Fierce loyalty.

I am not a man of many friends, actually it is difficult for me  to generate deep emotional bonds with people I know. I can be very friendly in the surface, but I cannot emotionally depend on others. I am usually like that, but since I came to study at the University of Chile, some things have changed in me.

One of those things is that I have a best friend. His name is JP and I met him in the first year of college, just when I entered to study. I really do not remember how or when I met him, but I remember when we started to be real friends. We went to the Valdivia Film Festival to learn and consume high culture, by the way we did that, but we where absolutely every night at parties and putting us on the sly to exclusive and expensive places, dancing with unknown girls, escaping from angry boyfriends and violent guards. But those things were only minor details, the important thing was the long talks and walks we had and we still have. That and the fierce loyalty is what unites us.

Did I really learn?

The end of a cycle, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the kiss mom before bedtime; our period of English classes is now closed, but, did I really learn? Do I like writing in English in a blog? Let’s see:

My command of the language of Shakespeare is better than a couple of months, yes, I honestly think so. I can write more easily, and my sentences are not "open the window" or "close the door", but I still have much to learn and I think I could get more of  this class of English and its methodology.

I think if I had attended more regularly to classes of English or if I liked to use digital tools, my results would have been much better. But, I can say in my defense that I couldn’t attend all classes because my schedule is very tight for the work and other classes and because a month ago my mother became very ill and I joined her in their treatments.

I liked the methodology of the class because it's learning by doing and that's very practical, dynamic and entertaining (although I hate computers, I detest and they do not like me, is mutual!). 

I hope that the methodology is perfected on the personalization in the evaluation of each student, but continue to deepen in the way that delivers interactive content. Regarding the teacher, I have only good words.

Alejandra Matus: Journalist.

Today I will write about a person I really admire. She is a journalist. She studied at Catholic University and now she studies at Harvard University on a scholarship from Nieman Fundation.

She has worked at radios, news agencies, newspapers, magazines, and digital media. Alejandra has written three books: Crime with punishment about the murder of Orlando Letelier; The Black Book of Chilean Justice, a book which deals with the decline of the Chilean courts and judicial system in general. This book was censored by the chilean courts and she had to seek political asylum in USA for two years.

The third book is Lasting Injustice about the state of freedom of expression in Chile. She has received several international awards, including Ortega y Gasset Prize, Hellman / Hammett and Vasyl Stus.

Alejandra has given lectures at universities and professional events in Europe, USA and Chile. She has taught at several universities in Chile and has taught workshops for Latin American professionals. Also, Alejandra was director of the magazine Plan B.

I admire Alejandra because she is a good writer, she has written to defend human rights and justice and because she was not afraid of threats or exile.

Music and stuff.

This time I will talk about the music I prefer. When I was a little boy, walking around the mountains of eight region of Bío Bío river, all the music that I listened to was latin american folcklore, mexican ballads and Mapuche ethnic music. Why did I listened to that kind of music? because that was what the people around me listened to. My mom heard chilean groups such as Illapu, Los Jaibas and Sun and Rain. My older Brother, Rodrigo, heard to Violeta Parra, Silvio Rodríguez, Víctor Jara and that kind of artists. But, when my older cousin came to live with us from Argentina, she brougth argentine rock into my life. Fito Páez, Charly García, The Green Dwarfs, Luis Alberto Spinetta,  Sui Generis, Alejandro De Michele de Pastoral, Birds Making Machine and León Gieco.

At this point in my life the influence of others is not as important. Finally I know what kind of music I like. I still like Folk  music, mexican ballads, ethnic music and argentine (and chilean and all the rock!) rock, but also I like tango, electronic tango, hip hop and all the music that gives me pleasure. My favorite song these days es Roxanne, but not the version of The Police, but the one in the movie Moulin Rouge. The movie is a romantic Jukebox musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann.

Valparaiso, my favorite city

This is a photo of me and my girlfriend and it was taken this summer, around february. The firsts days of that month we went on a short vacation to Valparaiso and stayed there for three days. That moment occurred on the second day of our trip. I dont think you can tell but behinds us there was a fire and some really gray and heavy smoke, I dont know why but we still thought it was a cool place to take a romantic photo. 

It was just after lunch and we were very full from all the eating. I ordered some fish and fried potatos and Natalia, my girlfriend ordered fish and a salad, but we still shared what was on our plates. The photo was taken by the camera, we put it on a rock and set the clock for three seconds, the result: that awesome photograf of us. I really like it because I was really happy that day and I got to say it, we look really nice. 

I am a replicat and I am a human being

I don`t know if I have a favorite film. There are so many good films, and there are so different among them, but I can say the kind of film genre that I prefer. I really like science fiction films and in this genre my favorite movie is also difficult to choose. Could be “Blade Runner” by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young.  Is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. The book is also great, so the final product is a master piece of science fiction. The film shows the city of Los Angeles in November 2019. The genetically engineering makes organic robots called “replicants” exactly like humans but with a different emotional response. The replicants are prohibited on earth and the last of them are being hunted by the “blade runners”. The main question is what the meaning of being human is, they or us, our creations with feelings and the capacity of feeling love and fear, or us who hunt them for fear and hate.

In the USA this movie was a box office flop, but in the rest of the world received good reviews and it is considered a cult film. In 1993 the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Technology and I.

I’m not a “techie”. I don’t like touch screen (I have five toes), shiny lights (I have a disease called photophobia) and the latest technological fashions because I don`t have fashion sense (when I was at high school, my partners called me “strongbox” because they could not find the combination of my clothes).   

Technology and I aren`t a good mix. For example: I can`t wear a watch because I lose it immediately or my body (yes, my body) rejects it and the watch just stop working. The same thing happens with my cell phones. I have had seventeen cell phones. I`m not joking, I really have had seventeen of those unpleasant machines. I'm pretty sure who Motorola and Nokia guys love me. Once in Valparaíso, I was talking and walking when, suddenly, the cell phone began to leak. The battery just imploded.

I have a cell phone now, but I only wear it with hands free to avoid problems. I have a personal computer to. It’s old and his battery died long time ago, I called “The Jar”. I use my cell phone and my PC every days, but I USE MY MACHINES, they don`t use me.

Me and my family.

My first name is Luis, but i don't like it because my father is called that way too. Dont believe I hate my father, that's wrong. I love that old man but he is a referent and I don't feel with the right to use his name until I deserve it. So, people know me as Fernando Acuña. I was born in Ralko. ¿What is that? Well, Ralko is a tiny village between the mountains of the 8th region of Chile. I'm the second of four brothers. Rodrigo is the oldest and he is a sport teacher (the most part of my family are teachers. Yes, we want to become rich). Camilo is the third, he studies social service and he has a little baby named Fernanda, after me and that really touches me. Melisa is the youngest  and she studies to become an English teacher (I told you, education is the family business).
I study journalism at University of Chile but before that I studied journalism at Catholic University and before that I studied Law in that university as well.
I love rock climbing, group sports specially soccer and basketball. I love boxing and cook for my friends.