Pre-departure:
After I got the email confirming that I had received a grant to attend the summer school in Bologna, I started preparing for my trip. There were many things to get done, least of all the paper I was to submit and present and the summer school itself. The grant covered airfare and accommodation only. I applied for and received a travel bursary from PGIO to cover my transport, visa, travel insurance and food costs. It is important that you ensure that your basics are covered before travelling anywhere, these include:
- Returns flights
- Visa application costs
- Accommodation
- Food
- Travel insurance
- Spending money (optional)
In applying for my visa at Copago in Cape Town, I had to submit proof that I had all my basics covered and paid for in order to receive the visa. The visa application process is fairly straightforward, you must just ensure that you have all the necessary documentation on the checklist the agency provides so as to avoid going back and forth. Importantly, you must allow enough time before you leave to sort out your visa, just in case you experience any issues. In my case, it took 10 days between my submitting my application and receiving an email to come collect it at Copago. There will be clear instructions on the embassy website detailing how long prior to your departure date you have to apply for the visa.
Once all the logistics of my trip were sorted, I focused on writing the paper I was to submit and present at the summer school. I consulted frequently with my professor, Prof. Fourie (who incidentally, also wrote me the most amazing reference letter for the summer school and I secretly believe he is the reason I got chosen to attend J). My paper focused on my experiences in the #FeesMustFall student movement which was applicable in that the courses I was to take at the summer school dealt with post-colonial writers like Frantz Fanon and Sylvia Wynter. The summer school liaison, Antonio, sent the participants the schedule for the 2 weeks and the reading list. To say it was a lot of work is an understatement but the plan was to attend the summer school, network and make an impression. To do this I had to prepare and I didn’t want to be the one person who did not do the readings before the lectures started. Antonio also created a participants page on the summer school website with everyone’s picture and a short profile. This was handy because I got to familiarize myself with everyone’s faces before I actually met them.
Experience at the Host University:
In my excitement I arrived in Bologna, Italy. The airport was small an unexciting; if there is one thing I have found to be true about international travel, South Africa has some of the best looking, shiniest airports J So I arrived around 3pm and I got picked up by the fanciest shuttle service, it was a ‘Welcome to Italy’ present from one of my old friends whom I had met during the 2010 World Cup, 6 years earlier. He had confirmed he would organize this for me prior to my departure; it is important that you understand how you will get to and from the airport both in your home country and country of travel. When everything is in Euro’s it is a cheaper option to call on friends for help for such things, but otherwise ensure you have budgeted properly and you know how much everything costs and if it the transport will take you to your intended venue.
So after being dropped off at the accommodation place I was staying at, I had to shower and get ready for the opening cocktail function. I met a few people at the residence I was staying at. It was an international students accommodation ‘Erasmus’ and I later found out that many of the participants of the summer school had been placed in the residence. It was an old prison, turned monastery turned university residence. One of the most striking things about Bologna is the old architecture and palaces. If buildings could speak!
The summer school kicked off with a 2-hour lecture by Achille Mbembe. This was followed by an opening cocktail function. It is at this function did I realize that I was the only participant that was not at a PhD or post-doctoral level. The conversations about postcolonial theory, black feminism and decoloniality were incredibly interesting and challenging because I did not understand a lot of the terms that were being used. But, as with all things, fake it till you make it! I instantly gravitated to a girl with raging purple hair called Gabrielle. Eventually our table filled up with other participants of the summer school and by the end of the night we self declared ourselves ‘the cool kids.’
Lectures started properly the next day and so began the most incredible, most challenging 2 weeks, which were the most uncomfortable growth experience of my entire academic career. We were all expected to have done the readings prior to the class and come prepared with questions to ask the professors. The format of the lectures was discussion based. We had one 2 hour lecture in the morning, another in the afternoon, a discussion forum straight after the afternoon lecture and on every other day this was followed by a discourse held at the city library. The format of the lectures and the level of engagement with the material was different from anything I have experienced as there was this expectation, from the lecturer’s themselves, that the participants have done their due diligence in terms of preparations for the class and would contribute original thoughts and analysis. This is consistent with postgraduate level study at Stellenbosch University.
We usually went out for lunch every day as the summer school was not catered. Each day I went out to lunch with a different group of people; there were participants from Turkey, China, the USA and Italy to name a few. The group of students at this summer school was really broad and diverse in backgrounds and origin. This made for interesting conversations and insights both inside and outside the classroom. At the end of each day we would also plan to go out for dinner and drinks with each other. I did a lot of socializing and networking with the participants. It was my first time in Italy and I made sure I took advantage of all the opportunities. Summer school is a valuable opportunity to network and to be inspired by different languages, cultures, modes of thought and experiences.
Return to Stellenbosch:
The summer school came to an end with a closing function where the organizers, lecturers and participants came together to say their final goodbyes and share a last glass of champagne to a toast. I took a shuttle back with the only other South African to attend the summer school. The summer school was a very real and tangible growth experience for me. I highly recommend international travel experiences like the one I had in Bologna. The summer school not only enriched my perspective on a lot of the issues we face in South Africa (it was a summer school on critical theory and decolonization after all) but it also equipped me with a multitude of resources that I will eventually use in my honors thesis. It was an incredible experience that brought me together with some formidable minds, minds that are my international peers. I am confident that I will be able to increase the quality of ideas in my thesis because of what I learnt in Bologna.
