Claudio Camacho.org

Hejdå fotograf, tjänare ingenjör

Då igår började universitetet för mig och det var en jätte stressärande dag. En ny etapp börjar i mitt liv, var jag ska studera Master's Degree och jobba tillsammans. Jag måste dela tiden och det finns ingen tid kvar till fotografering och inte heller till musik, vänner, gymet, osv. Nu fråntid blir jag ett ingenjör student igen, minst för två år.

Och varför skriver jag detta inlägg på svenska? Så jag ringde Peter Stenius (från Helsingfors Amatör Fotografering Klubben) denna veckan, för att vi ska träffas på 19. september och åka tillsammans till Vasa, var finns en tävling av naturfotografering. Peter var snäll och sade till mig att jag får åka med i sin bil.

Men igen nu, varför skriver jag på svenska? Så jag märkte hur bra jag klarade mig i samtalet med Peter, och då tror jag att min svenska har förbättrat jätte mycket. Jag vet att min ordlista är liten, och därför försöker jag ibland skriva och tala på svenska, så jag får öva språket.

Men tillbaka till mitt liv, så jag är nu ett heltid student och jag kommer att sakna sommaren och fotografering hobbyn, men universitet kommer först, sen annat. Jag hoppas att jag kan försätta ta fotografier och dela med er många bra bilder, men vi får se. Önska mig lycka till, jag ska behöva den detta år!

100 posts

After five years of writing in this diary, I finally reached my post #100. The celebration comes with an Easter Egg: a new look and feel for this website. There have been many posts that I have deleted and many posts that I have included during these five years, however only now I feel that this diary (or blog if you will) is starting to become mature.

I started to write this diary sometime around 2005, when I started to visit Kotka (in Finland). I was gradually moving to Finland, to start a new life and finish my studies on Software Engineering at Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. This diary has been written in English, Spanish, Finnish and even Swedish at some point, but now it remains in English for the sake of simplicity.

Despite the main language of this website, the purpose has always been to keep informed the people that care about me, most of them living in Spain. Moreover, I have been including technical documentation and now I have a page full of projects about Software Engineering.

The last inclusion was a tiny gallery containing photography work as an amateur. I recently discovered photography as a challenging and rewarding hobby, and I have made it my leisure activity by excellence.

From now on, I intend to keep this website even simpler than before, reducing the amount of information, yet boosting its quality. You can check out a snapshot of what my website used to be back in 2006 (thanks to Archive.org):

Different parts such as the guest book, videos and traveling pictures have been superseded with the time, being replaced by more professional blocks or even being deleted due to the lack of professional interest. I would like to include some of the best comments I had on my guest book long time ago:

Finally, I would like to thank all the people that have been following me on this website, not only from 2005 (the beginning of this diary), but from 2003, when I started writing my first sentences on the digital media. I hope you enjoy the new theme (and even better if you could notice the under-the-hood performance improvements) and please contact me if you have any question or suggestion. Meanwhile, I'll keep reporting from Espoo ;)

Claudio M. Camacho

Back (stuck) in Finland

Well, it's been about six weeks that I haven't written anything to this diary, but now I'm back in Finland, or stuck if you will. My trip to Australia has been very successful, also mentally. I was able to see almost the whole country in five weeks and I had a reunion with the self, embracing the joy and energy I used to have four years ago. Now I'm back and I seem to be stuck in Finland for longer than I expected, since I was not accepted in Sweden for my Master's Degree studies. Now it's time to rethink about my life here in the land of lakes.

Before I left Finland, I already knew I could study in Helsingin Yliopisto (a not very important university here in Finland, although Linus Torvalds completed his Computer Science studies there). Once in Australia, I got the notification that I was also accepted to TKK (a better-honored university in Finland). This information was important for me, as it was my backup plan, and I knew it already when I was visiting Sydney.

At Fraser Island, I checked my application for the studies at Sweden and I got the information that I was put into the waiting list. The fact is that the number of vacancies was reduced from 33 to 8, which is quite strange. I read somewhere that people from countries "in development" or "unstable situation" may get way more preference. Still, looking at my grades and all the resume I have, I can't believe that I was put into the waiting list. I sent several emails and tried to call to Sweden, but nobody answers the phone and the email replies are completely random and off-topic.

For that reason, I have to stay in Finland, at least for two more years, to complete my Master's Degree in Artificial Intelligence and Data Mining. Besides this, things with CaZ haven't gone so well for the last year, and so we decided to give ourselves a real break. This is supposed to be bad news but, believe me, after one year of struggling, it is the best solution for both.

Right now, I gotta start with a new life. First of all, I got my job at Asio-Data, and there is plenty of projects, so that part is safe. I got two different universities where to choose from, so that's not a problem either. On the personal side, I would like to become more Finnish, in the sense that I'd like to make Finnish friends and fully integrate in their society, since I've been gathering only with Spanish people for the last two years, and that didn't help much to my integration in Finland.

To begin with, I will try to join the Camera Club of Helsinki (the Swedish-speaking one, so that I can learn Swedish at the same time) and make new friends there. On the other hand, I've already started to make some contacts in Otaniemi, where the TKK university is located, so that I can start my new social life mixing with Finnish people.

Finally, as many of you probably expect, I will start, slowly but surely, writing entries about my trip to Australia, which has changed my life in many ways, and has made me see the life in an easier way (no worries mate, she'll be right, that's what they used to say down in Sydney). Just give me some time, I shot about 5000 pictures in RAW, from which I selected more than 1000, and I have to develop them and fix them up, before I publish every entry. Otherwise, I expect to write about 10 entries reviewing the whole trip and all the major places we (Marc and me) were visiting when traveling around Australia. Stay tuned..