Changes to my study programme

It’s a fact that all study programmes need changes; some of them need urgent and radical changes, and that’s the case of most of the Chilean university careers.

The curriculum of my study programme is so extensive, it has so much chemistry, it’s hilarious because that’s what the career is all about, but it is excessive, I think that some of the subjects are useless, or at least they are not indispensable. Maybe it should have a year where you decide whether you want a program dedicated to research or a program dedicated to industries, etc.

In Chemistry, and in the other careers of the faculty, the workload is huge, is so stressful and this lasts for six years, which is approximately the length of the study programme.

The faculty infrastructures are not bad; we have an old building where the laboratories, professors’ offices, etc. are. And some years ago a new facility was built and I think it was totally good, we needed that, also I think it would be a nice idea to “rework” the old building and make it more comfortable.

As I said before, some years ago a new facility was built, and it is amazing, it has more technology, to open the doors that lead you to the labs you have to have a card, if you don’t have it then they keep closed. That’s good because it restricts the area to the people that have to be there. In the old building, everyone can get in.

Finally, the teaching methods, here I can say that is the hardest thing to change because it’s hard to find a person who has a passion for teaching (and good at it) and also good at the subject. This is so relevant and important because it affects directly in the teaching methods, but I can say that I noticed that there are a lot of professors trying to improve their methods for good.

Summer Holidays

All people is waiting for this time to come, the Christmas, gifts, the end of the year, party, and then a well-deserved vacation. Some people plan their vacations the entire year, others just improvise. My family is kind of the second type. I’m not a person who love to go out in vacations, I always go on holidays with my family tho.

I always wanted to go abroad with my family, I don’t care where, but I would like to meet new countries and new cultures. I think it would be fun and nice to meet Asian culture, like China.

Unfortunately, money is a limiting factor and we can’t afford the travel. Anyways, we are happy by just going to El Tabo beach or El Quisco. Actually, most of the Chilean population usually spend their holidays in one of these beaches, among others.

Now, being more realistic, I think it would be pretty nice to travel to the South of Chile, maybe it sounds cliché, but it’s just amazing, all of the national reserves, parks, the field, mountains and lakes, I feel relaxed just by watching photos/videos of these places.

The worst part of these and I think all people hate it, is to come back to Santiago (or their respective city), it is TERRIBLE!. The highways are a mess, the heat is unbearable, the thirst increases and we all get tired of the travel. Anyways, it would be totally worth the bother.

Addiction: Drugs of abuse

What is a drug?  Is it bad or is it helpful? Have you ever tried a drug?

In Spanish, a drug is any natural or artificially made chemical that is taken for pleasure, to improve someone’s performance of an activity, or because a person cannot stop using it. This is an illegal activity and it is penalized by the law. In English, drug has two meanings, it can be any natural or artificially made chemical that is used as a medicine, and it can be an illegal substance as I said before.

C₁₀H₁₅N, chemical formula for one of the strongest CNS stimulants and recreational drug, the Methamphetamine (shortened as “meth”) is a strong psychostimulant which was discovered in 1893 and it was used by soldiers during the WWII (World War II) to keep the troops awake. After the war, methamphetamine abuse by injection became popular and available to the Japanese public. In the 50’s, methamphetamine was prescribed as a diet aid and to fight depression, in the 60’s the situation got worse because of the abuse of methamphetamine injections. In the 70’s the US government made it illegal for most uses, and from then the Methamphetamine got more famous and desired because it was harder to get.

"Meth mouth"

Effects on meth consumers’:  It can include loss of appetite, hyperactivity, dilated pupils, flushed skin, excessive sweating, increased movement, dry mouth and teeth grinding (leading to “meth mouth”), headache, irregular heartbeat, rapid breathing, high/low blood pressure, and much more.

Benefits of consuming meth:  It can be prescribed as diet aid and to fight depression.

Long-Term effects of Crystal meth: Taken over a long period of time, crystal meth can cause severe physical and psychological issues as the short-term effects grow in intensity and complexity. Signs of long-term crystal meth abuse include more persistent psychotic symptoms (delusion, paranoia and hallucinations), depression, anxiety and social isolation, etc.

I’ve never tried Methamphetamine, even if I would like to try I couldn’t because it isn’t a common drug in Chile, I tried marihuana tho but I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t smoke again.

So in conclusion, Crystal meth and any drug of abuse are bad, and they can cause several health issues, so DON’T DO DRUGS.

Post graduate studies

After finishing Chemistry, I would like to pursue a PhD degree so that I could do research on quantum mechanics which is the specialization of my interest.

As I said before, the subject I want to study is quantum mechanics, it means that I’m interested in the branch of physics which is the fundamental theory of nature at the small scales and energy levels of atoms and subatomic particles.

I would like to study abroad with a scholarship so that, hopefully, I would get a better education and more resources. Also it should be interesting to meet new places and to understand the other people’s thoughts on chemistry and how they work in their respective labs.

I think the best way to get the most knowledge is doing a full-time course and that’s how I want to study the PhD degree in the future. Part-time wouldn’t be a bad choice tho, but it’s not the same like being as long as you can, learning from a professor.

Finally, I would like to add that the research path is so competitive and selective, nobody but the best can study a PhD degree, it is so expensive that if you don’t have all the resources, you have to put double effort to get a scholarship and get to study what you want.

My future job

How do you imagine yourself in the future? Where would you be? Why did you choose a scientific career over the others? Most of my family asked me one of these questions at least once and here might be the answer.


It's hard to tell where I'll be in the future, but my goal is to be in a chemical lab, researching, analysis, synthesis, I don't care. I would be happy in physics lab tho. Also I imagine myself as a professor; I love both, teach and research so it’s like the perfect job to me.


I think the salary is not a limiting to pursue your passion, so even if I had to teach for free I would do it because it makes me happy and that’s what I want to do the rest of my life.

I wouldn´t like to travel too much in my future job, I think it would be fun and nice to travel, it would be so tiring tho. Also, I don’t believe teachers/researchers travel that often, almost never.

Is of my interest to pursue a major on chemistry because I want to know as much as possible about chemistry and the atoms, get a solid base so that I can understand in another way how the smallest things in the universe work.

My favourite hobby

Hi guys, today I’m gonna write about my favorites hobbies which is playing videogames.

Playing videogames has been my hobby since I was 6, maybe, I can’t recall correctly, but I used to play “SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System)” and that’s how I started playing games and consoles like SNES. Then, the Playstation era started, it was like the most played console and it reached a lot of fame around the world, you can see people of all ages playing on consoles. But then, something bigger, funnier, brand new and more accepted by public came to the market; Computer games. Not just computer games, but online games. It revolutionized the world, and most of the people who used to play on consoles now play online games with their friends and with unknown people around the world.

Playstation 4 (The most recent console of Playstation)

Well, that was a very short version of the history of games, but so that you can understand that my point was the online games, which I use to play very often.

This hobby is important to me because of many things. First, thanks to online games I learned to speak in English, at least the basics. Second, I were able to meet friends I made by playing videogames with them. And last, it helps me to chill out when I’m stressed.

To me, hobbies mean things we do to break the routine and we also enjoy a lot.

I would never have football as a hobby, I think is monotonous and always the same, I prefer things more challenging and individual, like Tennis or chess. Actually, I think chess would be my hobby in the future, I really like it and as I said before, is more challenging and individual.

The key of the digestive system

Vital organ only found in vertebrates, located in the upper right quadrant of the abdomen, below the diaphragm, the body’s second largest organ. If you haven’t figured out what am I talking about, you should read this blog.

The Liver is one of the most important organs for the human beings, without it we wouldn’t be able to perform many essential functions related to digestion, metabolism, immunity, and storage of nutrients within the body. We would quickly die from lack of energy and nutrients.

When everyone is told to think about a vital organ, they quickly think about Brain or Heart, including me, but we all miss, in my opinion, the most interesting organ. Every time I think about the Liver and the many functions it performs, I can easily imagine a movie of the glucose being transported into hepatocytes under the Insulin command and via glycogenesis the glucose turns into glycogen, which is a multibranched polysaccharide of the glucose; this means a lot of glucose stacked. That’s the Liver life and work, enter glucose and stack it. But have you ever wondered what would happen if there’s an insulin failure?

The Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic disorders in which there are high blood sugar levels over a prolonged period. There are different types of diabetes, but there’s one that is actually caused by pancreas’s failure to produce enough insulin. The classical symptoms are frequent urination, increased thirst, increased hunger and weight loss. It can also include additional symptoms like blurry vision, feeling tired and poor healing.  At the date, there’s no cure for this disease and the cause is unknown.

The Liver is the key player on the digestive system, and in order to try to avoid some illnesses, you must keep it healthy; cause is a very easy-to-trash organ.

In furtherance of keep the Liver healthy, you need to be healthy. What I mean is that you should care of yourself, like don’t drink a lot of alcohol, eat a healthy diet and get regular exercise and watch out for certain medicines which can hurt your Liver if you abuse of them.

Since the world doesn’t know how the diabetes is caused, or how it can be cured, and all the system the Liver runs, I think this is a very challenging organ and interesting to study and it’s amazing.

My first encounter with the South of Chile

Surrounded by mountains, rivers, small city but comfy. Founded by settlers under the name of Baquedano.

It was a couple years ago, in Coyhaique, Chile, I spent the best holiday ever. The view was amazing, a lot of green areas, animals, beautiful landscapes and full of friendly people; they make you feel like home. I went to almost every place you can visit in Coyhaique and surroundings and the weather was nice to me because I really like chilly days and there were a lot of those days. I will never forget when I and my family (my parents and sister) went to my uncle’s house; it is in some sort of field full of fauna, we had a lot of fun by riding horses and then eating lamb beef, it was pretty cool.

I have wonderful memories of the travel to the “Reserva Nacional”, it was an amazing experience, and we got the chance to really feel the nature in our hands, unforgettable day.

We were in Coyhaique for less than a month, and in that short time we traveled almost all the town, and all the things I’ve said before makes me feel like it was the best travel so far, I hope I can get back to the South of Chile and meet new places.