Introducing Isa

Posted by Isa on December 29th, 2007 | Categorized as Introduction | 311 views and 14 Comments

Hey everyone!

I am so doing this for a LOLCat…

I was wondering if i really was a TCK or not. I haven’t moved around as much as others’ here have.
I was born in LA and lived there for the first seven years of my life, then we relocated to Australia. My dad is Australian, and my mother is Mauritian so we spoke French at home. Also, in LA we( my brother and i) went to the Lycée français of Los Angeles, and not a ‘regular’ public school. So we were outsiders there too.
I didn’t want to leave, because i felt that i had no connection to Australia even though i hold dual citizenship between the Us and Oz. So i built up LA as a dream place to live, because it was where i had been happy. It was what i knew. In Australia, in the playgrounds and schools, i was an outsider because i had not been born there and my main language was French.
Through the years (i’m 19 now) all i wanted to do was leave because it was always easiest to me to be a stranger in a strange land then to be one in a country where i was supposed to call my own. We also lived in Mauritius for a few months when we first moved to Australia which further confused me.

I’ve often felt rootless and have no real identity. I do not feel American nor do i feel particularly Australian, nor Franco-Mauritian. I’ve had the term “Third Culture Kid” thrown at me by certain people throughout my life, my old tutor who is an Los Angeles expat himself, and several psychologists over the years.

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I am still unsure if i ‘fit the bill’ of being a TCK… i haven’t moved countries as much as you but i have moved houses and schools many times in Australia.

I think i’ll just take Brice’s stand and say that i’m an islander at heart.