A photograph you like

Hi everyone!

Today, I'm going to talk about one of the most famous photos in history. It name is: Afghan Girl.

Afghan Girl is a 1984 photographic portrait by journalist Steve McCurry which appeared on the June 1985 cover of National Geographic. The image is of an adolescent girl with green eyes in a red headscarf looking intensely at the camera.

In 2002, the subject of the photo was identified as Sharbat Gula, also known as Sharbat Bibi, an Afghan woman who was living in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan during the time of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan when she was photographed.

Interest in the photo increased after 9/11 attacks when the George W. Bush began using women's rights to help promote support for the war in Afghanistan. More recent pictures of Gula were featured as part of a cover story on her life in the April 2002 issue of National Geographic and she was the subject of a television documentary, entitled Search for the Afghan Girl, which aired in March 2002. After finding Gula, National Geographic also covered the costs of medical treatment for her family, and paid for the costs of a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Evaluation of my blogging experience

Hi everyone!

First of all I would like to thank this excellent experience to all those who participate in the English course during the semester, classmates and teacher. I was here by chance and the truth was very satisfactory. From my part it was a perfect place to clear the mind and at the same time practice English.

As for blogs, I would like to say that the experience was very rewarding and fun. I liked it because we not only practiced our English writing, but also because of the different topics that we took and developed every week.

I have never seen this form of evaluation before in an English course. I found it very educational and at the same time integrating with the classmates. It is worthwhile to continue with this type of evaluation.

From my personal vision, I greatly improved my way of writing. This is extremely important for those of us who do research and we have to write multiple papers in the future. I can say that there was an incredible change since my first blog regarding the last one.

Thanks to all, especially the teacher for his infinite patience and for all the knowledge transmitted.

Daniel Arismendi

A place I would like to go to

Hi everyone!!!

There are so many places that I would like to go to. I have thought to visit different countries around the world. But right now, I am going to talk about Machu Picchu. Recently a friend went there, she told me that it was a beautiful and very spiritual experience.

Machu Picchu is an ancient monument situated on a mountain ridge 2.430 metres above sea level. It is located in the Cusco Region in Peru. The Incas built it around the 1450s, but it was abandoned a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Machu Picchu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, both cultural and natural. Since its discovery in 1911, growing number of tourists visit the site annually, reaching more than one million this year.

The Peruvian people protect their place a lot, it represents a lot for them. It's not just about business, it's more to preserve its culture. Many people say that you can walk so much when you visit it, but the experience is worth it. This is a great place to find yourself and to understand more the work of the ancestors when technology did not exist (It was a great technology for that moment).

In 2007, Machu Picchu was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a worldwide next to Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, The Colosseum in Rome, Chichen Itza in Mexico, Taj Mahal in India and Christ the Redeemer in Brasil.

A subject you enjoy studing this semester

Hi everyone!

Well, I can talk about many subjects in my PhD studies or my chemistry life. I love Chemistry so much, because of that I have enjoyed a lot of subjects. Today, I´m going to talk about the unique subject that I have studied in this semestre. Tha name is "Identification of Natural Products through LC-MS/MS". 

I have decided to do it, because is very important for my thesis and I really like this area. Normally, I talk so much about chemistry, for that I prefer to talk a little about the technique and also about other things. 

LC-MS/MS is a technique that allows to identify known and unknown components of natural origin like plants and biological fluids. The utility and range analysis are infinite. It has few limitations and the principal problem is the equipment price. Besides, you need a highly qualified person to use it. In general, only the experience (a lot of years) can give you the skills. 

Figure. Analysis using LC-MS/MS

On the other hand, I can say about the subject that the professor is excellent. He has a lot of experience, knowledge and good disposition. I have many classmates with differents nationalities: chileans, colombians and  venezuelan (me) and particular personalities. In general, all of them are friendly. I like my faculty because it gives cookies and coffe during the class. The schedule is perfect for me, 9 to 13 hours, I prefer the morning classes. Helena, the girl sitting to my left right now, quit and left me all alone in the subject. 😢

Today, we have just finished the subject, I can say that I loved the classes. They were interesting and important to me. It was one of my favourite classes in Chile. 

An expert on your field

Hi everyone!

Obviously, there are so many important people in Chemistry for me. These researchers have helped the advancement of chemistry. Right now, I´m going to write about an expert in Analytical Chemistry, Professor Janusz Pawliszyn, because his research is related to my doctoral thesis.

Janusz Pawliszyn's research focuses on the development and application of state of the art, integrated and automated analytical methods and instrumentation, for onsite analysis and monitoring. He works at University of Waterloo (Canada) doing research and teaching.

Recently, He won the EAS Award for Outstanding Achievements in Analytical Chemistry 2017 and he is part of the The Power List 2017 in Separation Sciences (Number 8 in the world). 

In the 90´s, he invented solid-phase microextraction, or SPME, is a solid phase extraction sampling technique that involves the use of a fiber coated with an extracting phase, which extracts different kinds of analytes from different kinds of samples. The importance is that the quantity of analyte extracted by the fibre is proportional to its concentration in the sample. The attraction of SPME is that the extraction is fast, simple, can be done usually without solvents, and detection limits are so low for certain compounds. There is a before and after of this great invention in analytical chemistry. This technology was patented to protect copyright.

SPME

This invention is important to me because I have used it in my thesis a microextraction technical based on the same principle, rotating-disk sorptive extraction (RDSE), which was created by my thesis director. With this new technique we are improving the disadvantages of the SPME technique. In the future, I would like to meet the teacher Pawliszyn and if it is possible, to do some internships with him.

Favourite Musician

Hello everyone!

In general, I can tell you I like all kind of music, because of that I like many musicians. I can listen to music in spanish or english, but I prefer the latter. Today, I am going to write about Adele. 

She is from the United Kindom (UK), she was born in London, and right now she is 29 years old. I knew her when I was 23 maybe. I remember the first time when I heard her. A friend showed me a video in youtube, the song was "Someone like you" and I felt in love with her. Today, this song is one of my favourite. After that, I began to read about her, she wasn´t famous in America yet, but I liked her music and I liked her history. 

Currently, she has three albums: 19, 21 and 25. The name of the albums are the age when she started recording each album. Her song "Hello" has many views in youtube, really is one the most watched videos in the history (more that two billion views). 

I like her for many reasons, I could mention:

- She doesn´t look like many artists.

- Her voice is a blessing from God.

- Her music is authentic and different for the others musicians. 

- Most of her songs are about love. 

- She doesn´t like fame, she prefers a quite life.
- Because is perfect to practice English. 

I only have a problem with her. She doesn´t like to do concerts. Last year, she did a tour for many countries. The closest she got to me was in Mexico City and Sidney, It was so far from me. After the tour, she said she would not do any more concerts. It was very disappointing to me. 

Finally, I can tell you that she has many fans around the world. I saw a video that was awesome to me, it was a interview for normal people, the question was: How much would you pay for an adele concert? In average the people can pay until 10.000 dolars, it´s a lot of money, but if I had money, I would pay the same.

Favourite Movies or Series

Hello everyone

Today, I´m going to talk about my favourite movies and series. First, I would like to say you that I love the movies and series in general. One of my hobbies is going to the cinema and watching series in the TV or Netflix. I remember the first time that I went to the cinema, I was 8 or 9, I saw The Lion King, I loved it! I believe that I´ll never forget that moment.

When I was a teenager, I remember one serie that changed my life because I had never seen something that I can watch for a long time, it name was Charmed,. Really, I was hypnotized for the magic, the special effects and the history, I watched for 6 or 7 years maybe. When the serie was over, I cried, I didn´t believe that was the end.

I like whatever kind of series or movies. I can see terror, drama, romance, fantasy, cartoon, etc. But, being honest I love the film about the world destruction like "2012" and film about magic like "Harry Potter". On the other hand, I didn´t know Netflix before arriving in Chile, I think I was a ignorant about the series. I can say that my life changed heaven to earth. I don´t want to study, I only watch Netflix everyday and everynight. Thanks God, today I can control it.

I´m not to talk about Game of Thrones (GOT) because many people know it. But, I could say that it is a one of the best series created. I would like to talk about one serie "House of Cards". This serie is original of Netflix and the topic is about the US political. The main characters are Frank Underwood and Clare Underwood (husband and wife) and their principal mision is the White House possession. They do whatever thing you can imagine for that. In the first episode, you can see like the current president betrays them, but later they take revenge on everyone around until Frank Underwood becomes the Acting President. Two years later, He wins the election and He is the 45th US president. Many things happened for the next  years, but in the last season (season five) many people want to destroy it, using something he would never have imagined. Many people hate Frank (like our teacher) but you eventually end up loving him. If you like the mystery, suspense and dirty politics you can see this serie.