La toma

It´s worth mentioning that I haven´t had class in three weeks. That is related to the picture I posted a couple weeks ago of the chairs piled up in the stairwell at the UBA-Fílo campus. The campus is currently "tomada" or under siege as part of a protest on behalf of the students who disagree with the spending of the education budget. Of course, I can´t put in my two cents as a foreign exchange student, but I do know that the campus could seriously use an injection of some sort of funds. Not doing so well right now. The toma has been a pain in the ass because, while not having class is nice, we never know when it´s going to lift -- so we can´t even travel! I was supposed to have my first midterm today, but that´s been indefinitely postponed. It´s been a very interesting cultural experience, even though I know Middlebury is having a fit, what with their hands tied and 20 students who need a semester´s worth of credit. I´ll certainly keep you (all six people who read my blog) posted on whatever happens with my besieged school.

On another note, I´ve just started an internship with a non-profit organization called Responde. They work with rural Argentine pueblos to build and maintain a better quality of life, and are now moving forward to promote self-sustainability in a more environmental manner within these pueblos. Many of them can reap the benefits of responsible tourism due to their locations, while others are situated for production of certain items and have become able to trade effectively with other pueblos so as to boost their micro-economies. My 'expertise', ahem, is in trying to figure out realistic ways that these pueblos can err on the eco-friendly side and not just burn out pretty much the only thing they´ve got for sure -- their land. My first couple of days were spent researching and compiling a report on how to better design slaughterhouses in rural areas such as these pueblos. Let´s just say I now know the importance of really cleaning those guts off the floor before you hack apart a carcass.

Next!