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).