My name is Joaquín Thul, I am 29 years old and I am currently living in London, England, for about 5 years. I entered the IUA when I was 2 years old, in level 2, and I did all of Pre-school, Primary and practically all of Secondary, up to 5th grade of high school, at the IUA. From Level 2 I started to learn English and I went all the way through international exams, from Trinity in Primary, to FCE, CAE and Proficiency, and that was something that sometimes, at the beginning, you don't find much value in not knowing what use you are going to give to English, it is something that you end up valuing much later, when you realize that you leave with a language level preparation that you see that it is excellent. The fact of learning other languages such as Portuguese and French at the same time generates an ability or a willingness to learn different languages and to open yourself to other cultures that many times in other places you don't have or it is not valued in the same way. I arrived in England at the end of 2010, and London in particular is a city in which there is a mix of people, cultures and languages from all over the world, and everyone gets together speaking English, which is the main tool you have there. It was there that I realized that there are many people, including the English, who have no other language as a base, so they value very much the fact of meeting people who come from South America, or Asia, or from a remote country called Uruguay, and who can speak in English that is excellent, with the same level that they have there, and that opens the doors to all parts of the world. I went to study a postgraduate degree in Economics and obviously all the courses and all the exams were in English, so it was no longer about learning the language, it was something they took as a basis. Then I started working there, I am currently working in an investment bank in London and many of the people I deal with on a daily basis are surprised that in Uruguay we have access to such a high level of English. I think that although sometimes we don't realize all the learning we have in Uruguay, in the long run you realize that you can go out and compete worldwide against anyone. As a final comment, I think that nowadays, although we have a good level of education in Uruguay, the fact of having an experience, either in education or work abroad, is something that helps you a lot for your life. It can be for a job or a trip, and that is why I think I would have to tell everyone to take some time abroad, to train, to work, to have the experience, but then return to Uruguay because I think it is the way to have trained people with a good level of experience, it is the way we can also help to have a better country.