Ever Feel Like You Don’t Belong Anywhere? Me Too.

There is a strange kind of loneliness that comes from living between countries.

Not the kind you feel when you're actually alone -

but the kind you feel when you're surrounded by people

and still sense a small distance between who you are

and who they expect you to be.

You are not alone

I was born in South Korea and grew up in Seattle and Toronto.

I was shaped by these three countries, yet I never fully belonged to any of them.

Back home, I was "too different" and the places I once knew no longer felt familiar.

Here, I'm "too foreign."

And somewhere in the middle, I've learned to create a version of myself that fits just enough to blend in, but never enough to feel rooted.

Teachers and students ask me, “So, where are you from?”

And every time, I hesitate.

If I name my birthplace, I feel like I'm ignoring who I've become.

If I name where I live now, it feels like I'm erasing where I started.

My identity has become a map with no clear location — just a collection of paths that cross but never settle.

Yet, there are still moments when I feel most at home.

A familiar scent from a restaurant I pass on the street.

A word from my language, Korean, overheard in a crowd.

A festival, a dish, a song - tiny reminders that somewhere in the world, there exists a version of me that fits perfectly.

H-MART

K-pop Demon Hunters

At school, people bond over childhood memories that don’t match mine.

They talk about inside jokes from growing up here, while I replay my own memories silently because no one else in the room would recognize them.

It feels like holding two different stories and realizing no one else has lived both.

But maybe belonging doesn't have to mean being claimed by a place.

Maybe it can mean claiming myself.

Maybe home is not a country or city, but the collection of experiences that made me - the languages I switch between without thinking, the traditions I carry quietly in my routine, the values passed down by my family, the ways I've learned to adapt, rebuild, and exist in multiple worlds at once.

Maybe belonging nowhere is just another way of belonging everywhere!

Advices

I'm still learning how to sit with that - how to embrace parts of myself that don't neatly match the world around me, how to hold my identity together without needing one place to define it, and how to stand in the in-between and still feel whole.

For now, you might exist in the space where cultures blend.

However, just like it did to me, home can become something you build within yourself.

It might not be a perfect place, but maybe, slowly, it'll become yours.

Also, you will eventually make friends. Don't worry.

If you're an introvert, just act as like an extrovert for the first week!

Who cares how you behave when you are in a totally new place?

Reach out to teachers if you need support, reach out to friends if they seem nice.

If someone ignores you or reacts negatively, then they’re simply not meant to be part of your circle :)

It's okay to be alone — most people are too focused on their own lives to notice

It is just your loneliness and anxiety that's troubling you

As a Korean student in my third year of studying abroad in the U.S., I was able to make new friends and gain valuable experiences I never would have had if I hadn't moved.

So if you're just starting this journey, here are a few things worth asking yourself:

Have you ever considered creating a club from scratch?

Have you ever realized that being the only one can actually be an advantage?

Have you ever thought about how proud your country must be of you?

Have you ever recognized how proud you should be for choosing experiences others are too afraid to try?

Studying abroad will be a precious experience during your youth to build independence, become bilingual, and understand different cultures around the world. You will start to see how the big the world is and come to realize how you were living in a small, narrow town.

Never give up trying new opportunities that are given to you.

Never give up reaching out when you need help. You are not alone!

Remember, not everyone gets a chance to study abroad! :)