Hi all! I know it’s been forever and a day since I’ve made a post, but I’m curious as to what you guys think.

Alright, this requires some background info: My parents (and a very small Laura, heh) moved from Finland to Germany when I was 1 year old. Then we moved to the US where we’ve been for 19 years now, and now my dad works in China.*back to point*

So one day I was talking to my dad about what it’s like to be a TCK, since they’ve never heard the term before I used it, heh. I mentioned how hard it is for me to answer the *dreaded* “Where are you from?” question, and my dad said “Yeah, it’s hard for me too!”
“Why, Dad?”
“Because I’ve lived abroad for so long, it’s hard for me to answer it.”

This got me to thinking. I know the “official definition” of a TCK is someone who has spent a significant part of their developmental years outside of their parent’s culture, but what about those PARENTS? My mom may very well never return to Finland, even though that ’s where she grew up. My parents have lived outside of their parents’ culture, but it wasn’t during their developmental years.

Like I said, I’m curious to hear what you guys think. Can adults who have moved abroad during their adulthood become Third Culture Adults/Cross Culture Adults? (rather than ATCKs) Do you think it’s just as difficult for them as it is for us kids (some of us kids at heart, haha)?

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(wow it’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog here!)

So, seeing as I’m 20 years old, many of my friends, who are at least a year older than me, are getting married. I’m glad for them, and wish them all the best… but frankly, it bothers me.

For one thing, many of them are still so young! Well, I shouldn’t talk since my parents got “married” when my mom was 24 and my dad was 26 (though they wouldn’t have gotten married at all, if my mom didn’t need to to get our visas for Germany). it also bothers me that I haven’t had a boyfriend since I was 17…

The main thing that irks me at the moment is that they’re “settling down” so easily. Right now, I don’t even WANT a relationship, since my plans don’t include a “significant other” right now. I’ll be graduating from University in two years, and I’m already making plans to move to Germany/Austria/Switzerland/German-speaking country then. I lived there when I was so small, I don’t remember, and I want to experience it for myself. My mom doesn’t really think I’ll pull through with my plans, but with my dual citizenship with the US & Finland, I have no reason not to. It would be a lot more difficult to move abroad so easily with a boyfriend/fiance/husband in tow–unless they were open to the idea… A lot more work in finding a decent place for us both and especially difficult if he didn’t know the language. If he was a TCK, then it may be different… ha ha, just kidding! I wouldn’t mind if he is a TCK or not…

However, a part of me longs to be able to find a husband and settle down and start a family, like my friends. To just be OK with staying in one place for the rest of my life. Mind you, I’ve lived in the same town since I was 7, spending my summers in Finland of course. I love living in the dorms, because there are so many different people and different experiences..ah! so wonderful! But I just can’t imagine staying in the US for the rest of my life. I want to see the world, I want to go. Someday I’d like to settle down someplace, get married, have kids (?)…but not necessarily in that order. heh.

So for now, I’ll dream of far away places, count down the days until I can leave, and study hard these last few years to make these plans of mine come true.

How about you? What of your experiences “seeing the world” or “settling down?” Was it difficult for you?

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Hello All!

Some of you may already know me, but my name is Laura, and I’m a TCK. *cue the stereo “Hello, Laura”*…heh.

I joined TCKid waaay back when there were only 100 or so members, around the time it started last year (can you believe it’s been a year??). As for my story, I was born in Finland, and when I was about a year old, I moved to Germany. I lived in Deutschland for a year, and then moved to the US when I was two years old. I’ve spent every summer in Finland as a kid, to keep up my language skills (we speak Finnish at home, much to the dismay of some of my early teachers), and to “keep up my heritage.” We all know that’s a joke, right? I also spent a year in Finland in high school on a “foreign exchange.” It was the worst year of my life: depression, reverse culture shock, family situation… It broke me, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?

I found out about TCKs from a lovely counselor, who happened to be a TCK herself! I’ve found that TCKs are rare as counselors, especially here in the middle of Wisconsin!

I currently am a university student here at the University of Wisconsin, and a forum moderator/volunteer with TCKid.com. As for the inactivity from me, I’ve been pretty busy lately with school (organic chemistry killed me, guh.), but this next semester I’ll hopefully have some free time to hang out with all you lovely people, as well as possibly starting a TCK student organization here on campus.

Speaking of student orgs…This is the real reason why I’m writing this today. I met with a “Global Studies Advisor” because I’m planning on moving to Europe after I graduate. I mentioned TCKs to him, and he was really excited about it. Now I’m really excited! I want to organize/structure/plan events well, but I’d only made it through half of the TCK book when I left it at a friend’s place, and now she’s in Africa for the year. *I has a sad* So if you guys have any ideas on how to spread the word about TCKs/structure/fun events/resources/etc., I’d really appreciate it!

Take care, and keep your mind open.

Laura c:

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So, it’s 11:30pm on the eve of me going to Finland, my second international trip in 2 weeks. You see, I just got back to the US from China, where I spent 5 lovely months. I have been in the US for 2 weeks, during which I met with a Mono friend of mine (my best friend in high school) and realized how broad my horizons have become.

What this post is about is the fact that I feel incredibly lonely, even after such a lovely opportunity to spend my summer travelling. I mean, last year I flew US-Finland-China-back around again (i.e. literally around the world) in 3 weeks. I hated explaining to people here back in the US who knew I just came back from China that I’m leaving again for Finland. They all were joking about how lucky I am, and I could tell that they would LOVE to have the same opportunity. But it would just be nice to have someone *in person* to talk to about it, to travel with. This is why I decided to post this here, because you guys get how it is!

*off post-topic* I’m also thinking of starting a TCK/CCK/MK/Army Brat/Expat student org at my university, but unfortunately I don’t know any yet! ha ha! I’ve been thinking of just putting up flyers (fliers?) and just see who responds..

*back on topic ha ha* So, is this just pre-travel anxiety, that I feel lonely? how do you guys deal with it? And any suggestions about the TCK student org?

Take care, and see you next time!

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…Hidden LOLcat.

Hello! TCKid host Laura here with another random thread! Though I tried to find a barack obama lolcat for brice, but I couldn’t find one. ha ha, enjoy!!

…Hidden LOLcat.

Hello! TCKid host Laura here with another random thread! Though I tried to find a barack obama lolcat for brice, but I couldn’t find one. ha ha, enjoy!!

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Hello Everybody!

Laura here, for another Host thread this week. It seems like just random amusing threads are what would be interesting, so here I go!

I scoured YouTube for some random, amusing things, and found this “Human Tetris,” it was either this or some random Japanese Game Show (I love those!). This video was made using stop-motion in an auditorium, part of a bigger project called the “Game Over Project” which includes Space Invaders, Pong, and Pole Position.

Enjoy!

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Hello again from TCKid’s Host, Laura!

I hope you all are doing well! I’m not, unfortunately. I’ve been battling a touch of food poisoning, so I apologize for no thread this week. I’m feeling a lot better already, but also, unfortunately, I also have final exams to take tomorrow and the next day. Ugh, Murphy’s Law, right?

My thread last week was about “International Music” (http://www.tckid.com/group/international-music-thread) got about 6 comments. Not bad, but we can do better, right??

So, here’s my question for you this week: What do YOU *cue Uncle Sam*, the forum member/visitor, find interesting? Do you want interesting TCK facts each week? Or would you rather have something totally random and funny? Please let me know, so I can make my weekly host thread that much better! because, after all, *cue Neyo* “It’s all because of yooou…”

Oh! Don’t hesitate to drop me an email either at: lauraahlgren@tckid.com

See you next week!

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Hello!

Being the new host of TCKid, I will be putting up an interesting thread each week. Seeing as this is my first thread like this, I was sitting here, listening to my iTunes library, wondering what to post about. Then it hit me! I was listening to iTunes and I have so many different kinds of music from all over the world, so though I would ask you guys this question:

Has being a TCK affected your choice in music? Does it make your “library” more diverse than most? What kinds of music/country’s music do you like?

As for me, I have music from the US (which is the majority of the music industry nowadays, in my opinion), Finland (which people kind of look at me funny when they hear it), China, Japan, and even a few songs from Portugal, Germany, Saudi Arabia(? it’s arabic, but I don’t know which country), and spanish-languaged ones (since there are so many countries that speak Spanish..). I think being a TCK has allowed me to be more open-minded about the music choices I like. Maybe that’s why I can’t really stick to one genre! There are genres I don’t like, such as hip-hop/rap/r&b, but even those have exceptions for me. I really like a band called Zen Cafe from Finland. They’re really poetic, and honest, also the lead singer who writes the songs can’t read a single note of music!! How cool??

I’m really looking forward to hearing your responses! See you next week!

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I apologize if this doesn’t make sense, but when I’m writing posts like this, I tend to jump around a bit..

Well, as some of you may know from a previous post (“Is Being Alone Such a Bad Thing?”) I’m a bit of an introvert. I really enjoy just sitting at home alone and watching movies (if there’s a few friends there, even better!), i.e. pretty relaxed. When I go out, I like to just sit and talk with friends rather than be bold and talk to strangers or to dance on the bar, etc. However, that has changed, somewhat, due to some really outgoing friends here in China who have really helped me to “come out of my shell.” Note: none of them were from the US, all from different countries across the globe.

NOW there are US Exchange students in my Chinese class, and they invited us to go out…on a Thursday. Alright, I went with a friend (a particular male friend with whom I enjoy his company…if you can catch my drift ). So we had a drink, chatted with the Americans (I hate to use the term “American” because it could mean North or South America…but it’s easier!), and 11:15pm came around, I’m tired (I usually go to bed at 9:30pm!) so I decided to go home. My guy friend begged me to stay until 12:00am to celebrate the birthday of one of the Americans, but I decided to leave anyway.

Why did I leave? No, it wasn’t because I was tired (Though I am while writing this…), but because I’m just *awkward* at parties, or large gatherings. I usually sit off to the side, with one or two friends, most often alone….just sitting. A few people will come by and chat with me, but they get bored (I guess) and leave. It’s even worse when I don’t know the others at the party, like this one. It just widens the gap between me and my peers, because they know I’m different when they ask the dreaded “where are you from?” question. I also feel like maybe Americans (born and raised) may not be able to relate to me.

I realize that I’m not the kind of person to initiate relationships. I can’t just walk up to someone on the street and say “Hi, I’m Laura, What’s your name?” and just be ok with it. I’ve been hurt so many times doing that, so I often wait until someone else approaches me. This is quite the opposite of the before-mentioned guy friend of mine. He CAN do that, which has also helped me to loosen up. But hanging out with Americans after not much contact with them over the past few months (and to be honest, also with the mind set that most Americans are stupid…) just brought up this whole *awkwardness at parties* syndrome that I seem to have. This also brings me back to my childhood, growing up in the Midwest US, being teased because I was the “girl from Finland.” I was nothing more. I guess I’m still not, but yet I’m not Finnish, and I’m not American; I do tend to lean more towards American at times… It kind of depends on where I am, you know? Now that I’ve been hanging out with expats (which I never get to do back in the US) made me realize that I’m both…but hanging out with Americans made me realize that I’m not one of them, which is really what I *SO longed for* growing up. (I’m a child of immigrants, aka CCK, for those of you who don’t know…) It just brought up some old scars from my childhood..

Does anyone else feel this way? If so, how have you guys dealt with it? How can I just not be *awkward* anymore around large groups of people?

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Sorry for the lame blog title, I don’t really have any cute nicknames here ^^;…though I guess Laura-chan is better than anything, right Brice?

Also, sorry for the absence, I just haven’t had the time (stupid research papers…) but now I have that load lifted! It’s so great to be back, it’s like a breath of fresh air! I remember back when it wasn’t even 500 members, and there are so many new faces that I really would love to get to know!

Before I get started, for those new people that don’t know me yet, I’ll give you a brief, run-down about me: CCK, born in Finland, moved to Germany when I was 1 year old, moved to the US when I was 2 years old. Went back and forth to Finland every summer, spent a year there in high school (the most difficult one of my life!) and now I’m studying in China for the semester, because my dad lives here too.

The point of this blog is about expatriate communities. Ever since coming to China I’ve met SO many expats, and have friends from every continent now. The community here is so active, and so lively (there are a LOT of expats here!). This got me to thinking, I didn’t have that growing up in Wisconsin (an hour north of Chicago), there are VERY few expats, and I was lucky to know a few other Finns. However I can count them on one hand, and none of them live in the US anymore. Here’s the kicker, none of the *few* expat Finns were my age. I know, I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin, hardly the heart of global-minded society. Though now I wish I had had other TCK/CCK friends, who could understand how I felt of not belonging in Finland or in the US. Because my friends complained that I talked about Finland too much, and now most of my friends don’t even ask. When I meet new people, and they ask me where I’m from, I sometimes neglect my “Finnish-hood” and say I’m from the US. (like someone I know I won’t meet again, someone I don’t want to know! lol) However, since having read *most* of the TCK book, and being apart of this community for almost a year now, I can’t deny that Finland is a part of me. Luckily, my university is very broad, and open-minded. I’ve met a few other Finnish speakers, and I pretty much kick-started the Finnish Language Table there.

So even though I had no expatriate community around me growing up, it helped me to realize that, yes, I’m different from my friends. I’ve seen and experienced things that most of them could only dream of which has made me a better person. Now that I’ve found an expatriate community (that means *you* TCKid members!) I feel like I can at least belong here, where you guys understand me and where I’m coming from.

Yeah…kind of no point to this blog, so I’ll leave a question open for you guys: Do you guys think that it’s important to have a community of expats around you? Like did it help you to adjust/deal/etc.? For those of you, like me, who didn’t have that, did it help or hurt you at all?

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