Third Culture Kid

 

 

 

 

Third culture kid and proud of it.

It’s always tough when people ask me this question:  Where are you from? I don’t know what to answer. Let me tell you a little about myself. I was born in Vienna, Austria. To a Father with Venezuelan and Portuguese roots and a Mother with Guatemalan roots.

I grew up in Austria. I speak German. I went to an Austrian kindergarten and part of primary school. After that, I went to an international school where my fellow peers were from different countries. At home, my parents only spoke Spanish with my brother and me. My Mom and Dad always made an effort to take us back to their home countries, and they shared a similar but adapted version of their values to best fit with our living situation. I much appreciate the effort that my parents made since it allowed me to have strong relationships with my families both in Guatemala and Venezuela.

I did a video on my Instagram this week talking about this issue:  Where are you from? One of my followers shared this term with me “Third culture kid.”

After doing some research on what this term meant, I found it a quiet new name. It talks about kids that have parents from different cultures than the culture in which they are currently living. The good thing is these children learn to deal with the culture of the place where they reside and the culture of their heritage. The negative is that children never have a home base or feel particular patriotism with a country because they don’t know where they belong since they are a mixture. Sometimes this can cause an identity crisis.

In my case, it’s more complicated than that because my parents don’t come from the same country even though they speak the same language.  It’s still a different culture; therefore, other values. And of course, now I have another influence, which is my American stepdad.

If you believe my friend, one would think this is negative, but I don’t think so. I made friends from all over the world. I learned more than one language (Spanish, German, English), which that alone opens many opportunities to you for travel and jobs. Also, I have three nationalities, which is beneficial because it makes it easy to travel and see the world. 

I think that third culture kids are less judgmental since they have been exposed to people of all skin colors and belief systems. Another advantage is that kids that have that mentality don’t fear to move away and to live somewhere else. I consider myself a citizen of the world.