This semester is the first time I took the English course at the university. My class is the last class of the old studying program at the faculty, so I didn’t had English as an obligatory subject before. Luckily I learned English at school, so I had some base to get through these years of university. Most of the best information in our discipline is in English so it’s really necessary to understand some of this language. I had a lot of friends and classmates that didn’t speak it very well, and some of them had a really hard time reading papers.
I decided to take this intermediate course of English because it had been a lot of time since my last lesson at school. Since then I read a lot in English and had the opportunity to talk with some foreign people that didn’t understand Spanish. However, it was long ago I wrote in this language so I really wanted the opportunity to practice a little bit. English is one of the most important languages because it’s the international way of communication. It’s also the language of science, since you can find all the information you need in English. All the papers are presented in this way. Also to do a master or a PHD in another country you have to take some English tests because depending on the country these courses frequently use this idiom.
During the 5 years I studied in the faculty I frequently asked myself why we didn’t have English as an obligatory course, like it is in some other universities. I was really glad when I found out that the new program included this language as a new subject because it really makes your life easier. I have a lot of friends that had a lot of difficulties because they had never read something in English and it took them hours to translate papers or other type or texts. I think they would have been very happy if they had the chance to learn a little bit more of this idiom when we started university. Some of my classmates took English as an elective subject like I did now, but in my case I never had the chance before because it didn’t fit in my timetable.
In my opinion, English at university is very important and it should be an obligatory subject for all students. Knowing this language helps you to expand your limits and makes your life as a professional much easier. Communication is an important issue in this globalisation times and the chosen language to do this is English, because it is mucho simpler then other idioms, like Spanish or German. I’m really happy because I finally was able to take this course. It was a good way to practice and learn more of this idiom. Happily students have now the chance to take the course, it’s a big advantage.
To the many signs of worldwide destruction of nature, we can include now the declining of snake population. Several scientists in different countries have reported the disappearance of some species and they think this could be happening in the rest of the world too. These scientists studied 17 populations in different habitats, of which 11 were declining sharply, some of these with population crashes (sudden decline without recovery), 5 remained stable and 1 was increasing. They suggest that there is a common cause for this, because these studies included three different continents (Europe, Africa, and Australia) with different temperatures and climates. Between the most likely causes seem to be the loss of habitats and declining prey. Climate change is supposed to be the cause of the immediate threats. Snakes are very important to maintain the correct function of several ecosystems.
The idea of the declining of snakes has been in scientist minds for a while, but there had not been important evidence about it. During 1987 and 2009, researchers measured relative abundance of diverse snake populations using different methods. This is the first reliable work about this subject. Their statement is that these populations are declining. Nevertheless it’s necessary to analyse more data and get an opinion of herpetologists around the entire world to see the real magnitude of this decline and find the cause. This way it would be possible to prevent and reverse the disappearance of these animals.
In my opinion there have do be a lot of improvements in our faculty. Most of the facilities are very old, but not necessarily in bad shape. I think classrooms are acceptable, maybe not the best of de world but they don’t interfere with the classes. The casino needs improvement, starting with a heating system because it’s freezing cold there in the winter. The tables are old and sometimes there aren’t enough. That the food is bad is another problem and I don’t know what the kitchen looks like, but I can imagine it is very old fashion. I’m sure it needs improvements too. Other things that need to be taken care of are the sport facilities. There is a gym but in reality it’s just a concrete field with a very bad roof. The dressing rooms are horrible, really disgusting, they are always dirty and there isn’t even a mirror. Showers don’t have curtains and I wouldn’t step in there with my bare feed. I think the faculty needs a room to spent free time, like a common room, because there is no place to relax in the winter. In summer it isn’t a problem because you can lay on the grass and take a nap, but in winter the only place you can be in is the casino. And people don’t get that you don’t have to smoke in closed places, so you just smell like smoke after being there. A lot of times this issues have been discussed by the students and the students representing them. But there haven’t been any improvements. Actually once we painted the dress rooms and cleaned them for a sport event in the faculty. So I don’t really know what we could do, because in five years there haven’t been a lot of a changes. There are new classrooms but even this rooms have problems. Hopefully the new dean and his people do something to modify these things.
Writing about my favourite animal is very difficult for me because there is not just one animal I like, there are lots of them. I love chameleons, hippos, dogs, rhinos and so on. Having said that I’m choosing one of all the animals I love and I think it’s going to be the wild dog, also called dingo.
I didn’t know much about dingos, just that they existed. Then, a couple of years ago I travelled to South Africa to work in a wildlife rehabilitation centre. There they had a lot of animals they couldn’t put back into the wild because their injuries were to severe or there was just not enough room for them. Among these animals was a pack of dingos in good conditions in the sense that they weren’t injured. Nevertheless they couldn’t put them back into the wild because there isn’t any room for them. Dingos live in packs and hunt in groups. They are very efficient hunters, intelligent and organized and there is now way a prey is going to escape. The problem is that sometimes they don’t hunt because they are hungry; sometimes they just hunt for fun. And this is the big problem. In South Africa there a lot of national parks and wildlife reserves. However, all this parks have a number of animals they can support and at the same time there must be a balance between hunters and preys. It because of this that wild dogs aren’t welcome in this reserves, because they can kill for fun and endanger the balance that is so hard to keep.
It is very sad that these beautiful animals can’t be located anywhere. Now because of that they are an endangered species. I would love to work with them and find a place where they can live in peace. I’m mean, maybe it’s strange that they kill for fun but it’s in their nature, and there is nothing wrong with that.
It is very difficult for me to find 5 highlights to see here in Santiago because for me it’s just another big city. I don’t think Santiago is ugly or not fun, but it doesn’t have that much of history like other south American cities, for example Lima or Quito. However there are some things you have to see if you come to Santiago. Here are the 5 things you shouldn’t miss:
1. Cajón del Maipo: This valley isn’t necessary in Santiago but still for me it’s part of the city. It juts takes an hour to get there and the landscape is beautiful. There are a lot of places to eat and if you have time and the right car you can get very far and high into the mountains. Also there’s the possibility of do some rafting or other sports. So, if you come to Santiago you can’t miss Cajón del Maipo.
2. Plaza de Armas: Of course you can’t miss this reunion point of the city. It’s the main plaza of the city. You can find the cathedral there and there is also a museum of pre-Columbian history. If you want to eat some Chilean hot dogs, also called completos, you can find very cheap ones there. 3. La Moneda: You can’t leave Santiago without visiting the government house. It’s a building with a lot of history and there is a museum there too. I don’t really know why but you just have to visit it.
4. Cerro San Cristóbal: If you want to have a great view you have to go to this hill. You will be able to see Santiago. Of course you need a big of luck, because if there is smog probably you won’t see much. There’s also the national zoo if you are interested in animals, but don’t expect to much, from my point of view it isn’t very nice.
5. Pueblo los Dominicos: As a tourist you probably want to buy some souvenirs. There are two good places to buy them, one is the Feria Santa Lucía and the other one is this place. Here you can find lots of stuff made of lapizlazuli, a blue stone that only exists here in Chile and in Afghanistan. It isn’t necessary cheap, but there are some nice things to buy here.
If you ask me, death penalty shouldn’t be a punishment option. Some people argue that this way of punishment is more a type of revenge and not of justice, and I have to say I agree with them. To my mind killing someone, even if this person is a murderer, makes you a murderer too. From a political point of view, death penalty is a way to save money, because you have less people to feed. It is sometimes argued that death penalty, or capital punishment, is a way to discriminate against the poor, because they don’t have the option to pay their way out, so they aren’t really important for the government. Another issue is that there have been wrongful executions, so innocent people have been killed, and once you kill someone you can’t bring him back. To be honest, I think that death penalty is a dangerous weapon and way of making justice, because you can be wrong, sometimes nothing is like it seems and also, you take somebody else his right to live. However, in some countries like Chile, prisons don’t work as well as they should. Dangerous people stay a while in prison, but afterwards they are released. That’s why many people think death penalty should exist. Murderers have to be in jail for ever and if this doesn’t happen killing them is a good option to make sure they won’t kill again. I feel that improving justice in Chile, making sure wrong people aren’t going to be released is the way to avoid death penalty. I remember that Chile had de death penalty some years ago, and I remember that it was the president who said if the persons deserved to die or not. To my mind this is very stupid, because it shouldn’t be the president’s responsibility to make that call. So I’m a glad the abolished this way of punishment, but still I think justice has to improve a lot and make sure the population is save by not releasing so easily murderers.
I would like to visit Switzerland because I lived there for 4 years. I arrived with eight years and left with twelve. I haven’t been back, so it would be really nice if I could go again. Actually, last weekend my best friend from school there came to Chile. We didn’t see us for 12 years and didn’t have contact for 11 years. But thanks to facebook we were able to communicate again, and finally she came to visit me. It was very nice, we had a lot of fun and we almost forgot that we hadn’t seen us for 12 years. While I was talking to her I remembered a lot about school and my friends. It would be very nice if I could see them all again. And not just them, I also would like to see the house I lived in, the school and many other things. Basel is the city where I lived; it is a very nice city, one of the biggest in Switzerland. Everything is very clean and organized, public transport is just perfect and they have really nice bike streets. And of course I would like to eat a lot of chocolate and cheese; two things Swiss people do very very well. Switzerland is beautiful but still I wouldn’t move back there because I can’t stand cold weather and it gets really cool there. Winter is very long also. Another reason I wouldn’t move back to Switzerland is because Swiss people are very different, they are colder and more serious. It’s hard to adapt, not when you are a child like I was when I moved there, but as an grown up it is more difficult because they are very closed up people. Very polite and correct, but not warm.
The second semester of last year was my last term with carrier subjects. It was pretty intense, because we had a subject called “Internado”, that means twice a week you have to be with the doctors and work with them, trying to find out what is wrong with the patients. The subject is divided in three parts: horses, ruminants and small animals (cats and dogs). In the part of ruminants and horses you have to go wherever the doctor goes, so sometimes we went pretty far away, because these animals often can’t be found in the city. You also have to work in small groups the whole semester and you can’t choose who is going to be in your group. I was lucky and I knew most of the people in my group. Every week you had to prepare a clinical case and investigate about it as a group and present it at the beginning of the following week. That was hard work, because we also had other subject at the same time, so sometimes I was really stressed. It is also very hard to rely on other people, because you can’t do all the work just by yourself and you have to trust the other members of the group. But like I said before, I was lucky and we didn’t have much problems, just some little discussions. I think you can realise that there wasn’t really a lot of time to practice sports or do some other activities. My life was just focused on university, so I hadn’t really a life, that’s sad, hahaha. The good thing is that it went really well and I managed to pass all my subjects, including “Internado”. And I was really happy at the end; I think there is no better feeling than knowing all the hard study is over and you feel so free after five long years at university.
I think that transantiago has improved some things of public transport. However some things haven’t changed or are worst now. One of the things that didn’t change, is the frequency of de buses, you still don’t now at what time they are coming and sometimes you have to wait like half an hour before the bus arrives. Another thing I don’t like about transantiago is that you have to change buses to many times to get to one place. As an example, I don’t live far away from Plaza Ñuñoa, and before transantiago I could take one bus to get there. Now I have to take three buses. The crowded metro is another thing I can’t stand, line one is really collapsed. However, transantiago has improved some things. The BIP card is a big improvement, because you don’t have to manipulate coins. It’s also better for the driver, because he is safer now and he can’t be mugged. Buses are bigger too and drivers now get paid with a regular salary, so they don’t have to compete for transporting more passengers. There are now special parts of the streets for buses, making travelling by bus faster sometimes then by car. I think transantiago has improved a lot since it started. At the beginning it was all very confusing and not very good organized, but with time it has been better. Still there is much to improve. It would be very nice to know exactly at what time the bus is going to pass, making all our lifes easier.
Hi, i’m Natalie and have finished all the carrier subjects. I took this subject to practice my English. There are not many opportunities to speak English in Santiago, that’s why it’s really important to practice when you have de opportunity. The blog is a chance to write in English and give my opinion about some interesting subjects. It’s also a way to keep in touch with some of my classmates.
