Why I Like Latin America

A number of my classmates at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) have asked me why I would want to come study in Argentina. Is anything that I am learning here relevant to the work that I will do as an attorney in the United States? Of course I have made a point to choose classes that are international in scope (International Private Law, International Arbitration, Maritime Law). There are potential indirect benefits - not many U.S. law students study abroad, so maybe my exposure to Civil Law could make me slightly more marketable in certain areas of U.S. law such as maritime and admiralty law, international contracts and disputes, and even some M&A. In the current job market, maybe an Argentine perspective on international law could help to distinguish me from the thousands of U.S. law students who will have an "international law" class on their transcripts. There is also the benefit of developing a Spanish legal vocabulary. There is an increasingly large Spanish-speaking population in the U.S., and they are all potential clients. On the other hand, much of the substance of what I am learning at the UBA may not be DIRECTLY beneficial to a legal career in the U.S.

The truth is that I just really enjoy spending time in Latin America. Here are a few reasons why:

Excitement & Challenges. Vacations are fun, but when you spend some time living abroad you find that what would ordinarily be mundane tasks become a lot more interesting and challenging. I'm talking about the little things - grocery shopping, making a photocopy of a document, or buying an random item such as a stapler. These things would be simple in your own country, because you'd know exactly where to go and you'd be able to anticipate approximately how much it will cost you. In the U.S., you would also feel confident that what you are looking for is in-stock and that whoever you need to talk with will be available during regular business hours. Well, here in Latin America you have none of those assumptions. If the notary office in Panama is open between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., that just means that the notary might (possibly) be in the office during those hours and definitely will not be in the office outside of those hours. Maybe you need a three-pronged folder for your law school class, but in Argentina you find that all of the folders are two-pronged. When you need to get to work or to an appointment, the street might be flooded resulting in a traffic back-up - or maybe a group of protesters has blocked the avenue. Your weed-wacker is broken and needs a replacement part, but the stores only sell replacement parts for obscure Chinese brands. There is a guy who sells the part you are looking for, but he is on vacation for the next 3 weeks. This is especially unfortunate, because he is also the town's notary public. You are probably better off just buying a new weed-wacker. It is a pain, but it can be really satisfying when you start learning to navigate through the inefficiency. Maybe we should move on to a better example of why I like Latin America...

Less Expensive. I do not come from a particularly wealthy family, but in Latin America I have some money. I can afford

Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere

I received this by email a couple weeks ago. I just remembered it when I sent the link to my blog to a few friends and explained that it is mainly just filled with my "same old bullshit".

Panama Upgraded to "Investment Grade" - U.S. Economy Still Sucking

Last Tuesday, Fitch Ratings upgraded Panama's rating to "investment grade". Here is a link to short blog article. A lot of people in Panama have been anticipating this for the last few months, so there has been a lot of excitement.

Of course, this is happening in stark contrast to everything we are seeing and hearing about the U.S. economy right now. It seems like a lot of people in the U.S. have decided that it is a good time to go back to school. I am one of those people. I had always planned to eventually go to law school, and when the real estate market went south I decided it might be a good time to hide out from the job market for a few years.

The problem with this plan is that a lot of us are accumulating a shit-ton of grad school debt. I have been told that we are apparently expected to pay that back at some point. BU Law is a top-20 law school, but there are a whole lot of BU Law students that will be doing "public-interest" (read "unpaid") internships this summer. Many law students hope for a career in the public-interest sector and would be doing this kind of work anyway. On the other hand, there are PLENTY of students who will be working for free this summer simply because law firms just aren't hiring summer associates like they have in the past. Law firms hire less summer associates, because they know they will not be able to make offers to all the "freshly-minted attorneys" coming out of law school in the next few years. I'll keep this post short, because there are plenty of people a lot smarter than me who can offer much more intelligent commentary on the economic situation in the U.S. Suffice to say that these are scary times for all of us...

A Phone Call from the Buenos Aires Police Dept.

When I arrived to Argentina on February 17th, my buddy Francisco went to the airport to pick me up. Not only that - he even had a room prepared for me at his house where I stayed during my first few weeks in Argentina. In fact, Francisco and his wife even invited me to live with them free of charge during the entire time that I am studying in Buenos Aires. The offer was particularly gracious given the fact that Francisco's wife is pregnant and expecting a baby in mid-April. I thanked them and explained that I would not feel comfortable accepting such a generous offer.

I was very fortunate in that I already had some contacts here in Buenos Aires before I arrived. Obviously, my friend Francisco is a hell of a guy. I'll have to tell you more about him later, though, because this story is supposed to be headed in different direction.

The story I want to tell you really begins when I moved into my own apartment about 2 weeks after arriving to Buenos Aires. I had only been in the apartment for about 3 days when I awoke one morning to an incoming phone call to my land-line. I groggily answered the phone, and the man on the other end of the line explained that he was a police officer with the Buenos Aires police department.

When you are a half-asleep gringo and receive a phone call from the Buenos Aires police department, you immediately start thinking of what you may have done wrong the night before. I suppose the officer anticipated this concern, and he explained to me that he was calling in regards to a robbery that had just occurred a few minutes ago here in the Capital. Apparently the 2 victims had been murdered

Law Prom - Future Attorneys Vomiting and "Poopooing" on the Floor

This past weekend was BU Law hosted its annual "Law Prom". You see, every year law schools across the U.S. have formal/semi-formal parties where all the law students get dressed up and go to a nice hotel banquet/ballroom to dance, drink, etc. Some law schools call this event "Barristers' Ball". BU Law calls it "Law Prom". Sounds fun, huh? A nice evening event with sort of a "prom" theme. It's even cute. Except "prom" isn't actually the theme - its actually just supposed to be a prom. In fact, every year the Student Government chooses an an additional theme for the "law prom". Last year the theme was Kentucky Derby, and there were a lot of seersucker suits, pastels, big hats, etc.

I make fun, but the event is actually really nice and a lot of fun. The Student Government puts a lot of time into planning and does a really great job putting on the event. My ex-girlfriend even came up from Panama last year and attended the Kentucky Derby themed Law Prom. She wore a big Kentucky Derby-style hat, and everyone confirmed to me that she was a really hot little latina. It is true; she was hot and little... exquisite eyes, tanned skin with a perfect complexion... a lean, toned body... little ears you could just nibble at... and her hair smells fantastic. Anyway, I'm getting off topic.

This year, the theme was "Casino Royale". I was not able to attend, because a round trip flight from Argentina would have been a too expensive just to attend a Law Prom. Maybe if the economy was better... Anyway, I was disappointed that

Going to France with your High School Girlfriend

Just to be clear, the last time I had a high school girlfriend, I was also in high school. At least that is the only high school girlfriend that I will be writing about on this blog. Ok, let's start the post...

Several weeks ago I started chatting online with my old high-school girlfriend. Imagine, we pretty much stopped talking about 8 years ago. Anyway, we were really close back then, so I have had a lot of fun catching up with her a little bit over the past few weeks. She is a newscaster now, which seems like a cool job. She also seems to be sort of a local celebrity in the city where she "does the news". I'll bet it won't be long before she moves on to a bigger market.

A few weeks ago we were talking about how we broke things off back when we were 18, and I was sort of musing at how things had ended up working out. I think it is a pretty cool story. You see, when we graduated from high school, we took the money that people sent us for graduation and went to France for a 1-month study abroad program. It sounds like a really cool experience, except that on the second day of the month-long-trip we broke up. Here is a valuable lesson: You probably shouldn't go with your good-looking, 18-year-old high-school girlfriend to France for a month. There is always the risk that she might realize that she is 18-years old, good-looking, and in France with her high-school boyfriend. If she does, in fact, realize this then things are probably not going to work out between the two of you. Of course there was a lot more too it than that, but

Congratulations to Craig, Mandy, and Sam!!!

My brother, Craig, got married last week. His new wife is a girl named Mandy, and she has a five-year-old son named Sam. I have only gotten to meet Mandy a couple times, but she seems like a really easy-going and fun person. I also know for a fact that she makes my brother extremely happy. Her son, Sam, is a really bright and awesome kid, and I have had a blast playing with him and my other nieces/nephew.

I wasn't able to be at the wedding, because I was down here in Argentina. This is what happens when you travel and/or live far away - life continues to move forward for the people who are important to you, and you miss out on a lot. People get married and have kids, and and couples separate or get divorced... Someone celebrates starting a new career, while someone else loses their job... There are birthdays and important dinners where lots of photos are taken, but you don't get to be in the photos. Kids grow up...

Travel and ambition often comes with this hefty price tag - things change, and you are not there for a lot of it. My mother reminds me of this fact quite often. I remember when my mom told me that my cousin, Josh, was getting married. He had dated a girl off-and-on for several years, and I assumed that they had finally decided that they wanted to be together. As it turned out, he was marrying a different girl that I did not even realize he had been dating.

Well, it appears that I am a bit of a narcissist. I started out writing about Craig's marriage, but I have somehow managed to make this about me. Congratulations Craig and Mandy! Craig is going to be a fantastic and committed husband, and I know he will continue to be a great father-figure to Sam. I'm really glad to have Mandy and Sam in my family.

Weekend Report - 03.28.2010

It has been a fun wknd. On Friday I got some work done and signed up for the classes I am taking this semester. That night my friend Analia invited me to a birthday dinner for one of her friends. It was a little bit of an older crowd - most of them in their thirties. Of course we ate a lot of beef and went through several bottles of wine. Beef is a staple here in Argentina, and you eat a lot of it wherever you go.

After dinner, we went to a salsa bar called Cuba Mía. This place was great. When we arrived around 1 a.m. there were all these couples dancing salsa. These folks really knew how to dance, so it was cool watching them. Apparently my friend Analia has taken some salsa classes, and she got out there a couple times. She was really, really good.

At around 2:30 they started playing more diverse music. There wasn't a D.J., but there was always someone up there singing and leading the music. I recorded some video with my cell phone, but I do not have the cable to connect the phone to my computer. So instead I have included the YouTube video above of one of the songs they sang. My ex-girlfriend had this song in her head for months after she came back from Cuba last year. Great song - listen to it! I also drank Fernet, which is definitely an acquired taste...

On Saturday, I spent most of the afternoon at my buddy Francisco's place. I have recorded a couple of my Arbitration classes, and Francisco offered to listen to them with me and help me with anything I didn't understand. Unfortunately,

La Perla

I just learned how to post YouTube videos on my blog. Sorry, there is no story here. I just really love this song and want it on my blog. This is a Puerto Rican group called Calle 13 featuring Panamanian salsa singer, lawyer, and former Tourism Minister, Rubén Blades. I never get tired of this song.

With a Little Help from Florencia

Yesterday I had coffee with this girl named Florencia from my International Private Law class. She is from La Pampa province of Argentina, she is about 24 years old, and she is extremely good looking. I sat next to her on the first day of our class, precisely because she is so attractive. I do my best not to hit on her, though, because she has helped me out a good bit in the class we have together. I'll explain my reasoning - if I were to hit on a her and it were to go badly, then she might feel less comfortable helping me out with the class material, helping me find where to find the reading assignments, navigate the UBA infrastructure, etc. This actually isn't so much of a problem here in Latin America as it is in the United States, as there is an assumption among many Latin women that guys may hit on them and, you know, generally act like guys. Of course, there is always the possibility that I hit on a classmate and it goes really well - but then the whole thing could go sour a week or a month later. Either way, I'd end up without an ally... So I try to be smart and not blatantly hit on Florencia. Anyway, she is a cool chick and seems smart and interesting, so I'd like to have her as my friend (see?? I am not a complete ass!).

As an exchange student, I think it can be a good idea to try to sit next to the best looking girl on the first day of every class. As a counter example, in my Arbitration class I just walked in on the first day and sat down without much thought as to whether I was sitting next to an Argentine hot-body. As it has turned out, I have a very difficult time understanding the professor. She talks extremely fast and does not really stop to ask questions or initiate discussion with the students. The worst part is that there is a horrible echo in the classroom. As I do not have a hot girl interested in making sure I understand the material and do well in the class, I have resorted to making audio recordings of each class and then trying to listen to them later in my apartment. The problem has not been quite so severe in my Maritime Law class; however that professor also speaks very quickly. I may end up needing help from a nice girl to survive in that class as well :-)

The point is, if you don't sit next to a great looking girl on the first day, you will be on your own. The path will still be walkable, but you risk stumbling as you will be alone when you encounter obstacles along the way. Furthermore, there are indirect benefits. When a gringo sits next to an attractive girl, he does his best to exude confidence. That cockiness can be a virtue if it helps the gringo to confront the inevitable challenges to be encountered in a law school class taught in a foreign country and in a foreign language. Just to be safe, sit next to a beautiful girl like Florencia and do your best not to hit on her...

UPDATE: As the semester has progressed, I have met good looking girls in both my Arbitration class as well as my Maritime Law class. That makes me feel a little better about things - it looks like they'll be willing to help me survive these classes. The lesson here is that sometimes you can go back and fix past mistakes and omissions. A 2nd lesson is that there are an abundance of great looking women in Argentina who have good handwriting.

Getting Robbed in Latin America

I keep up with a couple news blogs in Panama, and I just read this morning that the former Minister of Health in Panama was recently the victim of a home invasion robbery. Another article from the same blog explains that it is projected that the small Republic of Panama could see more than 1,000 murders this year, mainly related to drug trafficking.

Crime is a problem everywhere, but the risks can be particularly real for foreigners traveling and living abroad. As a tourist abroad, you may be carrying important documents such as a passport. More generally, when traveling anywhere you may carry larger quantities of cash. As you may be unfamiliar with the city or country, you may also be more likely to find yourself in a "bad neighborhood" where you stand out even more than usual. This also applies to you ex-pats living abroad (see my post about why you are still clearly a gringo).

You may also be partying and drinking more when you are on vacation. For example, there was the time several years ago that a guy punched me and took my money in New Orleans. That was in my own Country, but the point is that I might have prevented the whole thing by

Gringo

Step 1: My name is Ryan, and I am a gringo...

Yeah, the term encompasses a lot of negative connotations and many consider it to be offensive - but I am a gringo. I always have been.

I don't think I realized that I was a gringo until I began spending time in Latin America. I was born on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and I always considered myself a southerner until I realized that I am a gringo. When I was 24 years old, I moved to Panama to work for a U.S. real estate developer building a resort on an island off Panama's Caribbean coast. During my first three weeks, the company became engrossed in a strike with a radical labor syndicate called Suntracs. This labor union is well-known in Panama for shutting down streets, burning tires, throwing rocks, and pitting itself against the local police who arrive on the scene to break up the "peacefull protests". The company I worked for had this little golf cart that we often used to cruise around the little town near where we were developing, and one day I found myself headed straight toward a group of protesters marching down the main street. I probably should have just turned around and gone back to the office, but I was on my way to the supermarket to pick up something for lunch. I suppose I was feeling a little cocky, and I just kept driving forward. As the protesters and union reps passed by me, I heard someone yell, "F*ck you, gringo!"

I was excited to tell my co-workers about about my adventure when I arrived back at the office. We gringos really get a kick out of this sort of encounter, and we usually assume that our miraculous adventures in Latin America are completely, 100% original. We drink beer with some local guy, visit or get robbed in a "bad neighborhood", or pay a guy to guide us into the jungle - whatever we do, a gringo likes to think that he/she is the first gringo to do it. Of course, there is nothing better than being invited to a party where you are the only gringo. These make for fantastic Facebook photos and/or blog postings. We accumulate these stories, and then we go to gringo parties where we scoff at other gringos that who have arrived to Latin America more recently. As a gringo who has been in Latin America for several days, weeks, or months, you can be sure that all those other naïve gringos cannot possibly have had the plethora of interesting experiences that you have. My personal preference is to look down on dirty "backpackers". They show up in little Latin American towns, eat avocado and tuna from the can, and spend 2-3 days getting drunk and not showering before finally moving on to some other town where they will criticize U.S. materialism and will not put any money into the local economy. See, it is easy!

That day on the golf-cart was the first time that I was ever called a gringo. I have also been called a gringo as a term of endearment. So, what does it really mean to be a gringo? What I have realized is that I am a gringo because I just don't quite fit in here. I'm not from here; I'm from "allá". I speak Spanish well, I am well-versed in Latin American politics and history, and I eat the local food - but I'm a gringo. I listen to Latin music, date Latin girls, and enjoy watching The Simpsons dubbed in Spanish - but I'm still a gringo. Almost two years ago I moved from Panama to Boston for law school, and guess what... I don't quite fit in there either! After three semesters of law school at BU Law, I'm still a visitor. At some point I'll leave and move to some other place where I won't quite fit in. I suppose it has become a way of life, but I really like it.

Right now I am writing from Buenos Aires, Argentina where I am an exchange student at the national university's law school. Let me tell you, it feels great to be down here again having new adventures. Being "away" for a lengthy period of time, a guy begins to think about things in a different light and develops a perspective that lies somewhere between clarity and naivity. Starting now, I am going to write it all down. After all, its not like something I put on the internet creates a permanent virtual footprint that can come back to haunt me indefinitely. I'm sure I can just erase it all one day when I grow up, get married, and decide to pursue a political career... :-)