Citizens of everywhere and nowhere: the third culture kid

Like any student around this time of the year, I’m looking forward to the summer holiday. As an international, I’m even more excited to visit my home country the Philippines but sometimes I go back feeling like a foreigner. Having lived abroad for more than 13 years, I’ve become a third culture kid; someone who grows up in a country other than what is listed on their passport or where their parents grew up.

IBCoM is a multi-cultural study so there’s no doubt other students feel the same way but Erasmus University takes pride in being an international campus and there are thousands of students from places other than the Netherlands. Even if you grew up in the country you are from, you can have the same experiences when you immerse yourself in new cultures you strongly relate to.

I believe the experiences of third culture kids are important, and it helps understand how we construct our understanding of self and belonging.

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The term was picked up by two sociology researchers in the 1950s and used it to describe what happened to their American children after they worked and lived abroad. These individuals go through changes in the way they behave and communicate, what they consider norms and values, and even their whole worldview. Someone who has spent a considerable amount of time in multiple cultures apart from their own integrates elements of those cultures into their lifestyle, creating a third entirely new one.

Sometimes I had problems after realizing I was a third culture kid; I almost never felt like I had a home culture, one culture that I truly felt part of.

Either, I was too “foreign” to be part of the culture I lived in and other times I was too “different” to be part of the culture my family comes from.

Sometimes, I felt aware of the reality I lived in and sort of lost my sense of identity when I understood that I was never going to feel at home again.

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So many opportunities became available to me after I lived away from my home culture and it ultimately shaped who I am now. I went to schools where most people lived away from where they were from and did extra-curricular activities all about being international. I get to travel to places that would otherwise be far and difficult to travel to and experience cultures instead of reading about it. I had a greater understanding of the world and its people.

I am appreciative of the freedom I have been given as a third culture kid and I am more than grateful to have these experience despite feelings of loneliness. It is an irreplaceable opportunity.

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Written by: Kat