Post 6: Thrash Metal

Today, I’m posting about a musical stream I like a lot: 

Thrash metal, a subgenre of heavy metal. To talk about thrash metal we need to go back to the 80’s -a decade that brought out a huge amount of new bands and music styles- and land in San Francisco, specifically in the Bay Area where a new wave of young musicians reacted to the glam fever, with its long hairs, sticky rhythm and money-making records, creating music characterized for being faster, heavier, and with lyrics about social issues and criticisms to the establishment.

Some say that the first expression of thrash metal is on the song “Symptom of the universe” released by Black Sabbath in 1975, but it wasn’t until the different bands began combining elements of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with the speed of hardcore punk, that the thrash came out. Bands like Venom, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax; and in Europe: Kreator, Sodom, Destruction.

I like this music because I’ve always had an inclination for rock and playing guitar influenced me to listening to bands like Metallica and Slayer. They have great guitar compositions and for me it was a challenge to learn the songs and play them. I used to hang out with my friends and make covers from all this bands, and spent the summers playing loud in one of my friend’s basement.

Nowadays, I’ve been a little away from the thrash because the university consumes almost the 100% of my time and so I don’t have much time for listening, playing and knowing new bands, but every time I can I put some CD’s on, and I feel great about it.

So, I invite all you to comment,

See you in class!

A guide to surviving law school

Probably all of you have already experimented high levels of stress when it comes about preparing a final exam or an oral test or a week with several evaluations. “Nothing surprising” would say a person that knows you’re studying Law, but there’s actually a long way between that idea and our hard reality as law students.

The article published by The Guardian presents “A guide to surviving law school” with 6 tips to make the student’s life easier.

On the basis that legal training requires students to absorb vast amounts of fairly dry information in a short timescale, the first recommendation is “to see the years of university as the first years of the professional lives”. The second recommendation is to: “Find the quickest route to completing the work in a way which means you have learned what you need to learn”. The third tip is to never lose sight of the end game, preferring find a good job that collect good marks. “If the endpoint is a training contract and a few marks less, then so be it”.

From a social point of view, the author advices that it is a good idea “to make allies in your class” because it will help you to socialize but also can make you a better teacher.

In other hand, something that could be very useful for us, it is the tip about “blogging with care”. This means that “Participation in these mediums is a great way for students to enrich their law school experiences and forge useful contacts by engaging with practicing lawyers, although it's unlikely to land them a job directly” But in my opinion, this advice is looking for students providing justification for whichever opinion or view is claimed.

Finally, and not less important, the article encourages law students to take pro-active steps of their own to keep themselves in good mental shape, in order to prevent the road into madness derivate from the stressful subjects to study, like in my experience, Commercial Law.

You can read the complete article on:

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/sep/06/surviving-law-school-gdl-lpc-bptc

Post 4: My favorite movie

I have a lot of predilections when it comes about movies, but I’d say that my favorite one is the “Back to the future” trilogy released in 1985. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. This movie is about a regular teenager named Marty Mc Fly that travels through time with his friend, a mad scientific who creates a machine able to do that and go back 30 years to 1955, to the future in 2015 and then back 100 years to 1885.

I like this movie since I was a kid, and I still like when I watch nowadays. It has a pretty fun argument, something curious about the time travelling and its paradox. Besides, it has good rock music on its soundtrack like Van Halen and Chuck Berry.

Every time I watch this film I think about what would I do if I can travel through time, where or when I would go? Or what it would be if this machine actually exists and some people can travel in time.

If you want to spend a great time, I recommend you this movie! Let me know if you know any other must-see film, I’d be glad about it

So, I invite you to comment, go ahead! See you all in classes 

Post 3: My best holidays

Last summer my girlfriend and I were  to Valle del Elqui and La Serena for vacation. It was the first time we went on a trip together and it was so good! We went on February after a pretty hard and stressful semester that include classes in February so we were anxious about it. We were camping in a place named “Rio Mágico” located in the elqui valley, three hours away from La Serena. We get there, unfortunately, by night so it was hard to build up the tent and also we were starving!

During the days we went swimming in the river and the water was amazing, surrounded by trees and a wonderful sun. Preparing meals was my mission because my girlfriend doesn’t like it, but she helped with other things like bringing water to cook.

A very funny activity we made was riding horses. It was our second-third time doing it and a local guy guide us in a ride. He liked to go faster and I thought it’ll be fun so I hit the horse side back and I run very fast like 250 m! it was extreme. In other day we rent bikes for travel around the town and we could see very nice places like a vineyard and viewpoint where you can see the mountains, the valley and the houses.

We spent like 10 days and it was a really good time, beautiful places and perfect to get rid of all the stress and relax a lot!

Rio Magico it is a place that makes you want to come back! Look at the pictures

                            

So, I invite you to comment, go ahead! See you all in classes 

Post 2: A country i'd like to visit

The answer for that question could be a lot of countries, I love tripping. It could be the rest of south America –I already know Peru and Ecuador-  but I think that the country I’d like to visit is Australia, specifically Tasmania . The first idea that comes around when you mention that city is “Taz devil”, and that’s funny. As a matter of fact when I was  a kid I imagined the same.

I have an uncle that has live there since the 80’s and done an entire life there, with a wife and family. I don’t know them only know that my cousin’s name is Luke like in Star Wars. I would like to go to get to know them, hang out with my family and visiting all the beautiful places over there, like Sydney or Melbourne. Also it would be cool going to the beach and swim in the other side of the pacific ocean.

Maybe  if I weren’t studying here, I’d try out working at Australia, it’ll be a nice experience that would allow me to earn probably more money than here and let me improve my English. But well, I think I’m going to go someday soon for vacation and to study and practice English.

So, I invite you to comment go ahead!,  See you all in classes