This piece is not going to be all about the struggles of having an identity crisis resulting from growing up with two nationalities (although I’m not denying that it’s probably there, and I do feel it sometimes), but rather a reflection on how sometimes the world is a little different for us half breeds. A personal journey I am half Egyptian, half Greek having grown up in both countries at totally different points in my life – I was born and grew up in Athens, Greece until I was about 11, then I moved to Cairo and stayed here until I graduated from high school. Following high school, I decided I wanted to move back to Greece for university, which at that point in time seemed like the right decision as I had spent my adolescence missing my childhood home and building up an unexplained hatred towards the country that seemed to take me away from it – but two years in and I decided to move back to Cairo and finish my university degree here. I had come to realize that Cairo became my home – a place that…
Striving to Belong: Reflections on Growing up with a Dual Nationality
February 6, 2020
