On one of our final days at the Generator Hostel in Venice, I was talking with group of people from England, and the conversation made its way to economics and politics. The discussion progressed, as political discussions between those from the United States and other countries often do, to the differences between the United State and England. Health care, gun control, public perceptions of war, and the use of force by the police force were some of the many topics covered, and we made some interesting observations about our different societies. This conversation was vast and sprawling, but one theme reappeared often in the form of a joke: Americans mess everything up. This is rather reductive, but it was a fairly consistent realization that the United States were behind the rest of the world in number of important societal institutions.

This is not a new observation. Many people have similar ones, and even more have vehemently refuted it; however, it was an important catalyst for the most meaningful conversation I had that night. After this marathon session of political debate, the conversation had settled down, reverting back to more traditional hostel banter. At this point I turned to one of the English students and asked about her perception of individuals from the United States. Seeing as we had rather conclusively rejected most aspects of American culture, her response surprised me. She said, “Well, actually, the Americans that I have met have represented their country quite well. They are always very intelligent, well-spoken, and very friendly.”

That struck me as strange. How could we spend a night bashing every aspect of American life but come to this conclusion of Americans as individuals? This disconnect made me think about who it is young students from Europe actually have experiences with. It made me ask myself who, in reality, are the Americans who are traveling abroad and having these interactions with European young adults? The answer is young individuals who have some combination educational and financial privileged. Americans that are traveling abroad at ages 18, 19, 20, etc. for the most part either have the financial means to go on a trip through Europe or are doing their traveling through an elite educational institution like Carleton. In short, it makes sense to say that the Americans young Europeans are most likely to come across in Europe are educated, liberal college students.

Now we must unpack this young, white, affluent, European college student’s statement. If you gather a group of college students from the United States and Europe, statistically, the majority will be white, from at least comfortable financial means, and not be the first person in their family to attend college. That being said, it is no surprise that she has gotten along with the American’s she has met during her travels throughout Europe because these Americans have been college students who, statistically, look like her, come from a similar financial background as her, and share the same global, liberal values as her. What we are seeing in this conversation is a symbolic and actual manifestation of the ills of the liberal bubble internationally.

The use of the term liberal bubble necessitates a definition. I do not conceive of the liberal bubble as most conservative talking heads do. It is not the a liberal echo chamber in which thoughts are being policed and nobody has the courage to call out a culture of political correctness; instead, I conceive of the liberal bubble as a byproduct of the overwhelming whiteness and affluence of college liberalism. The liberal bubble is white feminism, performative ally-ship, and class hegemony all rolled into one. It is a “liberal” campus space in which the overwhelming statistical whiteness and affluence marginalize the voices of people of color, students from lower socio-economic statuses, students with disabilities, or any other marginalized identity.

This liberal bubble, it would seem, is not just prevalent on Carleton’s campus or college campuses in the United States. The educational system in Europe perpetuates many of these same problems in European institutions, and American educational travel complex injects students directly into this context. What this means is that European student hostels become ground zero for the formation of an international liberal bubble as defined previously, defeating in many ways the stated goals for international travel by institutions such as Carleton.

This may be a realization only because I am a white, affluent student. The liberal bubble can be difficult to spot when you are, in many ways, complicit in its operation; however, I can make the most of this realization. Engaging with new opinions and world views is sometimes not as simple as hopping on a plane and flying to Europe given how prevalent the liberal bubble is. Conversations at the hostel are great, but it turns out that both the political opinions and cultural assumptions of white college students from England aren’t that different from my own. This means that I have to put the effort in to expand my field of influence, both abroad and at home, and be cognizant of not only the differences but the similarities between myself and those that I meet during my travels.