Post X: English Language Challenges

I find that the experience learning English this semester was good. The approaches that the University had are pretty accurate to the reality and skills you need to embrace the second language. I really appreciate the use of blogs, It’s a simple idea but quite useful, in the manner to embrace the understanding of English writing and reading. The process in what you think about something –in an English way to redact- is a valuable ability and It’s great to work, little by little, in acquire that mechanism.

I think I have to work in all the aspect of my English, but specially in listening and speaking. I get confuse when I heard some types of accents (like the Britain one) and I lost the attention and concentration in the flow of what are they saying. I’m going to work in that skill watching more Britain movies and series, first with English subtitles and later, without them.

By the way, I get nervous when I have to speak in English. I feel a little stupid, like I am some kind of performer doing a show. My tongue mess about and I hesitate a lot. For that, I think I only have to lost the fear and get more confident about my speaking. Sometimes, two or three beers help tons hahaha.

Outside the class, I use English a lot. I use all my devices in that language and I have a preference to read English papers for my research. Also, I love to surf the internet and English is the global language of common and basic communication. I almost only heard music in English, the range is far more extensive than the Spanish one. Since this year, I have started to real classic novels in English. I have read 1984 and Animal Farm from Orwell. It’s a great way to embrace new vocabulary and understandings.

Post VII: Summer plans

It takes me by surprise this week task, because I don’t have think about summer already. In my mind, I’m allocating all my attention in a future travel that I’m going to do in the second semester of 2018. I’m saving money and therefore, I shouldn’t spend funds in something else. Hence, my mission this summer is having a quiet and cheap summertime.

On the other hand, summer is three months long and after a disgusting college year, It’s quite necessary have at least a few days to get out of the city and rest in another landscape. Maybe I will travel to somewhere close to Santiago, like cities of the central coast or perhaps, La Serena. I don’t know that city and airplane tickets are getting cheaper and cheaper. I have friends that can borrow me a bed and the meals can be strictly arranged to be not fairly expensive. After all, It’s only a few days of bad eating and discomfort sleeping.

In that plan I want to travel alone. 

Past years I had spent summer with family and close friends, but, beyond great moments and tasty foods, turns out that lately people tends to annoying me. Thereupon, I prefer don’t upset anyone and take time to spent alone, doing whatever I want. The rest of the time I will be in my house, living my classic ascetic daily routine: read, eat, watch series, swim and bike… over and over. At least It’s cheap. I don’t have plans to work, I’m good with my not-summer jobs and I need to rest.

I don’t have any activities in mind, but I forebode that I’m going to walk around all the city –covering as much as possible areas– and spent time at the beach. I bloody love the sea and always It’s a pleasure sit down and look after the sun getting lost in the horizon. It’s like they said, the sea is a good place to think in the future.

Post VI: Postgraduate course

I think I would like to take a postgraduate course in the School of Public Health of University of Chile, maybe a Master Degree or a PhD in Public Health. 

The reason is that I would like to do academic research in Epidemiology and Public Health. In fact, I want to study the spatial distribution of all kind of diseases and health elements: communicable diseases and no-communicable diseases, physical and mental diseases and potential pathogenic social and cultural phenomena. 

I have seen the curriculum of the programs and I get very interest in a lot of subjects, like “Bioethical and Philosophical Bases of Public Health”, “Applied Epidemiology”, “Multivariate Methods”, “Advanced Tools for the Analysis of Epidemiological Studies” or “State and Society: Socio-political bases of public policies”. Beyond the flashy names, the subjects denotate a high level of so useful tools that I would apply in my potential investigations. 

I would like to study here, in Chile, because I feel is pretty early to get doomed in a foreign country. Don’t take me wrong, I would love to study abroad, but maybe in ten more years or something like that. 

I prefer a part-time course, if you can get that. I really don’t know if that kind of schedule system exists in this country already. In my best behaviour, I would to have the freedom to study and work in my personal rhythm and don’t get grip with timing and deadlines.

Post V: Future job

About what kind of job I hope to get in the future, I would like to have an intellectual, no-stressing and no-boring job. I ponder I have abilities and the capacity to do a good work, but I need to get interested to getting off the bed. 

I have been thinking about getting a job in a public institution or something similar or maybe, doing postgraduate studies and working in scientific research.  

In accordance with the above, I prefer working indoors: I need temperature controlled ambient and often, the climatic conditions from outside are disgusting. Nevertheless, I would love to travel a lot around the globe because I would get new experiences and meeting fresh landscapes. That’s something that you can’t regret about. 

In the dry-economic sphere, I don’t feel I will work for the money, what it means that I will be comfy if I’m getting enough cash to get along with a peaceful way of live. I’m studying Geography at the time and in my future perspectives I have the impression that I can get the contemplative stability that I hope to live. Afterwards, life is absurd and meaningless; time is pretty limited and subsequently, you can’t waste your time doing something that cause you sorrow or any kind of pain.

Post IV: TV shows and series

I really love TV series. Over the years, the high quality cinematographic productions transit from cinema to the television, therefore, the best stories are in TV right now. The series format allow develop in depth characters, scenarios and stories. I feel that a great series is like a long and detailed novel, with ups and downs, climax and a sublime end.

I have a lot of favorite series: come to my mind 'Fargo' (2014) by Noah Hawley; 'Westworld' (2016) by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy; The Detective (2014) by Nic Pizzolatto; 'The Office UK' (2001) by Ricky Gervais; and 'Breaking Bad' (2008) by Vince Gilligan. I'm currently watching 'Oz' (1997), directed by Tom Fontana. 

I specially appreciate 'Westworld' because the whole story is way too deep and dense that It's a real challenge. Furthermore, it raises philosophical questions about what is life, what makes us human, what makes the right to have rights and in the final, what is reality after all. In addition, performances are great (in special Sir Anthony Hopkins and Thandie Newton) and the picture and cinematographic are pretty flawless. Besides, the show music, compiled in the Soundtrack album by Ramin Djawadi is a delicious reinterpretation of the classic piece 'Reveries' by Claude Debussy. The story dances around the sounds of a distant dream and makes you question the human nature. Pretty amazing.

In general terms, I inclined to the complex drama show, like crime, thriller and tragic show. I value the HBO original series and in contrast, I really hate the Netflix show. They are so dull, chintzy and predictable, full of common places and after all, an offense to the watcher.

I have a long list of series that I need to watch, but time is quite limited. I think that after 'Oz', I will rewatch 'The Wire' (2002) by David Simon and get up-to-date with the last season of Fargo.

Post III: Movie

My favorite movie is 'Whiplash' (2014), a film written and directed by Damien Chazelle. It'sabout the obsessive relationship between a young jazz student who plays the drums (Andrew Neiman) and the most acclaimmd jazz instructor from the prestigius Shaffer Conservatory in New York (Terence Fletcher). The teaching and learning process is marked by a violent, strict and abussive behaviour from Fletcher to his studentes, justify in the searching of musical perfection. In this sense, the film shows the troubles and contradictions in the compelling race to get the sublimation of art. I love this movie because it reveals the madness and compelling pursuit to achieve the perfection and after all, it questions the viewer about what is perfection and the human necesity of that. Furthermore, the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is amazing, easily one of my favorite BSO from all the time and the picture fits perfectly to the dense mood along the film.

In general terms, I'm not into films, I rather prefer the TV series. The long duration of the average film tends to boring me and usually the comprimed narrative is not pretty interesting to get me 2 hours in front of a screen. Anyways, I like the psychological thrillers and dramas, like 'Black Swan' (2010) directed by Darren Aronofsky or 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975) directed by Miloš Forman.

The most recent movie I saw was 'Johnny 100 Pesos: Capítulo 2' (2017), directed by Gustavo Graef. Last friday I went to the Cineteca Nacional since I widely watch movies in that movie theatre in random mode, in other words, without knowing in advance what is the cinema screening. About the film, works well like mainstream cinema intended to entertain with cheap thrills and jokes, without deepness. Nevertheless, I don't recommend it. There are a lot of good films floating around and time is limited.

Post II: Concert

I have not been to many concerts, but I remember with special emphasis when Animal Collective first came (and the only one, till today) to Chile. The band plays on Thursday, November 6, 2008 in Industria Cultural.

Animal Collective was the band of my middle and late adolescence. They are an american experimental folk band formed in Baltimore by Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Deakin (Josh Dibb), and Geologist (Brian Weitz). They have been doing music since 1998 and they have ten studio albums, all pretty different between them. Their diversity of sounds and constant search for harmonies is what I like most about them.

I was going to go with a friend, but at the last minute he got sick. So, I went alone and it was a unique experience, much better than I expected. Without taking any kind of psychedelic drugs, I was able to "travel" through different scenarios and feel the music in a totally special way. For a moment I forgot where I was, I felt I was totally alone and all were in their own tune and no one bothered about the other. In addition, they play a lot of my favorite songs with a modification given by the improvisation that allows a live show.

I hope they come again in the future. If they do, I'll be there again.

Post I: Country

A country I’d to visit is, in my first thought, Japan. 

It’s hard to say what I know about that country because is way too much. I have read a lot of books of Japanese writers that describe the cultural way of living from a lot of perspectives. One of my favourite authors is Yukio Mishima, a well-known novelist that narrates the decadence of the island after the cultural opening to the occidental pole, in the process of loss traditions and idiosyncrasies. 

In return, I’d like to get immerse in the actual cultural dynamic of big Japanese cities: I need to understand the way they act and think. For it, I should walk a lot in the street, do couchsurfing and visiting smalls towns. In special, I love the modern train system and I’d travel in such a way. In that sense, 

I feel that I need to visit Japan for a least a few months or maybe, living there while I do a PhD or something like that. I hope next year, after doing professional practice, I’m going to take a plane and I will get lost in the translation.