An Amazing Experience

Hello again! I believe this is my last post and I would like to talk to you about an important topic: my experience writing on a blog :)

I’ve never had a blog before and I must say that I’m quite surprised with the experience, it was very enjoyable and it helped me a lot because it made me conscious of what I'm doing every week and also more grateful of what I’m going through this semester.

My favorite post was Lucho Jara’s because that day I felt like I didn’t want to take this so seriously, I found that post really funny because I don’t have a famous Chilean role model right now and the fact that I woke up and I saw my mum watching Luis Jara’s tv show kind of inspire me to write about him.

I love writing so none of the posts felt boring to me but there was one post that I think was more difficult than the others. It was about the architecture of the future, it took longer because I had to read an article first and I’m a slow reader (it’s difficult for me to focus on something for longer than 10 seconds).

I think my English vocabulary improved because I had to look for new words to express architectural terms and that’s very important because some of the texts that I have to read for my classes are in English and having the chance of learning new words in such an entertaining way becomes very helpful. Also it helped me having a teacher who isn’t Chilean because at school I only had Chilean teachers and it was way easier to understand them because all of them had the same accent, so having a teacher with a different accent feels more challenging and I believe that’s always good.

My favorite blog this semester was Agustina’s. It’s a very interesting blog, I love the way she expresses herself and every time I visit her blog I learn something new about her or about culture.  

This Year

Merry Christmas!

Today I'd like to talk about my 2016. This year has been evidently different from the others, the reason? This year I became an architecture student, the type of person who doesn’t have enough sleep and wears black all the time, being my first year of university I’ve been trying to get used to it, to do the same things I did last year but also complete all the tasks.

When this year started I know it would be an important one: My brother gave me a ticket for a Coldplay’s concert as a Christmas present, he bought two tickets so we went together and we were in the front row, I never thought I’d be so close to Chris Martin. That concert meant to much to me because when I was younger (around 12 years old) my brother said that I had to stop picking bad concert seats because I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the show which sometimes are mainly made for people who are closer to the stage, he mentioned that when he was a teenager he went to a Coldplay’s concert and it was the most amazing concert ever, the stage was amazing and the whole thing was unforgettable.  I wished so much that they came back so I could see what he was talking about. They did and my brother was right. The experience was unbelievable, the colors of the bracelets, Chris Martin’s talent and the colored balloons floating! I couldn’t believe what I was experiencing.

Also this year had its ups and downs, last semester was amazing because I started quite skeptical, I wasn’t sure of what I was doing but then, after a few projects I realised that architecture is actually what I want to study. It wasn’t an easy semester, it became really difficult sometimes and it made me breakdown a few times because I thought I wasn’t good enough and I was running out of ideas. Luckily I made it through it and now I feel very proud of what I achieved.

Now that this year is coming to an end and I’ve been busy thinking about my final project, doing some sheets and buying Christmas presents, I realise how much I’ve grown up, I’m not saying that I feel more mature but I feel like I know so much more than before. I met incredible people this year, I learnt to work as a team, to help people and to let them help me. Even when this year hasn’t been the best one, I wouldn’t like to forget it.

Happy Holidays! :) 

Aurora

It’s really difficult to choose one person to talk to. It feels like there are so many interesting people in the world, so I decided to choose an interesting person from my playlist.

Today I would like to talk to you about the most intriguing, cute and sophisticated human being in the world and that’s Aurora Aksnes.

The first time I heard about her was last year, I was listening to Birdy or some music I like to listen to at home, when I’m just chilling, drinking tea and checking my social media, and I started to see the thumbnail of a white haired girl with a blue background. I didn’t understand why her video was recommended until I watched that video. It was Runaway, it really caught my attention how white her hair was and how pale she looked, soon I started to watch her other videos and look for more information about her, I was really surprised because she only had around two videos and the information I found about her said that she’s Norwegian. A couple of months later, I found more information and also more music, actually a few months back she released an album and I wasn’t disappointed. Now every time I have to spend the night working on something I listen to her album, it keeps me inspired and somehow it makes me think about winter, nature, lights and a bit of Christmas. This year she had some really important performances on tv shows and on Vevo Halloween, that makes me really happy because that means people are appreciating her work.

If I ever get to know her I would like to ask her if she’s human, how was her life before becoming famous, is she’s working on a new album, if she would like to collaborate with other artists and stuff like that, it feels like it would be more like an interview that an actual conversation, I just want to know so much about her but at the same time I feel like I don’t. I like the fact that she’s so mysterious and I wouldn't like to change that. 

A Very Helpful Subject

Hello

Personally, I believe this semester is not as interesting as the first one, I’m not saying that is not interesting at all, what I mean is that this semester has more theoretical subjects and I’m not a big fan of those. But if I had to choose the most helpful and interesting theoretical subject I would say “Environmental Research”, my teacher is Emanuel Giannotti, he’s a very interesting person and also quite charismatic.

I would like to apologize for the translation of the subject’s name because I’m not sure if that’s the correct one, I feel like the Spanish version says a lot more than it does in English. But just in case you didn’t understand what the subject is about I will explain it: The goal of this subject is to help us understand that the city has different contexts, and we should be able to take them into account when we work on an architectural project. We can’t just put a school in the middle of a highway, because a) it’s dangerous and b) we must look for a context, analyze people’s behavior, age range, skyline, and etcetera. Everything we do in the future must have a logic and this subject gives us the tools to find that logic.

Even when it is not my favorite subject this semester (I don’t have a favorite subject so far) I find it extremely helpful and the fact that the teacher allows us to work in groups makes everything easier, because every member works on a different task and when we put all together, everything makes sense and we can also see if there’s a problem in the context that can be solved with an architectural project. 

Hobby!

Today I’d like to talk about a hobby I used to have. I’ve never had a real hobby until last year.

My brother loves sports, he’s always practicing a new one but two years ago he told me that nothing compares to swimming, He highly recommended me to try it because I wasn’t practicing any sport. At first I was a little skeptical but it he seemed so happy I decided to give it a chance. Last year I went on a trip to see my aunt that lives abroad, I stayed there for around three or four months, I was spending time with my cousins and visiting the city but I was a little bored so I decided to do what my brother recommended so I took swimming lessons. It was a little difficult at first because I didn’t know the different swimming styles in English. The teacher had to show me what he was talking about, it was weird but he was really patient. The next few weeks I learnt the styles’ names so it was easy and also my swimming skills improved.

When I came back to Chile I went to another Swim School, I used to go at least three or four times a week, I loved that because I was getting faster and stronger. After a couple of months I went to another place, my mum paid a gym membership so I could go every day during the whole semester but I didn’t have enough time to go, I went as much as I could but I was barely sleeping and eating so I didn’t have the energy to swim. My membership expired on September therefore I haven’t been swimming for months now. I’m hoping to get another membership soon but it is a little expensive and I have other plans (such as spending money on christmas decorations). 

Luis Jara's Greatness

I’m having a hard time trying to think about a Chilean I admire, there are so many artists, authors, architects, and etcetera. But for some reason today I want to talk about Lucho Jara and how much I admire this man.

Luis Jara was born in Santiago in 1965. He’s a singer, actor and television presenter. Luis Jara is known for his versatility and his perfect humor sense. Nowadays he is in a morning television show that my mum always watches, every time I wake up I hear Luis Jara’s voice followed by my mum’s laugh.

Even though is evident he’s quite egocentric, he looks very humble and funny on TV. I admire the way he’s always smiling and making people happy in the mornings when we feel everything but happy because we’re still tired or sleepy. I also admire how honest he is about his plastic surgeries and about the mistakes he has made through his career.

If I ever get to meet him, I would like to talk about his fears, because since I was very young I’ve been seeing him in embarrassing situations but he never loses his confidence, he’s always so professional and that’s one of the things that I also admire about him. I would also like to talk about how amazing his voice is. I grew up listening to Luis Jara’s songs and they seem so powerful and meaningful because of his voice.

I hope one day I’ll be as amazing as Lucho Jara. 

The Architecture of the Future

Hello, today I’d like to talk about the Victory City project. I read three sections of the project: the introduction. Recreation and ecological and environmental issues. It seems like the perfect city for the future, taking into consideration how damaged our cities are nowadays. What I liked about the Victory City is how easy it will be to live surrounded by air conditioning and free-flow traffic. We are all aware of how the weather has been changing and it has been affecting our behaviour and that gets even worse with traffic congestion. Also I like the fact that recycling will be an important part of the development of the city and uneaten food will be fed to animals. Trash production is such a common problem and it affects our health, so using that system will create a more conscious city.

What I didn’t like about this project is how there will be no cemeteries, many families like to feel close to their beloved ones even when they are dead, so it might be considered a problem in the future to not be able to visit a family member or a friend.

I do believe architectural projects might be quite similar to Victory City but not as complex, what I mean is that architecture will adapt itself to our necessities and if these aren’t as complicated maybe there will be no reason to create a Victory City but to improve our own.