Educating people or creating machines?

I’ve always thought that the chilean educational system is made to kill all the passion that one can have in some area. So, if you ask me what changes I can make to the career, I would say that first of all, you have to change all your focus.

In Chile, the objective of education is that children and youth repeat and memorize everything without questioning anything. The system creates machines and not human beings and don’t prepare the students to the work life and the exigencies that it has.

So If I have to make some changes to the journalism career in the University of Chile is first of all, focus the classes in a more integral and participative way, and not with the typical structure in which a teacher speak for an hour and a half in front of 30 or 40 students without interaction.

Secondly, it’s necessary for teachers to bring the classes into professional life, because there’s a big amount of theory, but no one knows how this will help us in the future.

For example, now that I’m working in a traditional newspaper, I consider that many of the content I learned will not be of any use to me, while others would’ve been really useful and no one taught us that.

This year, the curricular program changed and includes subjects more attached to the labor field, but the educational structure is maintained to teach from a position of authority to people with no capacity for reasoning or questioning topics.

Perfect holidays? Wherever with friends

We are near the end of the year and there’s not enough time to think about the holidays. Unfortunately, due to the mobilizations that took place this year, we will finish classes in the middle or end of January. For the same reason, we will only have free the month of February.

Now, in my case will not be so because I need to work until the end of January and in February I will travel to study in Spain and there will be in the middle of winter. So it will be impossible to enjoy the sun and the beach that I like so much.

On the other hand, I can’t complain about having to go to study outside. While it will not be vacation properly such, it will be an incredible experience.

If I could choose my perfect vacation, they would surely be on a beach, preferably in Brazil, traveling in a van or a “combi” and touring different places with a group of friends. A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to go on holiday with a group of friends to the countryside and they were the best vacations of my life, for the sole reason of having gone with them.

However, I hope to escape even a couple of days to the beach to be able to leave this infernal city and to disconnect myself from so much study and so much work. It would be great take a trip with my classmates, but I doubt it will be possible until we finish the semester.

A person I admire

It’s difficult to choose a person I admire, especially in recent years because it has been discovered that the people I admired aren’t as good as I thought. For example, I admired journalists who have a long history defending human rights, but now they have been discovered with unfair business or making money at the expense of others.

We are in a time where almost all the public figures have been questioned and therefore it’s difficult to admire someone, unless it’s was a singer or a musician. In that case, I could choose a lot of musicians I admire. For example, the ex drummer of the progressive rock band called Dream Theater who has won a lot of awards as the best drummer in the world.

On the other hand, I can choose a close person that I admire. She’s my best friend, she had cancer a couple of years ago and was able to overcome it with an experimental treatment, but when everything was finished, she remained in the foundation where she was treated and now works helping women who suffer the same as she suffered. In addition, a couple of days ago she began to sponsor a child of scarce resources.

She reminds me every day that there are still good people in the world and that you can always help others and get ahead in spite of adversity.

Studying a posgrade abroad

I’ve always been of the idea that one should study and learn new things throughout life. The only capital you have is the experiences and the intellect, so you have to cultivate it as much as you can. For the same reason, it is very important for me to be able to continue studying after I get the grade in Journalism.

My dream is to travel around the world and learn many languages, so to achieve this dream, I think it’s necessary to do a postgraduate abroad. Money is always a problem, but I hope that the exchange that I will make next year in Spain, could help to create networks and look for some work abroad that could be compatible with a postgraduate.

I don’t know what I'd like to study in the future but I think it will be something related to investigative journalism or digital journalism, because I studied computer science in the past and now I'm working on it.

However, to study abroad I need to win a scholarship and all of them demand to work long in Chile and sincerely, if I win a scholarship abroad, I doubt if I want to go back.

The picture is difficult but I have faith that I will win the lottery and I will be able to spend the rest of my life traveling and studying.

Progressive Rock

It’s very hard choosing only one music gender because the music has filled my life in different ways. I have passed from the reggaeton to the power metal but my favorite music depends on my mood.

However, my favorite band is called "Dream Theater". They're a progressive rock band who is known for their virtuosity. The former drummer, the keyboardist and the guitarist have been considered as the best musicians in their own instruments and have won different awards for their talent. 

Mike Portnoy, ex-drummer of Dream Theater

For example, I play drums in my free time, and the ex-drummer of this band is recognized as one of the best in the world, so is an inspiration for me.

My favorite song of this band is “The Dance of Eternity”. It’s an instrument song and on it you can appreciate what I said before.

On the other hand, I love the english rock band called Muse. They can be considered as a progressive band too, but they have a different style to compose songs because it’s a band with a style a bit more pop-oriented.

But like I said at the beginning, I listen music depending on my mood, for example, I could dance with an electronic song in a party or I could study with Radiohead or Portishead in my home.

Matt Bellamy, vocalist and guitarist of Muse

Cidade Maravilhosa

A year ago, I went to Río de Janeiro for 3 weeks on September. On that time, I was in a relationship and my father in law gave us the tickets for the flight, so we had “a lot of money” to spend and travel.

We went to the Maracaná Stadium on a rainy and warmy day and the team of the city (Flamengo) won the match, so the experience was really epic and magical. Also, we climb to the Corcovado and the Pão de Açúcar mountains.

The weather in this city is perfect to enjoy a holiday. In the night is really fresh and warm at the same time and in the day you can swim in the beach all day to stand the heat.

We got lucky on our vacations because we found very cheap tickets to “Rock In Rio Festival” and we enjoyed the presentation of System of a Down and Deftones.

On the other hand, we travel 3 hours on a bus to Buzios and in this city we found at least 7 paradise beaches uncrowded. I recommend you to visit Rio, because is a magical city and have the cheapest flight ticket in the region.  

Italy

I always dreamed to visit Italy because I love history and you can find thousands of years of history in this country. For example, in Rome you can visit the Coliseum that has two thousand years. 

Roman Coliseum

On the other hand, you can go to the Vatican State and see the painting of the Sistine Chapel or if you like the nature too, you can travel to Pompey and see the ruins left by the eruption of the Vesubio Mountain and enjoy the Gulf of Naples.

Pompey and Vesubio Mountain

Sistine Chapel

If you like the water, maybe you can take a tour to Venezia and travel into the city in a boat or if you like to buy clothes, you can’t miss to visit Milan.

The next year I’m going to make an exchange to Spain, so I hope I can take a plane and visit all these places and enjoy the local food, the parties in those different cities and the beauty landscapes of Europe. I promise that I will take a lot of photos to give you envy xD