a freak present

had a lot of presents in my high school graduation that was a very special moment for me and my family. But one of these presents was very freak, and still today I try to sell it.

To contextualize, I studied industrial mechanics at a technical high school, and on the last year I had to go two days at the week to school, and three days to an enterprise for the practice. On the graduation ceremony, the high school gave presents for the students with the best marks, and too for the students well regarded  at the practice’s enterprises. 

I knew that I wasn’t the best student on my class because I ever was the "second best student" on the four years of high school. I didn’t have any hopes to take a present, but I was very surprised when the presenter says my name: “And the prize for the best student on the practice of this class is… Iván Cea”.

Whaaaat?? I didn’t understand this. I really hated the career, the enterprise, and this high school, but all considered me the best student. I stood up to take the present, and I received a little box. I was very curious to know what was, and when I opened this I saw… what?? A SCIENTIST CALCULATOR!!

Well… my classmate that wins the “best student's  prize, obtained a hand drill.

Today I'm studying journalism at university and I never used the calculator, I tried to sell  it in every e-commerce website like “mercadolibre.cl”, but I don’t have any results. 

I think that this "present" is a reminder that I shouldn’t do or study something that I really don’t like.

first day at U

I remember much my first day at University. That day I felt very nervous because I had a sabbatical year, and I hadn’t classes a year ago. I felt that lost the study habits, and I thought that it would have detrimental effects. 

That day I woke up very early, an unusual feature of me, because I always arrive late to every place. When I arrive to U, I saw a lot of people very confused. They were my classmates and were waiting the teacher coming. 

I already knew a group of my classmates, because we had a meeting to know each other a week before the class begin. 

My first class was with María Olivia Monckeberg, a famous Chilean journalist with a lot of published research.  This class called “ethic and journalism treatments”, and I thought that was a very interesting class, but on this case teacher only read the class program, and she talked us all the class about her and her books.

After this I and my classmates go to the auditorium for the official welcome of the university authorities. When that act finished a photographer took the official picture of the first grade of journalism career. 

Next my classmate were gathered on the “pastos” a typical place at Juan Gomez Millas campus for the social life and parties, for converse and knows each other better. I could not stay along because on that moment I had a girlfriend and I was get together with her… but this an another history.

a very good time

This national holydays was very untypical comparing with other years; I usually don’t celebrate “Fiestas Patrias” because I don’t have a great nationalist spirit. Commonly I celebrate only on September 18th and 19^th  with friends in house, but I don’t go much to “fondas” or other partys.

                But this year I celebrated from September 14^th to September 22th. The first day was Friday and I start to celebrated on “Las Tejas” bar. That day my plan was to go to “Fonda Fau” the most important students “fonda” on the “Universidad de Chile”, but in their place was many people and I can’t enter. On “Las Tejas” bar I had a good time with friends, drinking “terremotos” and making good new friends.

                On Sartuday I wnt to a “peña” in “La Florida” with a great group of friends. On this place, a music band of my friends was playing cumbias for all the people in there.

                Sunday was a family day. My father cooked a barbecue and  all family members goes to my house.

                The following days I continued my celebration on “fondas” and friends houses, I met a lot of new people, but in some cases I don’t remember much their faces, but a I think was the work of the alcohol.
                I didn't  leave of Santiago this holydays, but  this was not necessary this year to have a very good time. 

The surname is a coincidence...

I don’t have many friends. I consider me a very social guy, but I don’t give my confidence to much people. One of these friends when I consider special is called Andrés Cea.  Despite his surname, he isn’t my brother, cousin or other family outreach; this is only a coincidence because I met him on secondary.

I studied at “Liceo Industrial Chileno Alemán de Ñuñoa”, and I met him on the second year of secondary. With two guys more, we were the group in the class that always sat at the end of the hall. Always I joked with Andrés, on that pic for example we posed like “pokemon” style.

When I left the high school, I thought  I would never see my friends more. But Andrés lives two blocks more from my house; therefore he always goes to my house, and I always visited him.

Nowadays he is one of the few friends of my school days.   I don’t see much him last year, because I stay all the day at the university, and he goes at the university everyday too, and at the nights he works in a bar.

One or two times at the month, we go for a drink and talks about the life.

A stressful semester

The first term of 2012 is one of the most stressful semesters I’ve had at university. I had the last classes of 2011 in January and the beginning of February of 2012, because seven months student’s strike of last year. And this semester stared at March of this year!

Furthermore, the courses of this semester were very difficult, especially the “television production” course, and the “seminary” course. The last one is very important because is the first part of two semesters course, and whit this, I will have my social communication degree.

In this course I do with three classmates, a research of the right of communication in Chile to compare with the international rights.

The “Television Production” course was difficult because I had to do, with all of my classmates, a television program of 30 minutes. The program was called “Desde El Sótano”, and these was a music and arts show, with notes of emerging artists, and a live music show, with an emerging Chilean band.

I participate in a student’s project too. This called “Tv Para Chile” an internet streaming project with shows created by Journalism and film students. In this I’m the host of a show called “El Viral”, a program of pop culture. Furthermore, I did the website of the project, and I was the communication coordinator until July of this year. 

a good decision

I really was not very happy when I knew the hours of English class. Mainly because at
that time I had a sporadic work on afternoons and sometimes I took care of my baby nephew. Was very difficult for me to go to the class, and some days definitely couldn’t go. On some moment I thought drop out the class because I really had no time. But if I hadn’t that course, I wouldn’t could to license. Finally I decide take the course and I very satisfy with this. Now I have a lot more English vocabulary, and my capacity to understand English conversations has grown. The blogging experience was very good. I have great experience on the blog world, when I was a teenager I had a poetry blog, and a opinion blog. Today I work in many blog platforms when I practice the digital journalism. But I never write in English in my blogs. This exercise is great tool to improve the English writing and to expand the vocabulary. The exercises every time have more words for increase the difficult. One of the cons of this exercise is the little feedback of teacher with latest blog posts. A good feedback mens a great students improve.

more that 140 characters

Nowadays the information runs very fast on the web. At last years, the social networks are a very important tool for journalism.  One of them is twitter a very simple social network. 

Only in one hundred forty characters the twitter users writes in real time what happens in their life, in their country, or at the world. The mass media uses this social network to announcing the news that they publish. 

Born in 2007, twitter was created like a simple “microblog” for the people. But at the following year, the application won a lot of followers, mainly, because information flows very fast. Today twitter is a important tool for communicate important national and world events. The last Chilean earthquake is a good example. The communication pathways were broken in the country behind the quake.  Because of Twitter, the journalists reported the recent events related to the earthquake and tsunami on real time.

For me twitter is a very important site. I work in two student’s projects like a community manager.  Because this,  i visit frecuently this website. Is one of my work tools. 

I like this site for all what I mentioned earlier.