Transcription
A drunk student last night came and peed there. Okay, it's our turn now, huh? We're going to touch the legendary peed-on boot here. Could it be? Let's see, let's go. It doesn't smell like pee. Okay, it doesn't smell like pee. But we possibly just touched the pee of some drunk student, but a very intelligent one because he studies at Harvard. [Music]
We are in Boston, United States, and today we are going to give a tour of one of the most well-known, most prestigious, and most expensive universities in the entire world, Harvard University, a university where eight presidents of the United States have studied, to which nearly 160 Nobel laureates are linked, and which is in fact the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States of America, founded in the year 1636, in fact, long before the United States was an independent country. This is going to be very interesting.
Look, all our lives we hear about Harvard, that some of the founders of the most powerful companies in the world have passed through here. In fact, I had already made this video 8 years ago. It was in 2017 that I came and made the video "This is the most expensive university in the world." I felt very nice seeing that video. I started watching it before coming here and I noticed that in effect, in that video, I didn't show anything, but nothing. I think I just walked around a small square, half-chatted about some facts and such, and I went to look at the comments and most of them are like, "Oh, I thought Luisito was going to go inside, you should have done the tour better with Google Maps," but look, it's a video that has like 25 million views. I'm going to delete it, huh. Hopefully we can surpass Luisillo from 2017.
And precisely today that I'm back, it's a very special day for me, as I'm coming to Harvard to give a talk. A group of students invited me to speak with the Hispanic community at Harvard. So, I think that's going to be very cool, it's going to be very nice. It's always lovely to be able to share knowledge with the younger ones. Well, come on, one of the most well-known, most prestigious, most expensive universities in the whole world. Harvard University awaits us. Let's go for it. [Music]
We begin the tour at possibly the most famous spot on campus, which is the statue of the three lies. We can see that many people come, uh, they touch its foot, okay? And in fact, accompanying that, there's a slightly disturbing fact, a disgusting fact. I'll tell you about it shortly. For now, let's let people take their happy photos there. But you see, this statue is known as the statue of the three lies, because, number one, this is the statue of John Harvard, whom many would believe is the founder of this university, right? That's why the school is called Harvard. Well, it turns out that's not the case. In fact, John Harvard only studied here for one year. Sadly, he died very young at 30 years old, and more than the founder, he was a great donor who helped the university's development. He donated half of his fortune along with his entire collection of books, which are said to have been about 400 books, and that's why the university was named after him. Lie number two. We can see that the year 1638 is written on the plaque, which many might interpret as the year the university was founded. It was actually founded in 1636. 1638 was the year our pal, good Johnny, died, and that's why it has that date. And lie number three is that in fact, the man in the statue representing John Harvard isn't even John Harvard. It's a student they used as a model. They told him, "Come on, sit here." While someone makes you like this to measure. Well, back then they said, "Come on, who's going to realize this isn't John Harvard?" But years and years later, these facts prevail.
And well, this is interesting, right? But here's what I consider the most unique thing. And that is that we can see that indeed many people come like this, people from all over the world come to touch its foot because this is like something for good luck. Look, there goes another person. They take a photo, right? They grab its little foot, right? Because well, it's for good luck, it's for good fortune, such, it helps you academically, what do I know. But it is said that students, as an act of trolling, urinate on the statue's foot so that people who come and touch it and take their photograph are actually touching their pee, right? Their their pee. In fact, today we can see that precisely there is the stream of pee, that is, a drunk student last night came and peed there and today we are here. I don't know, maybe they are raindrops, what do I know. But that stream does look very specific, right? I mean, it does look, it looks like pee, right? Let's not kid ourselves. Okay, it's our turn now. Uh, we're going to touch the legendary peed-on boot here. We can even see that it's discolored. Look at this, that well, yes, thousands of people a month come here and do this. We will rub your boot, my pal, who isn't even John Harvard, but I hope you give us knowledge, knowing that it's surely pee. Could it be? Let's see, let's go. It doesn't smell like pee. Okay, it doesn't smell like pee. We'll give it the benefit of the doubt, but but we possibly just touched the pee of some drunk student, but a very intelligent one, because he studies at Harvard. [Music]
We are now passing through the dormitory area, and they tell me that more than 90% of Harvard students live in campus dorms. We are talking about more than 7,000 students; it's an entire community. And precisely this building behind me, called the Grace building, has several curious facts and even a disturbing one. Let's see, first the pleasant part. In this building, in modern times, Barack Obama's daughter lived. And it is said that Barack Obama, the former president of the United States, personally came to help his daughter move her things. A nice experience, right?, of father and daughter, something dreamlike that, of course, no matter your position, how important you may be, you don't want to miss. And it certainly leaves a nice anecdote for the campus, because Barack Obama also passed through here; he was also a student at this university.
And now, the truly disturbing fact. And that is that in that same building lived, oh boy, no, I don't want to call him famous, the named, uh, terrorist known as the Unabomber. Basically, a crazy person who used to send bombs by mail. He caused a lot of misfortune. Like that, those people who are just a little bit off, something snapped in their cognitive process, and yes, he lived there in that dormitory and to this day he is known as the Harvard terrorist. How about that? Extremely tough. One never knows what outcome time will bring you, and we never know if that pal with whom we shared a dorm and got drunk on Saturdays, years later, will turn out to be a madman who bombed people. Wow, a quite, quite disturbing fact.
I met some really cool pals here, uh, actually Mexicans, who let me go in and see a little bit of what a dorm is like inside. But look, so you can see a little bit of what an authentic Harvard dorm is like. Basically, how it works, at least in this building, is that they have a common room where they can socialize, do homework, watch TV, read whatever. Eight people who live around it, and they have several such common rooms in the building. And they are telling me that how the housing situation works is that the first year you study at Harvard is practically random. You don't know who you're going to be assigned with. Maybe you don't have friends, right? You don't know. From the second year, when you've perhaps made your little friends, your group, you can fill out a form and make a request like, "Hey, I want to have a chance to live with Juanito, no, with Pedrito." In most dorms, it can only be men with men, women with women, and yes, you could end up living with, uh, the people you choose.
Now the guys who received me super kindly here are telling me that the dorm and food and everything else is all included in the price one pays for, let's call it tuition, which, ugh, is not cheap. I had read on the internet that nowadays it hovers around $55,000 annually, but here my pals are already correcting me and telling me that with the dorm, with food, with everything, it comes out to approximately $100,000 a year. Or I'm going to delete it, right? Well, yes, indeed it is one of the most expensive in the world, but of course a large percentage of students have a scholarship, they have some kind of fund, because yes, very few people can pay those very high amounts. How crazy, like an American movie, an authentic Harvard student dorm?
Tell me what the process is like to get in here, what kind of exam you have to take, how it works. It's a bit rigorous, so it's a holistic process; different aspects of each applicant are evaluated, and they tell us from exams called SAT or ACT, like high school grades, and they also heavily evaluate the extracurriculars you have, and basically everything you've done as an individual throughout your life. And something very, very important that they evaluate here in the United States is the person's story; they want people who have not only done extraordinary things but also have that motivation to solve problems in the world, contribute to their country, to their community, and they evaluate that even in six different types of essays. That is, it's like in the movies where you have to write an essay and they evaluate it based on that. Exactly. In the end, uh, of my process, I wrote more than 20 essays for the different universities. Wow, how crazy.
I believe that the people here you cannot find anywhere else. Whenever you go to eat in the dining hall, you find people to talk about any type of thing, people who have had 1000 experiences, people who come from very different places, who have incredible goals and who have already achieved many of them. So, it's always inspiring to talk with a lot of people and it helps you a lot, even for your own ideas.
Look, the mail truck is just passing by, he says. I mean, let's see, if I order an Amazon package to my dorm, does that truck bring it to me or what? No, yes, that truck will bring it to you, but it won't leave it here, it will leave it behind this building. There's another building where they collect all the packages, and there, well, when your package arrives, they send you a message and you can go there to pick it up. Wow, that's cool. It's very, it's very good, very good.
And for example, delivery food. Delivery food is usually left outside the dorm or outside the library; they don't bring it inside, it's more complicated to enter. And the parties, how are they? Are they like American movies or not? Yes, completely. I think for us two, accustomed to either Latin or Spanish parties, the music does feel much more different. Like in the basement too or in dorms. Yes, it is very, very similar to the movies.
I am very surprised by how enormous this university is, truly. Check it out, right here there's even a high-speed street that passes by, but the university doesn't end. I mean, even this building is still part of the university. And well, precisely this construction we are seeing is one of the most emblematic. This is Memorial Hall, so to speak, the memorial corridor that seeks to pay respect to about 200 students who lost their lives during the Civil War. After the tragic deaths, the mothers of the young men decided to make a memorial for their sons. So they built this building which, translated into modern currency, would have cost something like 110 million dollars. And it's no wonder. Look at this. This is a piece of art. Even if you see it from afar, you would think it's, I don't know, a church, a cathedral, but no. Really, here is the dining hall for first-year students, as well as other classrooms and a theater where some music and arts students study. A visually beautiful place and nice for reflection.
Now, many will say that this memorial is possibly the prettiest, most beautiful building in all of Harvard, which ironically is right in front of what many call the least aesthetic, most abstract, which curiously is the Faculty of Design and Architecture. This building with a completely different type of design is where some of humanity's next great architects will study. And precisely over there, if we kept walking a little bit, there's a building that was actually designed by the same architect who designed the Twin Towers in New York, which is the psychology faculty. If we continue this way, cross this street here, they are still Harvard buildings. Over there. It's still a whole little world, a whole society, uh, of people who are very [Music] diligent.
You might be wondering, why am I so handsome in this pose leaning against this column? And why is this image in black and white? Well, we are recreating a very iconic photo, which is the first public photo of the now former President of the United States, Barack Obama, when he used to study law at Harvard, right here at this spot. How about that? And it's that perhaps many didn't know this fact, but former President Obama indeed studied at Harvard Law School and was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review, which is, so to speak, a highly prestigious legal academic journal. And it's very crazy to think that this was already around the 90s, to say something like, "Oh, he was the first African American to achieve such a thing in the 90s." Well, wow, we're not even talking about another era, another generation. That type of data always manages to impress.
And here's another one that, phew, when they told me just now, it blew my mind, and indeed I think it qualifies as a truly disturbing fact. And that is that several years ago, women could not study at Harvard; it was only a school for men. Eventually, women's rights, history happened, and a sister school to Harvard was founded, let's call it Radcliffe, where only women studied. Then modern times arrived, practically the 1980s, and they merged Radcliffe College with Harvard University. But it wasn't until 1999 that women who studied at that school, well, literally studied at Harvard, their degree, their bachelor's, their master's, whatever it was, could not say Harvard. Such prestige was only a privilege enjoyed by men; for women, it was like, "No, no, she did study at Harvard, but let's not forget it's Radcliffe College. No, no, no, it's not Harvard University as such." And finally, they merged it, and that's when women officially could study at Harvard University just 26 years ago. No, no, no. How crazy that if you tell me that fact, I'd say, "Oh, yes, that happened in the 1800s, in the 1700s." No, no, no. 1999, my friend, the degrees for women and men were not equal. Look, an opening for a topic, quite complex and deserving, to be developed in the comments, of course, right? In many ways, what a disturbing fact.
The founding of Harvard has a highly religious context, and signs of this are everywhere, crosses emblazoned on buildings, churches suddenly appearing. Precisely this one here is the memorial church, the Memorial Church, where names of Harvard students and graduates who died in different wars throughout history are displayed. The church is very beautiful, very spacious, and being on a university campus, of course, it has also opened up culturally a lot over the generations. The clearest example is right at the main entrance, where the main sign for Harvard Memorial Church is, there is an LGBTQ+ representation flag attached and also a Black Lives Matter protest symbol. And while it's not like the education is religious as such, of course not. Yes, signs of these principles are seen everywhere.
Another of the most famous points of the university is, without a doubt, the Whitner Library, which is behind me, where nearly 3.5 million books are stored, arranged in aisles spanning seven floors that if one were to walk them from beginning to end without skipping a single book, it would cover a distance of about 92 km. Oh my goodness, think about it, you can run more than two marathons in here in the library, just walking through aisles, going down floors. So, that is the main reason why the library is so interesting. But beyond that, also the history of its founding. And you see, it is said that a Harvard student was traveling aboard the Titanic ship, when what we all already know happened, the student sadly lost his life, and around these dates, the student's family, who was a super-millionaire family, had bought a very expensive historical piece which was a Gutenberg Bible. This means it is one of the first 21 books in history that were printed, that went through a printing process. Can you imagine the millions this must cost? The Bible was traveling on another ship that was not the Titanic, so sadly the son and the lady's husband died while the Bible "survived," in quotes, "survived," which of course caused the mother tremendous guilt. And after a mental struggle that we cannot imagine, she decided to donate a very large amount of money to the university so that this library could be built where this very special and expensive Bible could be housed, as the lady believed that someday her son's soul could return to read it. Now, the only condition the lady set to donate this amount of money, which if we translate it into modern currency would be the equivalent of 95 million dollars, was that no brick of the library could be moved, the facade, everything is preserved as such, and that is why it looks exactly as it was founded decades ago. A very curious, very interesting fact, which explains why this library is so, so symbolic and important.
This statue we are seeing was donated by China to commemorate 300 years of Harvard's history, and today it is a symbol representing the Chinese community at Harvard. I think it's a good time to tell you that just today they're telling me that several students are nervous because, as of the date I'm recording this, a big political problem is happening. Look, I don't even want to get into that topic because lately, uh, we've been very political on the channel, a lot of press of that nature, and I don't want any more headlines, but go investigate what's happening a bit with the Trump administration and Harvard as of the date I'm recording this, 2025, and there's a certain threat that student visas might be revoked for the international community. So, many students from other places are truly nervous that decisions from high-ranking officials could cost them their careers. Like, you won't be able to study here anymore. Man, extremely tough, very strong, and I repeat, I don't want to get into the topic much. Go investigate it on your own, but it is something that is being discussed and felt as latent.
Well, that has basically been our tour. Now I have to get ready because in a little while I have to go talk with the students and such. This tour has been great, it's been excellent, a lot of learning. Uh, well, come on, let's go. I'm [Music] super excited.
Well, that's it, the talk concluded. It was very good, honestly, very pleasant, and, wow, I had a lot of fun. It felt very close, very personal. They were asking me open questions, we were talking about everything, excessive laughter, okay? There really, really was laughter. And I loved it, above all I felt very moved, that is, I think that's the word, moved, because as I was telling you, I was watching the video I made 8 years ago at Harvard University and, wow, the person I was back then and the person I am now, truly seeing that, I don't even know what to call it, that evolution has moved me so much. I feel very happy and there's nothing left but to thank, of course, all of you who watch me, all of you who support me, but above all to thank the Luisillo of his twenties, the Luisillo of 2017, 2018, who worked hard, who toiled, toiled, recorded a lot of videos, who never stopped having fun, who never stopped believing in social media. And that, I feel satisfied. I've had a nice reflection upon returning to the same place 8 years later in a reality, quite a different one.
Well then, with this we conclude this great video. I hope you liked it, I hope you learned a new little thing or two out there. Thank you very much for joining me on one more adventure and as always, we'll see each other in a few days with a new video. Goodbye, University Bud. [Music]