English language challenges

Go fun yourself!

Learning a second language is as important as breathing. For me, the most important languages on this world are Chinese and English, but at this moment I’ll focus in the last one. I can’t simply stay a day without read, listen or at least speak in English. For example, I prefer to listen to music with English lyrics than Spanish music, and it’s very satisfying to understand a stanza of your favorite song. Reading can’t be missed in the day; I always read something in English, like instructions, books, even memes in 9gag.com (best page of dank memes, of course).

Until now, I had a good experience learning English here at the University; writing blogs is a good idea to improve our abilities, including language, grammar and vocabulary. But I think that we must improve even more our English, maybe using more scientific English? I don’t know. Also changing the topics we have to develop, because sometimes, they can be a little boring.

Thanks 9gag, and your Grammar Nazis for teaching me.

Certainly, there’re many things out there to improve in my English. For example my grammar isn´t very good, neither my pronunciation, but at least I can understand and be understood by another person speaking in English. My plan is simple, studying more grammar and listen more dialogues to improve my pronunciation.  

Outside the English class I use more my mother language; I’ll speak in English if someone also wants to talk in this language, but I also use games and watch movies with the English voices, and I search and read the lyrics of my favorite English music. Simply I can’t live without this idiom, it’s so important in our globalized world.

Changes to my study programme

As I said in other blogs, currently I’m studying pharmacy at the University of Chile, and in the few months that I’m studying, I don’t have clear ideas or changes that could be made to my study programme or career to be more pleasant being here.

Personally, I think that a few changes in the programme can make the simply task of studying here a much better experience. Any changes are good, right?

There are a lot of upgrades and changes to discuss about, but I’ll focus in five topics: the subjects that we have to study, the workload and length of studies, the faculty facilities; like buildings and infrastructure, the use of technology, and finally, the teaching methods.

In the first topic, I think that the subjects are OK as a faculty, but with the advance of the technology and the continuous improvement of the knowledge, the programme needs to update every few years, to avoid being in the past in terms of knowledge. Sad, but true.

About the length of studies and workload, we need to short the time that we spend in studying or at least, have time to spend with the family and friends, that is to say, avoid the stress in every way possible.

In the third topic is simple, in infrastructure we are OK. We have a lot of computers to use, a good library, study rooms and air conditioning; which is nice in hot days. But we shout of having a casino where we can lunch, or having more tables outside where we can eat or share with our friends. 

I agree in have more use of technology to study, I think this topic is very necessary to this career, and we can broaden our knowledge using it.

I don’t argue about the teaching methods, but in my opinion we can enhance them even more. Having more informative talks and trips, debates and time where we can discuss about the class would be great!

THIS WOULD BE SO HILARIOUS!

AYE! Summer Holidays!

I only want to finish the semester and finally have summer holidays, please, but I’ll leave the University in a few months, and February would be the special month where I’ll do all my plans for holiday (yeah, because many Universities including mine protested against the government, and now we have to recover classes).

"El Pejerrey" beach, Chile

I was thinking about taking driving lessons, I’m old enough to take the course and finally drive a car, but convincing my father for let me do it will be hard. I don’t know why he don’t let me do it, but meh, I’ll convince he anyways.

I don’t have planned my holiday plans yet, because these depend of the decision of my parents. Maybe I’ll travel to the coast for a few days again, travel to the cottage of my uncle, or just simply spend my days in house, what is good. I’ll finish a lot of series that I watched and never finished, start to read a new book that I bought a few months ago, that awaits for me in the bookshelf (wait for me, “La muerte tiene olor a pachulí”, I’ll read you soon ;-;). Maybe I’ll play Ragnarök on my computer; I need to level up my character in this MMORPG, or play Pokémon on my Nintendo, go swimming and ride my bike, or just go out with my friends. I miss them so much. Spending time with them would be great, telling good and bad experiences that happened through the year, I don’t know, just to be with them will make my heart happy again.

An ol' good game, but still addictive

And you? What holiday plans are you going to make for this summer?

Addictions and drugs of abuse

Well, let’s talk about something that is in everybody’s mouth these decades, about something that everybody’s familiarized with. Yes, drugs.

Your body is not virgin of these substances. Since your first consumption of a medicament, your first cup of tea or coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, etc. You can’t say your body is free of these chemicals. In my case, it’s true. I cannot really wake up if I don’t have my first warm cup of coffee every morning. Over the years, I’ve done coffee my "essential drug".

There are drugs of all kind, both natural and artificial types. But I’m really interested in talk about LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide), a hallucinogen. I’ve meet people that have tried this “drug of abuse” which is dosed in the form of tablets (I put that between quotation marks because LSD isn’t a drug in the classic sense. People isn’t really become physically addict to the drug, but is possible to create a tolerance, so, people need more of the substance to feel the same effects). As I’ve never tried it, or any type of drugs of abuse, they told me about the effects: “They are kind of magical. In the trips you can see crazy things, and illusions. It’s amazing!”

The effects more observable of the LSD are pupil dilation, reduced appetite, and wakefulness. And the immediate psychological effects are visual hallucinations and illusions (colloquially known as "trips"), fear of losing control, distorted perceptions of colors, sound and images, mood swings, panic attacks, paranoia and anxiety. 

The benefits of drugs are, in general, the treatments of some illness, like Alzheimer, depression, alcoholism, anxiety, bipolar disorders, posttraumatic stress syndrome, can work as anesthetics, or just for escape the reality. And the common withdrawal symptoms after long term consumption of drugs are drug abuse, which leads to a drug dependency. This can affect you, your family and your relationships. So, if you have addiction of a drug of abuse, please ask for help.

Let's talk about post-graduate studies

Time has passed so fast, that I don’t know how I came here (the University). It’s very strange, because sincerely I didn’t see myself in such an advanced place compared to high school. And I must say, that I was very confused in the last year of my high school studies; I didn’t know what I want to be in the future, so I asked my chemistry teacher for advice.

And now you see me here. At this moment, I’m an undergraduate student, specifically, a fresher, studying to be a graduate in pharmacy; in other words, to be a great pharmacist of the University of Chile.

Right now I’m focused to pass the semester and the others of posterior years, but if I have to consider taking a post-graduate studies in the future, like a Master’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences and chemistry, a Doctor’s degree in pharmacology, biochemistry, pharmaceutical sciences, food and nutrition, and chemistry, Diplomas, etc. I’d like to take the ones related to my career (in pharmaceutical areas). Maybe a Master’s degree or a Ph.D., but I’ll have a final alternative in a few years more.

The reasons to take a course are many, finishing one will bring you so many benefits. It will enlarge your knowledge in the area and open a world of possibilities of jobs and practices in pharmacy.

I’ll like to study abroad, but I prefer studying in Chile, because is where I live and the University has many courses that I’d like to take. But this opinion can change in the near future, like how would I study (distance learning, blended system, part-time course, etc.).

Thinking about this scares me.

My future job

Many years ago, I always wondered what would be my future job. Perhaps in the future I would be a politician, a member of the police, an astronaut, a fighter pilot or a princess? I didn’t know till now.

At this moment, I’m studying to be a great pharmacist someday, and till that day I’m studying hard and put all my effort to know more about the career. I’m very grateful, because when I was in high school I always wanted to study this in the University.

When I finish studying in the University (of course I will study till the end of my existence), I will have a lot of future jobs to take, as a member of the PDI (Policía De Investigaciones in Spanish), in hospitals, clinics or ambulatory centers, in a laboratory, synthetizing new active principles for new and effective medicines to treat diseases, and many others. Personally, I would like to work in a Hospital, because my older sister will be a nurse in a few months, and would be amazing to work with her, helping and serving medicines to patients, and of course, giving advice to doctors and nurses.

She is my sister, I'm so proud of her!

Working in a hospital would be an indoor job, and I don’t mind the amount of salary, while I'm working at something I like to do. And of course I would like to travel around the world, but I think it’s pretty difficult in this kind of job.

Our ideal workplace. Inside it is so big and clean!

Right now I’m studying a mayor degree in pharmacy; I hope one day to be a professional. Wish me luck!

Digressing about music

Music… A topic that depends on the taste of each one.

Talking about this topic is very difficult for me, because I don’t listen to many types of music, and only recently have discovered a kind of music that I like, and it is EDM (Electronic Dance Music).

This style of music is loved for ones, and hated by others. I think that this is because it’s very recent and doesn’t involve playing instruments; music of this kind is made by the use of a computer and then reproduced by an USB drive or another type of storage device (Yeah, I think that this is another argument to hate it).

Inside the EDM we can find a lot of other subtypes of genres, like House, Future House, Deep House, Chill, Drum and Bass, Trap, Techno, Dubstep, Trance, Future Bounce, Electronic, and many more. Personally, I like more House, Deep house, Future Bounce and Chill. The rhythm is so catchy, that it will make you dance! And obviously, my favourite DJ’s are Don Diablo, Oliver Heldens, Martin Garrix, Michael Calfan and PegboardNerds.

My favourite instrument is the keyboard. I like it because thanks of this instrument I can play small parts of songs, but not like a professional, I need more practice to play a complete song.

A few years ago, I used to like pop, rock and metal, but now that music doesn’t attract me anymore, and I don’t know why…

The soundtracks of films that I remember and like are “Suicide Squad” and “Divergent”. Of course there are others, but I don’t remember the titles.

Our amazing human body: Our eyes

In my humble opinion, I think that the most amazing organs of the human body are the eyes, part of our visual system. The fact they can let us see the world (with the help of the brain, of course), is a gift, and amazes everyone. Objects, images, colours, actions, living beings and many other infinite things can be seen thanks to our eyes; Eyes detect light and convert it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons. But with a limit, because our color perception let us see only a small range of electromagnetic spectrum, mainly between wavelengths of 400 and 700 nm. But other organisms with colour vision can detect ultraviolet light, like snakes or placental mammals. How lucky they are!

Just look in a mirror to know where the eyes are. They are small spherical organs with a diameter of 2.5 cm each (in the human body, the diameter varies in other living organisms). Located in the head, under the forehead and above the nose, they are protected with a thin layer of skin, called eyelid, and eyelashes that keep dust and other substances away from the eyes.

Unfortunately, there are some illness and defects that affect the functioning of the eyes, like blindness, nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, presbyopia, color blindness, cataract, conjunctivitis, glaucoma, etc. Many of them are treated with special crystals that improve vision, and others are treated with medicines.

To keep them healthy, is recommended to have a complete eye exam with dilated pupils. You may think your vision is fine or that your eyes are healthy, but the only way to be sure is to visit your eye doctor for an examination of the full eyes dilated.

The best holidays

Holidays! The best moment in the year, you can do whatever you want!

My best holidays ever were when I finished 3rd grade of high school, in summer. And I and my classmates travelled for a week, You may be thinking "So, it was a study tour?" Yes, it was.

The group and I went to "Los Lagos" region, specifically Puerto Varas, and visited so many wonderful places, before we got there by bus, like Talca, Temuco, Villarrica and Pucón. We ate typical meals, visited monuments, national parks and so many lakes.

When we finally got there, it was amazing! All I could see in the window of the bus was a big panoramic full of a deep green colour (because of the trees, the bushes, grass and the agriculture of the zone). And don’t forget the cows and sheep, it was full of them. We did the same thing as before; we visited “Saltos del Petrohué”, the Osorno Vulcan, Puerto Montt, Frutillar, Kunstmann brewery, and other places.

In the hotel we formed mini groups of 5 or 6 people, and in the night, we organized sleepovers, where we told long scary histories till the morning or just went to clubbing or swimming. Yes, we didn’t sleep; we were so foolish these days.

And finally, the last day was amazing! We went to the Calle Calle River in Valdivia on a boat and cross it. It was like saying good bye to our best holidays, kinda sad. But I will never forget the memories of the holidays, they still make me laugh!

A country you would like to visit

Hello! I'm back! How are you? Did you do a lot of amazing things these weeks? Because I did, and one of them is that I passed English III! And now I'm in the next level (English IV), but whatever, let's begin with another blog!

Today we are going to talk about countries, And the first country that I'd like to visit is Germany, because I've never been there and the points that really catch my attention is its culture, history, gastronomy, geography, climate and many other topics.

I don't know about this country much, and I think that's the point that I'd like to travel there, to know more about its people, culture and history in a deeper way (because I'm not convinced about what really happened in Germany's history, it was teached in only two or three classes, and that really annoys me).

If I were there, I'd like to visit every museum, art gallery and monument. Go to important streets, meet people, know the traditional foods... I don't know! I'd be happy with only be there and fell the emotion of discover a new place.

And of course I'd like to live there, and, if I could, work there. But I would have to learn the idiom. Many people have told me that it's very difficult, but with a little of effort I think that I can (We always have to be positive :D).

My blogging experience

Since the beginning of this semester all of us (the classmates) started writing blogs about random topics, and this is the 10th.

So, today I'm going to write my experience in general about blogging. What can I say? It has been a very nice experience! 

At first, it was very difficult for me to write in english and expressing my thoughts, opinions and ideas. I remember when I was in high school and have to write little sentences in simple english, and yet I found it very complicated. And now in the University, with help of skills given in class, writing short paragraphs is easy and fast.

Thanks to this, I feel that my writing skills have developed pretty well!

I think if have to write a large essay or a short book, I would like do it without a doubt.

And now writing comments in my classmates’ blogs is other thing. Sometimes I can’t find the right words to respond a nice post, but in the end I write something short, but at least I can express my opinion about the topic.

In the future if I have some time, I would like to improve my writing skills much more, and write about more things, like music and my favourite artists, series, movies, my selection of games and art, and post about my personal sketches (they aren’t good but I can improve that too ;-;). Wow! Many things to write about!

The most enjoyable subject thus far

We are still in the fall semester of Pharmacy, in this there are very interesting subjects, such as General Chemistry, Introduction to Calculus, Chemistry Laboratory Techniques, among others. What gives a special "adventure" to the new university life.

But, in my humble opinion, I think the subject that most caught my attention and liked is Mechanics. Why do I like it? It's very simple. Since high school I loved this subject. The simple fact to understand what happens around us with understandable and provable scientific terms is striking and astonishing. And delve into the matter even more in the university, makes me continue being attracted to physical science.

In classes, we are about one hundred students, and we have more theorical than practical classes. The first ones are made, obviously, in a classroom, and here the teacher and his auxiliaries do classes. The teacher writes in the whiteboard and we take note about that he wrote and he explains if something was not understood. Like a normal class in a school or institute.

The auxiliaries propose exercises to us and resolve questions. It's very entertaining!

And the last ones are made in the physics laboratory, where we do experiments to check what was seen in the theoretical classes. These chasses are very funny and stressful, because we have short time for practical work. But at least, we learn in a different way.

Anyway, I like the subject because it is fun and easy to understand (At least for me). Also, the atmosphere is very good, especially with friends, with whom you compare the answers of the exercises.

From the invisible to the visible world and back

Many of us have focused on the partiality of things, where we assume the behavior that they will have even before they do something, for example, a balloon, candle, rubber or a bulb; but we almost never have wondered how do they work, in a microscopic or nanoscopic level to trigger their function in the visible level for humans.

Nowadays, scientists and engineers have designed, developed and created the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest single machine in the whole world. It was designed to collide beams of hadrons or protons, up to 7 TeV energy.  The main purpose of it is to examine the validity and limits of the Standard Model, which is currently the theoretical framework of particle physics. As a common young adult, I learned about this a long time ago, when I saw an article in the periodic.

In my career, this invention has more importance in the ambit of chemistry and physics, because it can answer many questions that scientists have wondered for decades or even more years, and can approve or discard a lot of theories related to the Universe. So, the information will be more precise and accurate, and can be teached in a safe way. That's why I choose this magnificent instrument.

His future use will be, as I said previously, answer questions that a lot of scientifics have wondered through the years, such as: the meaning of the mass, the mass of the particles and their origin, number of total particles of the atom, recreate the conditions that caused the Big Bang, and many others.

Mainly, the potential impact on human welfare would be, in addition to the acquisition of information and knowledge about the Universe and the world around us, using it to develop science with more accurate results for energetical, medicinal, physical and mathematicians uses, among others.

These could be the advantages of the great machine, but what if something went wrong? Well, major institutions report that could trigger catastrophic events, such as the formation of black holes, super-massive foreign matter, magnetic monopoles or other process resulting in destruction of the Earth. But according to studies, there is no basis to justify them. WELL, THAT'S GOOD, HUH? *calms down*

A career-related theme: Person you admire

I remember when I was a little girl and thought about what I wanted to be when I grow, so, the time has passed and I’m here, studying to be a great pharmacist. But we always have in mind someone who inspires us in our path to move forward, and, in my case, who better than a great chemist as Dmitri Mendeleev?

Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev was a Russian chemist. He was born in February 8 of 1834 in the village of Verkhnie Aremzyani, near Tobolsk in Siberia. He was the youngest of 17 siblings, but the exact number differs between sources. He was the main creator of the periodic table of elements. Many of the predictions made in his periodic table (such as the properties of elements undiscovered at the time) were later proven correct by experiments. Dmitri Mendeleev is often referred to as the Father of the Periodic Table. And sadly, in 1907, Mendeleev died at the age of 72 in Saint Petersburg from influenza.

Also, the crater Mendeleev on the Moon, as well as element number 101 (the radioactive mendelevium), are named after him.

He made a tremendous contribution to science, especially chemistry, organizing the chemical elements in an effective way that also generated the chance to predict other elements that hadn't been discovered yet.

He was a persistent man. What he wanted to do he tried until getting exhausted. Thanks to that, today we have the periodic table of chemical elements!

About pets, love and friendship

Pets are the best friends!

Many years ago (ten years I suppose), my grandmother gave a little package to our family. Inside that box was an exotic creature, most known as a tortoise from the family Testudinidae. I don't really know what the species of this little buddy is, but anyways, is an awesome tortoise.

Initially, we didn't know how to call it; my grandmother said that it was a female, so we called it "Isabel" (not one of the best to name an exotic creature, but it stayed). Many years have passed, and the relationship between us had grown, especially with me. Sometimes, in summer, I fed her, pet her and played together in the backyard. And I noticed that tortoises are REALLY FAST, especially when they search for food. So it's a lie that tortoises are slow. But sadly, in winter, she has to go to sleep (she hibernates), so we couldn't play in three or six months of the year.

One year, in spring, we realized that Isabel was not a "she", was a "HE"! IT WAS MALE ALL THE TIME! (Don't ask how we realized that, it was a very awkward moment).

So, we had to change the name again, I said "Johnny" would be a great one, and everyone agreed, so it stayed till today.

And sometimes, when I'm so bored, I put him upside down and make him dance "break dance" or do stupid documentals, like programs of evolution from the channel of "Discovery Channel" starring my little friend. 

"...The little Proterosuchus looks for food in this unstable ecosystem near the Permian Extinction.

Will this little species be the reason for a future evolution?

Discover it in the next chapter of: "Evolution, species among us".

A photograph you like

In 2015, when I was in the last year of school, the arts teacher told us that the "Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes" was going to make a contest called "Yo fotografío mi barrio 2015: Mis historias escolares". It was about students between 6 and 18 years old. They should take a picture about what was going on your school, neighborhood, street, etc. I and my friends of my grade participate, and fortunately, we were all in the special photo section of the museum! Only 150 photos were chosen.

One of them was my photo, (obviously, it was taken by me in August, 2015) and was called "La cerradura de un futuro hecha por estudiantes" And it shows my friends painting a mural in a wall inside the school. I think it's very expressive and full of color, and has a special charm because all the 20 students painted that with all of our enthusiasm. It was a very happy day!

I like the photo because of the meaning of it. And I tried to catch, at the moment of taking it, a special angle of the camera to further enhance the color of the paint by the sun. Maybe it's a bad photo and the meaning is foolish for you, but for me, means so many things...

About books and films

It's very difficult to me to say that I like only one book, because a few books have touched a little part of my heart, some of them made me cry, and others made me mad. These books are "Santa María de las flores negras", "Canción para caminar sobre las aguas", "The Da Vinci Code", "El Quijote de la Mancha", "Los ojos del perro siberiano", and many others, but there is a book that was dedicated to me by my chemistry teacher: "Letters to a young scientist" by Edward O. Wilson. I read it in the summer holidays, before the PSU test, and I can say that it was the most amazing book I've ever read! The content is simple. It's about a scientist (the author) which writes letters about his life and career about the investigation of the ants, and gives recommendations and messages of support to the reader. I recommend this book because it's so easy to understand and apply the advices on your daily life, even if you're not a scientist.

And now, the most difficult part of this blog. My favourite film. 

I don't go to cinema very often and in my house I don't watch films on the TV, because of time and study. But, of the few movies that I've watched, only one has caught my attention, "Kill Bill" (vol 1), by Quentin Tarantino (a great director in my opinion). The first time I've watched it was in my study tour, but until today I still like it. The plot is awesome (full of action and suspense), the cast is good and it is so absorbent that you can't get up of the sofa until the movie ends. Personally I recommend this movie because it is a masterpiece in all his letters. But I recommend this movie to a mature public (it contains lots of blood).

Your favourite piece of technology

I think the actual generation is marked in more and better technology than the 90', but I thank God that I was born in that time!

During my childhood, the term of technology was fascinating. Beyond the common home appliances, TV and others, I always loved playing games in consoles, like Play Station and Xbox, and PCs, especially with my cousin (because, you know...*cough* multiplayer *cough*), such as Mario Bros., Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Guitar Hero, Ragnarok, The Sims and many others, I think these games made my childhood awesome!

But now, my favourite piece of technology is the Nintendo 3DS, a console of gaming. I got it two years ago, in Christmas. I was very happy! SANTA CLAUS GAVE ME A NINTENDO 3DS!, I always wanted one. (Yup, that day I was crying of happiness)

My reaction. (just imagine a 3DS)

I remember when I bought my first game for the Nintendo (it was Pokémon Y), the first time I put the game in the console and began my adventure to be a Pokémon Master (or something close to that).

I played it everyday, but now I use it occasionally, because of the time and study.

I like this console because is little, transportable, fast, and obviously, fun!

I don't know what life would be without it, perhaps it would be normal, but for me and other players life would be very boring and gray.

Why did you choose your career?

When I was a little girl at primary school I thought of becoming an artist, an architect, a doctor, an astronaut and also a fighter pilot, this because my dad is working at FACH (Chilean Air Force, for its acronym in spanish), and I was fascinated about the idea of becoming a defender of the fatherland fighting against other countries in wars (yes, this is very idiot, but i was obsessed with the idea). But now, my dream is satisfied, because my dad leads my sisters and me to the FIDAE, once every two years, were we watch conferences of Chile and other countries about the air and the space.

Recently, when I was at high school, I decided to go to the branches of science (because I realized that I like it and was good in that, and... I didn't like the humanist side), and in the last year

I was very confused about what career choose, I was in an existencial hole I couldn't get out of, but my chemistry teacher helped me and said that she saw me studying pharmacy or biochemistry. So, when the resutls of the tests were publicated, I decided to study pharmacy at the University of Chile, because I reached the minimal score to enter (Just kidding! I decided that because I love chemistry and I liked the subjects that are in the career).

Until now, my experience at the university has been really good, I noticed that there're other students like me, and I did new friends here. And the teachers are very good too, they explain the subjects with dedication and they're easy to understand, the ambience is very nice and I'm very exited about what other things are there to discover.

I would like to have a pharmacist job, but more dedicated to the ambit of investigation. I would like to discover more things about the drugs and what they do in our body or in other organisms.

Getting to know each other

Hi there! My name is Romina Infante, also kown as Finfante. I'm 18 years old and I'm studying pharmacy at the University of Chile. Yes, I'm chilean and I live in Maipú, Santiago.

My parents are José and Marcia, and my sisters are Loreto and Carolina. I'm in the middle of them. And my pets are a little tortoise called Johnny and a little yellow dog called Chito.

What can I say? I consider my family as the most normal in the world, but they can be a little crazy sometimes. But anyways, I wouldn't change anything about them, because I love them just the way they are, like the song. ♫ ♪ ♫

Well, I'm a young woman that likes listening to music, specially types of electronics, drum and bass, house, dubstep, and many others, watching series and videos in YouTube, cooking with my sister, reading and...sleeping counts?

But what I really, REALLY love to do, is drawing. Since I could take a pencil I can draw whatever in my distorted mind flows, even characters of my favorite series. My mother says that I have a gift, but I don't believe her.

I consider me as a very cheerful person, but I can't open myself to every person I just met.
Well, this is me. Be free to leave a comment below! :D