With Christmas just around the corner and with everyone starting to get excited and ready to go home, I figured this week I would focus on families and holidays and how different it is being international. As some of you may know, I'm Swedish and spent the majority of my childhood in Europe; I have only been in the United States for roughly 6 years. Both of my older siblings are first-generation born Americans, but not me; I was born in the stereotypical tall, blonde, blue-eyed nation of Sweden (and yes, I possess all three of those characteristics as well).
Being an immigrant is something that I am truly proud of, even though I know I act very differently at times and see things from a polar opposite angle at times. But honestly, that's my favorite part. Culture is truly fascinating and I still feel like I am learning bits and pieces of the American culture; it is always very different to live in another country than to go on vacation there. Even when you study abroad, you are a foreigner and socialize with foreigners. But living in another country the way I did in Switzerland (right after I left Sweden and before I moved here) and especially the way I am living right now in the United States, it is amazing and something I hope everyone gets the opportunity to experience. Here I am, walking the streets of Miami University, speaking the native language English like everyone else here, dressing (for the most part) like any other girl on campus, yet I am so different. Having merged into another culture, getting to experience other ones first-hand in this way is fascinating. Instead of just hanging out with Swedes or Europeans—well, mostly Europeans, there aren't many Swedes here—pushing yourself into another culture is hard especially since I go through the majority of my day speaking my second-borderline-third language. I speak my native language of Swedish, at most, 10% of my day. When I am on campus I never read in Swedish and the closest thing to writing it would be texting/emailing my family. This is just some of the many reasons I'm proud to be an immigrant because what is "normal" to me, the language and culture I was raised with, is not the one I am currently living. To me, that is fascinating.
The downside of being an immigrant though is extensive. The only family that lives in the United States currently are my parents and my brother. My sister has moved back to Switzerland and my grandparents and cousins are still in Sweden. I am extremely close to both my parents in a very different way than the average college student. Moving to a completely new country where you don't know anyone or even the language that well, you truly realize how important your family is. They are the only ones that you can depend on and talk when you get to a new country. They are the ones that understand you and how you think. Since they are also the only ones that I speak my native language too, that also makes me feel closer to them. There is no way of explaining it except for when you experience it. It is a bond of all sorts.
But having my family in Sweden and Europe is a great reason for me to travel there all the time. Right? It is and I do go there more than the average American, but my concept of distance is extremely distorted. I hear people complaining about a 4 to 5 hour car ride that's "sooo" far away, but for me to see my family I have to get on an 8-hour plane ride and see that as far. Driving to Ohio from Long Island takes about 11-12 hours, which to me is fine because if I flew it would only be maximum 2 hours. Distance to me and most immigrants becomes distorted in the way that we imagine the world as much smaller than the ones living in your home country.
But after all, it is pretty small, I go to the same university as a guy I went to middle school with in Zurich, Switzerland but we both went to different high schools in the United States.
The United States truly is a melting pot, and I'm so happy to be a part of it.
