Post 10: English Language Challenges

 To be very honest, I think English is a subject that I have neglected this semester. I've had a hard time keeping up with the blogs and the classes. I'm not proud of that, because I think you can get a great deal of learning out of this field, but in this semester I was very stressed and it was difficult for me to organize my time. Anyway, I think it has helped me a lot to write, speak and think in English more often.

I must admit that sometimes I didn’t blog because it was a bit difficult for me to connect with the content that was requested, that is, thinking about the future at such an uncertain time as the pandemic left me a bit existential and sad. However, now that I wrote the blogs, I think they helped me to have a common thread between what I am doing today to build a future in which I feel good about myself, at least in academic terms. Although I had a hard time seeing it that way.

I still have many things to improve to be able to feel comfortable, for example, listening to people that speak in English I can understand almost 100% of what they say - as long as they have good pronunciation - but writing or speaking in English is something that still is difficult to me. Especially the pronunciation, but I know it's just a matter of practice, and I also hope that one day I can go to an English-speaking country to practice it firsthand.

Since I left school, I have tried to practice my English in different ways so as not to lose my level, for example, listening to a lot of music in English, looking for the lyrics and trying to learn them or watching movies or series in English with English subtitles to be able to practice reading and listening. Also, as a matter of fact, my grandmother is an English teacher so we usually speak in English at home so that my little brother does not understand us.

Post 9: Changes to my Study Programme

  Despite the fact that I believe that my career has a good level regarding the content they deliver, there are many things that I have observed in these three years as a student that have left me wanting to change things. I’m going to start from the most general to the most particular.

In the first place, regarding the sociology curricular, I think it’s very well thought out regarding the gradual advance of the contents. For example, the signatures of theory progress simultaneously as the curricular progresses, in this sense, it’s achieved that some signatures dialogue with each other in the same semester. However, there are many gaps around subjects that should be mandatory or have more emphasis, but are present to meet a “quota”. I'm talking about gender signatures, for example.

Hope you don't get me wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed the sociology of the genre! But I think that the way of approaching the subject was very expository and there was not much space for reflection, debate or dialogue. I recognize that in online classes it is difficult to achieve a participation or conversation as enriching as it was achieved in person, but that is not why an instance can be missed where gender, gender roles, the position of women, micromachisms, masculinities, ways of relating, among other aspects.

Another flaw that I see in the curricular is that it should necessarily have a branch of sociology of environmental crisis. At the end of the day, I believe that the objective of this career is to have a comprehensive vision of society and the environmental crisis is something that is happening now, therefore, it’s important that as professionals we have tools to be able to cope with this crisis in our future jobs. 

Another debt that I see from my career and from the University in general is in inclusion issues. I mean that there are indeed gender inclusion policies or for neuro divergent people, but there is no effective accompaniment or psychosocial support provided by the institution. I feel that all careers should have at least one psychosocial team to closely support mental health or inclusion issues.

Post 8: Summer Holidays

 I love traveling and seeing new places. After many years as a scout, camping somewhere surrounded by nature is one of my favorite landscapes. It's a kind of spiritual retreat hahaha.

I haven't thought much about what I'm going to do this summer holidays, because the pandemic outlook is a bit limiting, but I do know that in summer holidays I want to travel a lot, hopefully backpacking. I have many places that I would like to go, among them, I would love to travel to Chiloé. I live in Valdivia, so it’s not that far away, but every time I go I fall in love with the Island again. I feel that you never stop knowing new corners, forests, caves, people from all over Chile who make the trip something unforgettable.

I have family in Chiloé, so they have told me about several beautiful places that I would like to go. Especially to the Moon Festival that takes place in Cucao celebrating the full moon in February.

But I also would like to know other places. As I’m from Valdivia, I don’t know much about the north, I have only been to San Pedro de Atacama, but I do not know the towns that are further north of Valparaíso. So I want to go to the North of Chile, especially Antofagasta, since my partner is from that city and we have plans to travel in the summer holidays. So far we don't have a definite plan, but he knows a lot of beautiful places, so we have a lot to discover.

Post 7: Avatar: The Last Airbender.

 Today I would like to write about my favorite series. It is an animated series, but they have really helped me a lot to distract myself in pandemic times and to regain faith in humanity haha.

The first of all is Avatar: The last airbender (ATLA). This is an animated series that I saw for the first time in my childhood. I remember that the idea of being able to dominate an element (earth, water, fire or air) was something that I dreamed of every time I saw this series.

ATLA is set in an "Asian" style world in which some people can master the elements, but only the "Avatar" can master the four elements, as it’s the bridge between the spiritual world and the physical world with the aim of maintaining harmony among the four nations of the world. The series focuses on the journey of Aang, a 12-year-old monk, the last airbender who awakens after being frozen in an iceberg for 100 years. Together with the help of Katara, Sokka and Toph decide to go on a journey so that Aang can master the three missing elements and end the war that the Fire Nation has started.

I think it’s a very complete series. There is a lot of action, but it also invites us to reflect on friendships, peace, violence and the redemption of people. In addition, the spiritual component is something that is very present in each of the episodes. In fact, my favorite chapter is one called "Chakras", where Aang goes to visit a monk who helps him unlock his Chakras so that he can enter the Avatar State again.

As if that wasn't enough, in 2012 The Legend of Korra (TLOK) was released, set 70 years after ATLA, where Korra is the next reincarnation of the Avatar. In my opinion, this series is more mature than the previous one. In the first place, the characters are 16-year-old adolescents, so their reflections are deeper, even in some chapters it is difficult to believe that it is a series for children due to the depth that some themes are given. I think it is very different from ATLA, because what I rescue the most from TLOK is that it has a very strong criticism of different government systems in each of its seasons. In the first one you see a social war in search of social rights; in the second season there is a civil war between the two water tribes; the third book investigates anarchism, its failures and its achievements; finally, in the fourth book totalitarianism is criticized with the introduction of Kuvira as dictator.

Both series are totally captivating and worth every second of their plot.

Post 6: Post Graduated Studies

 I have many plans for the future, and so different between them. One of my dreams has always been to study theatre, because it is something that fascinates me a lot. Even though it was one of my principal options when I had to decide to choose a career, I refused to take that path, because it is very frightening studying an artistic career, since arts are an area that has been so neglected in Chile and it doesn’t get the value it deserves. But I decided to study Sociology, because it is also something that fascinates me a lot.

About my studies related to the sociological area, I would like to do a master´s degree in gender matters, either in Chile or in another Latin American country like Mexico or Brazil. I would love for my studies to allow me to travel through Latin America and meet different women, LGBT people, and feminisms. It’s a dream and a goal that I hope to achieve, it would make me immensely happy.

Anyway, I think money is a pretty big limitation. It is very sad that the purchasing power makes a really big difference when it comes to education. At this moment I am with gratuity, so I’m lucky that I don’t get into debt to be able to study, but even so, I feel that the economic future of me and my family is very uncertain, so it's sad to think about the limitations when the desires to learn are big. Anyway, I hope I can achieve my goals, gradually.

Post 5: My Future Job

 Just this week I realized that I started out in adult life and, even though it was a pretty obvious revelation, it left me wondering about many things. Among those, the future. Thinking about an ideal job makes me feel so much anxiety and uncertainty.

 

Will I find a job? What if I don't like it? Am I going to be hired? Am I going to be good enough? I don’t know, let’s find out haha.

 

My expectations for an ideal job are very high, and that’s why I get a little afraid of not reaching that goal. To achieve it I feel that I have to study a lot, which I love, but it happens to me that I like too many topics and different things, so it's difficult for me to decide on something concrete. After completing my studies and becoming a sociologist, I would like to continue studying, either a master´s degree in any subject that I like or study another career, I think in theater. Something that I really love about my career is that it is very versatile so, it can blend in with artistics areas with ease.

The truth is I don't know where i'm going, but I do know that, after study a lot, it will be a dream give lessons in some institution and continue with the investigate line, but never losing the reality that, even though the researches helps to make visible different topics and problems, they aren't so strong for change a reality. I believe that I would feel like uniting this bridge and debt with the social sciences with people's daily reality.

Clearly, I would like to travel around the world, but mainly Latin America.

I hope that my work allows me to fulfill this dream. I have faith that I will be able to achieve my expectations. I know it won't be easy, but at least I think I have a clue about where I want to go or how I want to grow professionally.

Post 4: Career related topic

 To choose a college career at 18 years old was tough and distressing. I gave it a thousand turns in my head, I felt like I wasn't able to make a mistake in my decision, a decision that I -believed- was going to mark my future.  What I was sure of was that my interests were more aligned to the humanistic and social side, before the scientific side.

Once I was able to sort my ideas, I identified my top 3 college careers that I liked the most, which were: history, sociology and law. Finally, I go for a History Degree at the Universidad de Chile. I chose that career because there are many teachers in my family, so I felt like I have to follow this sort of “legacy”, besides that I love history. Nevertheless, my family suspected that I wasn’t going to feel fulfilled with it. And that’s how it went. In the beginning I struggled a lot with recognizing that I wanted to change into another career, but once I managed to talk with my mom and unburden myself, I felt so much comprehension and support.

 

So, I continue with my second option: Sociology. The principal reason for me to enter this career is because I love to learn new things, I like to know how social systems work, and understand why we are in an “x” situation. I love to learn, and I feel that this career gives me the necessary tools for me, to know how to do researches and to quench my thirst for knowledge, curiosities and ponder on the structural problems, how they behave and how these structural problems have individual consequences. In the beginning I felt my reasons were selfish, because they weren’t reasons like to “help others” or “be a contribution to this society” but now, that I’m in the middle of my career I think that in reality, sociology really has given me the tools to make smalls changes possible somewhere. For example, work with LGBT people, public politics, doing research, create ong´s or popular schools, etc.

 

I believe that studying sociology has been one of the most beautiful choices I have ever made. It has been a journey, full of doubts, confusion, and fears, but also full of learning. I feel grateful for having this opportunity. This doesn’t mean that everything’s perfect, because it isn’t, there are so many aspects that the Universidad de Chile has to improve, but at least I feel comfortable with my decision.

Post 3: Movies.

 

To be honest I don't have a favorite film genre, personally I prefer to enjoy the pleasure of watching movies in general. However, lately I lean more towards science fiction films such as Inception, V for Vendetta or Arrival.

However, I would like to take a minute to talk about the Wachoswki sisters and the Matrix, who were the directors of this movie. I remember seeing references to the Matrix in commercials or the typical scene where Neo dodges bullets in slow motion ever since I was a little girl, but it wasn't until my teenage years that I spent the time it deserves to really understand the story message that the movie delivers.

My surprise was even greater when in 2020 Lilly Wachowski confirmed the theory that "The Matrix" is a trans story. Lilly stated that that was the original idea of ​​the film, but that the corporate world wasn’t ready for this type of content. This caused my vision and interpretation of the film to change radically, and I liked it even more.

I'm going to put here a part of Lilly's interview with Netflix where she talks a little more about the initial idea of ​​Matrix:

“The Matrix stuff was all like about the desire of transformation, but it was all coming from a closed point of view.  We had the character of Switch who was like a man in the real world and a woman in the Matrix and that’s where both of our head spaces where (…) Because trans people exist in this, specially for me and Lana, were existing in a space where the words didn’t exist, so we’re always living in a world of imagination.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwYBrn2u0do Here’s the interview.

Post 2: The best holidays I've had.

 

The Summer of 2016 I had one of the experiences that have taken me the most to the limit: the summer camp from Cochamó to El Bolsón, Argentina. It all started as a crazy idea that we had with my leaders, Punky and Lily, at that time we were a group of 16 adolescents belonging to the “Avanzada de Pioneros” called “Antumilla Huequén” a group that was born from “Grupo de Guías y Scout La Merced de Valdivia”, to which I belonged for ten years.

Cochamó is a small town located east of Puerto Varas within the Los Lagos region. We got to the town and we had to walk a few kilometers to a campsite where we spent the first night, it was a place in the middle of green and pristine mountains, here we began to feel that the world is too big, and we know too little about the beautiful landscapes it has.

The second day the journey began. The goal was to cross the border from Chile to Argentina walking through "Paso el León" in seven days. I never thought I could achieve something like this in my life, less being only 16 years old and with a full and heavy backpack on my back, but every time I looked up and observed the trees, the immensity of the forest, the singing of the birds and breathed clean air, I felt so alive that I closed my eyes and tried to record that moment and those sensations in my memory forever.

But not everything was perfect. There was an afternoon in which we left very late from the place where we camped called “Los Toboganes” and it got dark before we reached the refuge. It was around 3 in the morning and we were still walking in the dark without being able to set up camp because, honestly, we were lost (which was quite irresponsible now that I look at the situation from another perspective). The worst happened when it started to rain. I remember a moment in which we stopped and burst into tears due to the frustration of the moment, because we were hungry, cold and did not know where to go, also the path had become muddy and many of us fell several times. Yes, it was dangerous and irresponsible, but in that time, scout was much wilder. Finally, at 4AM we managed to get to the shelter, make a fire and eat a hot meal. On the seventh day we reached the Argentine border, traveling a total of 100 kilometers.

Our next destination was “El Bolsón”, a very hippie town in the South of Argentina. We stayed in an ecological community "Bioconstruyendo Patagonia" whose head of the community was called “Pastor Silvestre” -as I told you, VERY hippie-. In this place we helped with the community tasks, which were organized as "loving services" where they formed groups to cook, build adobe houses, help in the community vegetable garden, clean the ecological toilets and other things.

It was a beautiful trip, full of learnings and new experiences, a trip that I definitely have to repeat in my life.

Post 1: A country I would like to visit.

 

If I close my eyes for a while and start to think about the places that I want to see, I could say that the list could be endless, but given the fact that I must choose one, I think it would be Netherlands.

 

When I was in 3erd grade of high school an exchange student from Netherlands arrives to my school in Valdivia, her name was Noor. My English teacher at the time ask her if she could make a presentation about her country and I remember that while she showed us her presentation, I fell deeply in love with the Netherlands and since then I been dreaming to visit it.

The capital of the Netherlands is known as “the city that never sleeps and there is always something to do”, in other words: Amsterdam.

 

One of my favorite hobbies is cycling and the Netherlands is the perfect country to practice this activity. The Dutch landscape is famously flat so is perfect for a ride. You can even get to Belgium or Germany your bike, so it is very easy to do tourism in the interior of the country. The downside of being a flat country is that it makes all places very windy, especially in winter, also in that season the temperature drops too low, rains a lot and it usually snows.

 

The Good thing about the Netherlands is that it is a very organized country, the streets are always clean, and the rate crime is very low. They have a low unemployment rate, and the salaries are high but is expensive to live there, because they have a lot of taxes. They even have a tax for having pets! And their health system is not free either, you must pay for an insurance. Well, not everything is perfect, but I really hope that one day, hopefully when the pandemic ends, I can go for the holidays to the Netherlands.