Growing up somewhere else might not have made me a completely different person, but it could have changed almost everything I think of as “me.” After listening to psychologist Dorsa Amir discuss how children learn and create culture, I started wondering how much of our personality, habits and assumptions are really ours, and how much we inherit from the world around us.

This is probably the question I keep coming back to. We often talk about languages as if some are naturally more important than others. English is a global language, some languages are considered useful for business or international communication, while others are described as rare or endangered. But useful to whom, and important according to what?

I came across Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at NYU while looking through some university programs and events connected to Italian culture. I was expecting to find the usual things: Italian literature, cinema, art, maybe Dante or Renaissance history. Instead, I found an event about something much more familiar to me: Italian food. The event, called Why Bragga-don’t-cio?!, looked at how Italian culture and cuisine have evolved through the Italian diaspora, particularly in the

Anthropology is the study of people and cultures, how we live, think, and connect. For expat kids, it’s a way to adjust to life anywhere in the world. When you understand that every culture has its own “normal,” things start to make more sense. Maybe people eat dinner later than you’re used to, or they greet with a kiss instead of a handshake. Instead of feeling out of place or uncomfortable, you can approach these differences like an anthropologist, with curiosity instead

When you think of the word anthropology, you might think of scientists digging up fossils or living with tribes in the jungle. But really, anthropology is the study of people, how we live, think, and interact. And if you’re an expat kid, you’ve basically been doing anthropology your whole life. Maybe not intentionally, and definitely without taking notes, but moving between countries means constantly noticing how people do things differently. You start paying attention to thi