Your experience learning English at University – A reflection.

Learning English at University has been a great experience! I have learnt lots of words and terms I will use for the rest of my life!

Since I was a little girl, I knew that English was very important. So I decided to study the language by my own. I grabbed a dictionary, and I started to memorize some easy words.

Then, with Satellite Television I started to listen how these words sounded. I also figured out that the expressions on people´s faces had to do with the context, with the translation (subtitles) and so on.

All this knowledge was in “stand-by” until a teacher arrived at school.  Her name was Heather. She was from Oklahoma. She was amazing! She helped me to talk in English! She used to stay after class everyday with me, just to talk and teach me slangs, vocabulary and correct my mistakes. We are friends now, actually, every time she comes to Chile we meet for a cup of coffee.

At university, I feel the English we learn is very useful for our future careers; however what I like the most is the atmosphere. It is a great space to learn, with people on the same level and such. But I believe that for some classmates it has been a bit harder, I really would like to help them, too bad there is just no time :( they need to talk even more and stop being ashamed!

I believe the blogs are a great idea. 

On the other hand, I have always hated the “listening test”, I never get right what they mean! or I sneeze, or someone is having a cough attack!! and they always are British! And at least to me, it is hard to understand it!

I am looking forward to be part of the “students-program” next year. I hope you still want me! I promise I will do my best!  ;)

About food.

Food is great. Food is the best!!!

I remember I learnt how to cock when I was a little girl. But… it was not such a good experience (for my mom!)

When I was 7, there was a sort of activity at school. It consisted on a “Market”. Its purpose was to teach us the price of food, how to offer a product, to learn maths, and such. We had to sell our food. I remember I sold potatoes, carrots and bananas. The money was made of paper and clay.

I couldn’t sell everything. So, when I arrived home I realized I had potatoes, carrots and a bunch of eggs on the fridge. Somehow, I figured out to cook something… I knew my mom used eggs to prepare mayonnaise. I knew also that my mom prepared a salad that contained potatoes, carrots and WOW! mayonnaise.

So, I cut the ingredients. I put some eggs on a bowl. I added salt and oregano…

The part I missed?  To boil the vegetables!

The idea was to prepare a salad for my mom. She used to arrive at 9 p.m. everyday. She was always very tired and I thought my salad would be great for her!

So, she arrived home… I told her I had prepared something for her. I wrote her a letter to tell her I loved her so much.

She bit the potatoes… (Raw!) I was in front of her. She said nothing at all! After a huge silence, she said: This is great! How did you cook it?

That was my first preparation… after that, my mom taught me how to cook, how to boil food, how to mix the ingredients and I fell in love with cooking! Now, it has become one of my hobbies.  

I like to prepare fish, sea food, salads, Italian food and meet! So, people… you are all invited!

I run out of ideas.

It is november! Wow!

I can not believe this is almost my first year at the University. It has been a great year. Full of exams, tears, sad moments, great people, new friends, wonderful teachers…

I think I have changed a lot. I feel I can face new challenges with a better attitude. I fell in love with Midwifery! On March I remember I was really sad and frustrated because I did not qualified for the Med School. That was my dream since I was a little girl. And when I knew I was not good enough I felt terrible. 

As time passed I had to deal with the idea and get over it. But that was really, really hard. I had an awful attitude towards everything! I became a bit “aggressive”. I was just scared. I was very disappointed.

And it was even worse. Some subjects had nothing to do with a "clinical area". These subjects were about anthropology, mathematics (a nightmare!) and organic chemistry (another nightmare). Fortunately then I had: biochemistry, biophysics, genetics and such. I believe these are more clinical subjects. And just by then I could feel I was in the right place. It was great to study the origin of diseases, to learn about how what we eat can hurt us, how an injury can affect the blood circulation…  Then with O-HIFA this feeling was re-confirmed, with anatomy and physiology I really fell in love with Obstetrics. I love what I am doing now and I am looking forward to work in a hospital.

The title of this post is “I run out of ideas”. I was sooooooo wrong… I believe I have more ideas now than ever. Sometimes stress can blur our mind. A blog to write and a computer in front, can help us to realize where we are and how different we feel. 

Dealing with stress at the University... What a topic!

How to deal with stress at the University?

Well… you just can get used to it! Ha!

(However for some students to enjoy life at the university is easy)

Actually you always will have tons of things to do. There is just no time!

Teachers (not you, dear Mr. Carroza, of course) think that their subject is the only one you study!

The University should not be the only thing on your life… there has to be room for a boyfriend, family, friends. That’s the healthy way, right?

We should have more time to have fun, to go out, to jog, to cook something nice, to enjoy life!… I really do not understand the purpose. Why does the University want students at the edge of insanity?

This system sometimes turns out toxic… sometimes I feel I am stupid, or that I am not smart enough, and it is all due to lack of time to study and to have fun. And all these feelings cause lack of self-esteem and my marks… well… my marks… I am not happy, in fact.

I really do not know how to deal with stress. Today I had such a terrible day. Sad things happened to me and I had a fight with my boyfriend… I am alone right now; my mother came to see me because when she called me I was crying. I feel I am going to explode…

I have been like this for weeks. I have been just “holding on”. I want to cry all day long, I feel I am going to fail, and that maybe I am good enough, not as I thought.

It has not been a nice week at all because my father is dyeing, my mom is really sad, I feel stupid, I argued with my boyfriend and I am done!

So, I believe I am not the right person to talk about stress in an objective way…

"The younger the better!" Maybe not...

“There are critical periods when certain matters must be taught and learnt”

Most people believe that the best stage of life to learn new skills is early childhood. For a long time it was strongly believed that the human brain loses neurons with age.

A nerve cell is the most important brain cell. This is able to transmit electrical information from one cell to another. These cells establish a network which is in charge of memory, emotions, pain, perception and functional directions. When they suffer damage because of a trauma or a neurodegenerative condition, they are replaced by glial cells.

No critical period for learning has yet been found for humans. Scientists prefer to call this: sensitive periods. It is true that children (12 months children for example) have a “gift” to learn languages. But this does not mean that adults have less neurons or they are less capable to learn.

If children are surrounded by different cultures, they can learn other languages very easily. And actually kids would be able to sound like native speakers. All this due to their faculty to distinguish different sounds. We must not forget either that their neuronal plasticity process is just beginning. This is, in fact, what makes easier to integrate new data and create more synaptic bounds.

But...

It was probed that learning is not age dependent. Adults also have the change to learn. Actually new neurons are produced every day in the hippocampus (neuronal segment important in emotions). Neurons, unless you have an accident, do not die. They shrink!

It is very important to tell this to retired adults. To tell them they are not a machine that is just being turned off. They have a chance to learn new languages, to start a curse, to learn how to play the piano and to continue with their lives!   

A healthy life style. Is it possible? How?

Actually, a healthy life style is possible.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, a healthy life style requires time and money.

It is recommended to jog at least 30 minutes three times a week in order to improve the cardiovascular system and oxygen perfusion in tissues. This work out should be monitored by a professional, so you can really make sure you are doing it well (without hurting your joints or muscles).

 

A good health also counts up on with a good diet, for example, you should include on your meals: vegetables, fruits, proteins, carbohydrates (in low proportions) and fibers…

 

So now, the problems to achieve it.

1. To jog you need time. In Chile, specifically in Santiago, we work from 8 o’clock in the morning until 6.30 in the afternoon. And we have one hour to have lunch. When you arrive home you are tired, you have to look after the kids and you should do the laundry, and yeah… the dining room is a bit messy and the dishes have been on the sink for two days! And… and… there is just no time at all if you have a house to maintain!

 

2. Now…If you live in Maipú or in Puente Alto and you work down town and you do not have a car, you have to take a bus, and the journey never takes less than 60 minutes (because of the traffic), so you can feel the stress and that sucks!

3. Salaries are not always good enough for the biggest part of the population. We must consider that healthy food is expensive, at least in Santiago, so people will not spend money on this. Instead junky food is cheaper. So, lunch consist on French fries, a hot dog or maybe a sandwich.

 

4. Sea food is good, however it is expensive, even though Chile is an exporting country of it (maybe the most important one in South America.) It is really important to include this group of nutrients on our meals at least 2 times a week as a way to improve our cells function.   

It is sad to realize that food that is really good for people’s health is out of their reach. For them, and for most of us, to pay the bills comes first.

Best childhood memories

This is really difficult to me…I did not have a good childhood, actually. I remember I used to spend my free time alone at home, no friends at all, no TV, no permission to go to a park and nobody to talk to. I lived with my parents and my grandmother and they never wanted to play with me, I did not have neighbors either so… I was alone all day long and I had to figure out the way to have fun by myself.

I remember I used to stay for hours reading the Yellow Pages! I loved to memorize emergency numbers and to check different specialties on the medical category.

Then I found an Atlas, it must have been there for years, I loved to read it and learn about different countries, their main cities, their borders, about their currency, and memorize the oceans…I stared at the flags for hours, my favorite one was Brazil´s… then I found a Medicine Book… it was AMAZING! I remember I read about pregnancy, cell division, anatomy principles, surgery, yellow fever, penicillin, emergencies and nutrition. It was a huge book, with great colors.  

Maybe the best memory of my childhood is when my first pet arrived at home!! He was small, but so strong! He run very fast! I named him: “Dollar”, then he grew up and he stomach also did of course! Before school I had to feed him with a spoon every day in the morning, I mixed dog’s food with some milk… that was his food and he never ate without a spoon…