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Where are you from? By @monaonthemoon

Mona Sharif

By Mona Sharif

 

Where are you from?

 

When I arrived to London in the last days of August, I was so happy I decided that there was no need for me to go back to my hometown before Christmas…First mistake. London is GREAT. But 4 months without seeing your family, your friends can sometimes feel very long. I learnt fairly soon what being homesick means.

Since I moved to the UK, every time somebody asked me ‘Where are you from?’ I answered kind of automatically ‘I’m from France’.. Indeed, I can’t really hide my accent so it seemed like a pretty logical answer. But then I remembered that when I was back in France, a lot of people asked me this question and I would always reply that I was from Syria. Paradoxically, ever since I’ve been living in London, I’ve never felt so Syrian, even more than before, even more than I feel French, even knowing that I sound more French than ever.

This led me to question myself about the real meaning of ’home’.

Is home the place you actually live in? The place you were born in? The place that brings up memories? The place your family lives? Or is it the last place you lived in before moving to your current place?

As the saying goes, home is not a place, it’s a feeling. Home is where you feel good, safe, where you have people you can trust and rely on. As much as I miss my friends and family, I can now feel more and more at home in this lovely city, surrounded by my lovely fellow Penguins.

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