Soooo

Ok so it's been a really long time since my last post, and I had planned on updating about the weather and all that kind of thing, but since the strike happened its the biggest news.

Whats happening is that the students here all get allowances from the government while they are in the university. unfortunately though due to the economy the government doesn't have enough money to pay the students who are re-taking classes and are in their 5th or 6th year of university. So those students didn't get any allowances, nor did students with ID numbers before the year 2004. Then students who moved on campus, or off for this semester, didn't get any adjustment in the amount of money they were making. So the students had been having meetings and peacefully striking for a little while, then it all died down. We thought it was all down with.

Last week on Thursday, the 29th of January? .. the students (who were now joined by the engineering students from a different campus) marched around campus at midnight rallying students to begin the strike anew on friday. this happened and the students didn't go to class. we didn't go jus tbecause we didnt want to make any waves or cause any issues. jon and i were in the library and had to be evacuated because the mob was rioting outside the doors of the library, and two students from UNCG we trapped in the dining hall as the mob rushed in and flipped the tables and threw all the food on the floor. They had a pretty scary experience, and since then all four UNCG students have returned home.

That night Jon and I went to a hotel not far from campus, it was really nice and we stayed there until monday. Nothing much happened over the weekend, as the students wont waste their free time. Monday we moved into a conference center with the rest of the international students and have been there ever since. The students tried a few times to march to the ministry of education which resulted in skirmishes with the police, and about 60 students had to be hospitalized. as the police dont usually come to campus, when they do they mean business.

We hadn't gone back to campus until Wednesday morning, when a UB bus brought us all back to get clean clothes. We didn't know that it was at this point that the strike was culminating. The SRC, student government, leaders were all suspended from school, and were given an hour to vacate campus, jon and i happened to run into the mob protesting as the president lef this dorm.. the mob got realllly angry and began throwing rocks at everyone and everything that was not part of it. Jon and I got pelted pretty good, but aside from a few bruises ended up much better than the car we stood next to, which now has no windows.

The school then told everyone they had two hours to leave and school is now shut down. we will hear more today.. and my internet has one minute left so i will update again soon!