My Blogging Experience =)

Okay, I think my blogging experience has been a great experience without doubts, because it has helped me to improve my writing skills, doing the different tasks every week. I believe writing and redacting texts in a short period of time really help us to learn more about vocabulary and grammar, because we have near the teacher to ask her if we have any questions, and also we have the chance with internet to search by ourselves words and meanings in different english dictionaries on-line.

On the other hand, also we have to read our classmates blogs and post after read, so that we are practissing two different skills with only one task. This is an advantage about blogging exerience. Another one is for example you can do it here at the lab or in your house, and while you are blogging you can be listening to music, such I'm doing now (music in english of course he,he).

Also you can try out your vocabulary with different topics, for example I remember when we had to write about our favorite photo, our career, education system etc.

Another advantage with this experience is you can have fun and you can interact with your classmates writing comments in their blogs, so that the class is more interactive and more pleasant, because there is a funny and interesting relationship.

Thinking about disadventages, I'm trying to find someone...mh...I can't find even one! It could be because the activity I like more in the class is this one, because I think is the only one I could do in a good way, I say it because I think I'm bad with listening to and with speaking, I put myself really nervous, and those skills don't work out well.

Like I said before, my favorite skills are reading and writing, so I can say that I have enjoyed the blogging experience through all the semester, although those skills are not excellent, but I really try to do it as better as possible. And finally I think this experience really has helped me to get a better level of my english.

Rate IT !

Okay, today we have to rate one of our partner's blog. I choose one wich is called "Play me Hard", and it is property of Angélica Tapia. She is sitting beside me and she is going to be my partner for the final test of the course, so I must to get closer to her english hehe :D She has a very high level, comparared with me.

She has nine posts, wich are about the topics teacher gave us during the Lab classes. Most of them has funny images, for example one in particular wich is in the first post, there appears a kind of female android, who is seeing forward something beside her, it reminds me the pieces of art nouveau, for the flowery ornaments. It is a beautiful picture, I suppose it was made in one of the 3D programs wich exists now.

I like the blog, I think she has a great level and a good skill to write, because her posts are very long, and they are full of sense. She writes very clear (though, there are words I do not understand, so I search them in the dictionary, but it is a good way to learn).

I feel good, reading her posts (like say the lyric of the James Brown's song hehe :D). Another Thing I like, is that she puts into her posts some drawings she made, for example one of them about her favourite technological object (she is walking and she carries her mp4) and another one where she is with her band playind the drum (I suppose the name of Angélica's blog is related to music and the instrument she plays and the energy she needs to do that activity). Those drawings are very nice...She has a particular sense of humor, she makes me laugh with some of her quotes :D

I have to say the blog's color represents her completly, because she wears with them all the time I see her, it is part of her style hehe :D

My favousite post is the one wich is related to the topic "my favourite photo or place" I do not remember...but that's the idea. She uploaded a Quintay's photo, where she is possing with two friends seeing towards the sea. It was taken during her "study tour" in 4th grade almost 3 years, ago. The picture is really beautiful, I liked it a lot.

There is a screen shot, where you can see the picture...

What makes us chileans?

Well, there are a lot of things that make us Chileans. First of all, an ownership and a special connection with land. I did not born here in Chile, but my parents came to live in this country when I was 6 years old. I remember a few things about my life out of Chile, all the memories I have are from this country. And also, I feel Chilean... I celebrate all the September 18ths and I eat "chilean empanadas" like all people here. And I also know how to do them, last year I cooked some empanadas to my friends, They loved them =) This year, with a friend who is vegetarian, we are thinking to do empanadas with soja meat. I think it will work good, they will be delicious!

(I did not watch the game Chile-Honduras, because I was asleep)...I was not very patriot, but I was so tired and I had to study for a horrible Marketing test. Though, tomorrow I hope to redeem myself. We are going to win!! Reading this, football is a thing that make us chileans, it is very exciting to see people feeling happy when the are encouraging the chilean team :D

Food is another thing that make us chileans. We can find empanadas, pastel de Choclo, humitas, sopaipillas and cazuela...I'm hungry now...Chilean food is delicious, and people really love it, but generally they eat it not much, for example, in September people is more chilean than the rest of the year and they eat a lot of chilean food, because is the patriotic month.

Beeing on our land is another thing that make us chilean, for example, enjoy landscapes and all our territory (sometimes, tourists seems to enjoy them more than chileans, but however). The diversity make us chileans too, since landscapes in the north towards the south, the people is different too, they are nicer than Santiago's population.

My favorite Photo!

Well, is hard for me to chose only one picture to put it here, because I have a lot of favorite ones.
I took this one two sundays ago, on May 30th. That day was the Cultural Patrimony Day and with my mom and my brother we woke up early in the morning, with the intention to go and know the Alhambra Palace, wich is an historical building placed in the centre of Santiago.

We arrived to the place by subway (minutes before we went to Quinta Normal Station, where was an exposition about ancient Egipt called "Panubis", name related to one of the mummys that were there). The Alhambra Palace is placed near to Santa Ana Station, but when we arrived, we realized the building was closed, because it suffered some damages by cause of the earthquacke of last february 27th.

Then, we started to walk trough different streets until we arrived to the Forestal Park and we decided to visit the Bellas Artes Museum. We came into the museum (also it had some damages by the earthquake) and we saw two different expositions. The first one was about old chilean paintings about natural landscapes; and the second one was about the chilean history told to visitors using photos that were taken at specific moments of our story as a country. Into the main hall of the museum, was a band playing music and a bald man who was singing romantic songs to the people that were there.

After that, we walked to the Santa Lucía Hill, my mom did not want to climb it, because she was afraid of the place, but it was the Cultural Patrimony Day and we would be safe, because there were a lot of people and we would not be alone if something happened. So, we climb the hill and we enjoyed it a lot, it is a beautiful place, and I recommend it to you. It is a nice walk.

When we were leaving the place I took the picture, there is the main fountain of Neptuno, wich is placed near to Alameda Street.

Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Well, the topic is very interesting and a little complicated too.
First of all, I have to say the person who was speaking about the topic is the creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson, he looked really funny and he made people laugh all time...It was great.
On the other hand, I know wich is main at the listening activity is just to listen, but it is too hard for me, I think I do not have a developed capacity for hear people speaking english. It is necessary to practice, I think...
Getting back to the main topic, Mr. Robinson talks about nowadays societies must to create new education systems wich are more linked to treasure creativity, because actually they undermine it, he said.
Also Mr. Robinson said actually the educational system arround the world does not acknowledge the multiple types of creativity. I think it is true, because when you are child sometimes people (may be somebody of your family, or teachers, or friends, etc) can suppress you. If you are at school in a boring class of maths and you like drawing and you take a pencil and then you do a big shape on your classroom wall, you are in danger. So, you have two things: the first the bigger scold of your life gave by your teacher, then by the principal and then by your mother or your father (It is only an example, I know I am exaggerating a lot, but you can follow the main idea) and the second one, the situation generates on you a felling of apprehension to drawing. Similar to a traumatic experience. They do not see, you can be a painter or a muralist. They suppress your creativity, they do not enhance your capacities. It is linked to a thing Mr. Robinson said: children are born artists! And I think it has sence...societies must to rethink their educational systems, make them more friendly and closer to children.

My favorite piece of technology :D

Well my favorite piece of technology is my Notebook!! I adore it! Really it is one of the most important things I have! I bought it two months ago at PC Factory Store. I remember I would want a notebook since I was at school, but they were too expensive and I did not have the money to buy someone. Also I did not understand so much respect to those machines. I only know basic things about their "performance" or "operation".

The opportunity I had, was the only one, because I had been looking for one of them a long time, then I found this one and first I quoted it by internet, and I realized there were only two pieces at the store. I had to buy it, otherwise I did not find another one by that price ($600,000 pesos).

When I bought it, happiness came to me, I was really happy...All I would want was get it off the box and start to use it. Since that moment I have been using it every day for work at university tasks and for leisure.

I like a lot the fact you can take it from one place to another one when you want. It is very practical and easy.

There I can save a lot of things and organize them. It has Webcam, a very important thing, when you want to do a video call with people who are far away. Also it has a lot of RAM memory (4gb) wich is very good for the adobe master collection (the main computer programs for Graphic Design).

Another thing I would like to do, is to put a sticker on the back. A sticker done by myself, that contains a famous bassist I like a lot, from InterpoL.-

Well, when you are studying some career, you have to develop a lot of skills. You must have a way to work and it depends of every person.

At graphic design, the studying rythm is very hard! I have told you last class, students do not rest like the common of people, they do not sleep well, they do not have a good feeding (but this applies to all careers, I think), they do not have leisure time because they have a lot of work and study, sometimes you do not back home at evenings because you stay at university working. Everyone here can give credit to my words. Graphic designers (I mean students of Graphic Design) from the University of Chile say all time that they have no life.

Some skills you need, could be the ability to work hard (including full nights), finish the whole work for yesterday, drink lots of cofee and energetic drinks, develop skills with pc programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Flash among others. Being able to withstand a lot of tension and preassures. It really seems like is a horrible thing, I say yes it is, but it has its beautyful side, university is not all at this career.

This university does not give you a lot of things, on the contrary, the philosophy is to give you the least posible things. It is the reality...

Well, this photo was taken at the feet of Osorno Volcano, tenth region of the lakes. Opposite to the vocano's feet is placed All Saints Lake. Near to the National Park Vicente Pérez Rosales and to the Petrohué river. The tenth region is the most wonderful at all. I love it! Although I have not been at all regions of Chile, but this is one I really prefer.

My brother took the picture, we both were walking with the camera everywhere taking pictures like mad guys! haha :) but, these holidays were really amaizing, I knew a lot of new places, for example, places like Queilen or Tenaún at the big Island of Chiloé. Really wonderful and magical. That one is a land of mystery and charm, completly full of nice people and lovely food. If someday you have the opportunity to go there, please, just do it! you wont regret! I promise you.

We stayed at a hut placed near to Frutillar, on a hill's top, sorrounded by trees and the birds sound. Also you can find there at town, the Llanquihue Lake. You can walk following the waterfront, it is one of the most relaxing activities, I think.

If you continue walking, you can see typical German houses and near to the bottom of the Philippy Street, is placed the Lake Theatre, a huge building where arts and music have their own place with a beautyful view of the lake and the main volcanos of the region. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to attend a piano and cello concert. It had an amazing atmosphere.

And if you go to Frutillar, please eat a piece of kuchen at Wincler's Hostel, it is like being in paradise :D

Alphonse Marie Mucha :D

Well, respecting to one of my favourite characters in desing field I can say he is Alphonse Mucha. He was not formally a designer, he was more an illustrator, but his work is full of things that designers use in their works too, such as: composition, line, color, harmony, etc.

Until now I thought he was french, but now I am looking for his biography, I realize he was from Czech Republic. Every day people learn new things...He was born in the city of Ivancice, Moravia on july 24th 1860. Since he was a child he liked drawing, and he knew that it was what he did very well.

Such as I said before, he was an illustrator, a painter and a poster/jewellery designer. His work is basically into the Art Nouveau Period in the Art's History. The style contains a lot of shapes, like flowers, patterns, sinuous lines, pastel colours and the woman like the centre of attention.

I love truly his work, because it is full of beauty and delicacy. It is very expressive and it has a lot of feminine meaning.

I remember last year when I knew his work, we had to do a composition using Art Nouveau, applied to an Oscar Wilde tale, and we had to paint it with watercolour. Here you can see it, if you want...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/see_the_sunrising/4195544311/

Learning english with the BBC

Well, I have never seen a webpage like this. It has a lot of applications that you can use to learn and to get better your english level.

With the section "words in the news" you can read at time you are listening to the report, the most important vocabulary appears in a bold type, and below you can find the defenition of all words in english too.

Another interesting thing is the "flatmates". They are four characters who have conversations about different topics, so that, after you listen to them, you can do some quizzes related to the episode's topic. Other thing they show you is grammar, you can learn some words and the sentence's structure.

For example I saw the first episode who was about the arrival of Tim's cousin. He and his friend Helen went to the airport to pick up Michal, and the topic here was "describing people". Tim and Helen said some phrases and questions to describe Michal. After listening to that episode, I did the quizz, about six questions with four alternatives, I had to choose only one for each question and then see if it was correct or not.

Finally, BBC webpage is good to learn, well done!

*/One of my favorites ]

Well, to find only one favorite movie is so hard for me. I don't use to watch a lot of films, my friends criticize it to me all time. They say: Vale! you have to watch more films! they give you new small worlds and you can open your mind watching them!. I think they have all the reason.

I need to make my own time to watch more films. But, anyhow I can recommend to you this one: 500 hundred days of Summer...

I was wanting to watch it with my friend Beatriz at holidays (on January, I remember), but the problem was that we didn't know if the film had released here in Chile. With the doubt, we downloaded it and went to my house to watch it one night. Another problem: We could only watch the first half, because the recording was damaged.

We tryed in other opportunity at the next week, and we did it! At least I can say that is a very good movie, it is not the typical love comedy, it is a little bite more than this. It makes you laugh and think about love, pairs and things of life...

This film is by the director Marc Webb (release date: 2009, country: USA) and the starrings are Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. Also I remember, we went to the cinema to watch it, because after the earthquake it released. Into the cinema happened two strong aftershocks while we was watching the film, I think I have said it in a post before.

On the other hand the soundtrack is excellent, I downloaded it too. With songs by The Smiths, Regina Spektor, Feist, Carla Bruni and other artists including a cover of Zooey Deschanel.

About the Earthquake ¬¬

Sometimes I think I have never been more afraid than that night. To listen to that horrible sound only a few seconds before the movement would scary to anyone.

I was into my bed, but I couln't sleep. Then the sound and the movement came and my mother started to say "Earthquake!", "Earthquake!". I don't know how, but in only few seconds my mother, my brother and me were out of the house, at the garden. There the moon was so bright above in the sky. The night was especially cold. The trees moved a lot, we listened to the sound of their leaves.

The movement was eternal, it was like it never finished. Almost two or three minutes later, it finished. My legs couldn't stop shaking...For me it was awful.

Fortunatly, my house didn't suffer any damage. We didn't sleep that night, neither the next because the aftershocks. The house was whitout electricity and water the next three days.

I hate earth tremors and earthquakes, this one was my first.

I remember, at thursday when three strong aftershocks ocurred, I came to the movies with a friend to watch 500 days of Summer. We were inside watching the movie and two aftershocks ocurred, we all stayed quiet, nobody moved. But, it was a very unusual situation, the film was very good, I liked it a lot. I enjoyed it. I donwloaded the soundtrack ^.^

Now the windows are open, the moon is so bright...

Title is a part of a song wich is one of my favorites (from Interpol's "our love to admire" cd).

Well, my name is Valentina Morales and this is my new blog for the english course. All I know about that lenguage I learned at school, after I finished highschool, I don not continue with some english activities until today.

I think english is very important for life actually. So, I hope to learn a little more :D

I am studiying graphic design, and this is my third year at the carrear.

Like I said to my classmates, I like sunny days, I supose you see that just look at the name of my blog. I have an account on flickr with this name too. I found that name in a song of the english indie band "The Kooks". I supose I liked it, the song was good. I mean, it "is" good.