Self Evaluation of my academic year (2009)

This essay is for my English class, and it’s a self evaluation of my academic year. Like I’ve said many times in my blog, this year (2009) it’s my first at University, which makes this year special and very different from the past ones. In general my year was very good, not just in an academic way, also in a personal one. My grades were fine, I learned a lot; I made a lot of friends and loved the University of Chile. But let’s talk about academics, because when I was at school I didn’t imagine how interesting could be subjects at University.
This year I started University to get a Sociology degree. Like I said before, University is like a new world for me, with new people, new books, projects, challenges, etc. My subjects during the first term of 2009 were Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Contemporary world´s history and Methodology. Beside my regular classes I took a circus class. My second term subjects were Latin American social history, Statistics, Social psychology, Methodology II, and Social science’s philosophy, which it’s some like epistemology. Beside those regular subjects I took a CFG (general formation course) about Basque culture, called “Euskera and Basque culture: the elder of Europe”.

At the beginning of the year I didn’t know a thing about sociology, today I think I know a little bit more. Some subjects like Sociology and Methodology, in my first term gave me an approach to what a sociologist do, things you can research about and how to do it. Certainly I loved subjects from my second term like Latin American Social history and Social science’s philosophy, because they open your mind and make you think and ask yourself about lots of things you hardly could imagine before. Even though I liked lot of subjects, I also disliked a few. Social psychology was a real waste of time; I didn’t learn anything that I couldn’t learn from common sense. Methodology II theoretical classes also where useful, it’s enough if you read your texts and do a lot of terrain job.

Well, putting all what I’ve lived and learned this year, I can say I love the “university life”, because I’ve learned a lot of new things. For now, I can say I like very much my degree; I hope I continue learning and that the passage of time doesn´t changes my opinion about Sociology.

Sociology's current challenges

Hello fellows, today before midnight (in order to save Judy from becoming a pumpkin) I have to write about important challenges my discipline (sociology, as the rest of the class) is currently facing connected to each of the following areas: technology, social matters and education. I have to make clear (like I’ve done it several times before when Judy asks about our degree) that I’m only in my first year so I really don’t know anything about sociology.

Let’s see, in the technology area, I think the most current challenges are directly linked to statistic’s programs that make easier putting the survey’s results in digital files. Also I think technology challenges have to do with make new voice analysis software to transcribe interviews and recorder machines to (obviously) record them. The technological improvements are most than anything tools that makes easier the sociologist’s work.

On the other hand, talking about social matters, I see a lot of areas that sociology could have influence in but it doesn’t, like politics, Latin American situation, primary and university education, labor relationships and other things. Although, let’s talk about some positive things that sociology takes care of (talking about social matters) that is social stratification, gender matters, etc. But I’m not shore if sociology really does something in order to change situations. But that’s my opinion, so I feel that as a challenge for the discipline, but you can agree or not with my thoughts.

Speaking frankly, I couldn´t mention the specifically critical issues involved in the social matters and education area. And it’s difficult to give a verdict about how these issues should be resolved in each case. All I can say from my brief experience in sociology is that this degree has become super commercial and don’t care enough about real sociological problems, in stead of that, most sociologists are working for private enterprises that don´t care about people’s welfare because they just want to sell and get richer.

Well, it’s time to say goodnight. I hope you have enjoyed this boring post. I’m sorry to fill this with useless words but I don’t know what more to add. Bye!

My free time

- What do I like doing in my free time?
In my free time I love to ride my bicycle, watch movies, read, listen to music, and hang out with my friends. I also like to go out and take walks around the city, cook for my family or friends and sleep until late.

- Why I like doing these things?
I like doing these kinds of things because they entertain me, make me feel good. But I love to do these things (less reading or some time listening to music) with someone I like to spend time, that make things a lot more fun.

- What would I like to have more time to do?
I would like to do if I had more time… I think that doing a lot more the things I mentioned in the first answer. I would love to have more time to read novels and mythology books. Especially I would like to spend a lot more time with my friends and to have time to travel abroad to see my dad in Argentina, and spend much more time with him. Maybe if I had more time I would like to play a sport at university or maybe take some dance lessons. But even if I had the time to do that I think I would prefer go out with my friends and have some freeze “chelitas” (beer) with lemon.

- What forbidden/illegal things would I like to do?
I would like to take and acid with my two best friends and run naked in the city’s night. Of course I would like to do that in a summer evening, because I don’t want to freeze myself. Tell me it wouldn’t be fun!

- What do I not like doing that eats into my free time?I hate when I turn on my computer and I go in the internet for hours, but I’m really doing nothing, just surfing useless web sites. I lose a lot of time that I could enjoy doing my favorite things or just studying.
Well, bye. You will know about me soon with another super boring post.