Post 10: The last one!

So, in this last post, we’re gonna comment about how has been this experience about learning english at university. And a method that is used here is about writing posts in blogs, I think that the use of this is a nice way to learn english, it could improve your vocabulary and also help with the writing. 

That’s because I think that I need to improve my vocabulary and something that usually helps me is writing about a new topic. Because we can discover new words and as a help with this I think that watching some movies and listening to music in english helps me with it. 

That’s why I usually watch movies in english and with those subtitles, so on this way it can help me with vocabulary and pronunciation at the same time. 

But although this I think that I don’t usually use english in another context, just maybe when I’m looking for some information for a class and there’s anything left. Also when I watch some YouTube videos, I prefer watching them in english, also movies, I think that them are better in their original language. 

And as a final thing to say is that, in a professional context I would like to use english for an exchange in a country of english language of course. And if I can’t do this, maybe someday I could work in another country and use my english for that, so that’s a reason to start practicing more and try to make it as better as possible. 

And also this could help me with my career, by meeting news cultures and work with them. 

Changes to my study programme

I’m studying architecture at the University of Chile and what I need to say about the career is that I think that all the courses in the program are justified, because the new order that they give to this new program is quite logical, just because they have everything in an order where every course is consequence of the ones that comes before. And what we learnt is according to what we can understand. So, in this way, I’m comfortable with the schedule, but not so much with the academic charge, they always ask for too much.

And also, with something that I’m not comfortable with is the infrastructure of the faculty, because we don’t have enough rooms or different places to work in our tasks and this is something terrible, because all of us need a place to work in groups and all that, even my career has the necessity of a space where we can do our assignments. So, I’m not comfortable with our place to study, what I would like them to do, is open the grille between the two faculties of this campus as a way for us to function as a campus.

This grille isn’t a good option in here, because we don’t work as a campus. Like, we usually don’t have areas in common and even, they don’t know what all of us do and how stressful is every career in here. I have talk with some of them and they even think of us as a lazy person and I have to say that this makes me angry. 

Personal Opinion

What is your opinion about "vertical ghettos"?

A “vertical ghetto” is a building that takes place in the town center, like Santiago Centro, which is a district of our region; and this type of building has a particular characteristic which is the height, because this one can have lots of floors, but the apartments are particularly tiny and sometimes they don’t even have enough elevators for all the people that lives there. So, this types of buildings aren’t of my type, because people don’t have quality of life in there.

What is your opinion about owning an exotic pet?

I think that an exotic animal isn’t a pet, because they don’t have the conditions to live at the place of where they are taken. For example, owning a tiger or something like that isn’t an animal to have in a house where it doesn’t have the possibilities to go out and enjoy of the wild life and develop in the ways of where it was brought up. So, in this way the zoo isn’t my favourite place to go.

What is your opinion about television?

In the past decades the television has arisen in every culture and I think that this type of way to communicate is better, because people has images to support what people are saying. Although in the past years and by the way of how smartphones are becoming more needed in every culture, television has being apart of the communicative ways that we have, so maybe this one wouldn’t be necessary to have.

What is your opinion about tattoos?

I think that since the beginning of our society we are used to have some tattoos, just to have something to identify ourselves and as a reflection of our society. This way of look at what they represent my opinion, because we can show to the rest of our culture our worth. And even I think that tattoos are a mark of how we are developing and what we went through, but also could be something that we like.

Photography

 So, in todays post I’m gonna talk about the types of pictures that I like to take and it’s about trying to take the best position of the different models that we need to do in our classes, specifically in the one that we call “Taller”.

Then, in this way I like to take photos of models that I think could look great in some positions and try to make them as much as real possible, but you can still think that they look as a model, it’s not like an objective image because I only use a filter, which is black and white, and I try to change the brightness and the contrast of the photo. 

Therefore, I feel like I can express the point of view that I have of the idea I’m trying to make, so photography is an option for it, but I also need to make some sketches to show it, because when I took the picture of the model it need to be the last one that I have done. 

Although I don’t always take those kind of pictures, I also like to take some photographies of the different types of buildings in the city and how they can help us to express something that we are living, for example, I like to capture some of the street art that is becoming so popular in our actual cities. 

Here are some of the pictures that I have taken:

Movies or series that I like

Today I’m gonna talk about some movies and series that I like and they’ll be my favourite ones.

Harry Potter

So, just to start the movie that I’ve been watching a lot these days is Pride and Prejudice (2005), because I’ve watched this one so many times that I can even tell the dialogues and what occur in every part of it, but this one isn’t my favourite movie because the saga of Harry Potter is the one that I enjoy the most. I think that I’ve been watching this since I was pretty young and because these saga is really extenze I feel like I’ve been growing up with this.

La escala humana

I’m not a big fan of directors of movies or series, so I have a mix of different films and they are pretty wide. Like I’ve watched every single movie of Fast and Furious, but I’m also interest in films that are related to the architecture area, like Medianeras or some documentary films like La escala humana.

Stranger Things

And a serie that I’ve watched in the past months and I have stick with it is Strangers Things. I think that is the one that I’ve enjoyed the most and I feel that I could keep watching it for the rest of my life. So if you haven’t seen it maybe you should, but I think that the first season is better than the second, so don’t expect a lot from this.

Postgraduate studie

Paseo Bandera

If I can keep studying in the future will be because I’m interest in other areas of the architecture and I can have the possibility of study again, I mean to have enough money to pay for it. 

And a course that I would like to study could be something related to the area of the urbanism, because I find it interesting and something that has different points of view and the reason of this is because it depends on who is analyzing the situation and the solutions that is going to give. 

So studying abroad and specially in Europe could be an awesome opportunity to me, because in this region of the world are develop lots of projects which are rehabilitating the cities and the reason of why I would like to study all those projects is because I think that we, as Latin Americans, should understand and analyze the ways of how we can make our city better.

We can even see this reflected in some projects that are results of this previous study, like the usual named as Plazas de Bolsillo, which is a movement that was arisen in the past years in Chile. But this is not the only project that is going on in our country, we can also see different projects that pretend to improve different places in the Metropolitan Region, like Paseo Bandera, which is a pedestrian walk in the downtown of Santiago.

Plaza de bolsillo

My future job

So, I’m just in my second year of studying architecture and I’m not really sure about what I want to do in the future, but when I try to look at myself doing something that I enjoy is related to my career. Although there are things that I don’t really think that I could be doing, like working in a office every single day because I truly enjoy being outdoor, trying to understand how the city is decomposed and the things that interact in this one, so in this way studying urbanism is something that I could be working on, because if I’ll be studying the city I should be working outdoors, walking through it, interacting with people, asking them about how they are living on it. 

Even though I like this part of the architecture I’m also interest in the history of how the city has become so important in our lives, I mean, when did we start to group and become a community? Is also something that I would like to study and the ways of how buildings started to has different programs and groups people. And to know all this I think that Europe is a reflection of the historical cities and how they spread; so this one is a reason of why I would like to travel a lot because of my job. 

Even if I can’t imagine myself doing something exact, I like to think about what I could become.

Italy is a city that I would like to visit

The Simpsons!

I think that this tv program has something that is quite agreeable, what I mean with this is that you can watch an episode and enjoy it, is not something boring and also has a lot of topics, so whatever you’ve thinking about, they have already done, that’s the reason of why there are some episodes that people think are something they have predicted.

           Homer, Angry Dad.

So according to the serie, the character that I like the most is Bart. What I think about him is that is one of the characters who has more chances and possibilities to do whatever he wants, just because is a kid and also has some good ideas. For example, the episode when Bart has his own tv serie about Homer called Angry dad, and I like this one because Homer is trying to not get angry and being healthy, and Bart goes on the contrary of this, by trying to get his dad furious.

Also the reason of why I really like Bart is because this character has not only a part which is funny and who is still being a kid, but Bart also looks like a boy who is interest in others topics and even he is empathy in some cases.

The best concert ever

Well, by the name that appears at my blog, maybe you could have the clue that I like Justin Bieber. Therefore, as a true fan, I went to two of his concerts here and the one that I enjoyed the most was the second, on November 12^th of 2013, at the Estadio Nacional.

So at this part of his life, he was pretty famed, that is the reason why the stadium was full and the atmosphere there was very pleasant. I mean, during the day I was outside of the stadium waiting to get in there and you could even feel the expectation in all the girls and boys that were there. However, when the doors were opened the chaos began. I was with a friend and we had tickets to be in the grounds, so as a common knowledge, you need to be the first one to get in there so you can see the artist, that’s the reason why we start to run.

We got there and stood for a long while waiting for the beginning of the concert, until Justin came out. I remember singing all the songs ‘till the end of it. This concert is one of the remarkable memories that I have.

A country I would like to go

  

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

I would like to travel and visit the United States, particularly the New York City, just because I would like to visit many places there, for example, the Central Park, the MoMA Museum, Washington Square Park and Times Square and even maybe go to a concert there.

This part of the country is truly recognize around the world, just because it has some fantastic buildings and I would like to visit them. And specifically to get around the city, because when I read the book of Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, I just can’t stop thinking about how all those places has changed through all those years and even how they keep changing.

That is one of reasons of why I would like to stay there for a while, maybe study all those changes and how they help us to understand how the city works and the ways that we can keep improving the course that cities can develop in a better way.

Times Square

Central Park

Washington Square Park

REFLECTION TIME: Why would you choose studying in Santiago?

When we think about studying here, in Santiago, we can’t avoid to think that is the only place which is a capital center and has a lot of history. I mean, is a cultural place where you can find the most interesting sites to visit and spend your time, although this capital has a lot of educational centers compared with the others regions of the country, that’s the reason of why a lot of people needs to come here to get a “good” education, they can’t do this in their own home.

In the same point of view, we can notice that the same thing is happening as an international way, lots of people goes out of the country to study in other places where they can find a better education.

However, this is also a good way to learn about other cultures and to get to know more places.