The truth about the Duke bubble

Here I am at Duke, human, quite simply trying to find the balance of caring about what’s in front of me and what’s going on far away, but still close at heart.

This past fall semester, I spent four months studying abroad in Paris, living with an incredibly gracious and loving host family. Two weeks after I came home I saw plastered on the news the tragic Charlie Hebdo shootings, instantly recognizing the street. It was where my homestay had been, the street I had walked every single day coming home and leaving the apartment.

I immediately contacted my host mom and sister and made sure they were okay, and while my host sister assured me they both were safe, she sent me pictures from the apartment balcony of the chaos horror on the street below. I was amazed that the violence and murder that was now international news had occurred at the loving, generous area I had called home all semester.

Even though I lived in a host household, I also spent time with my extended Ukrainian family living in Paris, and came to feel more connected to my Ukrainian culture than ever before. When I read the news and see that families in East Ukraine are being torn from their homes by evacuation, as towns become battlefronts, I feel anger, frustration and despair for a culture that runs through my blood.

How am I supposed to comprehend a still-climbing death toll of 4,300 human lives in Ukraine when my peers are obsessing over their 4.0s GPAs during internship season? How am I supposed to process that a terrorist attack just occurred where I used to live, while my attention is focused on an upcoming exam that is worth 50% of my grade?

It is frustrating that while these issues are close to my heart, they are too often forgotten. My reaction is to place blame on how busy I am and how hard it is to keep in touch with international news when midterms, papers and study sessions take priority. I get so caught up in the Duke bubble that I forget about my families, friends and even victims in Togo, Paris, Ukraine and New Jersey and how they could be affected by what the Skimm neatly wraps up for all of us “informed” people.

My hectic Duke lifestyle gets in the way of keeping me connected about what truly matters “most.” Duke recently has had speakers and talks about both the Charlie Hebdo shootings and about the crisis in Ukraine. But as usual, I couldn’t attend the events because I had meetings, class and exams to study for. I tried and did all I could, and left it at that.

Yes, it’s true that sometimes my iCalendar seems like it’s about to explode. But the reality is that I often spend a lot of time complaining. And I’m not the only one. We Duke students often whine about the Duke bubble, how busy we are or how much the mulch path to Perkins is affecting our every day lives. What we sometimes fail to remember is that Duke has some of the best professors in the world—top experts in their fields—with endless resources devoted to just about any topic you might wish to learn more about. At the end of the day, Duke is here to expand my education and curiosity outside of the classroom, not hinder it.