A friend recently sent this article to me. For me, it really stuck a chord. A part of me is the one defined in the United States. It is where I grew up. It’s the feeling of being a kid again when you go home to your parents and being loved unconditionally. It’s home. There will always be a part of you that is far away from its home and is lying dormant until it can breathe and live in full color back in the country where it belongs.

Another part of me is in Hong Kong. I changed there because I had the chance to start over. I became a more confident person, more outgoing, and gained new opinions and perspectives. It’s home too. To live in a new place is a beautiful, thrilling thing, and it can show you that you can be whoever you want — on your own terms. It can give you the gift of freedom, of new beginnings, of curiosity and excitement.

Now I am here. I’m still figuring out who I am here, but it is neither the person I am in the United States or the person I am in the Hong Kong. But to start over, to get on that plane, doesn’t come without a price. You cannot be in two places at once, and from now on, you will always lay awake on certain nights and think of all the things you’re missing out on back home.

It’s hard enough to be in two places at once, let alone three.

Originally posted on halfwayaroundtheworld.studentsgoneglobal.com.