The Boy in the Bubble

“These are the days of miracle of wonder and don’t cry baby, don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry”

-Paul Simon from “The Boy in the Bubble” on Graceland

I’m not going to lie, in terms of preparing myself for my five and a half month journey in South Africa, I’ve done relatively little. Pretty much the only serious preparation I’ve done has involved packing all my important documents and vital items as well as learning some very basic information about South Africa itself. I know enough about Nelson Mandela and the history of apartheid to sound somewhat knowledgeable in a conversation. I’ve watched enough cricket and rugby so that I can watch a game on TV and can kind of tell what’s going on. I also know that in 48 hours I’ll be saying goodbye to winter and welcoming summer three months earlier than usual (Thank the lord!). Even though I’ve been able to figure out all these things now, I still consider myself a boy in a bubble.

You’re probably confused as to what a bubble is and why I’m in one too. In the context of leaving to go abroad, the term bubble means being in a state of inevitable ignorance about what to expect abroad. In my opinion, you can do as much reading, video watching, and talking to other people you want about the place you’re traveling to as possible, but you still don’t really know about your destination until you go there. Therefore, since I won’t reach South Africa for another day, I am, without a doubt, in a bubble.

The real matter at hand right now isn’t how to get out of the bubble because that will happen no matter what. The more appropriate question is how do you relate to being in a pre-study abroad bubble. I’ve thought about my bubble for a while and I’ve come to content terms with it. Often times, I think people are so eager to go abroad that they try to learn too much and then come in with a few too many predetermined ideas of how their experience will be. I’ve realized that the best way for me to be at peace with my bubble is to treat my abroad experience with as much of an open mind as possible. Even though I’ll only know a minimum amount about South Africa before I’ll arrive, I’ve realized that a big part of being a student abroad is having an open mind and doing as much as possible to being released from your bubble. The only way I’ll figure out about that will be when I get to South Africa, but for now, I’m happy where I am.

Cheers,

Nick