Last session

Oh, the final one? I’m really (and honestly) going to miss ranting here. Maybe I should keep this blog. I’ll pick the topic about my academic performance this semester ( I ranted enough about last year in one previous homework). I think I did pretty okay this term, but I always think I could have done better, but reality is that I get really tired or demotivated easily, so sometimes I don’t feel like studying at all(shame on me). Even like that, I have a rigorous study schedule, but sometimes it messes up when I forget a test or teachers gives us extra load without any advice.

For example, about two weeks ago ( I don’t remember anymore) I had the second Reproduction test for that Tuesday, I had to present a team work for Public Health, turn in the Medicine portfolio that had been consciously procrastinated for that Friday and that same day we had the second Biotechnology test. If that doesn’t sounds overwhelming, add the fact that last week the Medicine teachers suddenly nominated me for a fourth (everyone else had three) night shift for that Thursday! I did complain but didn’t make much of a fuss: they promised me I would have only two night shifts next semester (I really hope they keep their word). I remember I was very tired all week cause I had to stay late cramming for the tests (it’s not like I didn’t study earlier. I don’t remember now but I’m pretty sure we had more tests last week and so on....) and I was really mad because I felt teachers didn’t considerate our situation (in fact, it’s pretty much like that on every course). I remember I was really happy that weekended, but because the lack of sleep I can’t really recall what else happened. That’s why I don’t even remember when it exactly happened!

Well, at the end of that week everything went pretty much okay (I’m only missing the result from the Public Health work). I always say when bad things come is an announcement that things are going to get better, like a karmic retribution: I even got better grades than average, guess I work better under pressure but I don’t want that kind of pressure anymore. Furthermore, that Thursday I got to help a bit in a operation, it was really fun! The only bad thing is that weeks like those can come any second, I wish teachers would be more organized. Oh I’m over the words, but I would like to add that this semester I realized that even when I think thing are really looking down, if I put some effort I can still keep going, but I wonder until when sometimes.

Veterinary Challenges

As far as I’ve heard, veterinarians nowdays have many challenges to face, but most of them (technology supplies, social matters, education, etc) are derived from a main problem: People don’t respect veterinarians. Veterinary isn’t really taken seriously as a profession, nor animal welfare. For example, when I talk to my family about some animal diseases or treatment, often the answer is “ In that case, you should just buy another dog!” You should see the face I make, and theirs when I told them I was going go study Veterinary Medicine. Since I haven’t had a cat or dog myself, I really don’t know what people expect from a vet consult, but teachers and classmates say that people wants a healthy pet, and they want it for free. They think a pet health is a given, and if it’s not healthy, you should just get rid of it instead of wasting your money on a disease that may never recover. Maybe we still need to evolve a bit further to accept that animals need the same care as us.
That’s why, going back with the homework subject, there are several issues with vet practice: vets don’t get paid that much even if they treat the same diseases as humans, and because of that they can’t get proper equipment (or it hasn’t been developed for animals yet). A vet has lower status compared to other professions in the health area, even if getting the title its just as hard as any other(and it’s more than just one species to study!). Furthermore, many people enter veterinary for all the wrong reasons: they simply like animals, they think is an easy career and/or they couldn’t make it to human medicine or dentistry. Let’s be realistic: it’s quite common to see people dropping veterinary at first or second semester to change careers, not to mention people “freezing” the career because of stress. I’m saying that veterinary is doomed: people are caring more about animals each day, so maybe when people consider animals more important than now, us (future) vets we will be considered more important too.

(By the way miss, i forgot to tell you that Andrés and I had a Bovine practice last Tuesday morning, so we couldn’t make it to class. Sorry for not telling you sooner!)

Urban Foxes - aka homework

http://browse.guardian.co.uk/search?search=veterinary&No=10&sitesearch-radio=guardian&go-guardian=Search
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/07/urban-fox-attack-london
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jun/07/fox-attack-twins

Well, the homework said just one new but they’re were quite related, so yeah…

In UK, citizens are having trouble with foxes that break into gardens and even indoors. People are getting from worried to scared, specially after the news that some baby twins were attacked but hopefully not seriously injured.

People want get rid of them, but they forgot they were the ones that brought them there: it’s a common practice to feed them and lure them to one’s garden, and if they don’t get any food directly from humans they eat garbage or (fortunately) hunt rats. Normally, they wouldn’t enter the houses, but young cubs are bolder than their parents, but even so they would only attack human if they feel panicked. And we should remember than dog attacks are far more common than occasional fox bites. Curiously, most people don’t report these incidents because they think authorities won’t believe them, so it’s hard to keep track of how many incidents they have been actually . Foxes aren’t really getting any comfort from this situation either: most of them die in roads at the age of two, when they leave the den to search for their own territory.

Even if you get rid of them, another pair will quickly fill the empty territory. Foxolutions recommend never feeding them in first place and keep the garbage firmly secure as simple, cheap and effective methods of keeping them away.

homewooork!

Well, this is a bit bit embarasing, but I know there’s a lot of stuff happening around the faculty but I haven’t got much info about it (yeah, shame on me). But I’m quite aware about the lack of teaching staff. I’ve seen that in many courses teachers are retiring or quitting, and there’s little staff left in some units. I don’t like to badmouth people, but I’ve heard from some older students that some teachers are far better than others in some courses, so I’m really getting worried about this. I guess most of them left because teaching isn’t well paid here (and the rest of this country), so I guess it would be necessary to give raises and some other bonuses to encourage teaching. But before that, we/they yo really study the situation in each department and consider which ones lacks more staff. Besides this, it would be really helpful that some of the new teachers had actually a real pedagogy course (ahem). No offense, but some teacher are really bad at expressing themselves, or they start ranting about anything but the course. I think teaching is an art and science, and being an expert in that theme isn’t really enough to make someone else understand it.
A new or bigger teaching staff could really improve the student’s academic results. I’ve heard from many faculties that people don’t get grades this low when they are at third or fourth year, so it’s troublesome when you have to compete for scholarships and even jobs. I’m not saying that they should lower the academic demands, but maybe organize the courses better ans ask stuff that really matters instead of just memorizing random (and most of time useless) tips.

homework

I know this is going to sound awkward, but I don’t really have a favourite animal. That’s right: it’s not like I love them all, but I just go with appearances: I really like the ones that most people find cute, such as bunnies, kitties, puppies and so on, But I also like some animals with amazing traits like arctic foxes (they can be at -70ºC without shivering), honey badgers (they hunt snakes and can survive a bite, and also, as its name implies, can break into beehives almost unscathed), cheetahs (beautiful and fast), and so on. I can’t really put them on a ranked list because the reasons I like them are quite different, and I can’t really argument about why I like one more than another one; and besides, there are no rules about likes and dislikes.
But I can tell you about how I knew about animals: I never had a dog or cat (I’m the faculty’s pariah) but my grandparents had a farm when I was little, and loved to play with bogs and bunnies. Also with some encyclopedias, some books my dad gave me and the first version of Encarta I read a lot about wild animals until Animal Planet was finally aired on cable TV. I guess my dream would be to work with wild animals such as helping them in rehab center or doing some wildlife conservation studies. I would even accept to work temporally in a zoo but I guess I would fell kinda awkward because I know animals aren’t really happy there. I’ve read some argument that said that animals can even be happier than wildlife, but I guess I’ll save that for the next homework: the argument is far too long and I’m already at the word limits. (299 words, without counting this sentence).

homework

Well , it’s been four years and I still dont know a thing about Santiago, So I’ll think up of five nice places in my hometown, Viña.
1.- Quinta Vergara Park: besides the concert area, Quinta Vergara is an amazing park with a tree colletion from all around the world, severals hills and an art museum to boot. If you ever go there be sure to the check the giant Ombú near the eastern entrance, is big enough to hold around 10 people in the center and around 15 in its branches.
2.-Casino seaside: alongside amazing casino building there is around 15 blocks next to the sea covered in rocks. It’s a really nice view to the whole bay and if you feel like doing some exercise it’s really fun to jump from rock to rock (just be careful and don’t fall, you could easily break a leg).
3.-Flower clock: When you pass around it more than 1000 times, it’s not that nice anymore, maybe if you’re a tourist it’s still a pretty view.
4.-Sun Clock: a humbler version of a giant clock, overshadowed by it, maybe because it fails sometimes to show the right time because of bad weather(and you have to fix it according to the day and month of the year). It has a far better view to the sea than the flower clock and it’s way less crowded.
5.- Sibarítico hot dogs: after seeing all the list maybe you’ll get hungry (you can see all of them in one day and on foot). They’re cheap, delicious and big, and I’ve never seen it closed or empty no matter what time I pass by.

fifth homework

Death penalty?
Hm, It’s quite the controversial theme. I’ve heard that many peple are asking it back, but I seriously doubt they’re going to do it, or even apply it if they eventualy take it back. In Chile judges hardly apply a decent condemn to criminals, even if they have enough proof. What is there to expect from those judges if they had the death penalty chances are they will be forgiven anyway, and even perpetual penalty is really perpetual (I’m not sure, but I guess it’s around 40 years or so, pardon the ignorance).
When I watch in Tv people screaing for death penalty for some criminal, I wonder what will happen if it really comes back: I guess if that people are left with the criminal at their will they would go ahead and lynch him or her as a mob, but I really doubt that if one those of those people was given a gun and told: “Ok, he/she will have death penalty, but you’re the one doing the killing,” I guess most of people would draw back. I think the same would happen with judges: It must be a heavy weight on their shoulders the thought of being the responsible of the death of a person. Maybe that’s why they got soft on crimes (or they are threatened, it’s a possibility). Then again, you could say that those people where “asking” for it: Death penalty is normally reserved for the most atrocious crimes. So I really don’t have a solid opinion about it: it would be fair, but I wouldn’t have to guts to give it.

fourth homework

Sorry for being so late, sometimes I forgot to check the blog. There are many places I would to go: I would like to go to Venice, Tokyo, London, Sydney, etc. But if I had to pick just one, I guess I’ll go to Egypt: I always dreamed of visiting the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings. In fact, when I was in school I seriously thought about becoming an archeologist, but I guess I got discouraged when I heard chances were I would end up as a curator. Besides, I thought of becoming a veterinarian way before that. A friend of mine when there and told it was marvelous, but unfortunately his camera had a problem and all the photos he took were erased. Other place I would like to visit is the Galapagos islands: I know you can go there in some tours, but they’re quite expensive.
If I had the chance to study aborad I guess I’ll pick Australia or France: I heard that in Autralia they are always asking for forgein students, but I also heard that chileans aren’t very welcome there because they’re quite known for their habit of leeching the health and unemployement inssurance. I would like to go to study in France because I already know French: it was my second language so guess I can manage better than in English.

third homework

Second therm 2009? (shudders)
Well, I guess a pretty hectic one: It had 3 hard courses (most terms have one or two) and in each course (save from one)you had to make written works, so I had a lot of team work to do. I have nothing against team work (specially when everybody cooperates, wich almost never happens), but sometimes its really hard to coordinate people, specially when our schedules aren’t in sync because roughly half of students flunked their first try. That last point being really worrysome, because some courses now had over 100 people, and in the first test less than 40 people passed at the first exam. Anyway, I managed to pass all of them, but still I don’t really understand how. Guess it’s because I tried really hard and I practically had no social life. I remember I had around 3 or 4 hours of sleep each day and I was falling sleep almost anywhere (subway floor included). I also had a hard time trying to focus on classes even if I sat the front row. Also, a chunk of my hair turned white and it cost me a whole summer fghting with my sister because she wanted to pluck it off, but that meant that it would grow back thicker so I would look like some kinda toothbrush. Well, I gues this pretty much covers the themes, save from what I did learn: I must confess that I had to cram a lot even if I studied 2 weeks in advance, so I ponder if is really wise to put Genetics, Pathology II and Clinical Exploration Methods in the same term. What I did learn its that you always think you are in the hardest term of the whole career, but then you end up into a worse one.

Homework 2; transantiago

Well, since I'm from Viña, I really didn't had the chance to use the pre-Transantiago system, but that won't get me away with this homework (>.<) I took the bus twice or three time at most before living here, and I guess it was pretty okay, very much like in Viña (just as cramped). When I saw on TV the videos when Transantiago just started, I was dismayed at the thought of having to use Transantiago, but fortunately it got better in March. Now i really got used to it; it's a fact that is really cramped, but that depends which way you are going and when: I can pick seats on the way to college, but when I get back home I have to feel lucky if I manage to get in the wagon. And the buses have way better drivers (don't know if the are the same as before) than Viña, but sometimes when they have a sudden brake i still end up dangling from the upper pole.

Well i just checked the english blog and found out that I had to make some homework, so let's get into it.... Well, hi world, I finally have a blog even if I didn't really wanted to; to don't really like having my name around the web without knowing. I remember last year I made a facebook account and I haven't really checked it since then (XD). Well , I guess this is about 70 words, hope I didn't make too many mistakes.

First post

Well, I don't really like to have my name on internet, but this is for the english course, so yeah...