There comes a moment in life abroad when you realize something quietly unsettling—you feel like a foreigner everywhere. Not fully here, not fully there. It is not a dramatic realization, but a slow awareness that settles in over time.
In the country you moved to, you learn the systems, the language, and the routines. You adapt. You grow. Yet there are moments when you are reminded that you are still “new.” An accent, a question about where you are from, a cultural reference you don’t understand. You belong—but not completely.
Then there is home.
When you visit, things feel familiar but slightly distant. People expect you to be the same, but you are not. Your experiences have reshaped you. Your perspective has widened. Conversations feel shorter, routines feel unfamiliar, and suddenly you realize that home has changed too—or maybe you have.
Living between two worlds creates an identity that is difficult to explain. You carry one culture in your heart and practice another in daily life. You miss home while building something new. You feel grateful and disconnected at the same time.
This in-between space can feel lonely. There is no clear place to put these emotions. But there is also strength in it. Living this way teaches empathy, resilience, and depth. You learn to hold multiple versions of yourself without needing to choose just one.
Feeling like a foreigner everywhere does not mean you belong nowhere. It means your sense of belonging has expanded beyond borders.
Not fully here. Not fully there.
But slowly, you learn—you are becoming someone who belongs to more than one world.
