My career....

Well I think obviusly every student who studies this career should love animals, I supose it´s like the first requirement. But besides that, I´ve always been interested in science, biology, zoology and animal behaviour, and this career (Veterinary) includes those topics. When I was a kid I decided to be a vet, my parents used to say: "he will change, he just likes animals, etc", but when I finished highschool, Veterinary was the only career I applied for, I couldn´t see my self doing anything else as a job in my life. I have to recognize that I wanted to apply to Universidad Austral (Valdivia), but my mom told me, "you don´t move from Santiago", so here I am.....
I think vets contribute to society in many ways. For example vets deal with zoonotic diseases (specially now with the virus influenza A H1N1), vets deal with pets and even though for some people it´s not very important, for others it is. Vets are in charge of National Parks, we also are in charge of any kind of industry in animal production, etc.
In the future vets will need or will hope for more conscience from pet´s owners or society in general, it would also be great that governments take political decisions about the welfare of animals and vets can help in that. The technology that human medicine has would be a huge advance if we could have that and apply to our patients.
What I would like to do in my future work-life is to work with exotic animals, maybe in a vet clinic, a zoo or national parks. My dream since I entered the university is to go Australia and work there with reptiles (lizards) and hopefully live there forever......

Favorite picture

Well, I chose this picture as one of my favorites that i got in my computer. At first I was going to choose a picture with some friends in a birthday party, a barbecue or on vacations, but I decided this one because I`m very proud of it.
I took it my self, despite the fact that i`ve never been a big fan of photos (specially when you have to pose) or a good photographer.
I took this picture on January this year when i had the chance to work on a cruise ship that sailed to the Antartic peninsula. I woke up at 3 am (that`s the sunrise time) for five days to be able to see this birds and the whales. With the help of a japanese friend and his camera (tho most important) we took several pictures every morning and this one is definitely my favorite one.
I had tu use a tripod because of the movement of the ship and after many shots, i got this picture.
This is a kind of seagull that you can only find in the antartic peninsula and the Falkland islands whick makes it even more interesting at least for me.
This picture also brings up some memories of the trip...... Beacuse of all those reasons i chose this photo as my favorite one.

Are dogs intelligent?

Today in class we just watched a documental that was produced by The national geographic Channel, which was about the relationship that dogs have had with humans through history and how this relationship has made them one of the most evolved animals.
In this documental a lot of experts in animals behavior explained with diferent exercices how dogs can follow orders from humans not only by hearing but also looking different signs that people do with the eyes or mouth.
For instance, there was this dog called Rico that knew by hard like 20 diferent words and he could recognize them. But not just that, when you added a new object that he didn´t know, he could infer the object because it was the strange one.
Another dog called Sophie that was part of the Police department in USA, had been trained by them due to the most developed sense they have, the smell. It was amazing, this dog could smell swet drops in a 10 km radio, and for him each person has it´s own smell like the digital print.
This documental also tries to explain the bond that has been created between dogs and humans for many years, there was this case, about a Doberman dog called Donnie that her owner picked in a dog shelter when she was four years old. The owner said that in the first months she had to show and teach Donnie many things like go up the stairs, which are the kind of things Donnie couldn´t learn because sha had missed the relationship with an owner (human)in her early years. Then, Donnie began with a weird behavior, she placed her toys creating diferent geometrical figures in the garden specialy triangules. This behavior was analized by an expert who said that probably this was the way Donnie had to express the affection she had with the owner.
In summary this was a very interesting documental that makes us wonder if dogs are intelligent animals or at least one of the most evolved animals after chimps and monkeys. It is impressive to realize how close can a dog and a human bieng can be. When this bond is positive for the dog, it helps the him to reach or to develop his skills in a much better way, but when it´s the opposite, it creates an agressive behavior or deppresive animals.
PD: I liked the idea of the last phrase in the documental, that maybe dogs know us better than we know them.

My favorite career-related website is www.ivis.org whic means International veterinary information service. I knew about this website like three years ago thanks to a good friend that doesn`t even study veterinary, but he is like the typical computer-guy so when he knew about this he sent me the link. Obviusly i became a member right away because i could tell that this was a very serious and important website worldwide.
This website provides you a lot of information, about conferences in diferent parts of the world, you can also find a huge online library that is very useful for the courses in this career.
Once you are a member, every week ar maybe every two weeks you recieve an email with the updates and the new books or information that they have uploaded.
The good news is that lately they have published many information in spanish (or at least you have the chance to translate it) but yet most of it is in english.
For me this website is really helpful because i`m very interested in exotic animals, and this website is focused in any kind of animals, not only cats and dgos.
I try to check this website at least once a week, or whenever a recieve an email with the updates.
I really recomend this website to every vet student, and if you become a member, try to tell your friends to sign up as well because maybe that way, more information will be uploaded in spanish.

My favorite piece of technology is my mobile phone. In fact I`m not very proud about that, but it`s the truth. I remember being in highschool and my parents wanted to buy me one and I always told them not to, I dont`t want it, I dont`t think it is useful, I will lose it, etc. After like 6 months, I decided to have one, and unfortunately now I can`t be without it.
I forgot all the phonenumbers of my friends and relatives (because now you look for them in the mobile), if I`m not with my mobile I can`t call anyone, besides I`m not at home very much so this piece of technology really makes it easier in many ways.
Obviously not everything is perfect, sometimes you lose your mobile and you have to call to the company so they block it, sometimes it drops out of your pocket and may break down, also there are always some people willing to take it.
The mobile phone, I use it everyday, most of the time sending messages (it is cheaper), and for instance when i call my parents or some relatives I just give them a ring and wait for them to call me back.
Well I said before, I`m not very proud about all this mobile thing, but definetely I think it is the most useful piece of technology I got.

Hi there, I´m Luis Paez from Stgo., Chile. I am a veterinarian student of University of Chile, 22 years old and now starting my last year in vet school. I live with my parents, have some older brothers and a lot of cousins.
Well i obviusly love animals, specially reptiles (I got an iguana as my favorite pet), like to practice some sports, hanging out my friends, i work as a waiter in a pub and do some volunteer practices in a Veterinary Clinic.
The objectives i have for this class is to practice my english, learn some new vocabulary and improve my pronunciation.
That´s it............