Bali Study Abroad

I've always dreamt of traveling around the world, and in the past 3 years I found myself running into endless international opportunities through study abroad programs. I decided freshman year that I wanted to study abroad for an entire semester in Italy. Unfortunately, I switched my major not once, but twice and couldn't take off for a whole semester if I wanted to graduate in 4 years. When I mapped out my classes and realized I couldn't study abroad I was initially super disappointed, but pretty quickly I started looking into other options, and I eventually found Leadership in Bali. I was immediately drawn in and decided after about 2 days of research that this was the program for me.

After months of anticipation, pre-depature meetings, and moodle quizzes, spring semester of my junior year finally came to a close, and I took off for Bali! My travel was 24 hours in the air and about 10 hours in transitions making it a really long journey, but it was so worth it once I stepped out of customs! I say customs instead of the airport because half of the airport is an ambiguous indoor/outdoor space, and I quickly realized that almost all the buildings in Bali weren't exclusive to the outdoors. Even buildings with 4 walls and a door had open air windows, so all the bugs and lizards were free to roam all spaces. It was very different and took a little adjusting, but by the end of my time there I absolutely appreciated their connection with nature and hoped to take back some of those qualities back with me.

The people in Bali were wonderful and humble hosts to our group of 15 students. My instructors were awesome; it was really nice to have people who could explain some cultural differences and share interesting stories and new insight. I really appreciated them especially Bu Ary who is the Bali program coordinator, but unofficially our Bali mom. Everyone we met was so kind and welcoming even though we were tourists, Whenever I spoke Bahasa Indonesia, I could tell people appreciated my effort. There were moments were I felt like an outsider, especially in very non tourist areas, but people were generally really welcoming and accepting to us. The most impactful person I experienced during my stay in Bali was my host mom because she welcomed me into her home and did so much for me. Her kindess and hospitality made me feel both loved and bad because I almost felt undeserving of her love generosity. She is a wonderful person and was so fun to spend time with even though communication was difficult.

While in Bali, we spent most of our time in a small village in Kerambitan and all stayed with host families. We did a lot of mini excursions to different cities, villages, and temples.Everything we saw -the buildings, the people, the traffic, the dress, the animals, the food, etc. was so different than here. My initial reactions were me just being in awe and glorifying everything I saw, then as I got used to living in Bali, I began to feel like America's infrastructure was better. I realized I had a default thought process where I started to feel lucky and that what I have at home is better. While I might feel like my air-conditioned indoor spaces, developed waste management systems, school and career opportunities, and endless material goods are better than what they have, it doesn't mean that I'm the lucky one. Despite their living conditions may be worse on paper, the Balinese are happy and content with what they have. They have family, food, homes, and places to be just like me; they only do it all in a different way. It is arrogant for me to assume that I am the lucky one and that they would want what I have. The moment I realized this was one where I asked one of my Bali teachers, Dony, 25, if he wants to come to America one day. He, knowing fluent English and has worked with and gotten to know many American students, replied "not really". After I got used to the challenging differences like the bucket baths and squat toilets, I realized how some of their systems for doing things is so economically friendly and innovative once you look past appearances. With globalization and tourism there are a lot of foreign materials being used, but they used to be a totally organic island and extremely resourceful for everything.

Bali is such a beautiful place, and everyone knows it to be paradise because of the gorgeous beaches, vegetation, rich culture, and amazing architectural historic buildings, but there is so much more than the touristy areas that I was lucky enough to get to know. I've never been arrogant enough to think that my way of living is the only way, but I finally got to experience living in a different culture across the world. What I realize is that Balinese and myself live a life very different lives but there are still many similarities. I was really receptive to the Balinese culture as I was studying so far from home for only 3 weeks, but I hope I can continue to open my eyes to different cultures within my own communities, and work on my adaptive skills in my own environment. However, Bali only ignited my travel bug and now I'm itching to continue traveling and learning around the world.