Life in a new culture: Bali: Part 1

Every week, the CU Indedpendent is going to feature a column I write from Bali. Here was the first one. Pictures will accompany future posts.

See the column online at: www.cuindependent.com



By Stephanie Davis on August 29, 2009
Last-minute fears and excitement

The opinions represented in this article do not necessarily represent those of the staff of CUIndependent.com nor any of its sponsors.

In less than a week I will learn to say “goodbye” to friends and family and learn to say “hello” in a new language. I will leave the “People’s Republic of Boulder” I have come to love dearly and after 27 hours of travel, arrive in Denpasar, Bali in Indonesia.

As most of my peers return to the routine of classes and studying during the week and parties and football games on the weekends, I’m frantically trying to figure out what else I need to pack before I leave.

I have never had to say goodbye to close friends before. I didn’t have many of those before college, so leaving my hometown was not hard. I said goodbye to my best friend earlier in the week as she left for a different four-lettered island in the Pacific and that was hard enough. Now, on Monday, I have to say goodbye to my partner, my mother, father and brothers and the closest friends I have ever had.

The only language I have studied other than English was Latin nearly two years ago. Needless to say, I don’t think that will be terribly useful where I’m going. Not that I would be able to remember any of it if the need to use it did arise. As a side note, I would highly recommend taking something useful like Spanish. Latin doesn’t get you far.

Now, I am trying to learn to say words as simple as “yes” (ya) and “no” (tidak) in Indonesian. I have no idea how much of the population in Bali understands English. So until I figure that out, I’ll have to simply ask, “Apakah anda dapat berbahasa Inggris?” which translates to “Do you speak English?”

Many incoming freshman will have fears of having to share a dorm bathroom with twenty other girls. I recently found a Facebook group formed by program alums from 11 years ago, and my favorite item on their list of memories was, “You can do your laundry by scrubbing clothes on a rock in a river while ignoring the garbage and turds floating by.” Although the list could be outdated, it sure makes that shared bathroom sound rather appealing.

My biggest fear is the weather. I have never lived outside of Colorado and the idea of being near the ocean for an extended amount of time terrifies me. My luck with weather is far from fair. I went on a mission trip to Arizona planning to work outside. It rained all week. I went to Florida and it hailed on the beach. Both times I went to Galveston, Texas for a family vacation there was a hurricane. There’s no telling what type of bad weather I might bring to this tropical island in a country that’s already prone to natural disasters.

Despite my fear of the bad weather, saying goodbye to all my friends and living in a completely unfamiliar environment, I am expecting my time in Bali to be one of the most amazing experiences I could ever hope for. I have always been interested in cultures different from my own and immersing myself in a new culture that I know little about seems like the best way to discover a new world.

I am looking forward to adjusting to a new lifestyle, where my meals of rice will be consumed in complete silence. I am looking forward for it to be common for complete strangers to ask if I have showered yet that day. I am looking forward to a semester of wearing skirts all the time since it will be immodest for me to wear shorts or anything less than dress pants.

I am looking forward to what I will learn, and the people I will meet, and I can’t wait to tell everyone back home about my experiences as a student abroad.

Contact CU Independent contributor Stephanie Davis at stephanie.davis@colorado.edu.