Postgraduate Studies

Postgraduate studies, a thing that I avoid thinking about right now, mostly because I don´t know what the future is going to be. Probably gonna have to think about pursuing a masters degree and some other courses pretty soon, since in this country you can not go far without at least a couple of those in your curriculum. Not sure what subjects I could study when I am done with this part of my life. One option could be trying to do a course of statistical analysis since that is my weak side, but I could also try to do some stuff related to public policies and such, but like I said before I am really not sure.

In any case, doing these courses either in the country or abroad brings a new different types of issues. Doing it in the country is easier because I can still be contact with family and friends in contrast of doing it in other country, and could be a lot cheaper in terms of expenses and such. But doing it abroad brings a lot more prestige to the degree, which means better opportunities in the future, but it means I need to have enough money or a scholarship to do it, and I could not be with friends and family for some time, since these courses normally take time to do. 

I don´t care how the course is being teach, but that could change depending if I am in a scholarship or ding it with a loan, since I would probably be working at the same time.

Jobs, jobs, and jobs

So, let´s discuss about my future job. If I would have asked this question yo my younger self some years ago, that little kid probably would say something completely different to what I am about to say now....And honestly, it´s hard to picture myself in a professional environment, even though I am currently in my fourth year of college with just a couple of years to be "ready" to do what a social Anthropologist does, I am still kind of unsure to what the future will be when the bills and other responsibilities arrive in my life. 

In this moment I would not mind doing research and studies out in the field, trying to figure out where society hides their own hypocrisies within their culture. But in all honestly doing work through public policies within the realm of Anthropology and the Social Sciences could be where I end up being. Working part time inside, part time in the field, doing what it must be in order to solve some of the social problems that we have as a society. That sound kind of reasonable for me at this moment at least. 

Doing majors and other types of degrees is an option that I consider, but I am no sure what kind exactly or the subject that I could specialized in the future. Oh well, maybe I could figure it out in a couple of years when I have my degree and my first job in the social area. Who knows anyway...

Voting..........

Well, voting sounds like the most important of the civic duties that one could have, and honestly it can be, but the problem is when your choice becomes pretty mucho between two candidate, and those two candidates are not going to actually do their job of leading the way for a better country and society. When your choices are going to have the same result no matter how much time and effort you put in order to be informe, it makes the whole process of election and democracy meaningless. 

If you ask me if I am going to participate in the next election coming the following month, I would probably say no. This is due to the lack of information that I could find about most of the candidates of my district, I honestly cannot distinguish between candidates, let alone their political agenda for the next years. It has been really hard with the lack of information available and the sheer amount of people wanting to be part of the political system. I do not see myself in their position, mainly because I will end up being too honest for the current political system that we have today. If you want to be a part of the political system with some public charge be ready to be a charismatic,backstabbing, fake smiley and compulsive liar in order to succeed. Now if you are really dedicated to the public work that a politician should do, just do the contrary to what I said before. 

Most of the political campaigns also are too dirty and intrusive in the life of the people. While the campaign last everybody is concern on having their giant signs in the plazas, lamp-posts and walls, but when the election is over, many of those signs remain there for years, with nobody cleaning them up. What a mess they leave behind. Besides all that self promotion and fake smiles makes me kind of sick. Honestly, instead of polluting with their propaganda, they should use other types of media to promote their programs and reach out to the people. It`s not like there are massive websites dedicated to share and discuss ideas/programs with other people, while allowing for an easy access and communication between the candidates and the people who may vote for them or not......

Malcolm, or how I learned about the absurdity of everything

Malcolm in the middle, if you don`t know about this show, either you are too young or you are too oblivious about one of the best sit-coms of all times. Malcolm in the middle is a show that follows the misadventures and tragedies that a low-middle class family has to endure, from pranks going to the extreme by the children, or parents on the brink of a mental breakdown due to the stress of the modern world. 

Even though Malcolm, the middle child, is in the title of the show, the whole family takes the focus, each having a moment to be in the spotlight, although not necesarily for the right reasons. Besides Malcolm, we have Dewey the little naive brother, Reese the second son and not so smart prankster/bully, Francis as the oldest of them being the role model for the rest of the brothers, but with him dropping out of military school and ending in the early seasons in a dead end job in the tundra of Alaska, is not the best role model they could aspire to follow. The parents,  Hal the child like/dreamer kind of father, and Lois, the grounded parent and the figure of authority for the whole family, round up the main characters of the show.

I can not say which episode is my favourite, since all the episodes in my opinon are great in their own right, showing us how a dysfuntional family has to make it to the end of each day the best way they could find, while also breaking with the idea that with love and all that hippie stuff, anything was possible and all could be solve in a satisfactory way. It was a crude way of showing the difficulties of a family, while also laughing at the absurdity of the world, and I love every second of it.

The Heaviest Concert

One of the best concerts that I can remember going, was the Motorhead concert in 2011. It was at the Teatro Caupolican, right here in Santiago. It was a hot day that ninth of April, the line to get inside was really long, with all these metal heads; men, women, young ones, old ones, you name it. A lot of people were selling food and beer that day, and everybody wanted to get inside. I had a ticket for the gallery of the theater, so when I got inside I inmediately went for the best spot that I could find right at the front. Soon, everybody was trying to do the same, while others were trying to see where they could climbed down to the floor level, bypassing the guards. You know, for thrill and the action of it.

After some time, and some bands that played to keep us entertained, the lights were shut down and the first song started to play, and so it began. It was just an amazing experience, with some hard heavy metal being pumped out of the speakers, while the crowd in every inch of the theater was going wild, headbanging, trashing, and singing their throats out. By the third song, my ears were pretty much done with the sound of the whole theater having the greatest time in their lives. It was also exciting knowing that the band were recording the whole event for a dvd, which was later released. I need to get a copy for myself just to see the whole thing again. It was truly an amazing experience with one of the best heavy metal bands of all times.

It`s russian time

Yes, I would like to visit Russia at some point of my natural life, the reason; they have bears and a cold winter. Do I need to say more?....Fine let`s say a little bit more for reasons beyond my control. Russia has probably one of the most interesting history, literature and language of the world in my own personal opinion. These three things are what really fascinates me when I think about a country different from my own. The winter actually helps my desicion to visit, due to the fact that I hate with my soul the hotter temperatures, which actually can make me feel sick if it is too hot. Forget about tropical paradises or romantic cities, I want to build a bear out of snow. 

Most of the things that I know about Rusia are some historical facts and important figures like Catherine the Great, Ivan the Terrible, and of course the soviet leaders of the XX century. The culture is a big mistery honestly, but in their literature is where I get some insights of what could have been old Russia with the books of Fedor Dostoievski, I love his short novels. Although I always forget the name of the one where a man is eaten by a crocodile but somehow manages to live inside of the beast. It`s just hilarious. 

Maybe going there in a study trip or just visiting like a regular tourist, could be enough to learn more about this country and enjoy myself with a cold winter in the middle of the Red Square in Moscow. But I will not drink vodka. I don`t want to enforce the stereotype about Russians and vodka....ok, maybe a small glass. What`s the worse it could happen? 

Practice Post

Ok, let us begin; my name is Nicolas Aravena, right this moment I am 22 years old and currently studying  Social Anthropology at the University of Chile being my fourth year in this career. My main weaknesses in English are based on my lack of vocabulary words and sometimes I make grammar mistakes writing words wrongly and such things, although that is also true when I am using Spanish anyways. My strengths are based on the fact that I can understand English very well, both reading it and listening too, so I can watch either TV shows or read different things without much effort (unless it is using a very particular type of English, like slang words or scientific terminology). My main expectations are to pass the Level 4 of English that the University requires me to do, so I can continue with my career in Anthropology.