Blog Session 11: English Lenguage Challenges

This was the first year I made an English subject at the university, English IV, and I found it interesting. It has been useful because I have refreshed a lot my memory in the use of English and I also have learned some new words. Every lesson consists of two parts: in the first one you talk about different topics that are given by the teacher (Belén) and in the second part we write in our blogs also about a given topic. My favorite part is the first one, because you are able to practice the speaking (I don´t have many chances to do that normally) and also because the topics are funny, and you always end talking about a different thing, unrelated to the initial subject and it doesn´t matter on condition that you continue speaking in English. The second part is sometimes a little boring, but the use of blogs was something new for me, and that´s always interesting.

As you can see my English is far from being perfect, I can improve in many aspects, but I think it´s harder for me to talk, than to write, because when you write, you have more time to think what you want to say (and you can even correct some mistakes you make), but when you speak, your mind must think faster so that the conversation doesn´t get boring.

I didn´t use to use my English outside the English class, but today I have to read papers for some subjects in the university that aren´t translated to Spanish, because they´re relatively new. When we first begun to do that was when I found out that I have to practice also my reading a little more, because I have to use a lot of time so I can understand complete texts, because I must search for a lot of words in the dictionary. 

Blog session 10: Good and bad points

Good and bad points

This year so far has been as a summary a very interesting year for me. A lot of good things happened and also a couple bad things.

This is the year that I had the most academic troubles as a University student. For the first time I couldn´t pass a couple of subjects and I feel like I never have time to do anything just for me. But as I told, not everything has been like that. In fact, the most part of the things that happened to me this year are good.  

To begin, I have shared this year with a very important person for me, my boyfriend Nicolás. We have reached one year together not very long ago, and he makes me very happy. Another things that makes me happy is that with this turbulent year in the academic field, I could realize that I like what I´m studying, because, in spite of the nights without sleeping very well, I think sociology is a very interesting career, and at the moment I don´t see myself studying a different thing.

This year has also been good because I achieved some things I proposed myself to do. One of these things is that I applied for “ayudante” of a subject I liked a lot and I was chosen to do it. “Ayudante” is a job where you help a teacher with the subject and you also help the students with the reading of the bibliography given in the subject and with the questions they have. I enjoy a lot with it, because the students are very likeable. Another achievement is that I applied and won a scholarship to go to Germany this summer, to make an intensive German course in the University of Freiburg.

So that is something I still have to do this year, I´m very happy about it.

Blog Session 8: How green are you?

How green are you?

Santiago, the city I live in, is a polluted city. Because it is surrounded by mountains, the air conditions get very bad in winter, when the smog layer comes down to the city. Another problem in this city is the one related with garbage. We produce a lot of trash and we recycle very little.

Personally, I learned some environmentally friendly practices as I was at school. I did not receive those kwoleges at home, because the generation of our parents knows even less about environmentally issues then we do. That´s why I think every school should teach this practices, so that through the children, they become usual  practices. That was what happened for example with my family. As I was little I told my mom we should recycle, so now we do it every time. We put in different containers plastic, glass and papers/carton, and every Sunday a special lorry picks those thing up. The only thing that we don´t recycle, (but I would like to do it) is organic waste. We don´t do it because the lorry doesn´t take that kind of waste and we don´t have a large backyard to do a “compost box”.

Another thing that I like to do to be green is using the bike. Instead of going by car to the University I use my legs, and like that I can also exercise a little bit. When I have to travel long distances to go some place I use public transport. I think if Santiago improves it´s public transport system, more people would live their car home and like that we would reduce our carbon footprint. Also, in Santiago it depends on the local authorities of the “comunas” if they have a recycling policy or not. It shouldn´t be like that, because what happens is that poor “comunas” have to solve other needs that are priority. I think the state should take care of environmental issues.

Blog Session 7

Belly Dance

Since I was a little girl I like to dance. Dancing is a fun activity to do and also it is very healthy and good for social life (meeting people, making friends, etc.). Of course not all the people like to do it, because they feel they´re not good at it, or they´re ashamed to do it, but I encourage those to try it, because once you are in the rhythm of the music it´s a very liberating experience.

As I was 4 years old I did classic ballet, but the dance I practice about 10 years now is the “Belly dance”. Many people say it´s a sexist activity, because in his origins it was thought as a way for Arabic women of having a happy husband, and otherwise it was very associated to prostitution. But I think everything can have the use you give to it. In the Arabic culture they think this dance is good for fertility, because the parts of the body you mostly move are in the area of the hips and the belly (that´s why it´s called “belly dance”). Another quality of it is that it makes women feel more confident, it´s like a way of finding and connecting with your feminine side and to feel beautiful and sexy. That is because it´s is not important if you´re skinny or fat, if you´re blond or brunet to make belly dance, because when you are dancing you feel like an Egyptian goddess.

Blog Session 6

The article I chose to make a summary of, was taken from the following link:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/10/bubonic-plague-outbreak-madagascar-rats-jails, which you can find in theguardian.com/uk, it´s called "Bubonic plague outbreak feared in Madagascar".

Bubonic disease affects a lot of countries in the world, like Perú or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but  nowadays Madagascar is  the most affected country of the world. Last year 256 people became the disease and 60 of them died. The worst thing is that, as experts say, there is a high probability that the disease becomes a plague if the right measures are not taken. What they principally recommend is that the rat infested prisons in Madagascar are cleaned up, because rodents transmit diseases. It is difficult to make that, because the environment of prisons, over all the fact that in Madagascar (as here in Chile) they´re  overcrowded and unhygienic, contributes to the rat problem. The way that rodents transmit the bacillus to humans is through fleas.

The problem becomes worse with humidity and high temperatures, because it attracts those insects.  If they want to prevent a plague outbreak, measures must be taken soon, because October is the most humid and warm mouth in Madagascar. If jails are infested, the disease would spread in a very short time to the rest of the population of Madagascar, So to prevent spread of 'black death', authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have launch campaign to clean up rat-infested jails. 

Blog Session 3: "A country I´d like to visit"

A country I´d like to visit

The country I´d like to visit the most is Cambodia, in the Southeast of Asia. The reason why I want so much to know this country is that at school I had a very old Teacher, that has traveled his whole life around almost the whole world, ones told us (the class) that the most wonderfull trip he had ever made was when he traveled to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. About the last of them, he told it was the most beautifull place he had ever seen. And he has seen a lot of countries!

Besides, for me is a very interesting country to visit, because I´ve never been in Asia and I don´t know much about it, so if I go, I would learn a lot of new things. What I know about Cambodia is that they have a monarchy, so their most important authority is a king. I was also told that spiritualism is very important for the people there.

The fact that Cambodia is so different from the contry I live in, makes me think that, if I go there, I would like to meet a lot of people to learn a lot about their culture. Another thing I would do would be visit al the natural beauties and the temples they have.





I was also told that the living conditions aren´t very good, so I probably wouldn´t want to stay, unless I would fall in love with the country. Who knows, maybe some day I go there and stay for ever.

Blog session 2: My ideal job

My ideal job

I don´t know if you know Anthony Bourdain, or Andrew Zimmern. They are both chefs, but they don´t work in a kitchen cooking for other people, the only thing they do is eating! And they get paid for that! They travel around the world and eat all kind of things, from the most common plate, like pizza, to roasted insects or strange animal parts. That can sound auwfull but for me it is always exciting to try a new plate.


Well, my ideal job goes in that direction, because I like to travel a lot (whenever I have the chance I do it) and most of all I like very much to eat! I also like sociology (that´s why I study this career) so really, my ideal job would be something like what this two men do, but adding a study of the culture or the society I´m visiting.

I would say the three most important qualities or skills needed for a job like this are: love for food, sociable skills (you meet a lot of people when you travel) and to be brave (to try the plates that doesn´t look that good). You also need to know lenguages.

I definitely love food, and to socialize with other people and I like a lot to study lenguages, therefore I would be a good candidate for a job like this. But the hard part is that (I think) it´s awfully hard to find a job like this!