The last post

Hi every one, this is my last post of the year, just when I was beginning to enjoy them jaja, and it it’s about my experience writing this blog.

Well I must say that it has not been easy, with all this I have realized that it is very different to read in English than to speak in English. For this same reason, writing post has been a good exercise to know how and when to use certain connectors, such as talking about the past and the future and in general improves with my vocabulary. 

About the post comments something funny happened to me. In my first posts there was no comment from my classmates, and I really thought that they did not understand what I. Apparently everyone had bad access to the address of my blog, so he was redirected to a blog calling "GREETINGS KOREA" (http://blogbustervideo.blogspot.cl/). It only has one letter of difference, what was the possibility? Finally, after solving this, I started receiving comments from my classmates.

Outside of classes, I do not write much in English. Sometimes I use the App “Duolinguo” to practice my English. The idea is to do it 5 minutes a day but I usually forget it. On the other hand, I like to watch movies, and I prefer to see them in their original language. Sometimes with the movies that I have seen many times (star wars for example) I learn the memory dialogues, so I do not program the subtitles. This is why when I try to speak in English I usually use movie phrases.

Vacation in the capital

Since I was born, I always celebrate the end of the year parties with my family in Calama, the city where I was born. This year, my sister and I are already living in our own apartment, so our parents will come to spend Christmas and New Year with us. Maybe we can see the famous fireworks that launch in the Entel tower or those that launch in the beach of Valparaíso.

 They plan to come in their car to visit the places close to the city, like Curicó (the city where my mother was born, Pomaire, Chimbarongo and maybe some places further south.) My little brother will also come and I plan to show him the funniest places in Santiago: the zoo, the natural history museum, Fantasilandia and maybe some toy store.

It will also be a good opportunity to participate in the summer activities of the capital, such as film festivals, “Santiago a mil”, “Providence jazz”, among others.

I've heard that the heat of summer in Santiago is very intense, so it would be a good idea to go to the beach or to a water park (it's been a long time since I've done this with my family)

It will be a very different vacation than what I am used to, it will be sad to not be able to see my grandparents and the rest of my family that lives in Calama this summer, but I hope to be able to travel in the winter holidays.

I really think it will be fun to spend my vacation in the capital.

Hi everyone this is a post about the changes I would like to apply in my career (Archaeology).

Some years ago the Archaeology curriculum map of the University of Chile really attracts my attention, but now I think that it should be modify. We need specific subjects about etnoarchaeology, rock art, hunter gatherers, contract archaeology, conservation, praxis archaeology, among others. In the same way, some subjects left over. This situation actually is going through by a modification process, but I not sure if they really solve the problem.  

Anyway, besides the subject’s situation, we have a big problem in the career, we don’t have fieldwork. Is very important than the archaeology students have the possibility of leave the university and know the archaeological sites (Is very different read about how an excavation does and really does). Taking into account the number of students, is difficult go far away. Considering the lack of money, we could visit the archaeological sites around Santiago.

Finally, maybe this is not really a university problem, is more such as education problem in general. I would like to change the methodology of evaluation. Some time it is given more importance to knowledge than the abilities. In the twenty one century we have practically all the knowledge of the humanity close at hand with a cellphone.

I think with these small changes, the university would prepare better professionals. 

Postgraduate course

Since I started to study archeology, I thought about dedicating myself to research, and taking a postgraduate course is practically a basic requirement.My university teaches some postgraduate courses for students of archeology, but I'm not really interested in having classes with the same professors that I had during my undergraduate period. I think that to do a postgraduate in another university of Chile, or why not in another country, would be an interesting opportunity to meet new people and places.

I have researched universities in Peru, Mexico, United States, England and even Japan, but the problem is always the same, the price. There are some scholarships that can help you with the career fee, however when you go to another country you also have to pay for accommodation, food and that sort of thing.

My plan is finish my career and get a job, raise money and apply for a postgraduate course before turning 25. If this does not work, my plan b is to put a brewery (for more information read my last post).

If I leave the country, I would like to go back and work in Chile. Another thing I would very much like to do is to teach at some university (I think you also need to have a graduate degree for that). Almost every member of my family is a teacher and I would not want to break with that tradition.

My own brewery

I have spent four years studying archaeology, and I love my career but I’d like to do other things though.  Someday I would really like to have a brewery and make my own beer. I imagine a welcoming place, with a nice ambient, nice music, good food and above all good beer.

If I do this, I don’t want to be sitting in an office, I would like to cook, attend the tables and of course make the beer.  What I would like more it’s to experiment with new flavors of beer, and well, taste it.  Also, I would be able to explore my wish of being a bartender, and would be an excuse to travel around the world to know others breweries.

I think that a brewery will be very successful because there are now only a few independent breweries left in the country, and the vast majority is in the south. However, success is not the most important thing, all my life I have longed for something like this.  Handmade beer is my passion, I really love the smell of malt from the brewery and the bitter flavor.

I imagine myself doing this when I will be an old man, when I wouldn’t like still be an archaeologist. 

My first attempt at gardening

I live in an apartment and I travel a lot, so it is difficult for me to have a pet. I had thought many times about having plants, but after all they seemed a little boring. This is why when I saw a carnivorous plant at a Christmas fair, I thought it was a good idea. I could see the wonders of nature and at the same time I would get rid of those unwanted bugs in my apartment. At first it was fun, the plant caught insects more easily than I expected, and it really amused me to see how this happened. However, after a while I began to notice that there were even more insects than usual, did they want to die? After a while my plant began to wither, so I decided to throw it to put a new plant in its place. Time later find out two important things when searching the Internet: 1) Carnivorous plants release a compound that attracts insects to catch them more easily 2) Carnivorous plants wither during the winter months to grow back in the spring.

My Top 3 Horror movies

Movies are certainly one of my favorite topics to converse, more than books or even music. I love watching movies and that's why it's very difficult for me to do a top. To make it easier, this time I will refer only to a cinematic genre, horror.

1) The Shining: For me it is really a masterpiece. Based on the work of one of my favorite writers, Stephen King, and directed by the wonderful Stanley Kubrick, The Shining tells the story of Jack Torrance, a writer who accepts a job as a caretaker of an isolated hotel. There, Jack begins to go crazy by the supernatural forces that inhabit the hotel, putting in danger to his wife and to his son. When I see The Shining, the performances of Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duval make me forget for a moment that this just is a movie and that I really fear for the lives of the characters, I love that.

2) Psycho: If there is a master of terror and suspense, that is Alfred Hitchcock and his masterpiece is Psycho. This film follows the story of Marion Crane, a woman who fled to California after stealing money from her company. On the way, she stops and sleeps at the Bates motel, with the Norman Bates service. This character is one of the adoptions that has had the famous assassin Ed Gein. The suspense is permanent and the end of the history really made me shout a couple of rudeness.

3) The Conjuring: Although I am not a fan of the current horror films, who abuse the "screamers" to scare the public, I must admit that director James Wan has managed to reawaken the horror genre in the movies. The Conjuring is about a family that comes to live in a haunted house, a fairly simple argument, but with a stupendous realization. This movie does not let you panic, it keeps you in a permanent tension until all you want is for something on the screen that finally scares you in order to you can breathe. 

The SECOND best concert I’ve attended in my life

I already wrote once time about the best concert of my life (you can read that below), so this time I want to talk about the second one.

I’ve attended to the Arctic Monkeys concert on the Movistar Arena in 2014 with my two friends, Joaquin and Lisette. That was my first event on a broad scale since I move to Santiago. Usually I like old artists, so this is one of the few bands that I listen to that are still popular (In fact, they launch a new album in 2013).

When I was on the school, I play covers of the Arctick monkeys with my friends about 2008, when not much people knows the band.  In those days, they are a very young band, with an indie style with a rap influence.

In the concert they play many of his first’s songs, but the major part of the time, they play songs of their last album (not really my favorites), but I enjoyed anyway. The band's albums are good, but their concerts are even better. In the next day, I was hoarse from so much singing and shout the last night.

presentation

Hi everyone!  My name is Felipe and spends 1 month without taste alcohol.

 I have 22 years old and I came from Calama to Santiago five years ago when I was admitted in the University of Chile to study archaeology. This must be my presentation but the sesion is already finish. 

My favorite concert

My favorite band it has always been The Beatles, a 60´s band separated at the 70’s whit the half of their members alive (and one of them was the drummer). So, the closet to a Beatles concert was a Paul McCartney’s concert. He comes to Chile in 1993 and again in 2011. I think it was my last chance to see him.

I worked to raise money for the concert ticket, and the fly ticket and finally I collected whit a little help from my parents. Before that I had never go to a real concert, so my favorite concert is actually my first concert.  

I went there with my cousins, but I lose them in the second song (it doesn’t much to me). Paul is actually my favorite Beatle, and he plays all my favorite songs, around of 30 songs, like a 3 hours concert. I even remember myself crying when he play “Here today” a song in memory of John Lennon. 

The concert was 2 encores and ended up with a fireworks show. I was hoarse from so much shout one week, but really it was worth it.  

A country i would like to visit

When I think in a place that I will like to be, my first idea is Peru.  I was visited Peru 7 or 8 times since I was a child, but every time, impress me like it was the first time.

In my opinion, you can find in Peru two kinds of places. We have the colonial cities, like Cusco and Arequipa, where, you can find a central part, whit many buildings whit colonial architecture like enormous cathedrals and, like any other city, a poor part. In their people is very modest, but still be so warm and affectionate.

 The other kinds of places are in the “puna” of Peru, and are very different to the big cities (and more beautiful in my opinion. There are many traditional villages, like Ollantaytambo and Cajamarca; in there you can find all the indigenous tradition. The major part of the year, are very peaceful places, but when is festival season, is another history. (I never seen before a person drink alcohol like this) Tourists are always welcome to participate, and I think is a magic experience.

If I can, I really would like to visit every part of Peru. I think is my favorite place in the world.

My relationship with the english 
         
When I was on the school, I don’t really play attention to my English class, actually it bored me. My true relationship with the English language began since when I start to watch movies and play videogames. I really loved, but the majority of good titles were in English. So I began to unload many movies and I watch it once and once again and try to understand the storyline. I’m not sure why, but I can’t tolerate dubbing in the movies, really disturb me when I see someone moving his mouth and say something totally different (Is weird, I know).

Now, the sad part…

When I started study archaeology, I don’t know that all the fu… archaeologist write his paper in English, even the Chilean archaeologist. Read in English don’t really bother me, but read archaeology papers is another history. They use many technical words, and are really difficult to understand. Now, I’m the habit of listen and read, the next step is begin to talk without look like a stupid. I don’t hate the English, but sometimes I think he hate me.