Covering Letter

University of Nottingham
International House, Floor C
Jubilee Campus
Wollaton Road
Nottingham NG8 1BB
UK
15th November, 2010

Dear Mr. Farouk Shakib:
Director Immunology Research Group

I am Biochemist and Master in Biochemistry of the University of Chile and I am interested to study a PhD program at the School of Molecular Medical Sciences in the University of Nottingham. I have a great interest in Immunology and Biotechnology so I think that the research´s topics in Immunology at the Immunology Research Group (IRG), specially in your laboratory, are very interesting.

I am writting to you for a possibility to work in your laboratory in Immunology. I would like to work in antibody engineering in my PhD because I think that is a growing area and with potential for help us to clear up many problems in biomedicine, diagnosis and investigation.

I plan to begin my PhD in the next year because I am postulating to a scholarship in my country to support my PhD studies. I will know the postulation´s results around November to that year. Finally, I will realize the English courses in that year for asses my level in the postulation to the University.

I am sending my CV.

Thank you for your time and help. I look forward to answer.

Yours sincerely

Fabián Salazar Lizama M.Sc.
Member to FUCITED
Science and Technology for Development Foundation
www.fucited.cl

Cote's typical day

I wake up at 7:00, I have chocolate cake and tea with honey for breakfast. At 8:30 I leave my apartment to my work by walking.
At 9:05 I arrive to my office at Casa Central. Firstly, I check my e-mail and I answer the most pressing issues. Then, I give to my assistant the tasks to be performed that day. After I continue check my e-mail, answering questions and requests. At the same time, I answer phone calls from teachers, I answer your questions and I solve their problems related to the Competitive Fund projects that I coordinate.
At 12:00 I go to Campus San Joaquin by subway. At 12:30 I give presentation about the results of Graduates Study of anyone faculty to principals and curriculum committee. At 13:30 I come back to Casa Central.
At 14:00 I have lunch with my friends from my work. At 15:00 I have meeting for to define requirements for technology platform. At 16:30 I prepare presentation for next day on the progress of projects that I address.
At 18:00 I go to home of one of my students for private classes. At 21:00 I get home and I eat bread with avocado. At 21:30 I cycle in my stationary bike and I do exercises to relax my muscles. Afterwards, I wash my hair and at 23:30 I go out with a friend. Finally, I get home at about 2:00 and I go to bed.

My tata

Juan Canales García, native of Cauquenes, chilenazo hand carved, tall, strong, dark hair and brown skin. Always with short hair and clean shaven. His dark eyes and his smile discreet showed his great hospitable gesture.
This flawless Creole liked wine, but he was moderate to eat. He loved hunting and fishing.
He was never tired, he was always in a good mood, overcoming the difficulties of life with great wit and good humor.
Venerable Master of Chairs little known today: unlimited generosity, elegance of soul, common sense, people skills, cautious courage, patriotic diligence…
This man of admirable understanding, insisted -and successfully- in "doing family." He struggled to add and multiply, never by subtracting and dividing. He was always surrounded by family and friends. Everybody recognized his leadership embodied of goodness, kindness and science, but not science extracted from the books, but that my grandpa got squeezing the physical nature and social environment.
Tribute of affection to my tata

Anton Gaudí

Anton Gaudí is one of the most important architect in the world. He was born in Spain in 1852. He worked during the Modernism, or Art Nouveau period, but he became famous for his unique and highly individualistic designs. His revolution of architecture and art provides the basis for current and future art.

He always considered nature like a great source of inspiration in his creations. In his childhood he had a lot of diseases that prevented him from attending classes regularly and forced him to spend long periods of time in the family farmhouse. He spent many hours observing the beauty of animals, plants and stones.

He built some amazing buildings in Barcelona like Park Güell, Casa Milá (La Pedrera) and Casa Batlló, but his most important and great project is the Sagrada Familia church, which construction started in 1884 and it remains unfinished until now. The reason for this delay is that the only existing copy of the blueprints was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War. Currently, architects estimate that the church would be finished towards 2026.

At the end of his life Gaudí became a very devote and hermit person, living in a voluntary poverty. He dedicated all his time to the construction of the Sagrada Familia and in 1926 he died hit by a tram and nobody recognized him.

A typical day of the last week.

In a typical day of the last week, I got up at 7:30 in the morning, I had a quick breakfast and at 8:50 I jumped to my aunt’s car going to Santiago. She left me at the IPB English Institute about 9:30 where I took my bicycle and I rode through the Forestal Park arriving to my part time job, located in Providencia, about 10:00. I got off work at 3:00 p.m. and after a quick lunch I went to my yoga class. Then I took my bike again and I went to my English class at the IPB Institute which started at 6.30, and I left my bike there until the next morning. After a three hour class I took the metro and a bus arriving home about 10:30. That night I got home very tired and hungry.

Calera de Tango is a very relaxing neighborhood which is located south of Santiago, between San Bernardo and Talagante, you can get there by the Autopista Central (5 Sur) in about 30 minutes by car.
Almost all the territory of Calera de Tango is rural, that means it is not permitted to divide the land in less than 5000 sq.mts parcels, so almost all the houses here are cottages, except in the village of Calera de Tango where is located the municipality, the civic center and a few town houses.
The general landscape is very scenic and when we go over the back roads we can see fields of vineyards and different kind of fruit trees like avocados, almonds, peaches, walnuts, etc. All this fields are irrigated by small canals that come from Maipo river.
If you visit this area any weekend, I can recommend some nice places to stop and taste delicious food. If you like typical Chilean food you can visit “Don Benito” where the dishes are prepared in clay ovens that give a special taste to it. Also, if you like pastries, international food and good desserts the place should be “Kuchen House” restaurant.
There are also some interesting historical and archaeological patrimonial sites; the historical one is the old Jesuit “San Ignacio” church and monastery, built in 1700, which are still in use. The archaeological one is “Pucara de Chena” which used to be a defensive Inca site and also a sacred place, it is located at the top of the Chena hills and it was built around 1100 AD. People today climb the hills also to practice trekking.

Tutuvén

Cauquenes is a borough and a city in central Chile. It is the capital of the Province of Cauquenes, and is part of the Region of Maule.
This peaceful city, renowned for the quality of its wines and peasant food, still retains some houses built in the late nineteenth century.
Among the most important beaches: Curanipe, Mariscadero, Pelluhue, which have the attraction of being fishing coves with native vegetation environment and rural culture. Black sand beaches with towering rocks are excellent for surfing and body boarding.
Tutuvén is a beautiful spot located 15 kilometers west of Cauquenes. It’s a suitable place for camping, picnicking and fishing.
Area of gently rolling, surrounded by hills, most notably the Tutuvén Reservoir, built for irrigation purposes.
Its climate is Mediterranean with forest vegetation, predominately hawthorn, quillay, litre, boldo and peumo
Tutuvén is a wonderful place where flora and fauna awaken all the senses, causing the most magical and pleasurable sensations you can experience.

Unusual Day

My typical day begins very early because I live too far of my work. For example, yesterday I got up around 7 o´clock. I took a shower and I had breakfast too fast, all that in about 30 minutes. I needed to take two buses to arrive to my work, so it took me one hour and a half. I arrived to my work at 9 o´clock.

My work is very different every day, sometimes I have a lot of experiments for doing, or sometimes I only have to work on the computer to prepare reports, presentations, classes or projects. But yesterday was a different day. I went to Quintay to bring Locos because I needed the blood of them for some experiments.

I had lunch at 2 o´clock in a restaurant of Quintay so then I returned to Santiago. I arrived to Santiago around 5 o´clock for starting my experiments. I usually finish my working hours at 6 o´clock, but yesterday it was different, I finished around 9 o´clock.

Before starting this course, when I finished my work sometimes I went to the University´s Gym or I used to eat out with my girlfriend on weekdays. But yesterday was different, I could not go to the English class, I just wanted to go home. At the end of the day I was really exhausted because I arrived to my home around 11 o´clock. In my home, I ate something and I went to bed very quickly.

The Best Character

I'll talk about Doctor Gregory House, the main character of the serie Dr. House. I think it´s so difficult talking about a person who you don´t know, that is why I choose this guy because everybody know him.

Physically, he is medium height and thin. He has short brown hair and blue eyes. Also, he has beard and moustache. He uses a walking stick because he has a chronic pain in one leg, for controlling his pain he takes pills every day, due to this he was addict to the Vicodin.

Psychologically, he is very clever and self-confident, virtues that help him to find the diagnostic of his patients, he uses his cunning and biting wit for solve his medical enigmas. Moreover, he is bossy, manipulative and selfish with all people, he enjoys mocking people weaknesses and he makes anything for having what he wants.

Mapuhue Park

This is one of the few green areas at Commune of La Pintana. This place is located in Santa Rosa Avenue, stop 38. It’s a really beautiful place with around 4.5 green hectares, with many kinds of trees. There are a cycle lanes, car park, playgrounds, drinking areas, water plays, and (for the night) has good lighting. Mapuhue has a lot of trees, big plant species; among others, I can name Sequoias, Chilean palms, Fan palms, and a huge Lebanon cedar.
In this place there are different places for playing football –where I usually play with my friends on weekends in the summer. People who want to visit this park, could do with his/her family, through the scholar year only on weekends, but in the summer it’s open every day from 8.00 o’clock to 20.00 o’clock.
You can arrive to this place by car, by bus, by bicycle, or if you live near, by walking (or by dosh as one of my school’s teacher said, referring to two feet). It’s right on the side of the street, so you won’t be lost. And when you want to return to your house, the public transportation has two bus stops across the street.
It’s a beautiful place to share with family, enjoy your visit.
I leave you the park’s fotolog and one picture.