
My friend Alice came back to Madrid for a visit the other day. She was telling me about how hard it had been for her to adjust to living and working in the UK (where her parents are from, where she was born, but where she hasn’t lived since she was 2 years old). After a nice walk through Retiro Park, she realized her wallet was missing. We went to the nearest police station to report it and I stood there listening to her describe the contents of the wallet: bank card from the UK, bus-pass from Madrid, metro card from Paris (where her parents now live), Illinois driver’s license, San Diego library card… The police officer taking down her statement finally blurted out “Wow!, You are a real globe-trotter!”, and Alice answered, “Nah… I’m just a third culture kid”.
SO, WHAT IS A THIRD CULTURE KID?