Luis's dynamics

  Living by yourself and living with your parents is like living in two different planets. I lived in Riobamba for 17 years, then I moved to Quito to get my university degree. Comparing and contrasting the two lifestyles based on your responsibilities, freedom, and feeling of security shows how similar and different both lifestyles are. When living with your parents you cannot fathom to what degree they help you in your daily activities and responsibilities.   In a family, everyone has each other’s back. At the family’s house everyone is responsible for laundry, cooking and washing the dishes. Even if someone has an isolated problem, most of the time the rest of the family will be there to offer help or advice. In contrast, when you live on your own, it is only yourself who is responsible for whatever happens to you. It is not that your responsibilities grow out of the blue, but rather that now it is only who is there to take care of everything. Conversely, there are no si...

  For some people, food exist just to satisfy our basic needs. For others, food is not only a necessity, but also a pleasure that plays a significant role in their understanding of happiness. Tortillas con caucara is a traditional dish from the Andes part of Ecuador, which preparation does not vary a lot between cities. I would say it is the Ecuadorian version of fast food because it is usually served in markets and on the streets. The main ingredients of this dish are potato tortillas, cooked pork/ beef (caucara), lettuce, avocado, beet, and a fried egg. As I said earlier, Tortillas con caucara is often prepared and served out on the streets. Personally, I believe that it is a marketing technique because once you smell the food, you cannot move on without at least having had a closer look to what releases such magnificent smell. When you get to eat Tortillas con caucara, the first thing that strikes you is its colorfulness and powerful smell. The green avocado and lettuce, to th...

  Transitioning from high school math without any kind of proof background is probably the biggest mental shock one can experience. Personally, I went from being at the top of my class, to always feeling like I must catch up. Therefore, every mathematics student must learn that one quality that mathematicians possess is a propensity to persevere. The first surprise that I encounter as an undergraduate math student, is that in mathematics you must write a lot. My high-school-self thought that I would be working with equations, images and symbols all day long. However, most of my proofs are filled with words like therefore, thus, implies, therefore, by contradiction, counterexample, by the (famous mathematician name) theorem. These words are the ones I use the most when trying to describe and explain my “thought process” (Learning that “thought process” is an entirely different story). Secondly, math problems became extensive. The longest proof I have written was 3 pages long, one ...

The third world is not a reality but an ideology. In 2017, I finished high school, so as gift my family and I traveled for the first time to the USA. We visited Orlando, Florida and had a wonderful time at some of the theme parks there. However, I will never forget the moment that awoke us from our fantasy. The moment that made the differences between a developed country and a third world country painfully obvious. We had been at Orlando for 4 days visiting Disney’s and Universal’s themed parks. Then, as scheduled by my mom, the last two days were for shopping. On the first day everything went smoothly. Only if you consider running from store to store with big bags relaxing. On the second day, after another hectic morning of shopping, we went to get new cellphones for my sister and me. After buying the cell phones and a computer for my father, we headed out onto the next store to get my grandma a pink jacket she had previously seen the day before but was unable to get because the s...

  Identity is a complex and ever-changing concept that involves a continuous process of reflection, observation, and change. Who I am (or say I am) is a consequence of this abstract process. Therefore, the person I am today is probably different to the one I was yesterday and the one I will be tomorrow. I am not certain I know who I am, but here goes my best try. I have always been curious and inquisitive. My mom tells me that as a toddler, I would always ask about something I did not understand. As a result, she got tired of me asking questions and decided to buy me an image-based encyclopedia. Unsurprisingly, my biggest dream as a children and teenager was to become a scientist and discover something new and transcendent. To my young-self's surprise, I decided to study mathematics at university. I always thought I would become a physicist. However, after reading a book on some of the most famous mathematicians and their work, I fell in love with understanding complicated and ...