Sean’s Blog

Reading Hayek is not only edifying, but very very refreshing.

Well, yesterday there were no classes in the high school section of my school due to the “paro”, or stoppage. Actually, it is only public school students that were officially (or semi-officially, through their “student centers”) on stoppage, protesting for a free SAT equivalent (instead of having to pay $50) and an unlimited discount bus pass, instead of only during during the day on school days like it is right now. Hundreds of thousands of students marched in Santiago, and supposedly there were 5 or 10 thousand clogging up downtown La Serena yesterday. Most of my classmates went, supposedly to “show support” for their poorer public school counterparts but I suspect many of them simply wanted to see what being in a protest was like. At the end a bunch of 20-somethings showed up in ski masks and started breaking windows of downtown shops, not too surprising.

Well, high school students actively, massively complaining to the state/general public for more money (and not necessarily the true reforms, such as more devolution to the local levels, yearly standardized tests engouraging more efficient curriculum structure, a greater voucher amount, etc.) is definitely a bit of a contrast to the general apathy of American students. And, I have decided I like general apathy better, at least in the political sense…the current protests are taking a very socialist ideological tinge (many of the “student leaders” are linked to that party) and it seems that blaming the state for not giving enough freebies is more important than “fixing” the things that students should actually be focusing on, such as attendance, study habits, etc. I mean, education is not a basic human right, and if a nation is going to pay for it through the public purse the level of contribution should be determined by an agreement (or, at least, a consensus) among the taxpayers, NOT the beneficiaries of those taxes. It’s a lot easier to spend someone else’s money than your own, and thus a lot more likely to do it inefficiently.

So, that’s my latest Chilean/Latino gripe. Anyone interested in the situation should read this article, police beat up some students who were protesting. I’ll be flying back to the U.S. in only a week!

Well I’m going to the fine beach city/port of Iquique until Sunday for the last Rotary conference of my exchange. Should be pretty boring. However I’m hoping to finish off Ficciones by Borges and also talk with some of the other exchange students, more interesting than talking with my classmates at school but less than talking with my friends or my brother. In other news, my host sister that I’ve never met (who has been in Tennessee since August) returns on Tuesday, so my last 2 weeks or so I’ll get a chance to hang out with her. I also wrote a whole bunch of thoughts on immigration yesterday (bored during Italian) so I’m going to try to post some of those after I get back from the conference.

Well it’s definitely otoño now in La Serena, and some days it feels pretty much like winter, when there’s no sun, a lot of fog, 45-50 degrees all day. However it’s still good temperature for running, which I do about 4 times a week. Basketball is still going on, however our league sort of fell apart when half the schools withdrew so now it’s basically practice twice a week, and that’s all. I leave Chile on June 7th, in less than 4 weeks, and there isn’t that much I still have left to do here. My “list” consists of:

• Write an essay about economic growth, inflation, and central bank responsibilities with 3 other students from my school for a Central Bank of Chile competition (the 1st interesting thing that has happened at school all year).
• Meet up again with my contact from the think tank in Santiago, exchange a few more books and talk about whatever (including possible contacts between that think-tank and Mexico).
• Give a PowerPoint presentation to the local Rotary club about U.S. government and history (I already made this before I left Texas).
• Go to the yearly Rotary Club of North Chile meeting in another city next weekend, possibly give that same presentation there.

And that’s about all.

I also went to see some Picasso, Goya, and Miró paintings today ($3 at an old train station near downtown Santiago), basically to say I had gone and seen Picasso more than anything else. Actually all the Picassos there sucked, and I found out I hate Goya, but the Miró paintings were pretty good.

Also, my seanchile@mail.utexas.edu address is now working, if anyone wants to email me there. I also set up a facebook account under that address here.

Well I’m pretty lazy right now, it’s sort of late, and my flight back to La Serena leaves tomorrow por la mañana so I’ll just excerpt my email to Alec today:

Right now I am staying at really a mini-mansion in one of the nicest parts of Santiago, I’ll be here until tomorrow morning when I go back to La Serena (actually right after I get back there is a bball game, the coach scheduled it that way so I could be there ). The lady who owns the house is a politician (she belongs to one of the political families of Chile, her grandpa was president), she lives in both La Serena and Santiago and we met once at a Rotary meeting, she told me that I could stay at her house whenever I am in Santiago.

Our trip was pretty awesome. After La Serena (getting to know my host family, “Ocean Avenue”, and downtown) and Pucón (national park and waterfalls) we went to Buenos Aires. Everything in Argentina is ultra-cheap, because unlike Chile’s strong currency the Argentine peso is very inexpensive, mostly due to the debt crisis there in 2001-02 and the current policies of Argentina’s (crappy) president. One problem was that we were only there 2.5 days, and Sunday and Monday almost EVERY shop was closed due to El Día del Trabajador (basically Labor Day in S. America and Europe), so I didn’t buy nearly as much stuff as I wanted. However a few sweet used bookstores were open and there was a huge book fair so I bought 10 books for maybe $2-3 each one. I also met an Argentine friend, we had met on an econ site a year ago and chatted some on MSN, spent about a day with him seeing some sights because he was nice enough to show my mom and me around, and I also got to talk with him about the politics and economics of Argentina (he is a law student there). After B.A. we came to Stgo, actually we spent 2 nights here, one before BA and one after. Basically since I already know the city and the metro pretty well, I just showed my mom around, to the equivalent of the White House (actually called “The Money” or La Moneda), the Plaza de Armas (Town Square) and a few souvenir fair places that are big and popular.

In the past few days the lady I am staying with, who is really nice, has taken me to a few places I hadn’t been to, like an exclusive golf and tennis club where we saw a few famous politicians. I also had tea (a lot of people, especially the older generation, take tea every day at around 5-6) with her uncle, who is 92 and was an embassador in Spain and also a winner of Chile’s National Prize for literature (a really prestigious thing here). He was actually very alive considering his advanced age, it was very interesting to talk to him and here about his experiences (for example, the king of Spain liked it when this guy told him “dirty” stories about seducing women, he told me that he would usually just make up something with nuns or teachers just to impress the king because during the Pinochet dictatorship in the 70s and 80s Chile was not viewed very well in Spain ). I also had coffee (well, I ordered hot chocolate ) with a guy from that think tank today, we really connected because we both have the same ideas on politics, he offered me the internship once again which I hope to do for a few months next summer, and he also said he would love to do some kind of project or paper with me if I have time for it. This is really a good thing because these guys are very influential in Chile and Latin America, and even have some contacts in the US, plus I get along really well with all of them and we all have the same way of thought (free markets, free trade).

Well right now my mom and I are in Pucón, Chile (in the southern part- “the end of the world” in a way), our 3rd and last night here. Tuesday we hiked for about 4.5 hours in a really nice and almost empty national park, winding our way up a large hill with multiple lakes and waterfalls, and today we saw a few waterfalls and then stayed for the afternoon in some thermal baths, basically river water heated by the nearby volcano. It was great, but of course as an innate city lover I’m really excited about going to Santiago tomorrow and then Buenos Aires, Argentina. We have taken a lot of pictures, and I promise a lot will be up within a relatively short amount of time. Hope everyone is doing great!

Well I’m pretty pumped up that my mom’s coming on Sunday, we’ll be going to a popular vacation spot in south-central Chile near a volcano and a national park, as well as Buenos Aires - this is the part I’m really looking forward to - and 2 nights in Santiago.

Last night I had a phone conversation for about 40 minutes with an MBA student at Harvard Business School - one of the top 5 in the U.S. for that degree - because she had graduated from the Business Honors Program (BHP) at UT a few years ago, then worked for IBM for a few years travelling around Latin America. What she told me - basically, that there are a lot of UT and BHP grads in her class at Harvard; the UT profs, especially those in BHP, often help out students who seek them out for help/guidance; that the BHP is a bit insular as an “elite” group (with the resources to go along), which at an Ivy League school wouldn’t be necessary but at UT seems nice to me, as Alec has told me many times 50,000 is a really intimidating number (or, at least I’m pretty sure that is what he thinks, even if he has never actually stated it in that way ).

She also discussed her impressions of Latin America - the countries she has worked in, the people, the business environments - which I will summarize here, as they (partially) confirmed some preconceived biases on my part:

Brazil - nice people, often too relaxed and easygoing for their own good, which is especially relevant in the higher echelons of corporations. Also unsafe, especially for “obvious Americans” (at least in the 2 chief cities, Rio and Sao Paolo).

Argentina - ultra-aggressive and emotional as people and businessmen, Argentines aren’t shy and for the most part have the “dominating Latino” aura that the stereotype circumscribes (unlike some other countries where this is toned down - although definitely still existent - like Chile or Bolivia), this just makes pointing out (often obvious) mistakes even more painful to people who are - at least titularly - your superiors.

Perú - boring and ugly (corroborated by many Chileans).

México - a business climate that is uncomfortable for most Americans. Relies on corrupt institutions and lots of connections.

Also, I watched an episode of “Pimp My Ride” on MTV last night (I usually only watch the first part where you can see the old beater, because the rapper XZibit actually says hilarious stuff from time to time) where the featured beauty was a 1988 Dihatsu Hi-Jet. It’s supposedly a “cargo” or “micro” van but in reality resembles an enclosed golf cart. Its “engine” is actually very similar to that of a lawnmower, and is contained entirely underneath the drivers seat.

Well I am anxiously awaiting my mom’s visit, she is coming next Sunday. We will be spending a few days in the South of Chile, a few days in Buenos Aires, a few days in La Serena, and a few days in Santiago. Right now the family of one of my host dad’s 4 brothers (Italian immigrant families in Chile are big, just like they were in the U.S. generations ago) is staying at the house, so everything is a bit busy here. Lately I have been going to school which is now 9 hours a day (if I haven’t mentioned that glorious fact already) as well as playing some basketball, our season starts next Saturday. Today we have the day off but Monday we go back, I remember (sometimes) having 5-day Easter weekends in Austin.

Well I’ve pretty much decided on the Business Honors Program at UT, the other schools were just too expensive (more than $40k per year for tuition, room+board, books, other expenses). It seems that most of my friends will be going to college in Texas too, please let me know what your decision is once you’ve made it. BTW Adam great video you sent, I’m surprised that piece of mierda (I mean, Jeep) actually made it over that bump/hill.

A few pics of me holding the 10th month old baby in the house, the very cute Pier(in)a:

There is some ultimate red-eye, plus my face looks sun-burnt after 2 hours of basketball.