Classes in paro

First, let me start off by saying that I only have three more weeks left in Chile and I honestly don't know where the time went. It feels like I just got to the airport to meet the 36 other US students with whom I was to share this adventure. I am grateful everyday to have been given this opportunity, one that has shaped who I am immensely.

After tomorrow, I will be done with the four out of my five classes. We had my final Chilean culture class on Thursday and I was shocked that it had flown by so quickly. We spent the class, all six "gringos" and our professor in a coffee shop getting coffee and cake just talking about life. For my Latin American history class, I turned in my 20 page research paper on feminism (probably one of the most sad papers I've ever had to write in my life, writing about the killing of women just for being women) and was out of there. For my final Juegos Mapuche class, we had a BBQ, drinking beer with our professor and eating choripan, aka chorizo with bread. My final Chilean history class will be presentations about different landmarks in Chile. Then we get to the complicated class, my linguistics class. To explain why this is the one class that isn't finishing this week, I need to explain the education in Chile.

Somewhere after the fall of Pinochet's dictatorship, students were promised free higher, university level education. I'm not entirely positive where that promise came from, maybe Michelle Bachelet's first presidential term in 2006? Regardless, somewhere along the way, that was something promised to the students. After years of waiting for free education with no success, in 2011 the students carried out major protests for free education. They had marches, strikes and "tomas," or taking the university. For three months, the students of all levels in all of Chile shut down the education system. There were no classes happening, the schools were closed because the students were living in them, and there were marches every day. Here is one of my favorite protests I've seen that took place in front of the presidential palace:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDRINm7411Y

To be honest, I'm not really sure how that asks for free education, but it's just a fun idea.

Flash forward from July 2011 to May 2015. Still, free education in Chile doesn't exist. And the students are pissed. They're tired of paying for education. So again, marches and "paros" (or strikes) start again. They aren't as extreme as they were in 2011, but still, many classes have been cancelled and a lot of the marches have turned violent. Like all the universities in Chile, the university I'm at, La Católica, has a board of students that directs the school. They get together and allow all the students to vote in each individual major whether the students want to do a march or a strike. So for the past 3 weeks, at least 2 days a week, the entire university has been in strike. No Chilean classes happen. The classes only for exchange students still happen, which is why I've finished with my other classes. Most of the time these strikes end after a couple days and then everyone goes back to class. But there are a few majors that voted to have a "paro indefinido", or an indefinite strike. And one of those majors is the Castellano major, the one that my linguistics class is in.

So for the last four weeks, that class has been in paro. I haven't had a class in four weeks. For the Chilean students, this is fine and dandy. They just cut their winter break down and continue with class when they decide the paro is over. But since I'm an exchange student with a set date I'm leaving this country (July 12th!), I'm having more troubles. I need to have a grade in the class before I come back to the US, and we still have four graded assignments left in the class. I've been in contact with my professor and she has been insanely unhelpful (that's what I get from the disorganization of Chile). So as I try to figure out how I'm going to complete three assignments and take a final exam, the Chilean students are partying and bumming around the house all day, saying that they're "fighting for free education."

I have talked extensively with my Chilean friends and my host family about the paro and everyone agrees that it makes no sense. It doesn't actually do anything to help the Chilean students, it just means they don't have to go to class. I am all for fighting for your rights, something that happens a lot in Chile, it seems like there's a protest every other day, but I also don't think not going to class is doing any good. The students are still paying for their education, now they're just wasting it. They're paying to sit at home and party. It seems ridiculous to me.

I have no hopes of going back to class before I go back to the US. I really don't think it's going to happen. So now I have to figure out how to get a grade in my class. It's extremely frustrating but also kind of amazing to see. This is something that happens in all of Chile, from the most northern city of Arica to the south in Punta Arenas. Chile may be the most disorganized place I've ever been, but the fact remains that this type of organization would never happen in the US. Fighting for free education? That would never happen in the US. And for this, I'm in awe of the Chilean students.

One Month Left

I have exactly one month left out of my six month stint in South America and I can't believe the time has gone by so quickly. This truly has been the experience of a lifetime and I am so sad to be leaving Chile. That being said, here are a few of the things I'm most looking forward to when I get back to the US:

• my dog Alvin (who, of course, my mom has been so nicely sending me pictures of just to remind me that she can hug and cuddle him and I can't)
• Mexican food, which, seemingly, doesn't exist down here
• salad (the "salad" here is iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and red onions with no dressing)
• REAL COFFEE (drip coffee doesn't exist in this country, it's all instant coffee and it's terrible)
• being able to walk down the street and not get hooted and hollered at
• understanding everything going on around me (although this has improved drastically from when I first got here, there are definitely still moments where I feel like a lost exchange student)
• driving
• being legal in the US (my 21st birthday was here so I haven't had my first legal drink in the US yet!)
• being in a country where everything isn't ass backwards and belly up (Chile has been amazing but this country is all backwards. None of the public offices work like they should, students shut down the university for days on end because of strikes, everything closes in the middle of the day to sleep, you eat lunch at 2:00pm and dinner at 10:00pm, parties don't start until 1:00am and you party until 8:00am. Suffice it to say, this country has me all turned around with what's normal)

There are plenty of more things I could add to the list, especially food I'm excited to eat and people I'm excited to see, but I figured I'd keep it short. It's unreal to me that there's only a month left and thinking about it makes me want to weep like a baby. I don't think I could have picked a better place to study abroad and I am so thankful everyday that I have the opportunity to do so. So, for the next month, I'm going out and experiencing all that Chile has to offer. I want to make this month as memorable as I can.