At 19, I have lived in three different countries (a further two if you count the various nations within the UK), eight different houses and attended nine different schools. In each of these places, I have found a home, and yet, home is none of these places. The number of times I have moved may seem abundant, but, to other third culture kids (TCKs) and nomadic individuals like myself, these figures are nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, these numbers look considerably modest in comparison to those more seasoned expatriate globe-trotters.
TCKs are defined as those who have spent a considerable period of their childhood in a country that is not that of their birth, or in certain cases, of their passport issuance. The concept goes that these children inhabit three distinct cultures: that of their home country, that of the county in which they reside, and finally, a combination of the two forming the culture of the internationalized person. As a result, it is not uncommon for these individuals to grow to be nomads - global or domestic - who choose to live in a range of multiple geographic locations over the course of their lives.
I often feel like I could belong anywhere in the world, and yet, another part of me, can identify that I don't actually consider myself to belong anywhere, at least not in the traditional sense of being bound to a country or having a clearly defined notion of home. This is likely a consequence of having an identity tied to multiple cultures whilst simultaneously possessing an identity characterized by the failure to belong completely to any.
Going to an international school, you get used to the lengthy responses when asking the question "where are you from?". It is not until you are no longer surrounded by this that you realize it's not the norm for most. Entering college, many of my peers could not wrap their heads around why I have lived in such a variety of places. Some were amazed, others were horrified and this made me think about where I was really from, properly for the first time. I was born in the UK, the country of my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, but despite that heritage, living abroad has made me an outsider, ignorant to the customs and current pop culture. I have no idea what it would be like to live there constantly anymore and while it is, for all intents and purposes my home, I no longer associate it with the feelings of comfort and familiarity that a home should provide.
Since moving overseas, I have occupied a further two countries, reaching a similar dilemma in each of them. They become home but they will never be a home. Often foreign nationals are on temporary visas with no guarantee of permanent residency, going into adulthood, this presents a challenging predicament of figuring out where your life is actually based, where in the world you really fit in. Abroad, you assimilate by partaking in local culture and customs, learning the language and embracing the lifestyle but many expats, myself included, continue to incorporate elements of our original cultures within the new ones, again, making us notably different, and acting as a reminder that this hasn't always been and potentially won't always be our home.
Despite feeling that home is a concept far out of of my reach, this is a small price to pay for the amazing life I have had. A life of frequent moving has equipped me for adulthood in ways that a statutory one could never have done. Frequent moves taught me to be adaptable, resilient and sociable. You learn at a young age that change isn't necessarily bad, and with this, the prospect of dealing with the unknown becomes far less worrisome later in life. Being a TCK enabled me to have a fantastic education, not only through the schools I attended but also in the way it broadened my horizons and transformed the way I perceive the world around me. Witnessing a wonderful array of nationalities, religions and political viewpoints first hand cultivates understanding of differences and embeds tolerance into your mind, a skill some of our politicians these days would do good to embrace. Although no city, nor village, nor geographic region will ever quite be home, you become a citizen of the world, someone who can find home anywhere. You become a global citizen fit to exist in an ever increasingly globalized world and for this reason, it is safe to say, I wouldn't change my life for the world.
