My semester of studying abroad in Buenos Aires has shown me just how much Tulane University students — including myself — stay inside a comfortable yet limiting bubble. Don’t get me wrong, I still have my comforts in Buenos Aires, they are just new and exciting.  

When I wake up in the historical neighborhood of Caballito, I walk down the stairs of my host Abuela’s two-story house and groggily fill my mate gourd with yerba, the ever-present tea that Argentines guzzle all day long. I walk outside to the blue and white tiling of the back patio and take in the plants and the sun while I sip my mate. Excitement for the day starts to brew. What new neighborhood will I explore today, what delicious parrilla will I dine at, where might I find a colorful graffiti tag? Pure possibility. 

But don’t be fooled — I’m not usually this carpe diem. The truth is, at home and at Tulane — to no one’s fault but my own — my days are not filled with so much possibility. At Tulane, it’s easy to stay in the bubble the university fosters. Campus parties, Uptown food options and The Boot Bar and Grill make it unnecessary to venture outside the confines of Claiborne and Saint Charles Avenues for a bustling social life.  

Yet, routinely visiting the same familiar places around campus, I find much less excitement for the little things. I wake up as late as I possibly can to rush through my PJ’s Coffee stop and speed walk to class, bumping my music as loud as possible through my AirPods and moving through campus like a running back breaking for the end zone. Abroad, I have a different rhythm.  

In Buenos Aires, there is no campus bubble. If you want any sort of social life, you must go out, using buses and subways and venturing into cafes and bars that look promising. The constant need for exploration forces me to be curious about the city in a way Tulane life rarely does. I haven’t found the same excitement to explore New Orleans, despite it being an incredibly interesting city. 

I don’t mean to say that my life here is better, or that Argentines have discovered something that we haven’t. Buenos Aires has its Boca Juniors matches and late-night parrillas; New Orleans has its Saints Sundays and delectable po-boys. But in the Tulane bubble, campus is full of pre-games and parties. In Buenos Aires, there are no campus parties. You must create your own social life from scratch, which involves exploring different parts of the city to find the best bars, parties and boliches.  

I certainly want to avoid the insipid cliche: “abroad changed me.” It’s only been a month and a half. In the past, when someone tells me they have a newfound perspective after studying abroad, or that they’ve reached new intellectual heights, I think, please, for the love of God, spare me.  

But studying abroad has tinted the glass a bit so that I’m seeing slightly different shades. I’m appreciating the nooks and crannies of a city that I never thought to notice in New Orleans. You don’t need to travel halfway across the world to break out of the Tulane bubble. I’ve learned here that the identity of a city reveals itself when you leave your comfort zone. New Orleans has its own nooks and crannies waiting to be discovered. It feels ironic, but Buenos Aires has made me realize that New Orleans has just as much waiting for me when I get back — I’m willing to explore, and you should too.