Italian/American + TCK…Just joined the group
Hi Everyone,
I’m Sylvia Maria Booth, and like I mentioned above I come from a half Italian (mamma) , half American (dad) US Diplomat’s family…so yes, having lived in about 7 countries before University in the US…and in about 4 more since then…I would definitely say I am a third culture kid!
I mainly grew up in Europe (Norway, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland) and Latin America (Columbia, Peru), though I did spend most of my high-school years in Israel (9th grade-11th grade). I did live in the states briefly before university…2 and a half years in Virginia. I was in elementary school and still spoke Norwegian at that point and had no idea what McDonalds was…let me tell you 2nd and 3rd grade were painful! I didn’t go back to the US until university…which was a lot of fun (2 years at Tufts University in Boston and then transfered for the last 2 years to Michigan University…yay!)
I left the states soon after university, though, in 1995, and have only been back to live there 1 year since then (kind of a transition year…I was living in DC). So really…my identification with my passport country is minimal, considering. Since finishing my Bachelors at Michigan I have lived in Mexico, Italy, France and now Montreal, Canada. I continued my studies during these travels and have a Mexican Masters (in Social Anthropolgy) and a French DEA and now am working on my French Doctorate (in Latin American Studies). I have lived 6 of the last 13 years in Mexico…Mexico is the topic of all my studies and a country that I love! It was also an important country in my family since before I was born…as my dad was already stationed in Mexico (Veracruz and Monterrey) on two separate occasions before I was born…and my mom, who was a painter, filled the house with paintings of Veracruz…and artwork and crafts from Mexico. I guess I was kind of “born into” loving Mexico, in a sense.
So why am I in Canada? Well, that’s been my other love. I fell in love with Montreal ever since the first time I traveled here during my first spring break (from Boston..yes, I was one of those!) Over the years I have had several friends and a couple of boyfriends from both the Montreal and Toronto areas…and then I met my current boyfriend in Mexico…in a small indigenous village in the mountains of Chihuahua to be precise…and we have been together ever since. That was in 1996. He’s french-canadian and from Montreal. So after travelling around the countries I named above and teaching English (and me studying as well)…we decided that maybe it was time to ’settle down’ in Montreal.
Which brings me to my latest adventure…yeah…Sylvia who has never spent more than 3 years consecutively in one country has decided to try and ’settle down’ in Montreal…to try and set up a home base. And frankly…the idea kind of scares me…
Well…I’m sure this is more than anyone wanted to know about someone in their first introduction, but there it is. That’s me so far!
Sylvia Maria Booth
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9 Comments to “Italian/American + TCK…Just joined the group”
July 15th, 2008 at 5:33 am
Welcome Sylvia Maria! I believe that you will find yourself feeling totally “at home” here at TCKid!!!
Settling down can be scary, nerve-racking, uncomfortable, et al…but it can be done! I’ve now lived in this house for 5 years, and was in my former house for 13! We only moved 2.5 miles from the first location to this one!
Do I get the “itch” to move, to travel, to get the wiggle out of my toes? Yes. Do I succumb to it? No. I do get to travel (next month I will be in Colorado for 1 week), which seems to help remove some of the itch.
Enjoy the fellowship of your tribal village here!
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July 15th, 2008 at 6:24 am
oh don’t worry my introductioon was way longer than this even though I am only 17… hahaha
I am in Mexico right now for summer school. HAHA
I love Montreal with a heated passion but I live in TOronto =( i guess Toronto isn’t that bad but Montreal is the BEST! Have you been to quebec city? Most amazing place ever.
Wow you actually sound like a happy TCK. and I am amazed that you are going to settle down… but then I guess ppl who travel way too much would want to settle down more than someone who travels a great deal but not enough to satisfy their curiousity (that would be me). HAHA
You shall love this forum!
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July 15th, 2008 at 6:50 am
Margie,
Thanks for the welcome! Yeah I have been checking the site out for a while now…and finally decided to introduce myself.
I’m not too sure really about this ’settling down’ thing. I figure it makes sense to set up a home base…but I intend to work in international development and fully intend to have a job where I will have to travel…and I don’t rule out moving again (fortunately neither does my boyfriend Pierre. We’ll see how it all works out. For the moment I am just trying to get comfortable after the big move (I immigrated) to Canada.
Where do you call home now?
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July 15th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Hi there mmmmmm,
Wow, summer school in Mexico…lucky you!
My dad just left this morning to drive back down to Mexico City for the summer…(he still has a house there and his Peruvian wife has family there too…)
I just told him on the phone how much I missed Mexico…sigh! oh well…normal nostalgia.
So you live in Toronto? I only visited there once but I really liked it there! Yeah, Montreal is really cool…and Quebec City is beautiful too…but I love the modern architecture and Toronto is a lovely city!
As far as ’settling down’ and being a happy TCK…yeah I love travelling and will never stop! For sure! But I think setting up a ‘home base’ somewhere makes sense…it gets more and more complicated to keep travelling after a while…so I thought I would try it out. Though let me tell you…this move to Canada has been one of the hardest ones ever…maybe because of all the expectations associated with ’settling down’.
Anyway, enjoy Mexico and thanks for welcoming me to the forum! Cheers!
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July 15th, 2008 at 7:13 am
The thing is I am not in the part of Mexico that really matters. I am in Cozumel/Cancun area where it’s all like island paradise, ocean and tourism… oh well i guess i need internet for class.
I don’t reli…well I go to a boarding school in toronto, and my parents are not in Toronto with me.. haha and I don’t know if I am getting out of here for uni. I definitely want to but U.S. unis are impossible to get in and Montreal Unis don’t have the program I want -_-. quebec city is so ancient and cultural it just makes me so happy. and the winter carnival is amazing.
haaha i think you should have a look at some of Uncle Dan and Kristine’s blog (and the comments I made below their blog) about living in U.S. and Canada in general. In fact it’s pretty much publicly voted to be the 2 most unfavored place for all TCKs. But ergh, it’s survivable. haha.
Thanks! No problem
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October 24th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
En que parte del Peru viviste? Yo vivia en Cusco.
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December 31st, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Hola Allison,
Vivi en Lima y fui a la escuela Franklin Delano Roosevelt de 3era hasta 5a elementar.
Que suerte tuviste vivendo en Cuzco! Que bonito lugar!
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December 31st, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Hi Sylvia! Welcome to TCKid! My name is Laura (as my username DOESN’T suggest, haha!), and I’m so glad to have you here! I have two more years of University left, and I already have plans to move to Germany when I’m done…after saving some all-important money of course.
I’ve been to Montreal too, but I went for a few days with my orchestra in high school (yes, I was one of those too) and I fell in love with the place! I actually almost grew up there rather than here in the States, the reason being that my dad’s Montreal position had less money than the US one, so that’s why we’re here!
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Today at 1:22 pm (2 hours ago)
Hi Laura!
Yeah living in Montreal was an interesting experience. I love the city…always will…but I had to leave. Long story inlcludes a failed marriage and all…but the thing is I had always wanted to live in Montreal, since I first visited when I was 19…I feel I didn’t stay long enough to get over culture shock and really fit in…maybe someday I will go back but that all depends on whether I find work there…for the moment I am setting my sights more on Ottawa as I want to work in international development research.
So is your family Canadian…or was it a US company with a branch in Montreal that allowed for the option to work there? It wasn’t Pratt and Whitney was it? I was an English Teacher there for a while and all of my contacts were at Pratt! Really nice students, mostly French Canadian and mostly from way outside Montreal…
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