Between Three Worlds: A Journey of Identity and Belonging

I'm seventeen. I was born in Senegal, raised in Italy, and now I live in England. That sentence alone says a lot about who I am and how complicated identity can be. When people ask me where I'm from, I hesitate. Not because I don't know the facts, but because the answer feels like trying to explain the colour of music or the taste of homesickness.

The Question That Never Gets Easier

There's this moment that happens when you're from everywhere and nowhere at once. Someone asks that simple question: 'Where are you from?' and you watch their face as they try to categorise you, to place you in a box that makes sense to them. I've learned to read those micro-expressions, the slight confusion when my answer doesn't match what they see, the way they adjust their expectations of who I should be.

Growing up between cultures feels like living in a perpetual state of translation. Not just language, though that's part of it, but translating emotions, values, expectations, and ways of being. You become fluent in code switching, in reading rooms and adjusting yourself to fit, in carrying multiple versions of yourself wherever you go.

The Journey Begins: From Senegal to Italy

I remember when we first moved to Italy from Senegal. I was five, young, wide-eyed, and completely unprepared for how different everything would be. The school arranged for a translator to help me adjust, thinking that language was the only barrier I'd face. But what they didn't understand, which I couldn't articulate then, was that even she couldn't bridge the cultural gap I was experiencing.

I felt like a postcard. Beautiful, exotic, something to be admired from a distance but never truly understood. People would look at me and see what they wanted to see, project their ideas of who I should be based on where I came from. The translator could help me understand the words. Still, she couldn't translate the feeling of being perpetually othered, of carrying the weight of representing an entire culture I was still learning about myself.

These moments wove themselves into the fabric of who I was becoming. I found myself thinking in Italian, dreaming in Italian, crying in Italian when the world felt too heavy.

A New Chapter: Moving to England

Moving to England added another layer to this complexity. Here, I was the Italian girl, the African girl, the girl with the fascinating story. I learned to navigate new social codes, new expectations, and new ways of being. Each move taught me something about adaptability, resilience, and the human capacity to recreate a home wherever we land.

The Gifts of Three Cultures

Each place has given me something different. Senegal gave me strength and resilience, the ability to carry dignity in the face of adversity. Italy gave me passion and warmth, the understanding that life is meant to be felt deeply. England is giving me independence and the courage to forge my own path.

There are moments when I feel the full weight of this gift. When I can code-switch between languages and cultures seamlessly, when I can understand jokes that span continents, when I can make friends with people from entirely different backgrounds because I understand what it's like to be from somewhere else. These moments remind me that my complexity isn't a burden, it's a bridge.

Finding My Place

I'm learning that belonging to three places isn't a disadvantage: it's a superpower. Each culture accepts different parts of me, and I could see that as being fragmented or as making me whole.

I love Senegal with a love that's still growing, still learning. I love the people and their warmth, the way strangers become family over shared meals. I love the food that connects me to generations of women who came before me, recipes passed down through mothers and daughters, each dish carrying stories I'm still learning to hear.

Italy is the very root of my soul. It's where I learned what home could feel like, where I discovered that love could be loud, passionate, and all-consuming. It's where I learned to appreciate beauty in everyday moments, where I discovered that life is meant to be lived with gusto.

And England? England is my home now. It's where I'm learning to be myself, unapologetically and completely. It's where I'm discovering that identity isn't about choosing one culture over another. It's about creating your own unique blend, your own way of being in the world.

Embracing the Complexity

So, when people ask me where I'm from, I'm learning to embrace the complexity of my answer. I'm from Senegal, where my story began. I'm from Italy, where my heart learned to love. I'm from England, where I'm learning to be myself. I'm from all of these places and none of them, and that's exactly where I belong.