My life at Cumbres 2.0-converted

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“El Colorado Skii Center”
First Years in Chile/Primary School
My name is Pablo Ulriksen, I was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the 28th of October in 2001. I am the
middle child of three and the only boy.
In 2008 my family returned to Chile and my life at Cumbres begun. At first my parents wanted me
to attend The Grange School but there was no more space for a new student when we arrived so
among the other options, they ended up enlisting us at Cumbres. My
mother wanted me to start from kindergarten
since I returned to Chile before finishing it in
Brazil but luckily for me the school suggested I
started right ahead in first grade. This little fact
is crucial and very important to me because I met
and started some great 12 years of friendship
okoolpwith my classmates.
My first months in Chile at Cumbres School were
quite difficult. I was a shy boy in a new country
with a new culture and had left all my friends
behind. But everyone in my class were so friendly
that it was just a matter of time until it felt like
home. Even though everyone was very friendly with
me I think I had panic to situations where I had to
much attention on me, because whenever I had to
speak to a big group I panicked and cried. Actually,
my first day when the teacher asked me to introduce
myself, I only managed to say my name and started
crying for no reason at all. But through the years I have
reduce to almost nothing my nonsense nervousness.
In my first winter vacations from school I had an
amazing surprise when my best friend (from Brazil) and
his family came to visit us and we all went skiing. I
remember what a wonderful time I had playing and
Emilia (left), Pablo, Florencia (right)
talking with Arthur again. But after that visit they came one or two more times and I completely lost
contact with my friend.
At the end of my first year we had our first public class which for me was a very pleasant and
entertaining experience. The preparation process (for me) was awesome because we got to
skip boring classes and instead do this kind of trivia game where we also learned a lot
and practiced math. The day of the public class was even better because I was able
to win and both of my parents were there to see me. But looking back from an
objective standpoint this activity was really bad for many of my classmates
because it stressed them a lot and made them feel stupid in front of their own
parents, actually even from the beginning it was kind of discriminatory because
teachers had to establish the positions from worse to best calcifications so the “less
intelligent” people had some advantage by starting first. This is really bad because as
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Einstein said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live
its whole life believing that it is stupid” so from the beginning of our scholar years the same
institution that supposedly should make us better and smarter, just limits us and smashes a lot of
talent while it makes a few weaknesses excessively visible and forces everybody to work and be
better at the same things. That’s why if such an activity was to be made it should have a much wider
range of activities were more than one ability could be shown off, for example I'm sure a lot of my
classmates who usually ended up last would have got the first place in drawing, playing an
instrument, at sports and even comedy or something as simple as an expositive presentation (which
as I mentioned before was very uncomfortable for me). In conclusion the whole educational system
is wrong and is clearly made to homogenize society so it’s easier to control.
Heading into my second year was a lot easier. I already knew my classmates and made a lot of
friends, especially with Clemente Arcuch who was my neighbor so we spent a lot of time playing
together and with Matias Giddings and Javier Lartundo with whom we formed a really close
friendship and spent basically every Fridays afternoon together, where I can recall our unforgettable
battles in Matias house
with his NERF guns. Also, this
year I decided to get
into the school’s football
workshop with a group of friends but not even 3
months had passed by
when we skipped a training
session just because we
were mad at the trainer. My
parents reprehended me a lot for it and my friends
were also heavily punished. I think it was a
very good and much needed lesson about
responsibility and compromise. This same year
an amazing thing happened to me, I was in art
class and the miss at
“Clemente Arcuch (left) and Pablo Ulriksen (right)
the time liked listening to
music so she let us
Birthday Party Invitation”
bring CD’s and use her
radio. My friend Renzo
Canata brought an AC/DC
disc and it simply drove me crazy, I instantly knew I wanted to learn and play the guitar like they did.
Besides that, our music teacher at the time was Mr. Manuel and his playing style was so entertaining
(he played movie or game themes in front of us) that it also motivated me a lot. That year I asked
him to teach me how to play but he told me my hands were too small so we should wait until the
following year.
3 rd grade was a special one because not only my guitar journey begun but that year the football
workshop got harder and to make the team you needed to be selected after an exhibition match. I
am probably the worst Brazilian to ever play football so sadly (actually happily because
of the positive consequences) me and most of my friends didn’t make the team. But I
decided to start playing basketball and it was one of the smartest choices I took in my
life at school. I loved the sport, had so much fun and I was also pretty good at it and
even went on to be the captain for many years. And even better, I convinced Javier
Lartundo to join the team so not only I spent every class break speaking nonsense and
sharing my food with him but also every training session (that year we become even
closer friends). This year (2010) was also the first time I watched the FIFA world cup
and the school permitted us to watch the matches in class so we installed a TV and for
In the picture above I’m holding one of the few
trophies’ we ever won. In this case it was from a
domestic championship held at Cumbres School.
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every match we brought food and drinks to share. This activity ended up helping a lot in getting us
together and also to integrate our new classmates (in 3 rd grade we received about 3 new students).
Besides all the positive stuff, that year Chile lived an earthquake which of course was very
destructive but at the same time very eye opening to us young boys who knew so little about earth.
For me personally was a very fascinating experience because it was something so strange and
powerful that I had only listened about it.
4 th grade had less memorable events. But I received a very special gift named Duked. I had been
asking for a dog for a while and we decided to buy a West Highland High Terrier. I remember it was
a Monday when we could go pick him up but my parents didn’t let me miss classes. When I got
home, I found a cute little white boy and was the happiest boy on earth. I think it’s very special to
have a dog because not only is man’s best friend but also a big responsibility and life that is in your
hands.
“Pablo with his new puppy
named Duke”
Middle School
Getting to middle school was a new chapter for us because, as teachers told us, we were now the
big boys of the playground. At this point academic pressure started to slowly increase and I am
pretty sure that teacher’s patience decreased to a whole new level. About good and clear memories,
I can just recall the school’s “week games” where we teamed up in groups and competed in different
activities for the honor of winning. In 5 th grade we won and sadly that’s the only win we ever had
until our last year in school. In 6 th grade we were leaders or chiefs of our team so we had to organize
everything. We did so well in every activity that we thought we had won but when the results came
in we got very disappointed and mad with our 2 nd place, until this day we think we were robbed and
that it was rigged so the team were miss Lorena was always won (every single year she was in the
winning team and I don’t think it was a coincidence).
My last two years in middle school (7 th and 8 th grade) were a lot of fun. Basketball got more
interesting because we started participating in a lot of competitions and did quite well. When I was
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“Graduation Party at Colegio
Cumbres, 8th Grade”
in 7 th grade (2014) the FIFA World Cup was held in Brazil so I
was very excited for Brazil’s national team chances of winning
it all. But for the semi-finals Brazil played Germany and
suffered the worst lost in their history. I remember it was a
Friday afternoon and my friend Matias Giddings (who is kind
of German) invited me to his house and when we got in his
mother’s car the radio was on and they were announcing the
3 rd goal for Germany, we thought it was a joke because the
match was about 20 minutes into the game but when we
arrived to his home the TV was on and we saw the 4 th goal.
The rest of the match was a nightmare and not only I was sad
and disappointed but also Matias laughed at me the whole time for
the 7-1 loss (I would have done the exact same thing in his place). The
only good thing about that match were the American (USA) candies
we ate during it. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only bad thing that occurred to me that year. In 7 th
grade I stopped having guitar classes with Manuel and “hired” an older student of my same school
but he was very irresponsible so I ended up having just a few classes and my progress hit a big wall.
In 8 th grade I barely played guitar once a week so I had basically stopped practicing and learning. But
luckily the following year (9 th grade) my passion for music was still there and I decided to hire a good
teacher so I asked Renzo Canata for his contact and started once again guitar lectures. Looking back,
I wish I had hired him since the beginning. Going back to 8th grade, the biggest change regarding
the previous years were the parties. I got a lot closer to J.T Ilabaca and formed an inseparable group
with him and C. Arcuch, the three of us went out a lot, especially from 8 th grade onwards. Also, that
year we had our “graduation” from middle school and the tradition is to throw a formal party to
celebrate this milestone. I remember there was a lot of food, decoration and good music. But also,
the fact alone of suiting up made it a very interesting new and fun experience.
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High School
“El Piño del D”
Finally, I reached “EL Tercer Ciclo” also known as high school. 9 th grade was a fairly relaxed year and
we were more focused on having a good time than anything else and because of that we now have
a lot of classmates that wish they could go back and study more for a better NEM. That year, with
Jose Tomas Ilabaca and Clemente Arcuch, we went to every single “reliquia” (a party held at the
Mokaii night club for high school students). In the academic side I did very well and everything was
going smoothly until I injured my lower back. The doctor thought I had lumbago but his diagnose
was wrong. After some exams I was diagnosed with spondylosis, a degenerative condition of the
lower back very common in old people. Sadly, it’s a condition so it has no cure and the only solution
is physiotherapy. Later that year I stopped playing basketball for a while and had a slow comeback.
This was really bad for me because since then I couldn’t play that much or at full pace so I lost playing
time and wasn’t really motivated because after each match or training I went home with a back pain
that was really annoying. Actually, one doctor told me to retire from basketball but I wasn’t willing
to do that. Thankfully the other doctor I visited (for a second opinion) gave me a more intelligent
solution and told me I could continue to play basketball but with more precautions. Because of the
physiotherapy I got more into other sports and body conditioning and thanks to that I made a lot of
progress that summer, giving myself the chance to play “pain free”
basketball the following year.
10 th grade was an awesome year, especially due to the fact that we
went on a field trip (with the school) to Eastern Island. Honestly, I
had really low expectations of the trip and the destination. I thought
the Island didn’t have a lot to offer and “Latitud 90” wasn’t a good
bet to go on a trip with. Gladly I was half wrong and have a mother
that does not settle for anything. Latitud 90 planned the trip to go in
low season so they could budget in plane tickets and make more
money. In Easter Island low season means there are a lot of storms
and really bad weather so most of the activities can’t be done, lucky for us my
furious mother complained until they changed the date of the trip to a better
“Pablo (left) and Clemente (right)
enyoing Eastern Island”
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“Some members of “El Piño del D” in
the top of a volcano”
season. In the other hand my low expectation of the Island was totally
exceeded, I had an incredible time with my friends in all the activities
and the place was just magical. The best moment of the trip was our
bicycle ride to Anakena, after a 10-minute morning walk we arrived
to the bike rent where we started one of the best bicycles rides I’ve
ever done. First of all, we got to know the Island from a non-tourist
or local view point while we traveled the roads across almost all the
Island (it’s not that big) and in the last stretch we had to go downhill
in a set of very high speed curves which for me was very spectacular
because of the combination of scenic road with adrenaline. After that
we arrived to Anakena, the best beach of the whole Island which
surprisingly has very few of them. This beach is very small but has an
amazing clear sand and the water is even slightly warm (besides being crystal clear). And to top it
off it has its own set of Moais that actually represent some of the Kings Eastern Island had.
From 2018 (11th grade) my best memory is the summer with which I
In the middle of Rupanco Lake…
started the year. I did so many things and enjoyed every single day.
First of all, I improved my back problems and practiced a lot of sports
all December (2017). Heading into the actual year, in January I went
with all my cousins (from my mother’s side) to Rupanco Lake where
my grandparents have a beautiful place. In the Lake everything is so
enjoyable, not too hot, not too cold and the scenery is just
breathtaking. Besides that, every activity is simply more fun with my
cousins and starting from breakfast I already had a good time. In
February I went to Puerto Velero where I have
a lot of friends and every single day is a good time
to collect new anecdotes. During the day everybody plays beach games and
swim in the ocean so it’s a very relaxing and fun environment. During the
night everybody goes to “the peppers” which is a place within the facilities
where people can drink, BBQ, and dance in a big open space. Of course, one
can have a lot of fun in this place and also there are no complications getting
there because it’s just a 10 min walk from the apartments. Thanks to that
summer I could start my scholar year very happy, relaxed and with more
confidence than ever. Even Iván Peña (my spanish teacher) noticed a change
in me and actually gave me the nickname “change”. The rest of the year was
really awesome for me in every aspect and I could easily say it was one of
the best years of my life at Cumbres.
“Family Pic at the Beach”
Finally, we are into our last year of school which has me really exited but also kind
of sad. Just as the previous year my summer was unforgettable and the start of the year was pretty
good. Everybody thought the academic pressure would lessen and that teachers were going to make
everything easier. But this was far from reality, school assignments started multiplying and the worst
part is that most of the works were not only extensive but also useless because we didn’t really learn
something, it was just doing things to deliver them and never look back. For me it wasn’t that bad
because I got good results and wasn’t heaped up with my preparation for the PSU as many of my
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stressed-out classmates were. Looking into other aspects I took a very big decision this year by
quitting basketball. Starting the season wasn’t that bad because I only trained once a week, but
when the matches begun, I started getting really frustrated because the team wasn’t training hard
and we were losing every match. But the thing that really fed me up was the decisions the trainer
was making. Training sessions were awful and a waste of time. Matches were even worst; he was
making people who didn’t help the team at all play a lot of minutes and punished the ones that were
really trying to make things better. I can’t recall the exact day when quitted but I do remember it
was before a training session when I spoke with the trainer. At first, he refused to accept the fact
that I was leaving and he didn’t even let me talk about my reasons for leaving and when he finally
accepted my resignation, he acted very childish and started ignoring me. I wanted to thank him for
all the good times and say goodbye but he didn’t even shake my hand and kept ignoring me. It was
really disappointing because I had shared a lot of time playing basketball and being trained by this
man so we even got to be friends. But I don’t regret my decision and actually have made very well
use of my extra time. Another aspect of this year is the relationship of my class. Being our last year
there is a bigger sense of unity and we have even spent more time together outside school (usually
each smaller group goes out on its own). Recently we had a much-needed independence holiday
where almost everyone in my class went to the same place together. I didn’t go with them because
I went to Puerto Velero with my family, where I could enjoy the comfort of my home, good food but
also partying with my friends. Now we got 4 weeks to go to finish our last year in school and I am
very impatient and exited to get there. To be honest I’m not that sad like a lot of my classmates
because while there are some things I will miss, I am ready to close this phase. I am thankful for all
my years in this amazing school and will for sure have sweet memories about it. Thank you Colegio
Cumbres for everything, I’ll always strive for more like you’ve taught me.
What would I improve about school?
First of all, I think the sport culture in our school must be changed. The mindset we have as a school
is not about greatness. There is no big pride for the shirt, I think almost everybody that plays sports
only does it to have fun and for their own ego but there is an overall lack of competitiveness as a
school. The only way of improving this is by making athletes train a lot harder since the beginning
and build up competitiveness as a team, and of course elite athletes.
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Another thing that MUST be fixed is the amount of time we waste. For example, in classes like “PPS”
or religion we just sit and do nothing for so many hours a week and even in traditional areas as
biology, classes are usually monotone and a waste of time and money. I think the school could easily
fix this by controlling and supervising regularly classes in every subject (thing they do once a year…)
and also at the end of each semester talk with us, students.
My last concern is that there is no disposition and efficiency in fixing problems (infrastructure,
classes, evaluations, etc.). A clear example that makes me really mad is that there are 3 outdoor
basketball hoops that could be fixed to replace the bad and old ones but they rather have the old
ones because it’s easier. I don’t really know how to fix this because it totally depends in the school’s
managers, principal and others at the head of the institution.
About the future…
I want and expect to study Ingenería Comercial at Pontifica Universidad Católica. After that I hope I
can go to the USA to do some kind of MBA and work there in a big company so I can learn the realworld
stuff and maybe someday be my own boss at my own company. Also, regarding my personal
life, I would love to form a family someday and have kids of my own. In other words, I’m all in for
the American Dream.
“New York City is a place where I definitely
fell in love the USA. It’s a dream of mine to
live a few years in the capital of the world.
And maybe even work in Wall Street…”
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