Hola Todos!

So tomorrow is the last day of the ILP program and I have a presentation and test tomorrow, I've been out all day and here I am writing a blog. So this week has been a little stressful because I've been dealing with the end of ILP and the beginning of school. So as I think I mentioned before about 1/4 of our group is attending Universidad de Chile, or more commonly known as La Chile, and the rest are going to attend La Catolica. We "La Chile" people have been having problems because everything is very "wishy-washy" right now because of all the protests. Apparently there have been many protests here in the past but none like this one right now. Its actually pretty cool to be here right now at this very historical time for the entire education system here in Chile. I don't exactly know all of whats going on but I'm going to do my best to explain and regurgitate what i've been told. From what I understand many of the financial problems are a little similar to what is going on with the California public universities but to a larger degree and with a combination of other governmental issues. For the past 2 1/2 months this strike has been going on and it continues to escalade. Every thursday that I've been here there have been huge marches that I can't even imagine (cause we've been told to stay away), with a estimated 100,000 people. There are signs and graffiti all throughout Santiago (buses, walls, windows) about the education problem especially in front of the schools. Not only are the students at La Chile on strike but the faculty also. Classes are supposed to start monday but from what we have heard there is no way that is going to happen. Also, there is no one who is able to give us and answer to when they will start because everyone says something different and no one knows, not even the people in charge of the university. So if hypothetically classes don't start until october and we miss two months of school then that is tacked onto the end and would make the semester potentially go to february. This is a major problem for those of us only staying for the semester and who have to return home to our home universities. So we met today and were given the option to switch schools to La Catolica (which i believe is private). La Catolica is a lot more regimented and on schedule and not on strike to the exent of la chile. As well as the faculty are not on strike. As cool as it would be to go to La Chile, I've decided to switch because there is just no way I can stay here past when i was planning to go home. Basically in Chile there is a large gap between the rich and poor. There is not really a middle class. This country has gone through huge economic and political changes throughout the past 40 years and because it has been so rapid there are a lot of problems. Right now there is a movement by the wealthy (including government) to privitize education to profit earning companies and the people are very against this. The only power the people have is their voices and the rest belongs to the rich. The people also believe that everyone has the right to higher education but don't believe it is possible with the "high" tuition (high for them, but low compared to UC). Also, here there is not really FAFSA or the types of scholarships that give people the chance to attend college who don't have the means. People want a change in the system of education to give more people the opportunity and want it fast. I think that technology and social networking also play a big part in all of this. Also the strike has definitely extended to more areas then just education. Someone was telling me also how before with the military coup in the 70s, protesting was banned and repressed and so now there all of the repressed anger and frustration with the government, economy is coming out the the whole city is uniting and demanding a change. I also heard that now that the city is out of the Copa America the strikes are most likely going to escalade because of the focus shifting to the strikes. People are also mad with the government because they want to build dams in patagonia, a project called HidroAysen. I think this strike is against the small population of rich people and big companies and the desire to spread the wealth more to the people. So in all its really cool to learn about everything going on and to be living through it. Luckily I am able to change schools though and still have the opportunity to go to class and everything. I hope to take some sort of history class so I can learn more about everything going on here and be able to understand it all better.