My family has been quite nomadic for generations. I am mostly Pontic Greek (a trip of Greeks that used to live in Turkey before they were driven out 100 years ago) on my fathers side. My mothers side contributed some German and Prussian elements, but I understand that in the 70’ies they already had a somewhat international identity, which they passed down to us kids. I never quite had a home anywhere – no particular identity.

Until one day I started to take pride in JUST THAT. As a teen I left Germany (where I was raised mostly) to live in Kenya for 1.5 years. after a return to Germany I moved on to Ireland, where I stayed for 10 years. I could have gotten the Irish citizenship at that point, but my nomadic soul made me relocate again…this time to Vienna. I already feel sorry for the messed up identity I will pass on to my offspring. My wife (who has a similarly international story and Lithuanian/Russian roots) and I are looking forward to having our first child in June.

Being a mixed blood, I always identified as being a foreigner. After living in many different countries (among them 1.5 years in Kenya and 1 years in Ireland) I nowadays feel at home mostly with other expatriates. It’s weird, In a room full of Germans, Greeks or Irish I will be a foreigner, but in a room of other mixed internationals, who have lived in several countries, FINALLY I am allowed to feel at home (even if I don’t share any common countries with some of them).