Felipe's Autobiography

I have never really enjoyed talking about myself, because when I do it I don’t know whether to be modest or to exaggerate a little to tell an interesting story. In this opportunity I am not going to enumerate the biggest milestone in my life, but I am going to tell about some objects that I carry with me that in some way can describe the most important aspects of my life. Before going in further details about me, it would be proper to tell you about my family due to the great role it has played during my life. I think I wouldn’t be the way I am without the influence of my parents. Resembling my father, physically and in personality, is the most obvious way of influencing me, but there is another one. During my childhood and adolescence, my parents kept telling me that studying was the only way of thriving in life. Those words are the likeliest responsible for having me now in United States to obtain my Master’s degree. My parents gave me this watch as a present when I graduated from the University four years ago. I find it too elegant for me, so I never wear it except for special occasions, but I always have it with me, because it symbolizes my parents and the education they gave me.

Since we are talking about my family, I can’t forget to talk about my younger brother. The three years that separate us were an important difference when we were children, but in time it became more and more negligible. Nowadays, we use to spend a lot of time together and have so much in common: sports, friends, careers and parties. Of course, we have some fight once in a while, but it seems to me he has become my best friend. Having in your brother your best friend is great, because he will be at your side for a long life time. He gave me his red t-shirt before coming here, which is very symbolic to me, because not only represent our friendship, but it also is the t-shirt of my country.

The next important things in my life should be explained together. One is my girlfriend and the other one is my liking for traveling. They should be together, because she has been with me in almost every long trip I’ve made. Traveling is new in my life, because three years ago I never thought about it. I hadn’t even taken a plane before. But all changed with our trip to Brazil. Who could have thought that this trip was the first of many? I guess I’ve been lucky, because thanks to several facts I’ve been allowed to travel to very interesting places… …places I never thought of visiting. These travels allowed me to realize how interesting it is to learn about other countries and cultures and how amazing it is to see for yourself these buildings and places from the history books. There is one thing I can’t avoid doing it during my travels and that is to buy a painting wherever I go, because it is my way to take with me a little piece of every visited country. Hopefully, all these painting will be hung over a wall in my house someday telling that part of my life. Meanwhile, I just have with me a note from Czech Republic and a D’Orsay Museum’s ticket. Finally, about my girlfriend I only will tell that we know each other since University and that, the day I took the plane to come here, she wrote a few words wishing me luck over the backside of the bill of one of the last restaurant we went in Chile. I keep with me that piece of paper since that day.

Now that I’ve looked back the almost thirty years of my life, I guess I could say that I’ve been lucky enough. Even though I come from middle class family, I’ve found my way to have a good education, good career, travel enough and now being about to spent the next two years of my life studying in United States. Not bad for a normal Chilean guy.