Language challenges.

Hello world, I think this is my last post for this course. Today's topic is about English itself, like a conclusion for the course. So I'm going to write about my experience in the course and using English.

I think my experience in the course was pretty good overall. I believe my English is good, so I didn't learn so much, but I could practice a lot in the classes. I actually liked the blog activities, because they made think and write about the stuff I love, like my favourite books, places to go, etc, and interesting aspects of my life, like my future plans. Anyways, I would have really liked if we did something a little bit different in the blog, like writing a story or analyzing a song. Actually,  translating songs and books is a very fun way to learn, and is the way that makes me use English often.

I think I need to keep practicing my oral expression, because despite the fact I can read and write English pretty solidly, talking is something that always needs practice. As I said before, I use English in music, that means listening and singing songs in English, but it isn't the same of having a conversation, because the pace is faster. You can't pause and rewind a person! Also, native English speakers tends to speak their language really fast, so It's sometimes hard to keep track of everything they said, and it becomes even harder if they use a lot of slangs. Anyways, I've been watching movies and youtube videos in English without subtitles, and that has helped me a lot to improve, specially pronunciation and listening. I really recommend to anyone interested in learning or improving their English to listen to music or watch videos in English with English subtitles at first, and progressively remove them and just get used to the language and their forms.



 

Changes to my study programme

Hello world.
Today's topic is about making changes to my study programme. As you may have already noticed, I'm studying Psychology. So, I will be talking about changes I would do to Psychology. It's kind of fun, because when I entered this career in 2013, there was a process starting that was meant to change the career's structure, but as I was a freshman (or a "mechón" how we call it here), I didn't understand much and, therefore, I didn't participate much neither. However, as time passed by and I knew more stuff about my career, I could participate more. I'm saying this because, almost everything I will write now are actually common critics and changes that have been already proposed to make Psychology Great Again.

A lot of the changes I would like to do to Psychology has to be with the curriculum, because there are many courses that aren't really necessary, as they are mainly focused for certain specializations. In this matter, I would make the elective courses (which the student must chose starting in the sixth semester) earlier, as they are a central part of our formation.

Another very important matter I would change are the practical works, because we don't have real interaction until a very late phase of our career, sometimes too late! This is crucial, because sometimes you can't bear the intensity of a real patient and his problems in case of clinical work, or the cruelty of a murderer you have to interview in the case of criminal psychology; or if laboral psychology is really what you think it's and a long etc.

Finally, the problems of the lack of use of technology and lacking faculty facilities to study, availability of computers, slow internet and other stuff like these are shared among all the careers of our faculty, even among all the faculties in our campus Juan Gomez Millas, so I won't get into that to make this post even longer jajaja. I hope this doesn't give a horrible impression of my career, because mostly it isn't as bad as it sounds.

See ya.

Favorite book.

Hello world.
Today's post is about my favorite book. Even though I'm not a bookworm, I'm not able to name just a single favorite book; I have many books that could make it to my top list. In this list I would include Herman Hesse's "El lobo estepario", Chuck Palahniuk's "Fight Club" and George Orwell's "1984", among many others. If I were to pick only one I would pick "El lobo estepario", because I consider it a masterpiece. This books makes you travel to the inner parts of the human nature alongside with Harry Haller, the author's alter ego. It has an in crescendo narrative where you constantly go deeper and deeper into the human essence and the reality gets blurrier and blurrier. The later part of the book, the "Magical Theater" is able to blow your mind and get you to question yourself. I'm not going to write any further about this book, because of the spoilers I could come across.

As I said before, I haven't read that many books, but I really like Herman Hesse writing style. He has a very refined style of writing, very descriptive and introspective. I Also like Palahniuk's raw style of writing. He has a writing style that can make you sick, but he is very good at telling a story this way. In fact, his story "Guts" made me feel ill, but it a was a really good story! I suggest you read it, it's really short.

Lately I've been reading Haruki Murakami's 1Q84, because my girlfriend gifted it to me as a birthday present. It has about one thousand pages! It's the longest book I've ever read. I'm like 50 pages away from finishing it and I've really enjoyed it. It's different from the western literature, but totally recommended.

Postgraduate Studies: Musicology.

Hello world.
Today's post is about Postgraduate Studies. Personally I haven't planned to take any postgraduate studies yet. Anyway, if I were to choose any I would pick one regarding music. I have been thinking about taking a course about musicology, because I consider that music is something that influences our life in numerous ways, even if we don't realice. Also, I think it's really interesting to blend together music and psychology (my current career), because it could help understand how music works in our subjectivity and further develop some therapies based on music. In fact, music therapy is a growing area of alternative non-medical therapies and it interest me a lot.

The subjects that interests me more of Musicology are "Music Anthropology", "Popular Music" and "Musical Cognition", this last one with a strong link to Psychology. I would like to study in Argentina, because I like their educational system and it's not so far away from Chile. Another option would be to study in Chile, but the problem is that education is too expensive here, and arts are really underrated. I would prefer a blended system, because it has the best of both worlds: Classroom relations and autonomous learning.

Anyway, one of the problems I would face if I were to study Musicology is the requirements, because I don't have any "official" background in music, so that's a thing, but I think I could sort it out. Another problem is the money, that's why I would rater study in Argentina than in Chile. Also I would have to work and find a place to stay there, but that's part of the fun.

Summer plans

Hello world.
Today I'm going to write about my summer plans. I'm really looking forward this summer, because I have some things already planned. First of all I will find a job, probably near the christmas time to earn some more money, this way I wouldn't need to be so stingy about the expenses of my "summer adventures".

After the boring part of finishing the exams and earning some spare money I have planned to go to La Serena with my girlfriend, because she is going to work there. So in the mean time I get to know the city and be with her. Anyway, I'm not pretty sure of how I'm going to spend my time alone, since I'm not going to work there, but chances are I will always find something interesting. I might get to know the entire city. Finally, we are going to explore the south of the country in a easy-going way. The idea is to get to know a place very well, and get influeciated by its landscape, people and sounds.

In the end, this summer I have some big plans, but the thing I'm really looking forward to do this summer is to have time. Time for myself and the people I really care about, because during the semester University absorbs a lot of time I would like to use in another way. So, I would really like to listen and create music, think about nothing at all, write, spend time with my family, especially my brother, reading, etc. In summary I would to have time to have the possiblity to do a lot of things, even if I only end doing half of them or nothing at all.

Doing nothing is a great option too.

Favourite movie

Hello everyone. 

Today's topic is movies. I'm not really a movies guy, I'm more into music and a bit into literature, nevertheless I have my all time favourite, which is related to a book: Fight Club. I saw this movie when I was finishing school and meant a lot to me. This is my favourite movie because I think it depicts our modern society pretty well in a very raw way. The protagonists of this film are played by Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter. I think the acting of Norton is really superb in this movie, while Brad just fills the role and gets carried by Norton. Helena Bonham also plays an amazing role. Maybe Brad is in the cast to appeal more to the masses, because this movie wasn't as popular as it has become when it was first premiered. In fact, it has become some kind of a cult film. Anyway, I think the book of Chuck Palahniuk is better than the film, as it's even rawer, more direct and chaotic. If you haven't watched the film or read the book, choose the one you like, it's not an overwhelming difference, but remember I still suggest you go for the book.

One of the latest films I can recall enjoying comes from of a total different genre, It's Koyaanisqatsi of Godfrey Reggio. It's a film that consist mostly of slow motion and time lapse footage of many cities and landscapes. It hasn't got any actors nor narrator as it may be considered a visual poem which revolves around modernity and how we've come to a life out of balance, using a Hopi tribe prophecy . The film has a really good soundtrack written by Philip Glass which makes you get trapped in its narrative. I really liked this movie, but I know it's not for everyone as you may get bored if you're used to fast paced action movies.

Drugs

This week's topic is about drugs.

I think drugs should be legalized, especially those that can be grown by the own consumer, like marijuana, to avoid black market and drug traffic, which generates violence. I think there is no one, especially the State, who can tell us how to live our lives, so I prefer legalization over prohibition.

I have tried some drugs, and I think one has to be conscious of the use oneself want to give it, and not let it overtake you. That's the case for alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or any other one could try. Personally I like to smoke and drink.

As a tobacco smoker I think the banning of smoking in closed public areas, like restaurants, stadiums, malls, etc. is a thing of common sense. Sadly in our country we need laws in order to people to do or stop doing some things that are mere respect for the rest.

Finally, as a personal opinion  I think drugs are an overrated topic due to the belief that drugs would be able to fill the void in the lives of the people in the modern capitalistic age. The praise on drugs is a signal that this system isn't letting the human develop to his full emotional, productive and artistic potential, so drugs become an easy and un-reflexive scape. So, It's not that drugs are bad, it's just the actual weight of them in the contemporary subjectivity, which are consumed without any kind of thought, just for sake of it or even just to brag.

See what drugs have done to jesus?

Puelo River

My best holiday ever was two summers ago when I went to Puelo with a friend, because his family has a house there. Puelo is in the south of Chile, near Puerto Montt, to the east. It was awesome because their place was really big, and it has a forest right next to this house! I stayed for about two weeks, and my friend stayed more. We went to the Puelo River and some small lagoons that are really close. We used to explore and walk a lot, because there were a lot of interesting natural places around and the town was 10 km away from where we were staying, so we had to walk a lot if we needed anything.

It’s been the best holiday because we were really isolated from the civilization, we rarely had telephone or internet signal, and we had to cook in a “Salamandra”, a wood-burning stove used to both to cook and to heat the house, so everything was super rural.

With this map you can get an idea of where Puelo is located.

Puelo is best known for being an excellent place for fishing. We don't like

fishing so we can't give you any advice about that.

This is the Puelo river. We were staying near it. If you go in the night

you can have an outstanding view of the stars and the river. Make sure it's not cloudy.

Alex Supertramp failure Wannabe: Svalbard

I would like to go to Svalbard, an archipelago to the north of Norway. Even though it’s part of Norway, it isn’t administratively related to any of the Norwegian County. I’d like to go to there because there isn’t many people around. The population is below 3.000 people. I really like its cold weather and its restraint from the rest of the world, as well as its Nordic environment and relation with Norway and Russia.

I really don’t know much about Svalbard, because I just googled it, but according to Wikipedia its environment and the tourism in it looks pretty interesting. I would like to stay there and see the time pass by without worrying too much about the civilization, be able to see the stars and hopefully the northern lights. In order to do this I would work in a seaport because it would allow me to travel, also Psychology (my career) wouldn’t be of much use there. 

Astonishing 

I mean, look at this polar bear, it's actually calling me.

How could you say no to him?