When people ask me where I’m from, I have a three-part answer, which goes: 1) I was born in Montreal 2) But I moved to Atlanta when I was seven and mostly grew up there 3) But I went to International School so I was very much a part of the international community.
After a few strange looks, I’ll just finish by saying: “It’s complicated.” And it is.
The question of cultural identity isn’t something I felt weird about until coming to college. Due to the fact that I went to International School, most of my friends were like me in that they were also from a lot of places. Being born in another country and/or speaking another language, but still also being from Atlanta was our reality. In college, that’s simply not true for most people. They’re from one place. I feel like my multi-dimensional answer leaves people with the question: “But wait, where are you REALLY from?”
This is a silly question to me. What are you asking me, where I was originated? My mother’s uterus. Where literally have I just come from? My dorm room, most likely. What is this REALLY meant to emphasize—where I was born, like my starting point? Montreal. Or where I grew up? Atlanta.
Part of me wants to shout back, “I DON’T KNOW!” but I also DO know. It’s a complicated answer for the feeling of duplicity I have, but I am allowed to come from more than one place.The me that you know simply wouldn’t be the same if she came from one place.
People can accept Canadian (French-Canadian, I always add) and more generally, American. I try not to go into my heritage too much (another attempt to not over-complicated an already complicated cultural identity), but people hear my last name, or my mother’s, and I have to explain that I’m also Romanian and French. All this is complex, but people will nod along.
Where most people truly stumble is when I describe my high school as part of where I’m from. In all honesty, it is. When you ask where someone’s from, you’re asking about their culture and their environment. I grew up in halls where I could always hear at least three different languages being spoken. When I went to one friend’s house, we always had crepes, and if I went to another’s, there was a plate of naan. I grew up with UN Day every year and knowing the “French way” to do math (that is a thing).
My cultural identity is so mixed in with all the cultures of my friends and teachers from my school that to say I’m just Canadian and American is simplistic and wrong. I was shaped by an international environment, and it is part of where I’m from.
I love it! I love being from all these places. I love my multi-faceted cultural identity. I struggle to answer the question because I don’t know how to fit in a whole life of places into just a few words. I can’t trim down my answer without feeling like I’m lying. I’m not just from Montreal, or Atlanta, or my International School. I’m from all these places and more.
All this to answer: “Where are you from?”
Maybe a little bit of everywhere.
Image credits: Gabrielle Ivanier