Locos

I'll explain why we're on the beach later :)

Note: I will be using “class” and “grade” interchangeably because, come on, there's less than 20 people.

Of course, a class so microscopic has some drawbacks such as: wildfire-type rumors and outcasting, impossibility of a wide selection of electives, and the fact that socializing is pretty much required. As an introvert, that last part makes me feel euuuuughhhhh.

But as far as I’m concerned, the pros outweigh the cons.

Love-language

I know my classmates care about me because they steal and wear my glasses, throw pencils at me when I sleep, mess with my hair, and step on my shoes. In the U.S., this might be seen as bullying, but it’s soooooo far from that (I promise). 

I would trust these people with my life. And I have. When I was walking through the city in the dark, they walked to pick me up. When they heard I fainted in the yard, they ran to the house. When I was vomiting over the toilet, they held my hair back. 

I found a picture after the water fight!!! Note: this is both the juniors and the seniors.

I am with the same group of 18 people every day—I know them and they know me. Their last names, nicknames, sports, siblings, crushes, exes, parents, etc. I even know where half of them live. 

It’s STRANGE.

Being able to just NAME everyone in my class in my Minnesotan high school would’ve been a not-so-small miracle!

Imagine walking into two rooms. The first one has 500 people, so you slink along the edges, and maybe bump into a few friendly loners. The second room has only 5 people. They all turn to you as you walk in, and ask so many questions they practically know your life story after 10 minutes. By the time you walk out of the first room, you may have a friend and a dozen acquaintances, but the time you walk out of the second room, you’ve got 5 people who’ve got your back.

Which would you rather have?

Laying in the grass in a park after school :)

Overgrown Children

I’m so lucky to get the chance to experience what such a close-knit group of teenagers looks like: chaos— but the good kind. 

Most of the time.

I’ve seen 5 people stacked on one chair like Jenga; backpacks taped up into an impenetrable cocoon; worms put in pencil cases (don't worry, I saved the worm); backpacks thrown out windows; and a desk set on fire with hand-sanitizer. AND THEN when the desk was on fire, one of the idiots put his hand into the BURNING hand-sanitizer and was surprised when his hand lit on fire. He was fine.

Literally anything goes when the teacher isn’t present, and sometimes even when they are.

While this may sound nuts, I ADORE these people and every single bit of chaos they bring along with them. 

¿Remember the Alianzas? That's our homeroom/math teacher btw.

Bonding

One of the more subtle differences between my Minnesotan school and this one is not just that there are fewer people, it’s that there is more time for fun, relationship-building, and simply being occasionally-idiotic teens.

• Every once in a while, when there’s nothing to do in class, we have this thing called “convivencia” which is basically the Chilean equivalent to a pizza party, but better (and 100x more frequent). 
  • We blast music, order food and drinks, and pretty much just mess around.
  • Last month, we accidentally cracked a window with an inflatable plastic ball. Oops.
  • Ordered food may include pizza, onion rings, french fries, and mini cheese empanadas. 
  • It’s just... it's just fun! PLEASE can American high schools adopt this practice?

• For my citizenship class, the students were split into two groups and went to two different houses of extremely low-income elderly people to freshen up the space. We scrubbed floors, wiped windows, moved rocks, cleaned the stove/oven, painted the walls, etc. 
  • In 2-3 hours, a small group of teenagers can do a LOT. I can literally not imagine doing something like this in my U.S. school—and why not?

A few seniors came along too.

• And finally, at the end of the year, each grade has “un pasaje” which is a class-wide trip that is funded by bake sales and jean-days (you have to pay 500 pesos (½ a dollar) to come to school with street clothes instead of the uniforms). Some grades go to Brazil or Argentina, and others go to someone’s house for an afternoon. 
  • My class went to Iloca, a small city on the coast, for 3 days. We went with two teachers, stayed in cabins, and had to organize everything ourselves (though I barely knew what was happening until we got there). 
    • Picture this. Wave-jumping on a BEYOND gorgeous beach, long walks, terrible food (we ain't chefs), a midnight bonfire on the sand, and a whooooole lotta drama.

So, do you get the first photo now?