Hollywood, Bollywood, Nollywood

By Lina Hernández Valencia (undergraduate FIGRI student)

Each time I hear the word Africa I sadly make an association with safari and famine. Although hardly anyone associates it with an economic power, some might name Nigeria as a powerful film producer. Nigeria is the largest country in Africa with a population of 160 million, the number one economic power of this continent and one of the world’s eight biggest oil producers.

When I first read that Nollywood was rated as the third movie producer with more films per year after U.S.A (Hollywood) and India (Bollywood) I was surprised and shocked. I searched for some info on the  internet and I realized that the complete success of this industry is due to their low budgets and the short time it takes to produce these films, which can take, for example, just 10 days and cost approximately USD$15,000. The main difference between the California/New Delhi productions and Nigerian films is how they are presented to the audience. Thanks to their lack of monetary resources, in Africa, movies are not presented in theaters; they are sold on vcd or dvd which sell an average of 50,000 copies or even more.

Nollywood has become a powerful $250 million dollar industry that employs more than one million people in Africa. The competition with Hollywood has arisen because many Africans were tired of watching how Americans had created a stereotype that associates them with violence, poverty and drugs. I watched some trailers from Nollywood and I was amazed by the new  concept of movie producing these people have. These films are made in real locations, with no special effects, and they are based on real stories and are a complete mirror of African reality.

Nigerian films have broken boundaries around the world as they have been presented in international festivals since 2005, and 44% of the products are translated to English. South Africa opened satellite television networks to present them, and there is also the Africa Movie Awards to reward the best in the industry that try to give us an example of how Hollywood has made society believe there is just one way to make movies

Cultural Differences Between Colombia and Switzerland

By Beatriz Andrea Quintero (undergraduate FIGRI student)

Last year, I had the chance to live with a Swiss girl and it was such a great experience because I noticed how different we are in lots of aspects of our lives. I think it is important to examine different cultures now that globalization is part of our daily lives and has turned into a major issue and opportunity.

So in order to go alongside globalization and avoid any possible cause of confusion, it is essential to understand each other’s points of view and ways of interacting. I have decided to talk about 3 aspects: individualism/collectivism, family relationships and the avoidance of uncertainty.

Individualism is the extent to which people identify themselves in terms of “I” or “WE”. I have found that Colombian culture is a highly collectivistic culture because we tend to think more as a group, taking into account what others believe. On the other hand, Swiss culture is an individualistic culture. They believe that the achievements of the group are not as important as separate achievements. Furthermore, relationships are clearly separated from business and should not be mixed; this clearly doesn’t happen in Colombia.

Family relations are also very different. In Colombia, we tend to share a lot of time with our family like “family Sundays” and we are very dependent on our parents, even when we are over 18. We also usually live with our parents while we are doing our degree and even afterwards. In Switzerland, it is far different. They tend to be more independent and it is common that as soon as young adults finish high school, they move away from their parents and most Swiss adolescents have a job and pay for their studies and expenses. WE DON’T.

The avoidance of uncertainty deals with how people handle the uncertainty of what is going to happen in the future. Colombians usually prefer to avoid unfamiliar situations and are less willing to take risks than the Swiss; Swiss people love taking risks. Another big difference is that Swiss people are very punctual and they feel a strong need to be busy all the time and work hard, while Colombians don’t.

To conclude, Colombians are very different from the Swiss. While Colombians are resistant to change and more concerned about things such as job security, collective accomplishments or family relations, the Swiss are more willing to take risks; freedom and personal accomplishments are highly valued and family relations are not as close as they are in Colombia. Still, even though we are very different from each other, it is really nice to share time with people from Switzerland.

Live Challenges

By Catalina Piñeros Duran (undergraduate FIGRI student)

Do you ever feel bored about the things that you do daily? Have you ever thought about doing something that can change the routine of your life? Well, I’m pretty sure that we all think about this stuff at some point, but sometimes we just let it go or make excuses like "I don’t have time", "it is very difficult" or "I don’t have enough money". 

Challenges are a fun and interesting way to feel less bored about your routine and in some cases you don’t need money or special abilities to make them work. All you need is a little willpower and the determination to create a new challenge in your life. Challenges can be long or short term but the important thing is that you decide to change aspects of your daily life that you don’t like or that you would like to be improved.

Don’t worry; I’m talking about simple things like starting to clean your room, smiling all day long, and stopping smoking or yelling when you are really mad. You may not see it now, but big changes usually come from little details and if you start modifying little things you will have different habits before you realize it.

Challenges are also designed to make us capable of overcoming difficult or sad situations. I’m saying that if we start to make more personal challenges, we will be stronger, wiser, and less heartbroken in life. Not only because we will have the feeling of being stronger after accomplishing something that was hard, but also because we will feel confident about ourselves and our abilities.

Have you ever heard the quote that says “everything that happens in life happens for a reason”? Well, I think every action or move that we make in our life teaches us something. Can you imagine how much you will learn about yourself and others by accomplishing a challenge? Maybe you will learn something really valuable that may be useful in the future.

Personally, I have done a 30-day challenge and it turned my point of view upside down. I chose to give a present to a different person every day, and I can tell you, I realized that I was capable of stopping my routine and making a cute gift for someone that probably doesn’t expect to receive anything from me. Also, I think I wasn’t aware of how blessed and gifted I am. Now I just see everything as a gift of life!

You should dare to create a challenge for yourself, don’t you think? I assure you, it will be amazing!

Students on the English Skills Through Multimedia course this semester set themselves a challenge and carried it out over 30 days. The activity, based on an idea from a TED presentation by Matt Cutts 

(http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_cutts_try_something_new_for_30_days.html), was a learning experience for all – try it!

Green is Better

                                                                     

by Andrea Serrano (undergraduate FIGRI student)

Probably nobody thinks about the importance of green in our lives.  Don’t worry, this isn't another article about global warming, this is an invitation for you to stop your routine for just one moment and reflect about everything that nature gives us.  I don´t believe in magic or superstitions but it’s true that sometimes we need to recharge our energy to continue with normal activities as students, and for this reason I believe green is better.

For example, in foreign cultures where feng shui is used, people live in a good way. The population believes the green color has a strong relation with nature and harmony. Both humans and animals have different behavioral and social performance when they change their habitat, and therefore eastern countries prepare their architects to understand how they integrate construction with the environment without damaging it. Now these kinds of studies are so important because creating friendly spaces is possible.

In academic places where a lot of plants and flowers grow, students can develop their cognitive functioning better and therefore they have better performance. If you want to maintain a good balance in your life, especially if your city is stressful (like Bogota), you must look for a way to have spaces to relax. The proposal is to improve your mental and physical health.

Lots of scientific studies suggest that visiting gardens, forests and green areas helps people to be more generous and trust a little more in their communities.  Also, they have demonstrated that the environment around inhabitants influences behavior, self-control, discipline and irritability. People who do not have contact with parks, gardens or natural reserves are likely not to be able to manage their emotions.

Finally, violence and crime  levels increase in the absence of green areas. Where cities do not have green areas, children suffer from obesity while adults have more cardiovascular diseases. These are several arguments for concluding that green is better!

Astronomy: An Important Science

By María Alejandra Martínez (undergraduate Social Communication student, level 3 English)

The Engineer Raul Andres is the current director of the Astronomical Observatory of the Sergio Arboleda University. He began his working life as a mechanical engineer, and a few years later became a specialist in astronomy at the National University. He has played several important roles within the country and has been recognized for his achievements in the field of astronomy both nationally and internationally.

1* How do you define astronomy, taking into account the time you have already spent in this field?

RA//: For me, astronomy is a science inherent to human beings, because man has always looked to the sky. The first people who walked the earth observed that there is a phenomenon which is day and night and for me this is the beginning of astronomy. The objective is to understand where the planet is located, how the cosmos is, how it was created, if it will have an end, etc.

2* What is your daily routine like? 

RA//: I work in the academic area, where my main function is the research and dissemination of everything to do with science and space, therefore in my day to day routine I share all the knowledge that people want so much in Colombia. The plans that the Astronomical Observatory has are very interesting because what we want is basically to teach the basic concepts of astronomy, understand basic phenomena, etc. Then what I basically do is to assist students and direct the Astrobiology courses. On Thursday we have the observation of space telescopes, an event which is attended by many people, and this is open to the public.

3* Considering that you were leading "Colombia in orbit”, what can you tell me about this great investigative project?

RA//:  The "Colombia in orbit" project was in the years 2004 to 2009, and it was intended to develop and implement a satellite with the name Liberty 1. This was the objective of the project and I was aware of everything that was going on with the satellite. Liberty 2 was launched in order to continue the investigations in this area, and the idea of this is to tell the public what we are working on, what has been discovered and what was the purpose of sending these satellites into space. 

3* The approaches the observatory is currently handling are computational astronomy and space engineering. What are these two approaches?

RA//: The focus we are taking is a little different, because we are currently working on social projection, i.e. how we can allow our expertise to serve Colombians, to make them better people. So we have the idea of doing basic courses, where people can learn about the basics of astronomy, and logically do research about astronomy. We also want to do this with the continuation of our studies of the satellite Liberty 2.

3* Do you believe that there is life on Mars, or that in the future the Moon will be populated?

RA//: Well, I think that man can return to the Moon perfectly, because we have the technology to do it. The thing is that we haven’t found a reason to send human beings back. In the past, what people really wanted to show was the power that they had over the planet, especially the United States and the Soviet Union. I think it is more feasible to send robots than humans. What I think you will see is an exploitation of commercial and economic space, in the part of the low orbit close to the Earth.

3* How is Colombia in the field of astronomy? Are we doing well or do we need more technological development in this area?

RA//: With the astronomy in the country, so far we have three important ideas to highlight. One is basic education, where we teach the key concepts of astronomy. That is being done, but in a very slow way. On the level of technological development we were quite late, and one of the reasons is the weather problems that the country has; we do not have clear skies, and so there are not many good views of the heavens. However, the solution to this problem could be to use radio astronomy which does not need the climate to be applied, but is done through radio waves.

3* What do you think is the most beautiful thing about astronomy?

RA//:That it is a science that lets you know everything about the human being, which in turn should be a prior knowledge to be able to understand what is day and night, year-round, and also know why we are surrounded by planets, stars and that everything is in constant change.