English language challenges

Well, in this final topic I will talk about the challenges of learning english.  

Learning english in the university is not really fun for being honest, but the truth is that to know english is really useful, especially when you have to read so many pages of information written in english. About the use of blogs, I think it is a good idea because you can practice your english while you are writing, also you can learn new vocabulary and phrases.

About one aspect of my english that I think I need to improve, I would say that this aspect is speaking, I am not really good at speaking, I am better at reading. When I try to speak in english, I am not very fluent so I think this is my biggest weakness and for me this is the most difficult aspect when you are learning a new language. How do I plan to improve my english? The truth is that I haven’t think about this, I believe that the best way to improve the speaking and learn more english (or a new language in general) is basically go to an english speaking country, but for doing this you need money and time, so I think this idea is far away from what I can do.

   

Outside the English classes, how much am I using english these days? These days I use english mostly for trying to read texts for my classes, to read in english can be boring and annoying because it takes more time than normal in reading because you don’t understand all the words or the concepts, but anyway I tried to read at least some pages, especially those pages that seem more important.    

So, that’s all about the challenges of learning english.

Changes to my study program

Hello again, this week the post is going to be about changes that could be made to my study program.

I study anthropology in Universidad de Chile, I am in the second year of my career, so I still have another couple of years of study. In my opinion there has to be changes in the curriculum, for example, in this semester I have 2 subjects that are pretty much close (“Taller de investigación” and “introducción a la etnografía”) for me it is possible to teach the contents of these subjects in just one, I mean that we can understand the aspects of doing and investigation and an ethnography with a better use of the hours of classes.  In regard to length of studies I think that maybe it is possible to do the studies in a minor time than now, maybe doing a better curriculum this would be possible.

About the teaching methods I think that there are some teachers that don’t really have the abilities to teach well, for me we have to separate what it means to be a good teacher and a good academic, to be an important academic in the faculty does not mean to be a great teacher. But not all teachers are like this, of course there are teachers who really care about the learning of the students. Another important point in this topic for me is that in the career there are many theoretical subjects and it is necessary to do more practice out of the classroom, as I see it, this is necessary from the beginning of the career, even in the first and second year.      

Now, about the faculty facilities, I think that it is necessary more space, because the number of students has increased through the years, for example the actual library in the faculty is small and many times you go there and it is full of another students, so you must look another place to study, besides, sometimes is noisy. So, for me it is necessary to improve this kind of stuff. 

My favorite book

Hello again, in this post I’ll talk about my favorite book.

My favorite book I would said it’s “El túnel” (The tunnel) written by Ernesto Sabato. I read this book for a class in the school when I was like sixteen years old and from the first pages it caught me completely. The tunnel tells the story of man called Juan Pablo Castel and his obsession with a woman called María Iribarne. Actually the book starts telling (little spoiler) that this man- Castel- killed María. This is something that seemed very interesting to me, because it’s like you start reading the book knowing what happens at the end! So in this books what matter is how did this happen, what others thing happened before this end, how did they met Castel and María and how was the relationship between them. As you can guess for now, The tunnel is more like a psychological book which focus on what do the characters and how they act.  

I don’t know if I have a clear preference of books, but I would said I like more this kind of books, novels with a different story and also some science fiction novels.  The last book I remember I read (but I think it wasn’t the last one) is 1984 written by George Orwell and this has also been one the best books that I have read. If you haven’t heard about this book I’ll tell you what is about. In very few words this book is about a dystonic world controlled by the Big Bother and it tells the story of Winston Smith, a worker who realizes how the world works and how the government control people and tell lies constantly.   

Anyway, if you haven’t read these books I recommend you to do it. 

Bye :D

Postgraduate course?

Hello, today I am supposed to write about a postgraduate course that I would like to do in the future.

So, first I’ll be really honest, to do a postgraduate school is not in my plans at the moment, I have not think about it, I think I only focus in my present studies for the moment, just in this semester. I study anthropology so I guess the postgraduate course should be some anthropology course, maybe some course of biological anthropology could be interesting. About studying in another country, I think that to study would be a good chance to know another country and to live other different things that are different from where you came from, it gives a different perspective of live and things. I don’t have a preferred country, maybe some other latin-american country would be fine, like Mexico.  But as I said before I haven’t think on that possibility and being honest sometimes I get tired of studying, so for now I think that when I finish my career (if I finish it) I am going to take a rest of the “studies” (although I think that we can always learn something new, not just in a classroom or the school or the university) and the “academic life”. Maybe in the future I will change my mind, maybe, who knows.

So, that’s all

Bye :)

Summer plans

Hi everyone, today I’m gonna talk about my summer plans.

So, what are my plans for this summer? The truth is that I don’t have a determined plan, I just have some ideas, but anyway I’ll tell you the ideas. I would like to travel, I would like to know the south of the country, specially places like Chiloé and Valdivia (I have never been in these places :( ). I want to go with some friends, but we have to come to an agreement, you know, the dates, the places, the money, etc. So, I think that maybe the best choice is to find a job and to work in January so I can save some money for the rest of the summer. Also I think I’ll travel with some of my family, just a little trip, maybe we’ll go to the beach, to the V Valparaíso region or the IV Coquimbo region. In any case, I just want to have a great time whatever the place is.

Finally, whatever happens this summer, I just hope that I can go away from the summer of Santiago, because the city is really hot, there’s not even a little wind and the sun can be annoying, even in the nights sometimes I have problems to sleep because of the temperature, and in my room I do not have air conditioning.

Well, I hope that you have a good summer :)

My future job

Hello readers, today I'll talk about my future job (possibly)

I study anthropology and I hope to work as an archaeologist. I imagine working outdoors and traveling a lot. Maybe I could work doing some archaeological researches, working in excavations or some other stuff. For me it is a little boring the idea of working in an office, having the same work everyday, so I hope that as an archaeologist I can travel to different places, with different landscapes and also different cultures, for me this sounds a lot more interesting. About the salary, of course I’d like a good salary but for the moment I am not so worry if I am going to have enough money, maybe in the future I’ll consider more seriously the salary thing. I remember that when I chose this career I wasn’t really thinking about me becoming millionaire, I was just thinking that I had the chance to study something I enjoy and I like. About future studies, for the moment I don’t consider this option, I am in second year so I still have time for studying and finishing my career.  Anyway, the truth is that I am not even so sure in what exactly I’ll work, this is just an idea or a possibility, but for now I am fine with this. 

So, that's for laughing

Cheers :)

My favorite movie

Hello again, today I will talk about my favorite movie.

My favorite movie is called: “Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind”. This movie was released in 2004 and is starring by Jim Carrey (as Joel Barrish) and Kate Winslet (as Clementine Kruczynski). This is a science-fiction drama and romantic movie.  

The movie is about a man, Joel, who wants to erase from his mind to Clementine, with whom he had a relationship. In the movie there’s a company that can erase people from the memory of someone, it’s like you have never known that person you erase. But the problem is that Joel realized that he doesn’t really wants to erase the memories of Clementine and all the things they shared, so he starts doing the possible to not forget Clementine (while Clementine is being erase from the memories of Joel).

I saw this movie for the first time 4 years ago on the TV, and I really like this movie because is a creative movie, it mix science-fi, romantic and drama scenes, and at the end of the movie you can understand many of the first scenes (that took another meaning). I also like the characters, specially Clementine and the way she changes her hair.

I mostly like independent movies because you can see different stories, places, languages; I think that the independent movies don’t have a predictable ending and I like that.

Finally, the last movie I saw was a chilean movie called “Argentino QL”. It’s about an Argentinian living in Chile, it’s a comedy movie. The movie was OK but definitely won’t be one of my favorite movies.