Catolica en Toma

You all are gonna get a kick out of this. A lot of you tease me for basically not even being in school down here because of the lack of frequency with which I go to class and have homework...welp...it's gotten worse. I haven't had class for a week cuz the school's been locked up. Locked up by whom you ask? Oh thank you for asking. That's the best part.

Locked up by students.



It's called a toma. Toma comes from the verb tomar which means to take. Students broke into the school Thursday night and have been holed up there ever since. They barricaded the windows and doors with chairs, benches, and whatever else they could find and won't let any professors or faculty pass. I guess it's pretty common here. Most of the universities are doing it and Diego told me he did it a few years ago back in 9th grade.



I'm a little fuzzy on what all they're asking the government for by doing all this. But I think it has something to do with public vs private education system, lower tuition, government aid, and things like that.



Since we're fellow students and all, we decided to buy them some bread and tea :) When they offered to let us in, we couldn't refuse. We talked with some students, walked around the school, and ended up helping some of the English majors translate what they wanted their sign to say into English. It was a cool thing to observe and be part of. Slightly frowned upon by our study abroad program, but as my buddy Natalie (yellow sweater) said, "I've never gotten in trouble for anything. If I'm going to get in trouble, I want it to be for this."


^^ Nat and I on the inside!









Nat with a bunch of the Chileans >>

<< I wasn't kidding. It was seriously LOCKED UP!








>>The outside of our school, Catolica, with banners of protest