Friday, March 25, 2005

happy easter

classes are going well, as expected. nothing else much is going on, so i guess i'll say a bit more about those classes. my intro to translation class is nice, but pretty easy, or so it seems. the professor is really laid back, which makes for a nice classroom environment, especially for such an applied subject. it's probably one of the few classes i've taken that is meant to be "practical" that actually interests me. my two math classes are both sufficiently challenging, yet not overly so (at least no yet anyway), so that makes them enjoyable. and no, there isn't much difference learning math in spanish as opposed to english: it's almost exactly the same. and my other class, chilean and hispanicamerican narrative, is not a bad class (ie good professor, not bad material, etc.), but since it is literature, it can be a bit annoying. i like books and all, but they're meant for reading, not analyzing. oh well - i have to take it to graduate, so might as well do so here where the class is much better.


alright. goodnight.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

school

school started a week ago today. i think i've finalized my schedule with the following courses: narrativa chilena e hispanoamericana (chilean and hispanoamerican narrative), variable compleja (complex variable/analysis), topología (topology), y introducción a la traducción (introduction to translation). so far so good . . . i'm presenting to the translation class about machine translation on wednesday, which should be fun - the professor is cool, from what i gather considering i went to the class for the first time today.

time to read the paper about machine translation

Friday, March 04, 2005

the end of summer

yep. my summer vacation is just about over. classes start on monday. i have my course selection book now, so school has officially become a reality. that being said, the summer was a lot of fun, and i'm not so upset that i have to go to school now. it's the usual back to school contradiction: it's nice to do nothing, but sometimes the idea of learning something is pretty attractive too. moreover, school is also the potential to meet more people and practice more spanish, which is, of course, why i'm in chile.

i went and saw Emir Kusturica and the No Smoking Orchestra wednesday night. a very good show, music that i can't really put in a category. some crazy europeans, that's for sure. Kusturica also directs movies, of which i've only seen one (underground) which was really good. the music from his band is featured in many of his movies. i recommend you see one of his movies. really.

yesterday i finally got around to making a map of my travels. enjoy.

well, now that it's almost noon, i feel i should be productive, and maybe go visit my math professor from last semester to ask him a few questions. that requires going outside were the cell phone works, and where it's much hotter.

so it goes