It's October, at UAG

It's already October and that means I am half way through my first semester of the M.A. in Translation and Interpretation. (And that also means I'm one more class to finish my M.A in Terminology!). 

Here are some pictures of the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara (Mexico), where I study.

Library

Humanidades

First day of class, with Prof. Finks

Date a girl who reads

This is a GREAT post! I really do not know if this blog is the original one (I really don't think so), but I first read it here (and now it is all over the web). So though it can be googled and found in a few seconds, I leave it here to have it on my records.

“Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.”

Rosemarie Urquico

Digital Photo Editing 101

Intro to digital photo editing using the free Pixlr Advanced Editor. Awesomer pictures for all!

A very hot hot summer

I was invited to teach for a month in the University of Navojoa. Sonora is a terrible place to be in the summer, but at the same time it was a great opportunity for me to have more experience in teaching. So despite the high temperatures and the long hours of intensive teaching, I had a good time. Even had the chance to play two special songs at church and be with the family (my dad's side).

How to succeede in your studies

This is a post written by one of my students from English Composition I during the summer at Universidad de Navojoa. I had to do lots of editing, though.

The three steps that people should follow to succeed in their studies are organization, punctuality and communion with God. Organization should start with writing the errands and writing down what has been achieved. If you do it at night before you fall asleep, you can set what time you will wake up and what needs to be done the next day. There is a sayings that goes something like this, "he who knows not where he goes, already arrived." Second is the punctuality (to be on time for your classes, to get to the dinning hall or church, etc.). Punctuality is needed to perform small everyday tasks that in the end make a whole. And most important of all is communion with God through worship, Bible study and meditation. Ellen G. White says that fellowship with God must be first in our day, it should be our first work. If we follow these easy steps, sure we will succeed in our studies this summer.