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.