Final Essay: Self evaluation of my academic year

This is my last academic year. It has been four years since I entered to Anthropology at the University of Chile. It has been four years in where the routine has been the same one : a challenging beginning of the semester, a course with lows and highs moments, to finish in a very stressful end. This is something that I already know. Nevertheless, my thesis is that this last year has been more challenging that the previous ones, by the fact to be the last year of degree. It is truth that has been more challenging, but also has been an exhausting year, because the intense rate that we have.

This year we have had some field works, have appeared many projects, we have many subjects, and we are beginning to think about our future like professionals. Little by little, we have been dismissing ourselves of our university, which in spite of being so intense, has been a beautiful and fruitful experience, at least for me.

Do you want to know why it has been the most challenging year of all?

I believe that it has been challenging because we have much to do, many projects . In my case, many opportunities have appeared to do very interesting things. The challenge is in managing to make it everything with joy and responsibility. I believe that I am doing well, although is vey bad to feel that your time is consumed by the university. I believe even though that I dedicate long time of my life to anthropology, also I have been able to make other things that I like (not all I wanted) like flamenco and being in “La Escuelita”, which does to me very well.

Also it has been a challenging year because this is the last year!. I want to go out the university feeling prepared to be a good anthropologist, for that reason I have studied more and I have been more responsible. I believe that I have learned much, and for that reason I feel happy. But also, sometimes I feel that it was insufficient time.

In conclusion, I believe that it has been a good academic year. I have taken advantage of it and I have responded well to the challenges that appeared to me. The land work, the assistantship, the good subjects, and other things, have been taken vey seriously from me. But also there have been negative things, because I feel tired and a little trapped. In addition, it’s common the bad quality of some subjects, the problem is to feel that I am spending time studying something useless. Anyway… although I criticize my carrere and this exhausting year, I go away calm and very safe that I never could have studied another thing.

Good bye!!!
Freckles!

The Faculty of Social Science-

The Faculty of Social Science have many facilities problems. It is a good and solid building, but there aren't enough places to study. There is a librery, an auditorium, a cafeteria, some classrooms, laboratorys, and many offices. The problem is that some times all of this is not enough for the many students of this faculty, coming from four differents carreers: anthropoly, sociology, psicology and education.

The faculty is ubicated in Juan Gomez Millas campus, and it share space with others facultys like the Faculty of Cience, Filosofy, Arts, Bachillerato, etc. It is not a very big campus, but for now we can be all toghether with out colapsing.

In our Faculty (Social Science), the most important problem is the librery because is very small, some times you can not find a sit, and most of the time everyone is talking and making a lot of noise. That's not beacuse the student's are bad persons, it's because there is no study rooms for group work. Also, there are not enough books! Some times the book you need is in other faculty, with only one copy.

For this problem I suggest rebuilt the librery, making more rooms for all kind of needs (reading, workgroup), and reorganize the books of the university. It can't be possible that books of anthropology are in other facultys like Engineering!!!

If we improve the librery situation, the student would improve their study conditions, and the Faculty of Social Science will be more recognized and respected in the academic world. Then, once resolved this problem, we can do other things, like make more laboratories, a better cafeterea, and another auditorium, etc. We are always improving, that's true (for example, we have more and better computations rooms), but I think that the Librery situation is the last challenge of this magnitude of this Faculty, if we improve this, we should be at last a very good Faculty with an international standar.

Freckles!

Chile in the soccer worldcup!!!!! GO CHILEEE

Chilean national team has done something amazing, they classified to the soccer worldcup of 2010!! This is important because soccer is something very relevant for the daily life of people. This sport conglomerate persons, making them feel part of a "community". For example, the fans of a particular team have an assosiation of their own, help each other, go together to the games, and some times, they convert in to a fanatic group ("barras bravas").

In this case, the classification makes all people feel part of something bigger than them selfs. We all feel part of a group of "cheleans", and we all feel very interested about the performance of our team. The interesting thing, from an anthropological aproach, is that institutions like State, or Church, had tried along the history to make this "community" trying to come to this very strong feeling of "being part of", but they have never achieved this gold in large scale, but soccer did it.

Some other factors are important too, like the fact that in many years Chile was not classifying in the worldcup. Now we finally made it!

My favourite player is Alexis Sanchez, because is a very good player, with a lot of skills and carisma. And also, he is very handsome. ;)

To the worldcup, I think I want to watch it with many people, like in some street with a very big screen. I think it is more exciting!!!. Of course, If I can go to Africa it would be wonderful, but I do not think that it is possible.

The new finding in paleoanthropology

Hy! I find this articule about phisical anthropoloy, one of the most important findings of this times:

An international team of scientist found a new fossil skeleton in Africa, named Ardi, short for Ardipithecus ramidus. This fossil take place in the gallery of human origins, whit an age of 4,4 millions years. It much more primitive than the famous Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis).

This finding is important because, like the scientist said, Ardi open a new window for undestanding the first steps of human evolution. This species can give us more information about the moment that took our ancestors after diverged from our comun ancestor whit chimpanzees.

Ardi probably stood four feet, and weighed about 120 pounds. Is a foot taller tha Lucy, and twice the weith.

The brain was the same large than a chimp. It had agility to climbe a tree, but probably walked on two legs. Walking on two legs is a very important innovation in hominids, it seems that Ardy is the very first hominid who has the hability to do it, but not very efficiently.

Ardi is the result of 17 years of study nad hard work. The paleoanthropologist wrote in one of the many articles, that Ardi is full of anatomical surprises. The most significant surpise is thta Ardi give evidence fot suport the hypothesis that walking in two feets had evolved as an adapatation to life on grassy savanna!

Presidential Elections 09

Presidential Elections

Frei is too old in politics for trayin to be president. People want some new faces, and new ideas.
Piñera is too ambicius, and I have the impression that his is false. I dont trust him.
Marcos Enriquez Ominami is a not a serious option for anyone I think. But is a good thing that someone is braking the old sistem of to blocks of policts in Chile.

When you go to vote, you have to know where is your center of vote. Everyone has a number of a table that you have to look for. Then, when you are there, you have to do a line (in general, the line is very long). Then you enter in to a closed place and mark the person of your choise. Then you leave.

I dont know for what candidate I am going to vote for. But, my position is clear. I dont like how is the politics in Chile. I think that in this case, there is no candidate beter than the other one. I dont like the politics when you have to vote for the "better of the worst". I would like to vote for someone who I share his opinion. But this is not the case. The politics in general are in crisis. It needs new aire, urgent.

Freckles.

National Festivity

On september 18th chilean people celebrate the national festivity. But why on that date? Because that's the day when in 1810 they did their first national gobermet assosiation. Then, on febrery 12th of 1818 they finnaly sing their Independence.

They celebrate it's independence from Spain, that means that they become a free country with their own goberment, laws, economic system, educational system, etc. That was the time when they started to build their country whit their own hands.

This celebration it suppose to rememorate all the things that are typical from Chile, like “empanadas”, “cueca” dance, country side games like “rayuela”, “rodeos”, etc. Although it’s konwn that those things are not neccesarily from Chile. For example, “empanadas” are from many other countrys too, like Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela.

Anyway, this is a very important date, because for most chilean people, this date makes them feel attached to their country. And for who don´t feel that way, it is a good time too, becuase the festivity last like a week, and it is a very funny and happy time. Many people go to country side whith their family.
I still don’t now what I am goin to do on september 18th. But I know I am going to do something very funny. I am probably going to spend this time whith my family and closest fiends.

I hope to go out of Santiago!!!

Do I like Transantiago system?

I think Transatiago system is better than the previous one, because it is quicker (at least for me), cheaper, less contaminating, more silent and safer than the yellow buses. The yellow buses were very fast, but very damaging to the environment and dangerous for the people.

Of course it has bad things, especially at the beginning, but I think the system is getting better. Only in the critical hours (in the early morning or in the afternoon, when all the people are trying to go home or to work) the things get very unpleasant. The lines to get in to the bus are very long, some times you have to travel with to many people, and you can’t sit for houres. All that makes the travel very annoying, of course, but that is not just a problem of Transantiago system, it existed before that.

When it first started, I was coming back from a long trip from Perú and Bolivia. I didn’t have the “bip” card, so I had to ask to the driver for a free ride. I didn’t understand anything. I was very desoriented but I didn’t get lost, because some “yellow guys” helped me out.

I like this system, but I think that the buses should have more sits, because many people are very tired and need to rest…

Something essential to improve the system is to make more “punto-bip” centers, because it is very annoying and not very effective that we have to walk long distances, and make long lines only to put some money in the card, and then (only then!) go to our destiny.