English Language Challenges

 

I learnt English when I was young thanks to video games, and later on because I used many English sites (9gag, tumblr, among others), I think my English comprehension is relatively good, but not my fluence – and better not speak about my speech which is not really good –  I think the most challenging thing about learning English in university is making more complex ideas than just random comments, writing about a subjects with a minimum count of words was kind of difficult too, as well using formal language and not just abbreviations or slangs. I think I need to improve my writing skills – in a formal aspect mostly –, and for that I think I could start chatting with people from another countries, ideally native English speakers – I have a Bengali friend and we communicate through English, but we both notice that our English is kind of elementary – Anyway, I think it is going to be difficult for me, because I already have problems communicating in Spanish (I am very shy and I barely speak to my friends)  and I do not think this is going to be better in English.

Other aspect I must improve of my English, as I said above, is my speech. Being shy is not helpful at all in this, but I need to practice speaking before going to any country where the native language is not Spanish, after all, English is still the universal language, and if I do not know well the native language, at least I can speak proper English, and ask for directions or anything necessary.

(I do not think I will download duolingo anytime soon, I think the owl may be angry with me because I leave my english and french lessons without any warning)

A little problem with my career

 

I would say that I like most of my career, although there is a huge psychoanalytic bias – mostly from Freudian perspective – in the first two and half years, and in my opinion it is problematic since psychoanalysis is not scientifically validated, and have way too much speculation – like if you have a problem with authority and you are woman is because “you are jealous of the penis of men” – and silly and ridiculous as it sound there is many psychology students that prefers studying this perspective over studying basic statistics or psychometry, and I think is mostly because of the bias of the first semesters.

Then, even when there are many required courses that have a scientifically and evidenced-proved perspective many choose to not pay to much attention to them, because “they are not what they need for practice as a psychologist.”, and better not mention about optional courses with this perspective, because of the hundred and so students many of these courses only have like fifteen or ten students – and many of them have been canceled due this – Some professors say that they do not understand well about this situation, but they think it is because of the exposed above, that is, the psychoanalytic bias.

 I do not really have a problem with the people who like reading about this psychology school. Actually, I enjoy a lot of surreal and dreamlike based art, but it is art, the problem begins when you study a career that is supposed to help people who is suffering and apply speculations as a treatment. The least you can do for the people who place their hopes on you is offering them the best and more effective treatment.

Summer Holidays

A place I would like to go on summer vacation once the pandemic ends is Mexico, my stepbrother and sisters live there with my nephews, so I would love to go there with my mother and sister to visit and hanging out with them!

Some of the things that I would like to do with my family there is simply going out to eat. In Mexico food is delicious and cheap, I really like spicy food and something they use a lot is chili and many kinds of sauces, I have tasted Mexican fast food here, but is probably not as good as the original Mexican food, so I would love to visit many restaurants and food trucks as possible.

I do not know many things about Mexico, so I would like to learn as much as I can while I am there, so going to museums and different touristic places is a must. I would like to walk around with my family and meet people from there, I have heard that Mexican people is warm and kind, so I am excited to go there and try to make some friends.

Unfortunately, my brother and sisters told me that there is a lot of delinquency (they live in DF), and it is important to always be accompanied and alert, they have even considered to return to Chile because of that, but everything here is too expensive, and their work is not well paid here (musician, actress and scenic designer), so it is still better living there than here.

Anyway, I miss them a lot, and would love to see them soon once the pandemic is over.

My favorite Videogame

 

 

For this free themed blog, I would like to tell you about my favorite videogame franchise which is called Silent Hill.

Silent Hill is an horror game, the first delivery was in 1999 for PlayStation 1, the first time I got the chance for playing it was when I was about 7 years old, my sister’s  ex-boyfriend used to lend me his console and games, and they told me specifically that I could not play that game because it was for “grown up” only, which made me took the determination for playing it once I was alone. I put the game on the PS1 and that was one of the firsts times I was truly afraid, I did not play it for more than a few minutes and it was enough for not wanting to play it anytime soon.

This was the scene that made me stop playing it.

I forgot about this franchise until I turned 12, for Christmas I got a hacked-PlayStation 2, so with time I got many pirated games, among them Silent Hill 2, 3, 4 and Origins. I played all of them (most of the time using internet guides, they were too difficult for 12 years old me), I loved feeling terrified for these games, and soon I was joining forums of the game, sharing theories, and chatting with other fans of the franchise.

Nowadays I am still a huge fan of the franchise, sadly the Silent Hill develop team was removed years ago, and the person who wanted to keep up with the franchise – Hideo Kojima – leaved the company, so Silent Hill will not have new games anymore. But that does not matter, because it is still an amazing franchise, with one of the best horror story ever told.

Post Graduate Studies

 

When I finally decided to study psychology a few years ago, I did not think about how important the postgraduate studies were, I had the innocent belief that just having a bachelor’s degree was enough for getting a job, but in a field that it is so broad like psychology it is necessary (if not an obligation) to have a specific formation to give the best and more efficient treatments to our patients.

At the moment I am interested in all that is clinical research, mainly about eating disorders and body dysmorphia, I would really like to take some courses and qualifications to treat people with this kind of disorders, that are sadly becoming more common nowadays because of social media exposure and impossible beauty standards.

I would like to take part-time courses once I am done with my career, probably here in Chile because I am really dependent on my friends and family, and I do not think I could travel to another country on my own for studies, I am really shy and get easily lost, so It is not an option for me leaving the country (or at least not alone), also, I am not a big fan of online courses (now I do not have more options because of pandemic), so I do not think I would take one of those for postgraduate studies, I would definitely prefer presential and part time classes.

My future job

 

For start I have to say, I am one of the lucky persons that get the chance of studying something they love, I am currently in fourth year of psychology and I have loved (most of) the career, I project myself working in a mental hospital or in a clinical environment, although I have been recently attracted to sports psychology from a community intervention point of view.

I have always been deeply interested in learning from and about people, I think every mind is a different world full of knowledge (even of the people I do not like), that adding I have always been curious, and psychology is the perfect career where I can learn not only from theory and research, but also from people, while at the same time I am helping them.

Nowadays, even when psychology is one of the most requested careers at national level, not many people understand what therapists do, a lot of people still believes that therapist only treat “crazy people” or that they are dedicated to medicate their patients, when it is not the case. There is a huge prejudice about mental health specialists, even when Chile is one of the countries with worst mental health in the world according to the World Health Organization, It is important to acknowledge the importance of mental health, mostly in the current times.

Here is a beautiful short film that summarize about what therapists aims to do, enjoy!

Why Psychology?

 

I love my career, but It would not be true If I say I have always wanted to study Psychology, and even in a particular moment of my life I hated therapists. So, how was that I changed my mind about it? Well, when I was approximately fifteen years old I watched a documentary, It was about Vincent Van Gogh, I was touched by his tragic life and his breathtaking work, so I started to investigate more about him, and about other artists as well, not only focusing in visual arts, I also learnt about musicians and writers whose life were tragically beautiful and how some of them committed suicide, many because they could not find someone who understanded how they felt, so I started to feel a deep empathy with artists in general, so I thought “Maybe I would be a good art historian”, so my first career choice until I turned seventeen was Theory and History of Art, and then, all of the sudden I did not wanted to study that anymore, not because I did not like art, but because I understanded that what I really wanted was to help people, to ease their sadness and pain, and not only learn about them, but help them.

Wheatfield with Crows, Vincent Van Gogh, 1890