Who needs scheduled holidays when you can make your own? This is the attitude of the Greeks. Today I woke up and found this little message in my email "I would like to inform you that the building of the Dept of Civil Engineering has been taken over by the students. It will be under occupation from today, 11-11-2008 until 13-11-2008." So no class this week! Woohooo!!!! Apparently this happens pretty regularly and sometimes lasts for months at a time. This particular strike is in response to the government debate over the allowance of private universities. Currently all universities in Greece are public and the students would like to keep it this way. They believe that private universities will invite corruption devaluing the worth of a degree from all Greek institutions. They feel that some people will simply buy their degree. Enrique and I were curious about this occupation/strike so we walked up to the school to see what was going on.
Just as we suspected nothing was different. The campus was as deserted as it always is, there were no banners or marches or anything. We walked up to the building and tried to get in only to find all of the doors had been barricaded by chairs or broomsticks. We finally found an open door and went inside. We walked around the halls and only found couple of girls in the lobby listening to music and playing cards. The girls said something to us as we passed and even though I had know idea what words they used I knew they were telling us to leave. Upon a peaceful exit we went back to our apartment to wait for day two of the occupation or at least until next Tuesday when classes resume. I guess this is just another of the many twists and turns that any day can take in Greece.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment