ENGLISH LANGUAGE CHALLENGES

Well, I must admit that English has never been my best subject, I consider it interesting and I love to listen to fluent conversations in this language, because it’s the moment that I realize that I understand the language but it is difficult for me to express myself because I think a lot about each word to say (and many times I don’t find the correct word hahaha).

I entered the university with level 2 of English, I recognize that at that moment I felt lazy because of the fact that I have to give three semesters of English.

It happens that the subject doesn’t bore me but I have too much academic load and many times I feel that time of the subject is the time I could be studying for subjects that complicate my life.

I am very entertained writing blogs, there are topics that I find very interesting and I am very motivated writing. This being a blogger I did also in my school, because that was also one of the teaching methods. In fact, I have gmail account just because I had to create the account to be able to use blog from that time (about 6 years ago).

In spite of that, I consider that the level of English learned in the university is not enough, not for the teachers, but for the program itself, let's say that I don’t think I have learned much in these three semesters, no more than I had learned in my school. That’s why I plan at some point to focus on learning English, I still don’t know how, but it is one of my goals.

Finally, I must say that I almost didn’t use the language in my daily life, I sometimes say words in the air in English, usually words of rudeness hahaha, but no more than that.

CHANGES TO MY STUDY PROGRAMME

When I entered the university career, it coincided with the change of the curriculum. As I was "mechona" I didn’t consider this, but after entering, I noticed what a curriculum change really meant. This led to a mismatch in many areas, for example, eliminate recuperative tests, higher academic load for new generations, change of regulations, etc.

With my partners we began to notice the great difference between the new curriculum and old curriculum, today I am studying eight subjects !!! On the other hand, if I had entered a year earlier I would be studying only 5 subjects in a common semester, like the normal one of the students.

In my opinion, it was not a good change, because the work load of the students was increased excessively, which only generates stress and low quality of life.

As for teaching, I must say that I consider that in the university there are very good teachers, each one with different methods manage to explain their subject very well. But there are also teachers who should not be in charge of teaching as such, because they don’t handle the topics well and therefore they are not capable of teaching, or even if they manage the subjects but do not have the capacity to teach the subject to the students.

This leads to a discrepancy between technology and teaching methods, because having use of projectors, computers, etc. the quality of teaching can decrease or increase, because many times the PPT is not used as a tool, is like a book where the teacher is only responsible for reading textually what he says there, which becomes tedious and leads to that students stop attending classes because finally reading the PPT at home will be the same.

Finally, but not least, it’s sad that our faculty doesn’t have enough covered places, leading to a rainy day students must resort to lunch in the library and places not suitable for this.

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

I must say that I love to enjoy my summer holidays. During the year my life is very stressed by everything I have to study and that's why during the holidays I relax and have a good time with my friends and family.

Last summer I did a lot of things and I went to many places, I had a great time. So, this summer I want to have a great time and do all the things, that in the year while I'm in university, I can´t do.

In fact, I'm not interested in where to vacation, but I care about the people that I'll be leaving, for me that's more important

Of course, I must say that every summer I go to the south and I hope that this summer won’t be the exception. I love the South of our country, it's very beautiful and I usually go to my hometown, Temuco, because that's where most of my family lives.

When I go to the south, I go on vacation with my mother or father, since both of them like to spend their vacations there.

On the other hand, I also go out with my friends, with them I have a great time. I hope that this year we will go back to the beach and have good times, equal or better than last summer.

I hope to organize my holidays well to have a long and well-deserved rest, in order to have the energy and desire to enjoy my vacation 100%.

I must also consider that I must do my "intermediate practice", so unfortunately, I should not forget the university until I complete the practice.

PETS

To start I have to mention that I love animals, especially my pets because they give me a lot of swetness, happiness and love to my life. They are part of my family

I have two pets, one of them is a doggie called Puppy and the other one is a rabbit called Timon.

Puppy came into my life last year, when I entered in the university because my grandfather gave away puppies and my mom falled in love with her.

On the other hand, my rabbit was a gift gived to me in 2015 when I was in the school, at first, the vets told me that he was female and "her" name was Aika, but when he had about two months we knew he was male and we called him Timon

Last March one of my pets died, my little dog called Chasqui, he was like my brother, I will always remember him because he was very special to me. He came into my life when I was a baby, in that time I was two years old and we spent many moments together, because I was around 17 years with him.

They are a very important part of my life, who has a pet can understand me, so, my life without my little animals it wouldn´t be the same, it would be awful. When Chasqui died it was like a part of my heart left with him and I think if this would happen again with any of my other two pets I would feel the same sadness again.

Puppy and Timon

Chasqui

POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

Hey guys ! Today's topic is closely related to the theme of last week when I mentioned that I hope to project and study and then specialize in a specific field and toxicology is included in my main options.
This area is very interesting, I like so much because is a very important part of the health and research area because it's a discipline that is related to biology, chemistry, pharmacology and medicine.

I would like to study this specialization because it opens many paths of the workfield and I would like to dedicate part of my life to the research area because I would like to contribute to new discoveries that help humanity and all other living organism.

This area involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating exposures to toxins and toxicants.
This postgraduate programs cover the chemical makeup of toxins and their effects on biochemistry, physiology etc. After introductory life science courses are complete, students typically work in labs and apply toxicology principles to research and other studies. Advanced students delve into specific sectors, like the pharmaceutical.

I am not interested in studying abroad, maybe just to learn more language, but the study as such I would like to do it in the university where I am now, although it has many requirements but I consider that today it is very important to obtain a postgraduate.

MY FUTURE JOB

This topic is not yet very clear for me, because at first I considered working for forensic laboratories, this work field was one of the main motivations to enter in this university career. I still love this work field, I consider it to be a very interesting area, analyzing samples, compounds and learning many new things about the forensic field.

Well, as I have been studying Chemistry and Pharmacy I have noticed that this career has a very broad work field, so I have been interested in other kind of jobs, like clinical area, hospitals and cosmetic industry. Each of these areas has a lot of interesting things and its professionals have many ways to develop each of these.

I would like to travel, but Im not sure how much can travel in this kind of areas, maybe there are many professionals who constantly travel for conferences, wich I consider very interesting because is a moment where you can discuss many topics in study and learn at the same time. 

In the future I hope to project and study and then specialize in a specific field, for now what interests me most for a later study is the toxicology

Finally, I hope to finish my studies and be able to develop in any of these areas I would feel very accomplished in the workplace if I can work in any of these jobs.

NATIONAL HOLIDAYS (SEPTEMBER 18th)

To start I have to say this holidays are my favorites, I love our customs as a country such as: dancing cueca, eating a lot of meat and empanadas, typical games, etc. I always enjoy this holiday very well.

My holidays start on September 15th at 12 hours after an analytical class. This day was the "quimifonda", this is a "fonda" organized by our faculty to celebrate "el 18". With my friends we organized for this day and some of them arrived early to the university to be able to have tables in the afternoon, we bought pipeño and ice cream and I was in the university until 23 hours approximately, it was a good quimifonda.

The following days were very entertaining, I spent time with families and friends, I ate too much and danced "cueca". I went to fondas and on September 17th I spent time just with my family because they made a family barbecue, later we went back to a fonda.

On September 18th I was with my family in the day, had a great time and in the night I was with friends.

On September 19th I was all day at the National Stadium fonda with friends and I ate the best empanada of the 18, it was very delicious.

September 20th: I noticed that I had much to study, The end.

FAVOURITE MOVIE

Well, I have to say my favourite movie is Breaking Dawn 1 of Twilight saga. I love this film and I can't say why, maybe it marked a time of my life or I like the mixture of the real and the fictional, because I have never liked the fictional films but I love this movie that also has a great cast.

To this day, I love Edward Cullen, he is the character starring Robert Pattinson, my platonic love.

In this part of the saga Edward and Bella (his girlfriend) have a baby and there is a mix of action, romance and blood. The outcome is very good, because everything happens at the time of birth and becomes very interesting and the end is very unexpected.

I recommend this movie because its based on a well-known book of Stephenie Meyer and is very well directed by Bill Condon, he is an american screenwriter and director. 

Finally I think this film has a very good musical repertoire, which attracts the seers, because to me this factor is very important, I love the song "A Thousand years" of this movie.

THE BEST CONCERT EVER

The best concert was Lady Gaga Born This Way Ball in Chile, I remember it was in November 20 in 2012 when I was still in the school and I remember I went with two friends. Lady Gaga was my favorite artist for a long time, to this day I think her music is very special, but my fanaticism for her is not the same like before

I remember in this concert we slept three nights outside the "Estadio Nacional" in
cardboard because we wanted to enter in the "Monster Pit", this is an area surrounded by the stage and you can see her closer, to enter here you had to buy an entrance on the price of the entrance of "cancha general".

This "circle" is the Monster Pit

We slept in this street with these fans

Well, finally we did it and I remember I started cry like a baby when I entered and I saw the stage with the big curtain. 

In the concert I was really excited and there was a lot of movement and enthusiasm and I separated from my two friends. Practically, I was the whole concert alone, but I had a great time, It was a very good remember, because I enjoyed a lot. 

A COUNTRY I WOULD LIKE TO VISIT

I've never think about this topic, but now that I question myself about it, I consider South Africa, specifically Ciudad del Cabo an interesting pace to visit... Why? because in this country the social and cultural impact allows you to know a very different reality and at the same time you can have the privilege of knowing a lot of landscape and the variety in this fauna.

About this city I know that there are many cultures very different from ours, maybe because they live in a country that has a lot of contact with nature... 

If someday I could travel there, the first thing that I would do would be to visit those beautiful places highlighted by its landscapes and animals that live here. 

Something that fascinates me are their wonderful safaris where animals are free and you can see them without being caged. There is a well-known nature reserve called Iverdoorn and you travel in a 4x4 and you approach the wild animals in freedom.

On the other hand, something I should do before I die is to cage myself and dive into the sea to see sharks face to face. Near this city exists that possibility in a place called Gansbaai. 

After realizing those activities I would like to know the different cultures of this city, because its one of the most multicultural cities, probably because its one of most populous of South Africa.

Maybe, I would like live in this country, but no forever, but if it were an option, i would take it because for me its important to know, beyond a tourism, to a country to enrich mysef in different areas, considering that also in this continent there is much more to know because of its great history and its reality of today as a country.

Your blogging experience

Well... Although I consider myself a bad writer I think it was a good experience because there were a variety of topics to write and a lot of them were very interesting for me and it inspired me and motivated me to do the blog... In other cases it was not like that case, because I didn't accompany my mood or the topic of the blog, also had many tests to render and my concentration was not in writing the blog.

On the other hand, I consider that my writing skills have been improving, but always with help, because there are many words that I don't know and that I need to use, and at that moment a translator is used. This is why I consider that I couldn't carry out a written development in a test or evaluation where I can't have help

I think that in the future making a blog might not be presential in a particular class, I think it could be a system where one has to upload the blog until certain time with the same requirements, since to do it or not in classes doesn't change much the things. I had to mention that I consider that this activity should have a greater weighting in the average of the subject.
Finally, I end up saying that it is an interesting activity and I would like to talk about pets or animal related issues.
                                           

From the invisible to the visible world and back...

The technique that I consider very useful in my career is the compleximetric titulation. I choose that because I consider one of the most important techniques of analytical chemistry. I learned on this topic the current semester in which I am studying and although it's difficult to understand for me I find it very interesting.

To start we must know that the volume of the standard solution necessary to form a complex with a metal cation of the compound to be analyzed is measured in the complexometric volumetrics and this is recurrently used in careers that require chemical analysis. This technique consists in a titulant agent is used which falls from the burette dropwise onto a titulated agent provided in the flask and this last one changes of color due to the presence of an indicator, and in this moment the moles of both agents are equal, which will allow to determine the amount of minerals (hardness) present.

This technique is really important in many laboratories and studies about water hardness and also allows to determine purity of compounds, for example the amount of certain elements in the rice.

This technique gives advantages to the human because water is consumed by all of us and has always been considered fundamental because it has multiple properties, but the hardness of water for human consumption is a constant concern of people, due to the potential effects on health.
Thus, in the future, these harmful minerals from the water could be radiated having this technique as the bases of this studies.

                          

The most enjoyable subject...

If I start to remember the subjects that I have studied to this day in the university, I would say that the one I liked the most was "Laboratorio de Química General II",

I took the last semester and in my section we were about 100 I think, this subject is practical, because its designed to do what is taught in classes of "Química General II",the classes of this subject I liked very much, I found that it was a very interesting and necessary content for professional development, but when we had to apply what was learned in a practical setting (laboratory) I thought it was wonderful, because you can see with your own eyes what happens in the reactions mentioned in classes and understanding why it happens makes it much more fascinating, because it's not the same that someone tells you what happens to be able to experience it personally. 

In this laboratory the teacher give us a little introduction of practical work of the day in the classroom, the class started 8.30 in the morning and if you were late you couldn't enter the lab later, that was the worst of this subject.

I remember that in this laboratory there were many teachers involved, but I really enjoyed being in the section of teacher Gerald Zapata, because he was very funny but he also imposed his rules and he often annoyed us (joking), I say us because my friends and I were in the same workplace. 

I love this subject and I hope to have a similar subject later.. 

Formation of CuSO4 pentahydrate crystals (One of the practical works that I liked the most)

Person/Expert you admire

Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier was a French nobleman and chemist central to the 18th-century chemical revolution and had a large influence on both the history of chemistry. He is widely considered in popular literature as the "father of modern chemistry"

He contributed much to the chemistry because he is the author of the first modern chemistry textbook "Elementary Treatise of Chemistry" which listed all the currently known elements, he was first to state a conservation of mass law in chemical reactions, he recognized hydrogen and oxygen were elements and together made up water, he introduced the idea of allotropes when he discovered carbon and diamonds were the same material and he was leader in the development of the metric system of measurement.

I like this chemist because he was the first who initiated this discipline with a rigorous methodology of quantitative measurements that he applied to his experiments, allowing to eliminate many old beliefs and left behind disciplines of very long tradition, such as alchemy. He provided the fundamental concepts and principles that chemistry needed so much to become the science that is today.

A Photograph You Like

Well, I think today photos are important part of our memories. Some time ago photos, were taken in important ceremonies, walks, etc. Now, photos are taken in any moment of our lives, its much more frequent. So, it's hard to know which photo is your favourite.

Well, I like so much the photograph that show something beyond the simple moment, this is why the photograph that I love is ...

He is my dog, Chasqui, he left me some time ago and I still miss him. I love this photo because this photo was taken when we were on vacations in 2013, and he always loved going on vacation. 

I remember when I take this photo, in Caburgua, i thought he looked beautiful but I didn't think I'd see this photo knowing I couldn't see his face in life anymore. 

As I mentioned before I like this photos because for me it shows a lot more than another person can see, because it reminds me many moments that I lived to him, that were not few, because Chasqui came into my life when I was a child, one year old, almost 19 years together, always I consider my brother. He was a happy dog that many people took care of him, because he was  only and his personality was very special for anyone who knew him, and for this, its impossible to forget him.

Music in my life

Hello ! Today I will post about the music in my life, I think is an interesting topic, because What is life without music?...

When I was in the college I started to play piano, because I had "music" and I learned there. With the pass of time I  had other kind of worries and I stopped practicing it and today I don't play any instrument.

Well, I had to mention when I was younger I loved Lady Gaga, I remember she came to Chile in 2012 and with two friends we slept three nights outside the "Estadio Nacional"... we just wanted to see her closer, to this day I think her music is very special, but my fanaticism for her is not the same like before. 

Today I like the chilean music and I love "Los Bunkers", they are separate but I have faith that they will return. I also consider a great artist to Bon Jovi, is not of my time but is a very good singer and songwriter, I like his songs because it remind me of my childhood.

A movie that I loved (and I love it) was Twilight, and the music that play in the movie I love, it bristles my hair, and became one of my favorite songs, A Thousand Years of Christina Perri.

The music that I don't like is the old music, like the song that English teacher put in his notebook in class today.

Your favourite piece of technology

My favorite piece of technology is the cellphone. My first cellphone I don´t remember very well when I had it but I think it was when I was in 6° grade, I remember it was a SONY with infrared and in this times it was very cool, in this cellphone you could take pics and you could have two songs to listen.
In general, I think this piece its amazing, a breakthrough in technology, because it makes life easier than before. This device it´s very useful, because you can do many things thanks to a small device, for example years ago it was necessary to have a clock to know the time, instead now with cellphone you can know the time, you can take photos without need to have a camera. Other advantage is the possibility of listening to music anywhere, with good headphones your way home is much more gratifying. It is worth mentioning that headphones are also a great invention.
Now there is a lot of variety of cellphones but my preference always has been the android system.
I think the life without cellphone on one side there could be much more close relationship between people, because there are times when its unpleasant to want to talk to someone who is on the cellphone and is not interested in the conversation with you. But I think it would be a great setback for us because the long distance communication it would be much more difficult, throughout the day we could not communicate with people who are not with us, maybe yes, but that uncomfortable!!

Why did you study your career?

When I was a child I didn´t think in the future or what I will do with my life because in this part of our lifes we don't have any problems and responsabilites. My grandma always wanted that I study Obstetrics, and with the pass of time I acquired this taste for this profession but when I grew up a little more I didn't consider my passion. When I was around 14 years old I started to like the health area more in depth, but then I realized that I liked the blood more than medicine itself, so I thought "I will not study a long career just because I like to see blood". But I have to mention that I always love the investigation crimes, toxicology and everything related to the forensic area. I LOVE IT. 

Well, when I was finishing the school I thought about being a Veterinarian, but I love animals and it's hard to me to see them suffer. 

Finally, when there was a month left to take the PSU I started researching careers, and I didn't know what to do, I thought I would study Marine Biology, but just because it caught my attention. 

Then, I went to the "Postulant Fair" of Universidad Católica. Here I found "Chemistry and Pharmacy" and I love it, I researched about the labor field and I discovered that I could work in many areas, inclunding job related to blood, investigation, toxicology and this things that I always want. 

Now I'm here and I can say that I don't regret, I'm happy with my decision, but I have had to learn to overcome my frustation, because this career is not easy, but wherever, nobody say it will be. Now I just want finish my studies, I hope to take a specialization too because I really want work in investigation areas, laboratories and these parts of this profession, for example: the SML. 

Blood sample <3

Getting to know each other...

I will write something about my life... To start I have to present my family, my dad is Mauricio, he lived in Temuco when he was young. My mom is Fabiola and when she was young she went to University in Temuco. They both played basketball and they met in this situation. That's the reason I was born. We lived in Temuco until my five years old with my little dog Chasqui (its part of my Family, i had to mention it) and then we came to Santiago. With the pass of time my parents separated but it's part of my life. I don't have brothers, but to me it's fine. In Santiago I studied in Santisima Trinidad's college from kindergarden and I graduated there, in this 13 years of my life I met people that now is really important in my life. Thereafter I go to University and now I study Chemistry and Pharmacy in Chemical and Pharmaceutic science faculty of Universidad de Chile. I'm happy with my career and with the nice people that I met in this faculty.

My friends of University and I. The name of group is "La ventana"