Learning a new language

About the subject, I have never liked to write blogs, my personal experience with them is not very good but mostly is because I don’t find any utility doing it.

I find the English taught at the university at the same level as the one that I saw in high school sometimes, in our case, at least, it is unnecesary to have different English subjects, especially because after the first years comes other harder, most time demanding subjects. I think that it would be a lot better to have a more thecnical English level,  for a scientist career like ours. Speaking about my english level , I think I must the imporve the use of verbal time, but I think I didn't make it in this semester.

Outside the English class, generally I don't practice it very much, sometimes I watch series or movies in this language, some with subtitles and others without thme, just to have a little practice time, but I don't use English in average day. However, in some subjects, I have to read papers in English and sincerely speaking, the level taugh in the university has not been useful shorcomings, wich I will have to solve by myself, learning new words that were not includednor used in all the semesters in wich I had an English class.

I understand that this subjects is a product of the curricular innovation carried at the university level,but it should consider the requirements of each faculty to cover them and avoiding problems, like in the lecture of scientific papers, wich are very important for us in our career and even after in postgraduate studies. 

Changes to my study programme 

Since I entered the university, I always been a critical person about the Chilean educational system. In chemistry and pharmacy, I hoped to find with something completely different, in particular about the curriculum (as I just entered when the new curricular program started)
Regarding my estudy programme, i would change the number of subject per semester, eliminating some seminars; sadly, over the week we have so many things to do that we need to sacrifice some subjects, witch i don't agree. The academic workload is too high, especially in the test's weeks, in which the teachers still do controls and graded seminars as usual, so at the end it’s worse for us.
About the study length, I don't complain, I find it appropiate and normal compared to similar careers. I like my faculty a lot, but the available space is smaller every time and it can't hold so much people; for example, in the test's weeks everyone wants a quiet place to study or table for lunch so you need to arrive early in the morning to secure some place or you will end eating on the floor. 
The use of technology in m,y faculty is common for advanced subjects, however buying the equipmentfor certain techniques is usually expensive, so we almost have no opportunity to operate them properly and learning how to use them.
The teaching methods are variable for each subject and teacher, there are more pedagogic teachers than others, for example the ones of microbiology. They teach the subject in a manner everyone can understand.
all this reasons don't let me see a technological advance in the science area in a long time.

My opinion

What is your opinion about buying instead of adopting pet? what is your opinion about having an exotic pet at home?
In my opinion, I completely disagree selling and buying pets. Here in Chile is too common that the houses with pets doesn’t follow the legal or even minimum requirements so adults and baby animals can live in optimal conditions. Besides, there’s a lot of abandoned animals in the streets, which can be adopted without much trouble.

Even if I strongly agree for a responsible animal adoption (and not the sale of them), I don’t agree about having exotic or non-domestic animals as pets, such as mice, exotic birds, snakes, etc. Those animals belong to their habitats, and living in a house, they will not be taken care properly and even die. But, sometimes, those animals cannot live in their original habitats, and in those rare cases I agree that some people adopt them.

What is your opinion about recycling?
And speaking about habitats, I think recycling is a good idea but here in Chile there is still a lot to do, in recycling policies, monetary penalties for wrong use of ecologic containers and recycled products. For example, when we recycle in those garbage cans placed in public parks and squares, we know that the waste is dumped according to their type (plastic, paper, glass or aluminum cans), but we don’t know when are collected and how are they managed after.

What is your opinion about the legalization of abortion in the 3 cases?

In an unrelated topic, some time ago I oppose abortion in any cases, but growing up I realized that there are different social realities, girls getting pregnant at age 12 or 13, girls that didn’t received any sexual education (unlike my school, in which it was taught since basic levels). After that, I now agree with abortion beyond the three causes, and anyone who wanted to do one should be legally allowed.

CARTOONS, ANIMES TO TV SERIES 

Currently I’m not watching any cartoon or anime, but when I was a little kid, I loved Detective School Q (in Japanese Tantei Gakuen Q) an anime about a group of students from Dan Detective School and their adventures and mysteries they had to solve in each episode. I remember that after school I turned on the TV and waited to be aired in Cartoon Network. I was a big fan, and I even learned the different openings it had.

Besides that, cartoons or anime never played a big role in my life, I watched a few and then I start doing something else. Also, I never read any comic nor manga, those never interested me and did not play any part of my childhood. I preferred to go outside and play with my friends. My university friends don’t like neither comics nor manga, we have other interests (and a lot to study) so we don’t speak about it.

We never watch TV with my family. I don’t live with them so when I go to their apartment, we do anything but watch TV, like eat dinner or even drink some beers and pisco sour. But with my boyfriend is different, we love the Netflix Marvel series (Daredevil, Punisher, Iron Fist – we love you Danny Rand!) and we spend entire days watching them. I’m waiting the holidays, so we can watch the new Daredevil season.

Post graduate studies

Regarding a postgraduate course, the truth is that I don't want to take one, I just to earn my degree in chemistry  and pharmacy and go work to the south, far away from Santiago. In the remote possibility that I wanted to take a postgraduate course, it would be hard for me to choose because, since I'm not interested, I don't have much knowledge about that or the area I could work with.

I know about the most common of the programs imparted by our faculty, which is the PhD in pharmacology. I know that is hard to get in and obtaining the degree, and that it takes a lot of time and dedication, but sincerely I have spent so much time studying (between bachelor program and my current undergraduate career) that I’m not interested in taking more time in my process as student. Also, I know several PhD students in different programs (chemistry, pharmacology and pharmaceutic sciences in the University of Chile), and most of them took too much time to finish their thesis.

If in any moment of my life I would be interested in taking a postgraduate program, it would be in southern Chile, and I would try to choose a program that allows me to work and study, something like a part-time MBA or even an online degree.

My new job

Since I was a kid I always wanted to join the Chilean investigation police, or PDI. But I don’t want to be a street detective, I want to work there as a scientific officer. That’s why I am studying chemistry and pharmacy; having this degree will allow me to enter more easily.

I think the work there as a scientist is almost exclusively at indoors, as the field work is done by other detectives and other experts. I don’t think it will allow me to travel neither, and I’m fine with this. I fear travel in airplanes! I also think the work there is hard and tired, as there are not many pharmacists in the police. For what I hear the pay is good, not very high but with the benefits of being a public employee.

Another field that I like is clinical work. It’s pretty much like the previous work: it’s indoors, not many travels, and a lot of work as there aren’t many pharmacists there. But the salary is better.

For both jobs I need the professional’s degree in pharmacy. I don’t want to take a major because I got it when I finish all my subjects up to fourth year, but I will probably need a specialization. 

Giving pills directly to the cell: nanocapsules and nanoencasulaption

As a future pharmacist, one topic that I always wondered was how can be the pharmacological activity more efficient. A typical drug would be first ingested by the patient and then it would be absorbed by the body; the drug then would travel across the entire system until arriving to where is needed. Because of this, a lot of the drug is lost in the trip, which will require a higher concentration that can lead to adverse effects.

One thing I learned in first year (in Introduction to Chemistry and Pharmacy) was about nanocapsules, which are literally a small pill, so small (down to 10^-9 meters) they are invisible to the eye. Those capsules, formed by the active principle surrounded by encapsulating agents (proteins, polymers, lipids or inorganic materials), can be designed to work with specific tissues, which implies a lot of improvements over traditional drug delivery: it needs lower concentration (as it not lost over the rest of the system), better stabilization, longer release times and even making possible cell membrane penetration, a critical step in the development of genetic medicine.

The technique to produce these capsules is known as nanoencapsulation, and it can also be useful for drugs that are effective but taste and smells awfully. I choose this topic because I think this would be the next big step in pharmacy, as the possibilities are limitless: they can be used against cancer (delivering powerful drugs without the side effects of chemotherapy), but they need more research and development to be more used in the real world.

The best babies in the world

Is no secret that I love dogs. For me all of them are babies, even the streets dogs (especially the street dogs). In my life I had two dogs: Floppy, a lady dog, and Rabito (because he has no tail), both cocker spaniels. But I regret being so young that I did not realize how much care they needed.

My dad brought Floppy in 2003, and the next year he also brought Rabito to our home, in that time a small apartment. Floppy was calm; Rabito was a disaster. Both had a lot of babies, which we sadly gave away. We took them to our new home in Ñuñoa, and they were happy with the new backyard.

Rabito is proud of that hole in the ground

But time passed, and Floppy died in 2016. She was old, and I did not take enough care of her. Rabito is now living with the family of my boyfriend and is an old dog but with a soul of a puppy. I loved my dogs because they are so pure, they only need love, food and someone who picks up their poop.

The best holiday 

The last holidays that I liked where in Temuco this past september 18th. I stayed for like ten days and I stayed with my boyfriend at his house. We went to the "fondas" (a kind of chilean makeshift parties) twice, at the begining and when they closed it. The atmosphere was festive, a lot of alcohol (terremotos and craft beer) and food. We ate empanadas and we met some strange people. Because it was rainy we stayed most of the time in the house, making barbecue and stuff. Also, we went to Puerto Saavedra, a small fishing town near Temuco, and the place was beautiful.

We ate fried fish with fries, some white wine and the coastal boulevard offered a nice walk. We even saw some cows and pelicans. The best thing of this holidays is that I have lots of fun, I chilled out, which I needed after the last semester, and spend some quality time with my boyfriend. I wished I stayed longer but classes started right after that week.

A country a would like to visit

I always wanted to go to Japan. If you ask me why, I cannot give you a straight answer. Maybe it is the distance, I think it is the most far away you can get from Chile, the exact opposite in this planet. It is definitely not because anime, I do not even watch anything related, I just do not like it. From Japan I know next to nothing, even if my boyfriend told me about his trip to Tokyo and Hokkaido. Maybe it is because I do not want to hear or read about Japan but live it, in person. To know if they really live in the future as it seems.

 I want to go to the statue of Hachiko, because I love dogs and that dog made me cry. I do not want to live there, or work, or even study, I want to go, see how it is there and go back, the fastest I can (I hate to fly, it scares me).

MY BLOGGING EXPERIENCE

As a new experience, writing a blog in English went from a hard assignment to a good way to learn how to communicate myself, not just for this subject. I have noted that not only my writing skills have been improved, but also my vocabulary which is one of my weakest points. Well, my grammar is not that good, but is getting better; maybe, I will be more confident when I got to talk in english (I hope). I do not know what can be included in future activities like this, because this was a novelty for me, far ahead from filling boring homework and other assignments that usually involves an english class. However, I did like some aspects of writing a blog, such as the subjects; for example, I usually do not write about what I like (Glee!) or writing about my pet in that entry about a photo that I like. Maybe giving a subject choice for every blog entry would be great, because sometimes I found myself with nothing to write about. I would like to write more about music, not just what I like but going deeper, about lyric techniques, genres, singers that influenced me. Overall I found this was a good experience and a good way to learn a little bit more about expressing myself in english.

 MY FAVOURITE SERIE: Glee

My favorite series is Glee, directed by Eric Stoltz and produced by FOX. It is about a school locate in Ohio, with its typical popular guys groups (the cheerleaders or “cheerios” and the football players), and their least popular in-the-bottom group, the glee club. This club is the school choir, directed by teacher William Schuster, a former choir singer in his school days (back in the day when glee club was popular) and in his mission to keep the club alive he started to recruit more people; as an extracurricular activity he needs at least 12 members. At first, he enlists 3 cheerios (Santana, Britany and Quinn), which are covertly sent by their coach Sue Silvester to destroy the glee club, and three football players with some singing talent (Finn, Noah and Mike).

 The story revolves around the growing of Glee, how the cheerleaders and football players found a new passion in music and the love story of Rachel, an unpopular singer, and Finn, the most popular guy in school. I like this series because first, I like music a lot, I like the vocal arrangements and how other voice nuances can give a new life to older, classic songs from Queen and other great bands and singers. And secondly but no less important, because one of the chapters are based from Journey songs, one of my favorite bands.

A subject that i enjoy studying this semester

This semester I have several subjects, but my favorite by far is Instrumental Analysis Laboratory. In

this lab we put in practice what we learned before in the classroom, like measuring pH or the

concentration of an analyte using a gas chromatograph, among other techniques and methods.

We see everything covered by the previous subject, such as chromatography (both gas and high-

performance liquid or HPLC), potentiometry, elemental analysis and UV-visible spectroscopy. I like

this subject because I love to learn in a practical way; I usually get bored in other more theoretical

classes, but in this one I got to use the equipment and I learn better this way. In the laboratory I

often do a lot of things: from weighting and preparing samples, to measuring it, collecting data

and analyzing, but what I like the most is crafting the report, as I have a natural talent to do this.

Even with all of this, the only thing I do not like about this subject is the class time: is too early in

the morning (8:30 am) and I like to sleep!

CARRER-RELATED WEBSIDE

I often visit prvademecum.com because it is the most comprehensive pharmacological online database. It has a very easy to browse layout, and even in its mobile version is easy to find anything pharmacological related. Both desktop and mobile versions share the same basic layout, with 5 different search bars, which simplifies its use; however, the app versions (for both iOS and Android) are just the same as the browser version, and you even must pay for them (20 dollars, which is outrageous), so I will stick with browser. As for the site itself, you can search extensively about active principles, commercial names, laboratories or manufacturers, pathologies and even interactions between drugs and other adverse reactions; you can even personalize your search to your country, helping greatly when I do not know about a “mysterious pill box my mom found in her drawer”. I visit it maybe a couple times a month, and I presume it will be of great help when I graduate and eventually work in some pharmacy related work.

MEMORABLE HOLIDAYS

I remember going to Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, two years ago. I was starting a relationship with my boyfriend and one day he said “why we don’t go to Valpo?”. Best idea ever. We went with just a backpack and a few pesos to the terminal, just after looking for a place in booking.com. The days were awesome, we cannot ask for a better weather in July. Sunny days, few people in the streets. We stayed in Viña, which was better than Valparaíso because it is less dirty. We discovered a nice bar near the hostel, they serve some delicious empanadas filled with cream cheese and shrimp tail, with a touch of ciboulette. We even met a guy from Pakistan, Ishmael, he was selling incense for a living (two years later we found him in Santiago begging for money, he was not doing very well). We went to Valparaíso, looking for a good place to eat seafood. The city is nice albeit a little dirty, but the worst part was going uphill to see the bay, it was too tall and I was too scared. You can see my scared face in the photos! Anyway, it was just a weekend, but it was one of the best weekends in my life.

  

FAVOURITE PICTURE

This photo was taken by my boyfriend Braulio and it shows my beautiful baby dog Rabito, which means "short tail" in spanish. This photo was taken in 2016, when me, my family, my boyfriend and my Rabito lived in Ñuñoa, near Estadio Nacional (this was taken in that house too, in the backyard). I remember we just finished washing him, you can see how wet he was. I have Rabito for at least 14 years, when my father gave him to my mother. He had a partner, Floppy, who sadly passed away that same year. I like this photo because it represents how happy we were there with my family, how much I love my dog (even if he is living with my in-laws, which take care of him because neither me and my boyfriend cannot have dogs in our houses), and just look at him and his smile, always happy and fat. I hope you like it too. Now Rabito is old, he is getting blind, but even that, when I visit him he always recognize my voice and start barking and jumping over my legs.

  

MUSIC - FAVOURITE GENRE/MUSICIAN

Hi class, today i will post about the music in my life. I think is an interesting topic, because… What is life without music?

When i was in the college, i started to play guitar, because i had music class. Whit the pass of the time i started to sing and play another instrumets.

When i had fifteen years old i loved “Nightwish”, but later, the band changed Singer and my fanaticism for the bands changed too.

Today, my favorite genre of music is the rock. And particularly i love “Journey” and all their songs, especially “faithfully” (son romantic!). I also consider a great artista to Eric Clapton, is a very good singer and songwriter. Some other bands that i like are: Queen, The police, The Beatles, Pearl jam, etc. I think that i love rock because this gender have a great exponents of music, more than other music genres.

This is a pictured with their first singer 

And in this pictured they are with their last and current singer.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMD8hBsA-RI

MY FAVOURITE PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY

My favourite artifact is a Kindle, which is an e-book reader. I got it last Christmas, my boyfriend gave me it as a gift, because he knew I wanted one since long time ago. I use it for study, I can read classes and pdf in it. I usually use my Kindle before a big tests, as I need to read a lot.I like my Kindle because it was a gift from my boyfriend, it let me study without printing so much papers (saving me weigth, space and money), it is very light and I can bring it anywhere. Also because it has electronic ink, I can read better than from a computer screen or a tablet, I do not get tired easily.

My life without my Kindle would be more stressful than now, I would need to print a lot of pages, spending too much money and time, carrying too much weight in my backpack.

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS PROGRAMME/CAREER?

When i was a child i didn't think in the future or what i will do. My father always wanted that i study Medicine, and with the pass of time i acquired this taste for this profession but when i grew up a little more i didn't consider my passion. after to finish the school i wanted to be a chemistry teacher and i don't understand why didn't study pedagogy.
When i was finishing the school i thought about being a Veterinarian, but i love animals and it's hard to me to see them suffer.
Finally, when there was a month left to take the Psu i started researching careers, and i didn't know what to do. After to the PSU, I've enrolled in the bachelor's program, but i didn't foun a career that i really loved, Two years later i found Chemistry and Pharmacy, my friend talked to me about this career. I researched about the labor field and i discovered that i could work in many areas, inclunding job realted to investigation and toxicology.
Now i'm here and i ca say that i don't regret, i'm happy whit my decision, but i have had to learn to overcome my frustation, becaude this career is not easy, but wherever, nobody said it will be. Npw i just want finish my studies, i hope to take a specialization too because i really want to work in investigation areas o in the SML.

MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY

My name is Sara, i was born in melipilla, Chile, in 1995. When i was five years old, my family and i moved to Parral in the south of chile, and one year later we moved to Santiago. I studied in the "Internado nacional femenino" and later, i´ve enrolled in the bachelor's program of the university of Chile at first, changing after for chemistry and pharmacy in the same university.
My family consists on four members, my parents, my brother and me. Nowadays, i live alone in a bedroom in Renca, in a house that i share with my cousin. and i work in a supermarket in the weekend.
The activities i like doing are participating on a scout group on saturdays mainly, but also we meet other days during the week. I´m keen on playing the guitar and singing.