Second Semester Reflections

This semester needs to go. Fast.

It's january and we don't deserve to be studying for finals, it's too hot to think!

My current state of stress is entirely my fault, of course. I should have studied harder, but what can I do right now? Just keep pulling all-nighters and praying to every deity known by human kind.

Still, not everything has been bad. My health is getting better, I got my mandarin and chinese culture certificate, and I got a scholarship to prepare the HDK' test (mandarin chinese TOEFL), all in just one semester.

I hope I have what it takes to finish this semester victoriously. Or to fail with honour.

English 4 was fun, like a little island in a sea of very boring subjects. I'm a little worried about the final exam though, I hope all the exercises done in class help us to find the correct answers next week.

Have a nice day!

2016 Resolutions and Predictions

Another year *sigh*

To be honest, I don't really care about New Year resolutions and the like. Especially this year, because of the extended spring semester, 2016 hasn't felt like a change. I generally don't make resolutions, because life has taught me that I give up on them very easily, so instead I go for constant self-improvement everyday (or at least try)

Still, for the sake of this blog, I'll write down 3 things that I wish will happen this year (apart from health and nice things for everyone I love):

1. Settle down: I'm an adult, I should be able to keep a job, do well at school and AT LEAST keep my apartment relatively clean. It would be nice to magically grow up this year and starting to live life as a responsible human being.


2. Good Health: I fell ill so much this past year, so  better health would be nice. I'll try to do my part and eat better, take my iron and b12 pills, sleep more, etc.

3. Calm down: I worry too much. If I must have a 2016 resolution, I'm gonna go with "LEARN TO RELAX". Maybe I'll take a meditation course. Maybe.

Finally, dear 2016: Please be nice to me and everyone, we had a rough year and deserve a little love.

My future job

Oh, jobs. I really hope to actually make it until graduation, have my title and get a good job (as public administrator, of course). I'm not ambitious about it, I just want to pay my rent and school debt.


Still, I would like to work somewhere in the central administration, where I actually get to help people out, even if it's just a little. It would be nice to have a side job as a translator too, mostly because I really love mandarin and I enjoy working from home, and also because I want to give it a practical use.

The only thing I'm sure about, it's that I don't want to keep working as cheap labor. It sucks, and it is so phisically tiring that, after every 10-hour shift, I barely have any energy left to do anything aside from sleeping.

How green are you?

I must admit that I'm not very green. I recycle paper and glass, but I don't do much for the enviroment apart from that. I wish there were recycle points (or green points) closer to where I live, but most of them are very far and only accesible via vehicule.

I do not own a car, but I smoke so I'm contributing to air pollution. Still, what really bugs me about the matter, is that the ones that pollute the most are the big companies, trans nationals, cellulose factories and others. The way they destroy entire ecosystems without any significant punishment is both enfurating and sad.

I wish I could do more about the enviroment, it's our only home afterall, and it is also my responsibility to keep it clean and healthy.

A Video That I Like

RATM has a lot of other videos that I like (Testify and Freedom are some of my favourites), but the one that I like the most is Renegades of Funk, an Afrika Bambaataa cover.

The video itself is nothing special, but I really like the people that the song and the clip try to honour in it. Most of the names displayed on the video are of people that I admire because of their political or social work, from musicians to activists. It's weird to see the head of the black panthers, queen latifah, chief sitting bull and malcom x being mentioned in the same place, particularly in a music video, but for some reason it works.

Also, the weird mix of street dancers and protesters from different decades and the "move/jam/dance sucka" only make this video even more enjoyable to me

A Movie That I Like And a Movie That I Hate

I love movies, from the silly low-budget ones (like bubble boy or machete) to the more pretentious ones (directed by Kubrick, Wes Anderson or some other white dude that everybody adores)

My favourite movie is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a german silent film from 1920. It sounds really pretentious, elaborate and boring, but I swear it’s not the case. The movie itself is very easy to follow, the protagonist is who narrates the story about his bride-to-be and a  mysterious man called Dr. Caligari, who wanders through different towns with his travelling fair and Cesare, a somnambulist who acts under Caligari's command. 

I love the film’s plot (it has the first plot twist in history!), but what really got me into it was the expresionist aesthetic; all the scenarios and sets from the story that the protagonist tells (which has a special meaning) are somehow crooked and painted to look almost like hallucinations. The actor who plays Cesare is one of my favourites (he is also the lead actor of “The Man Who Laughs”, another silent film), and the way he moves his body to go with his character and the horror of the story is incredible.

Now, a movie that I hate. There are worst things in life, I know, but I kind of hate 500 days of summer. The whole manic pixie dream girl plot is so tiring, and honestly, so the girl likes the smiths... so does like 4 billion people in the world, get over yourself tom! Please stop using women as mere muses or elements for the male protagonist to find himself, instead of giving them real personalities and goals of themselves. 

A Day I Will Always Remember

Oh, memory is so fragile. I forget very easily so this is going to be hard.

I think the day that I will never forget is my first day alone in Santiago. I was 17 and I only knew my hometown, and I had no idea how to get from the bus terminal to Santiago Centro. I remember being extremely scared but mostly, very excited. When I finally made it to my destination without getting lost I felt so fulfilled, and then I walked aimlessly through this new and strange city that was so loud and huge, where people walked too fast and buses were too big.

I remember feeling so happy for finally leaving my hometown, and so curious about Santiago and how my life here would be.

Even though living here didn’t end up being as exciting as I though it would be, I still sometimes get that gut feel of happiness when I come back to my flat (especially after a season at my hometown) and I look at the street lights from my window. 

The Best Holiday I've ever had

A year ago I went with some friends to Valle del Elqui. To be honest I didn't have my hopes high; the whole trip looked kind of suspicious to me, we were at La Serena already so why bother leaving our cabin, the beach and wi-fi connection? They insisted that the stars looked really pretty from up there, which did nothing to convince me, but I didn’t want to be the killjoy of the group so I went along anyway.

The first thing that caught my attention about the place it was how nice people were, for example, we asked a family for directions and they gave us two watermelons, a entire meal and some sunblock (which was a lifesaver) instead.

We ended up camping there for 2 nights, and the sky looked very pretty indeed, but what enjoyed the most (apart from the company) was the silence. Living in downtown Santiago I don’t really get peaceful, silent nights, and I had no idea how much I missed them.

My Biography

Hi

My name is Valentina López, I am 23 years old and I’m a Public Administration student at Universidad de chile.

I’m from Quillota, a small province relatively near to Valparaíso, and I lived there until I graduated from high school and then I moved to Santiago to study law… that didn’t work out very well.

After some very dull years I ended up in this career and I’ve already grown accustomed to this city; I can’t even stay at my hometown for more than 3 weeks without getting extremely bored.

I have very few interests and hobbies, but I dedicate them a great deal of time (that I should probably invest in studying for university. My bad). I love reading, drawing, music and foreign languages, especially the harder ones. I enjoy travelling but generally despise any kind of activity that requires a lot of physical effort. I also love animals, I have three pets back home, and I wish my landlady would allow me to have pets in my apartment. Sadly she doesn’t, so I just have to settle with my aloe collection and the occasional moths flying around my bedtable lamp.