Second semester: The new Challenge

My second semester in 2009 was especially different, and complicated to deal with. I had new and harder classes like anatomy, biochemistry, and histology, which were never studied by me before. It was different because the classes I had first semester were more familiar with some of the things I had seen in high school the year before, but of course, more difficult than what I was expecting.

I had a "special problem" with biochemistry because I didn't pass the class :(, so I had to retake it in my summer period. It was something I didn't want to do at all, but I thought it was going to be a good idea, so I didn't have to wait till second semester of 2010, and delay other classes. By the end of October, I was already exhausted. I wanted vacation really bad! I felt like I had to rush for every class, and it made me feel quite stressed to know that I wasn't going to have enough time to study. :/

One activity I really liked was going to Folcklor and dance. It made me release tension, and since I was in Folcklor in high school as well, I loved attending there.

Besides that, I really missed my family, and I wanted them to be with me. I wanted to be able to see my mom when I got home after college, or just hang out with her over the weekend. In December, I was happy to know that I, at least, was going to see them for Christmas and New Year's. Holidays gave me more motivation to keep studying biochemistry, which I successfully completed by the end of January.

Even though, I had to experience new, challenging, and difficult things in my second semester, I can say that my friends in college, and my family (far away) were always there for me to make me smile, cheer me up, or just laugh at something silly. In the end, that's what fills our hearts for the most part =)

The good and bad things about Transantiago

I'm not originally from here, but I remember coming to Santiago for a summer class I took a while ago, and I had the chance to "live" the "yellow buses" experience. I've been living in Santiago since 2009, and the new system was completed in February of 2007, so I was able to compare both systems. Considering that, what I've written below is based on my summer class period and my college life right now. I tend to like the new system, but I also pointed out the things I don't like. Even so, I still think that Transantiago is better than the public transportation we had before.

Pros:

- You don't need money (cash/coins) to ride a bus because there's a new card that's called "BIP," which is safer for the driver (no mugging), and for the people who ride them often.

- In my opinion, it has decreased some acoustic contamination, even though the air pollution remains the same.

- There's more organization with the bus stops, so there's also less problems with traffic.

- Buses have the bus number you need if you go to a different part of Santiago, and on internet, you can also find maps and routes to orientate yourself better.

- If you need to take two buses, or a bus and the subway, you can pay only once if you're taking either of them right after the first one (with the BIP card).

Cons:

- Since there are specific bus stops, you can't ask the driver to leave you wherever you want.

- There's no money that you can pay with, therefore you can't bargain to ride the bus for less.

- Some of the seats are very uncomfortable because there isn't enough space left from one seat to another, and some of them are located way too high for people who have physical difficulties.

- Sometimes, buses don't pass by as often as they should, so it takes longer to get to places.

I think that it'd be a big and awesome change to install some sort of clocks that would tell us when the next bus is coming, and if it's worth waiting for, too. That way, we know exactly at what time we're getting to the place we need to go, and know right away if we're going to make it on time. I don't know how possible it'll be for these clocks to last here in Chile, though. We all know some people can easily destroy them.

About me

Hi, I'm Patricia Jury, and I'm from Calama =). I'm in my second year of Veterinary Medicine, and I've been happy with my career so far. I like being with my family, but unfortunately I'm far away from them. I also love my pet, Kookie, but she's not with me, either =(. I like traveling, and learning new things as well.

I intend to get my blog a little more colorful, and complete by the end of the class.

That's it for now!