could be way more black). When he comes back Eric has made a sandwich consisting of gingerbread and cookies, the others nod approvingly. Hanna remembers a story that she finds funny, and retells it to everyone’s pleasure.

After a while she continues to read the Crisis Management Plan, while constantly being interrupted by other committee members making jokes. It would be interesting to see how the productivity varies with coffee intake. Me as a statistician should make such an analysis and show it to them so that they can optimise their meetings.” Next follows a brief summary of how a general Mentor Committee meeting could turn out:

17.12 First person arrives (usually the president), packs up the fika from the backpack and waits for the others.

17.15 Meeting starts, still only one person there.

17.18-17.25 The rest of the committee arrives, everyone blaming late schoolwork/labs/buses.

17.25 Meeting starts for real.

17.27 Someone shows a funny video of a cat, and everyone starts talking about something else for a while.

17.31 Meeting is resumed, for a moment. Discussing mentor related matters, going through the agenda until someone gets a funny thought or has some other story to share.

“The Mentor Committee seems to have a lot of fun during their meetings and it feels like they really emphasize having fun over being productive but it does seem like most of the members are fine with it.

Being a member of the Mentor Committee means a lot of work during the year with meetings, evaluations, and the actual Novisch Period. This includes working hard under stress and  doing that together with a group of people going through the same amount of stress. Maybe this way of having meetings is their way to cope with the stress get closer to one another. After all, they need to be able to work together under a lot of pressure which makes it easier if they can have fun together as well.”

You can contact the Information Committee at info@luna.lu.se and the Mentor Committee chairperson at fu-ordf@luna.lu.se. You can reach the current mentor generals at fg@luna.lu.se. If you want to find out more about life as an active member of the union, you are always welcome to stop by the union office or simply browse our webpage. You can contact the union via this form (you can be anonymous) or by e-mail at luna@luna.lu.se.

~ Interview brought to you by the Information Committee ~

~ Interviews with students of LUNA ~

It is soon time for a long summer break, and for some of you maybe summer jobs are waiting. We managed to get an interview with Elin Backström, a member of the Corporate Relations Committee (CRC) of LUNA. Here follows a brief text about what they do and how they are working to improve the employability of science students.

“In the meetings of CRC, we discuss areas that influence the relations between students and working life, for example how natural scientists can be more visible and more attractive for employers and what opportunities there are for improvement. We highlight these areas by hosting events such as lectures and workshops. During the fall semester, we have also been planning for LUNAs own career fair ATLAS. I applied as a representative for the CRC since the working life is an extremely important area, in which there are plenty to work with. Being a member of the CRC is educative and I feel like I learn plenty of different things. It is also really fun!”

You can contact the Information Committee at info@luna.lu.se and the Head of Corporate Relations moreover the chairperson of the CRC at naringsliv@luna.lu.se. If you want to find out more about life as an active member of the union, you are always welcome to stop by the union office or simply browse our webpage. You can contact the union via this form (you can be anonymous) or by e-mail at luna@luna.lu.se.

~ Interview brought to you by the Information Committee ~

~ Interviews with students of LUNA ~

Time again and this time we give the spotlight to Hanna Thosteman (again). If you have been paying attention, she was also the chairperson of the Gender and Equality Committee (JoL). Now she has another role to report on, namely being the chairperson of the Mentor Committee (FU). Let us see what she has to say about that responsibility.

“Black tailcoats, medals, sunglasses and ridiculously good-looking members; from the outside, the Mentor Committee might strike you as superheroes carrying out the Novisch Periods while dancing and losing mascots simultaneously. But appearances are deceptive.

Behind all the glamour and fame hides a group of hard working, dedicated students, who on their spare time plan and execute the Novisch Periods together with awesome mentors. Their meetings are long (one time they scored four hours) and their ideas are many, but they would not be able to manage all the work without the fantastic mentors that year after year greet and welcome the new students to Lund. Together they make an excellent team, and will time and time again pull off the greatest Novisch Periods in the history of Novisch Periods. TAGGARÅÅÅ.”

You can contact the Information Committee at info@luna.lu.se and the Mentor Committee chairperson at fu-ordf@luna.lu.se. If you want to find out more about life as an active member of the union, you are always welcome to stop by the union office or simply browse our webpage. You can contact the union via this form (you can be anonymous) or by e-mail at luna@luna.lu.se.

~ Interview brought to you by the Information Committee ~

~ Interviews with students of LUNA ~

Another week and that calls for another student interview. We asked an old member of the Information Committee, Julia Höglund, about how it is like to be a part of a spex in Lund. If you are interested in joining a spex, or just curious to what it is all about, have a look at what Julia has to say about it.

“If you are new in Lund, if you are old or if you have been here your whole life, you might or might not have heard about the student activity called spex. 

As one can read on Wikipedia: “Spex is a kind of amateur comedy theatre act performed by university students in Sweden and parts of Finland. University cities, such as Gothenburg, Lund, Uppsala, and Linköping have long-running traditions of spex. The word is likely derived from abbreviated student slang for spektakel (spectacle; scene; show).”

In other words, you start with nothing except for a manuscript and some 15-20 songs, meet every day for five weeks and suddenly a group of 50-120 students have (at least) four spectacular shows with hundreds in the audience clapping for you to sing one more time, or say a funny line again.

The theatre shows are normally political satires, about a historical event or person, and the story often have a comedic twist and the use of non-time accurate characters is also very common.

Currently there are more than ten spexes in Lund ranging from the big ones having their shown in the big hall in the AF building like Lundaspexarna and Boelspexarna, to the nation spexes like Hallands slottsspex and Krischanstaspääxet having their shows at the nation. Your part can be any part, as long as it helps making a show coming to life. A spex needs people to sow the costumes, build props, play in the band, act on stage, selling tickets, and even cook food every day. Anyone can join any spex, and you don’t have to know anything before (well except being able to play an instrument if you want to be in the band).

The spexes normally have a day every semester where you can apply an interest, fill in a form what you like, what you want to do and then hopefully you will spend five intense week doing whatever you decided to do with other as dedicated students as you.”

You can contact the Information Committee at info@luna.lu.se. If you want to find out more about life as an active member of the union, you are always welcome to stop by the union office or simply browse our webpage. You can contact the union via this form (you can be anonymous) or by e-mail at luna@luna.lu.se.

~ Interview brought to you by the Information Committee ~

~ Interviews with students of LUNA ~

Hello! It is the Information Committee here again, this time with a fresh interview with Miljövetarnas Ypperliga Studieråd (MYS), the student council for environmental scientists. They had two members interview two other members of MYS in a cheerful fashion. Let’s see what they had to say!

Why should everyone join MYS?

Maria “It’s great to get to affect your education and student life. We had very motivating mentors during our novisch period, who inspired us to join, and so should you!”

Elin “We have a positive spirit in our student council, which makes working for the best university time possible, a very fun thing.”

What amazing things are you up to?

Maria “In the ANLU committee, we try to create a bridge between students and their future career alternatives, both education and work related. We recently arranged a Linkedin workshop and are now planning an inspirational evening, where former students come and talk about their careers.”

Elin “The Party Masters plan funny things that happen after school. During the autumn, the committee has arranged a kid’s party themed sittning, a pub crawl and a christmas baking evening. Sort of everything is possible to do, you just need the ideas!”

“If you think MYS sounds as cosy as we do, why not join us? Just come to the weekly Wednesday fika where delicious cakes are served, or show up at one of our meetings!”

Interview carried by Julia Johansson and Elvira Källberg

You can contact the Information Committee at info@luna.lu.se and the MYS chairperson and vice chairperson at mys-ordf@luna.lu.se. If you want to find out more about life as an active member of the union, you are always welcome to stop by the union office or simply browse our webpage. You can contact the union via this form (you can be anonymous) or by e-mail at luna@luna.lu.se.

~ Interview brought to you by the Information Committee ~

~ Interviews with students of LUNA ~

It is time to reveal one of the bigger interviews we made during 2016; with the mentor generals of LUNA. Full transcript of the 20 minute long interview is available in Swedish here.

The Mentor Committee (FU) is one of the committees of Science Student Union. They are responsible for the novisch period at the start of every new term. The Information Committee had the opportunity to get an interview with the generals of the FU, Johanna Jangefelt Frising och Eric ”Herrgårn” Andersson, after one of their committee meetings. The newly elected general, John Wimarsson, was also present to give his thoughts on the upcoming tasks. John and Eric are astrophysicists, and Johanna is studying general physics.

How was the novisch period of 2016?

Herrgårn “Really good. People were hyped, and a lot of fun novisches. The general mood was really nice.”

Did you feel like you had a lot to do during the period?

John “Moderately, I did not know what to expect. It was my first big novisch period. So it takes a while to get used to it, but it went well. I got good coaching.”

Johanna “Yeah, it is a lot to do, but mostly fun things, so it is okay.”

Do you feel pressured when you are a general?

Herrgårn “I would say a little.”

Johanna “You are a little stressed, but at the same time you know that you have an entire committee helping you. You put your trust to them to 100%.”

Johanna and Herrgårn have been generals during 2016, and Herrgårn has now left the seat for John, who has been elected. Normally you are elected general for a year, being Junior the first semester, and Senior the second semester.

Do you feel like you know what it is like to be a general now?

Johanna “I think so, yes. We had a new situation when we were elected because we were both new.”

Herrgårn “I got to be Junior for like one meeting. But I think it went well. Since you have the whole committee as a general, you are never alone.”

Johanna nods in agreement.

What does a general do that the others in the committee do not?

Johanna “The general is the face out to the novisches. So when the novisches are given information, it is through the generals. They are standing in front and talking during the activities, and that makes them a familiar face for the new student.”

Herrgårn “In some sense, they are also the source of energy. The ones who get the hype going.”

John “I can not really speak from experience after being a general, but after have seen generals ”in action” I have gotten my perspective on the generals. It is always the generals you remember from the novisch period. There are many new faces when you begin your student life, but the generals are at least familiar from the start.”

(To John) How does it feel like to be the next general?

John “It feels great, I am looking forward to it. You know you have a standard to live up to, but at the same time you have this great cooperation between everyone in the MC. I also know that I can ask the older generals for advice, if something would go wrong. That feels really good.”

Is there something else you would like to say to the members of LUNA?

All “Become a mentor!”

John “It is really fun, and you get to meet a lot of different people…”

Johanna “…and not just from your own study council, but from all different kinds of study councils that you otherwise might not have had the chance to meet.”

Herrgårn “It is when you start as a mentor you get into the union life. The first time you are in the novisch period, you only scratch the surface. When you are a mentor, you really get to do everything.”

Interview made 2016-12-12 by Sebastian Wolsing. A full transcript of the 20 minute long interview is available in Swedish here.

You can contact the Information Committee at info@luna.lu.se and the Mentor Committee chairperson at fu-ordf@luna.lu.se. You can reach the current mentor generals at fg@luna.lu.se. If you want to find out more about life as an active member of the union, you are always welcome to stop by the union office or simply browse our webpage. You can contact the union via this form (you can be anonymous) or by e-mail at luna@luna.lu.se.

~ Interview brought to you by the Information Committee ~

~ Interviews with students of LUNA ~

It is time for another interview. This time with the chairperson of the Environment, Health and Safety Committee moreover the Chief Safety Officer (HSSO) of LUNA, Leo Östman.

“The HMS (Environment, Health and Safety) committee exists to coordinate student representatives in matters regarding the work environment throughout the faculty. It consists of representatives from each study council, the student safety representatives or SSO, and a chair, the HSSO. There are also many more fun acronyms, though mostly in decently technical Swedish, for anyone interested in having a say in their own study environment. During our meetings we mostly sit around and talk about what has been going on at the department level, where most of the work done by us representatives happens. We all sit in HMS committees at our departments, where we bring up whatever issues concern the students, or just complain. Additionally, we conduct a yearly survey regarding the psychosocial health of the students. This is done to find out where things are good or could be improved. It’s really actually tons of fun.”

You can contact the Information Committee at info@luna.lu.se and the Chief Safety Officer at hsso@luna.lu.se. If you want to find out more about life as an active member of the union, you are always welcome to stop by the union office or simply browse our webpage. You can contact the union via this form (you can be anonymous) or by e-mail at luna@luna.lu.se.

~ Interview brought to you by the Information Committee ~

~ Interviews with students of LUNA ~

It is time again for another student interview, this time with the chairperson of the Party Committee, Filip Nygren. He will guide you through the responsibilities of the committee, as well as giving some insight into who he is. Sounds great, right?

“Party Committee Chairperson Filip Nygren Party Committee! The name says it all, but only almost. Our job and passion is to organize various social events for all of you, the science students. No one makes better Novisch periods than the Mentor Committee, and the Sports Committee offer the sportiest of sport events, but our focus is general social events and parties aimed to bring science students from all subjects together in fun-ness and good times! Remember also to support your local student council party committee for your day-to- day event cravings.

Who am I? My name is Filip Nygren, currently on my third year of mathematics. I’ve been a mentor in the Novisch period two and a half times, been a member of the MUR party committee for one and a half year, and various other posts. Starting my third year, I figured it was time to take it to the next level, and thus I applied to the Party Committee of LUNA.

As of the academic year 16/17, the Party Committee received a large influx of members, growing from 3 to 9 members. With this followed also a large amount of that precious resource that drives Lunds student life: the tagg. Then our dear chairperson Johan (Book) went skiing, so I decided to pick up where he left. Together with my fellow party masters, we continue to hold the flag high as we let all them events coming, yo!

Besides our usual activities like our much appreciated sittnings, club nights, waffle brunches, billiards evening, sauna nights and more, we also help out organizing the larger union-wide events like balls, the Tandem Relay etc. And all this is very important, because it brings us science students together, and allow us to mingle and bond, no matter what subject we study.

Also keep your eyes open for the coming annual Absurd Student council Olympics ASO, which, according to old traditions, is a friendly but prestigious competition with a series of inexplicably absurd events. It’s gonna be big. Be on the look out for our posters and we hope to see you on our events!”

You can contact the Information Committee at info@luna.lu.se and the Party Committee chairperson at 6m-ordf@luna.lu.se. If you want to find out more about life as an active member of the union, you are always welcome to stop by the union office or simply browse our webpage. You can contact the union via this form (you can be anonymous) or by e-mail at luna@luna.lu.se.

~ Interview brought to you by the Information Committee ~

~ Interviews with the students of LUNA ~

The Information Committee has done quite some work this year. It is finally time to post the interviews with the wonderful members of the union that have been carried out during the year. Every week we will post an interview with a member of LUNA that will tell you a bit about what they do for the union. The material has been gathered by the members of the committee, Sebastian Wolsing and Isa Bengzon.

A long time ago, LUNA had a student magazine called Nadir, and so to honour the legacy of our former predecessors, we have decided to name these updates Nadir!

First up is the previous chairperson of the Gender and Equality Committee (JoL), Hanna Thosteman, that will give us a brief description of what it was like to be chairperson and what they have achieved during the year 2016/17.

“As the chairperson of this fantastic committee, I must say the past year has been outstanding. We have managed to execute the biggest event in the history of the committee, together with Medicinska Föreningen and Teknologkåren. We invited the “conversational activist” and lecturer Navid Modiri to talk to our students about integration, fear and stepping outside one’s comfort zone. Thanks to the ambitious and hardworking volunteers, the evening we planned for a year was a great success and much appreciated among the students. The committee has grown from an almost unknown part of LUNA to become a visible asset for all members, and we want to keep working with discrimination and gender issues so that all students can feel safe and accepted.”

You can contact the Information Committee at info@luna.lu.se and the JoL Committee chairperson at jol-nfak@luna.lu.se. If you want to find out more about life as an active member of the union, you are always welcome to stop by the union office or simply browse our webpage. You can contact the union via this form (you can be anonymous) or by e-mail at luna@luna.lu.se.

~ Interview brought to you by the Information Committee ~