In terms of how a person is acculturated, kids who grow up in multiple countries because their parents job requires travel, may or may not pick up much of the local culture(s) ... but we may also not pick up significant parts of "home" culture either.
When I was growing up, the most common "international" schools were either American or British, which meant that a lot of kids whose homes were neither the US nor the UK ended up without that bubble of fellow citizens. The school culture didn't match the culture that kid would have otherwise grown up in. Specifically, for me, returning to Canada for university involved (mild) culture shock, and lots of conversations that bogged down between "but everyone knows..." and "well, I don't."
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Date: 16 May 2010 05:23 pm (UTC)When I was growing up, the most common "international" schools were either American or British, which meant that a lot of kids whose homes were neither the US nor the UK ended up without that bubble of fellow citizens. The school culture didn't match the culture that kid would have otherwise grown up in. Specifically, for me, returning to Canada for university involved (mild) culture shock, and lots of conversations that bogged down between "but everyone knows..." and "well, I don't."