I'm posting this on a special day for me. I was born 20962 days ago. The first 10481, I've lived in the Netherlands, the second 10481 days I've lived as an expat in Luxembourg and Belgium.
I was born to relatively young parents who still lived in their university town, Leiden, where my parents had studied chemistry (my mother gave up after her bachelors, my father has completed his masters, started a PhD but gave up when fatherhood made teaching a better plan, at least for the short term).
We moved to The Hague, my parents' city of birth where my father taught chemistry at secondary school until his retirement. My brother was born in The Hague as well.
I went to a primary school in the very south of The Hague against the dunes and a stone throw from the beach. My secondary school was a strict place with a reputation for good education (*). We learned Latin and Greek for at least some years as well as modern languages and sciences.
(* for what it's worth: two former Christian democratic ministers of justice among its alumni; a daughter of a liberal minister and future princess among my peers, and when I was there, an alumnus won the Nobel prize in physics. I disliked the place)
I went to Rotterdam to study economics. I became active in the youth wing of a political party and learned to play bridge rather well.
During my student years I taught microeconomics mostly to second year students, a nice half time job that provided me with an income for four years.
I eventually specialised in monetary economics and my professor, Eduard Bomhoff employed me for a while as his assistant in economics courses. Bomhoff was by far the best teacher I had encountered at university and it was a pleasure to work for him. He was a prominent member of the Labour party and a columnist in the country's best (second best?) newspaper. It was a complete surprise when the man joined the extreme right LPF party in the early 2000's and became the vice prime minister. That government turned out to be a disaster, lasting for less than three months. My once beloved professor left for Kuala Lumpur where he still is a professor and occasionally writes grumpy comments on national politics.
At graduation I was asked to join the PhD program but I regrettably didn't try - the pay was terrible and I needed to provide for a family of two. After jobs at my university, at the Ministry of Finance and in parliament (as the assistant of an MP of my political party - I loved that job), I passed the competition for a job at the European Commission.
On 1 August 1995 (10481 days ago) I started in the European Commission's statistical office as the person responsible for the statistics of R&D, innovation, Science and Technology, patents etc. Interesting but living in Luxembourg isn't easy for a 30 year old and even less for a recently divorced one..
One aspect of Luxembourg was great. I had learned to play bridge well and was asked to play the 1989 European Communities championship for the Netherlands junior team (at the time there were both European and EC (*) championships but the latter stopped when it became clear that the European Communities and Europe would overlap to such a large extent). At that 1989 tournament I had to conclude that I was no more than "good" at the game and that there were players with a so much better understanding that the idea of becoming a pro was pointless. Fast forward to Luxembourg: there weren't many players and they weren't great but within weeks they asked me to play in the national team so that I went to the world championships in Rhodes, the last ever EC championships in Salsomaggiore and the European championships in Malta with five other Lux residents. A great experience. (* European Communities, European Economic Community, European Community for Coal and Steel this would all be called the European Union as from the coming into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993)
I've left for Brussels where I first worked as a macroeconomist and then for almost seventeen years in competition enforcement and policy. I've brought two cartels to justice (and pushed standing case law in an obscure corner of competition law a bit), helped to finish off many others by taking part in dawn raids and assisted in the saving of a bank during a crazy over-the-weekend rescue.
In the meantime I got married and divorced again becoming the father of a now 21 year old boy - a good looking and smart business school student who's bachelors took him to three different European cities who's fluent in three or so languages and gets by in two more.
I've also managed to get into the Belgian backgammon team, playing not very successful European and world championships but mostly waiting for my turn to play. Mercifully, these events are short.
And now for the big question: where am I from? I'm partially man-of-the world (many global issue feel personal, I've been on most continents, I read the NY times for breakfast), and even more European (or rather "EUropean") having been shaped through three decades of work here.
But in the nationality sense, I've remained Dutch. I'm a paid subscriber to two national newspapers and have been member of one political party and then another without interruption since 1991. What happens in the Netherlands matters. A murder in a Dutch town where I've never been feels like a disturbance of the way the world should be, a feeling that I never have with respect to an event in Belgium or Luxemburg (countries where I have not only lived but who have embraced me as their adopted son by having me in their national team in, admittedly, obscure endeavors), or in Estonia, Germany or Portugal (where some of my ancestors are from) or in France (my son feels more French than Dutch) or in Italy (the nation of my wife, destination of many holidays, probable residence of my retirement).
I am from Hamburg, Northern Germany, but I reply to that beautiful post because I honestly envy you a bit for growing up in that wonderful city, my wife and me are visiting very often (not that I lack anything growing up in Hamburg) and just November 2022 we walked by this Marcus Aurelius column and the Ms. Garibaldi statue on the Gianicolo (what a serene view on Rome !)...good luck to you !
I am from Cervià de les Garrigues, a small Catalan village surrounded by olive and almond groves and, of course, 'garrigues' (scrubland). People there claim they make the world's best olive oil. I learned to read and write from my mother, who happened to be the local school teacher.
I am from Cambrils, once a little fishermen's village, now a familiar tourist resort quite busy in summer. My father worked there all year building tourist apartments, and we joined him to spend our school holidays.
I am from Barcelona, where I went to start my college studies in Computer Science. I entered the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. I am still there, now being myself, who teaches Software Engineering.
I am from Lleida, where Caesar once won a battle against a bigger army of Pompey's followers. While standing there during my compulsory military service, I met and started dating who is now my wife, Anna.
I am from Terrassa, the city my son was born in, some 17 miles north of Barcelona. Anna and I moved there when we married because housing was more affordable than in Barcelona.
What a delightful typo: "adaptive grandfather" should probably read "adoptive grandfather". I wonder if that is an unconscious commentary on said grandfather's admirable qualities?
Brattleboro, Vermont, and its environs. Even though I was born in Philadelphia and lived there and in one of its inner suburbs until the summer of the year in which I turned ten, Brattleboro always felt like home. It was my father’s hometown, and, throughout my childhood, we regularly visited my grandparents, often spending a significant chunk of the summer there. And when my father’s graduation from law school approached, and my parents told me and my brother that we were going to move to Vermont, to actually _live_ there . . . I was thrilled. We actually lived in Guilford, wedged between Brattleboro itself and the Massachusetts border, but I always tell people I am from Brattleboro. There is a chance that people have heard of it, and it was the center of activity in that southeastern corner of the state.
I graduated from high school and went off to college over forty years ago. I still think of it as home, in a very real sense. Perhaps it is because early memories sometimes have a special pull. Perhaps it is because Brattleboro was really a pretty neat little place in the 1970s. It had a real sense of community, a thriving little arts and cultural scene, and (for those times when one wanted something bigger) good access to Boston, New York, or even Montreal. It was (as I probably am too eager to tell people) a great place to grow up.
I realized I didn't know anything about your childhood, Massimo! (And actually not much about the rest, either!) I enjoyed your post and will try the exercise myself 🙂 Grazie!
Nice! I could say I’m from any of the 20 different places I’ve lived, i.e., each of them shaped me in some way, but I’m mainly a product of the culture of the 60s and 70s, my own resilient nature, and my curiosity. I am most grateful for my curiosity. It’s more of a life-saver than, say, jumping jacks. :)
What a lovely post and replies! I’m from another time and place, I often think. Alternatively and more prosaically, from the North East of Scotland via the North East of England. My father from Burma and mother from Scotland. Have a great 2023 everyone!
So, "Where am I from"? Born in south GA to an Arkansas-born woman and a south Georgia man who very narrowly escaped death (not too long before I was conceived) as a navigator on a WWII American plane in England in the midst of war. My father--Jim Buckner--went on to become a low-church Episcopal clergyman and I went on to become, much later, a pushy atheistic secular humanist (but not because of his beliefs or actions). Been happily married for over half a century and we're proud to be the parents of Michael. There's more, but I'm tired. And old. And decrepit. And ....
And here I thought I knew you! (And I did.) Are we who're paid permitted to copy and share your posts with friends? Especially this interesting one? (More later on where I'm from.)
I am from the Garden State. Don't laugh - I know, I know, New Jersey ain't Rome, but believe me, as a kid growing up in the 1950s and early 1960s, it seems like paradise now.
I'm posting this on a special day for me. I was born 20962 days ago. The first 10481, I've lived in the Netherlands, the second 10481 days I've lived as an expat in Luxembourg and Belgium.
I was born to relatively young parents who still lived in their university town, Leiden, where my parents had studied chemistry (my mother gave up after her bachelors, my father has completed his masters, started a PhD but gave up when fatherhood made teaching a better plan, at least for the short term).
We moved to The Hague, my parents' city of birth where my father taught chemistry at secondary school until his retirement. My brother was born in The Hague as well.
I went to a primary school in the very south of The Hague against the dunes and a stone throw from the beach. My secondary school was a strict place with a reputation for good education (*). We learned Latin and Greek for at least some years as well as modern languages and sciences.
(* for what it's worth: two former Christian democratic ministers of justice among its alumni; a daughter of a liberal minister and future princess among my peers, and when I was there, an alumnus won the Nobel prize in physics. I disliked the place)
I went to Rotterdam to study economics. I became active in the youth wing of a political party and learned to play bridge rather well.
During my student years I taught microeconomics mostly to second year students, a nice half time job that provided me with an income for four years.
I eventually specialised in monetary economics and my professor, Eduard Bomhoff employed me for a while as his assistant in economics courses. Bomhoff was by far the best teacher I had encountered at university and it was a pleasure to work for him. He was a prominent member of the Labour party and a columnist in the country's best (second best?) newspaper. It was a complete surprise when the man joined the extreme right LPF party in the early 2000's and became the vice prime minister. That government turned out to be a disaster, lasting for less than three months. My once beloved professor left for Kuala Lumpur where he still is a professor and occasionally writes grumpy comments on national politics.
At graduation I was asked to join the PhD program but I regrettably didn't try - the pay was terrible and I needed to provide for a family of two. After jobs at my university, at the Ministry of Finance and in parliament (as the assistant of an MP of my political party - I loved that job), I passed the competition for a job at the European Commission.
On 1 August 1995 (10481 days ago) I started in the European Commission's statistical office as the person responsible for the statistics of R&D, innovation, Science and Technology, patents etc. Interesting but living in Luxembourg isn't easy for a 30 year old and even less for a recently divorced one..
One aspect of Luxembourg was great. I had learned to play bridge well and was asked to play the 1989 European Communities championship for the Netherlands junior team (at the time there were both European and EC (*) championships but the latter stopped when it became clear that the European Communities and Europe would overlap to such a large extent). At that 1989 tournament I had to conclude that I was no more than "good" at the game and that there were players with a so much better understanding that the idea of becoming a pro was pointless. Fast forward to Luxembourg: there weren't many players and they weren't great but within weeks they asked me to play in the national team so that I went to the world championships in Rhodes, the last ever EC championships in Salsomaggiore and the European championships in Malta with five other Lux residents. A great experience. (* European Communities, European Economic Community, European Community for Coal and Steel this would all be called the European Union as from the coming into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993)
I've left for Brussels where I first worked as a macroeconomist and then for almost seventeen years in competition enforcement and policy. I've brought two cartels to justice (and pushed standing case law in an obscure corner of competition law a bit), helped to finish off many others by taking part in dawn raids and assisted in the saving of a bank during a crazy over-the-weekend rescue.
In the meantime I got married and divorced again becoming the father of a now 21 year old boy - a good looking and smart business school student who's bachelors took him to three different European cities who's fluent in three or so languages and gets by in two more.
I've also managed to get into the Belgian backgammon team, playing not very successful European and world championships but mostly waiting for my turn to play. Mercifully, these events are short.
And now for the big question: where am I from? I'm partially man-of-the world (many global issue feel personal, I've been on most continents, I read the NY times for breakfast), and even more European (or rather "EUropean") having been shaped through three decades of work here.
But in the nationality sense, I've remained Dutch. I'm a paid subscriber to two national newspapers and have been member of one political party and then another without interruption since 1991. What happens in the Netherlands matters. A murder in a Dutch town where I've never been feels like a disturbance of the way the world should be, a feeling that I never have with respect to an event in Belgium or Luxemburg (countries where I have not only lived but who have embraced me as their adopted son by having me in their national team in, admittedly, obscure endeavors), or in Estonia, Germany or Portugal (where some of my ancestors are from) or in France (my son feels more French than Dutch) or in Italy (the nation of my wife, destination of many holidays, probable residence of my retirement).
I am from Hamburg, Northern Germany, but I reply to that beautiful post because I honestly envy you a bit for growing up in that wonderful city, my wife and me are visiting very often (not that I lack anything growing up in Hamburg) and just November 2022 we walked by this Marcus Aurelius column and the Ms. Garibaldi statue on the Gianicolo (what a serene view on Rome !)...good luck to you !
I am from Cervià de les Garrigues, a small Catalan village surrounded by olive and almond groves and, of course, 'garrigues' (scrubland). People there claim they make the world's best olive oil. I learned to read and write from my mother, who happened to be the local school teacher.
I am from Cambrils, once a little fishermen's village, now a familiar tourist resort quite busy in summer. My father worked there all year building tourist apartments, and we joined him to spend our school holidays.
I am from Barcelona, where I went to start my college studies in Computer Science. I entered the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. I am still there, now being myself, who teaches Software Engineering.
I am from Lleida, where Caesar once won a battle against a bigger army of Pompey's followers. While standing there during my compulsory military service, I met and started dating who is now my wife, Anna.
I am from Terrassa, the city my son was born in, some 17 miles north of Barcelona. Anna and I moved there when we married because housing was more affordable than in Barcelona.
What a delightful typo: "adaptive grandfather" should probably read "adoptive grandfather". I wonder if that is an unconscious commentary on said grandfather's admirable qualities?
Where am I from?
Brattleboro, Vermont, and its environs. Even though I was born in Philadelphia and lived there and in one of its inner suburbs until the summer of the year in which I turned ten, Brattleboro always felt like home. It was my father’s hometown, and, throughout my childhood, we regularly visited my grandparents, often spending a significant chunk of the summer there. And when my father’s graduation from law school approached, and my parents told me and my brother that we were going to move to Vermont, to actually _live_ there . . . I was thrilled. We actually lived in Guilford, wedged between Brattleboro itself and the Massachusetts border, but I always tell people I am from Brattleboro. There is a chance that people have heard of it, and it was the center of activity in that southeastern corner of the state.
I graduated from high school and went off to college over forty years ago. I still think of it as home, in a very real sense. Perhaps it is because early memories sometimes have a special pull. Perhaps it is because Brattleboro was really a pretty neat little place in the 1970s. It had a real sense of community, a thriving little arts and cultural scene, and (for those times when one wanted something bigger) good access to Boston, New York, or even Montreal. It was (as I probably am too eager to tell people) a great place to grow up.
I realized I didn't know anything about your childhood, Massimo! (And actually not much about the rest, either!) I enjoyed your post and will try the exercise myself 🙂 Grazie!
Nice! I could say I’m from any of the 20 different places I’ve lived, i.e., each of them shaped me in some way, but I’m mainly a product of the culture of the 60s and 70s, my own resilient nature, and my curiosity. I am most grateful for my curiosity. It’s more of a life-saver than, say, jumping jacks. :)
What a lovely post and replies! I’m from another time and place, I often think. Alternatively and more prosaically, from the North East of Scotland via the North East of England. My father from Burma and mother from Scotland. Have a great 2023 everyone!
So, "Where am I from"? Born in south GA to an Arkansas-born woman and a south Georgia man who very narrowly escaped death (not too long before I was conceived) as a navigator on a WWII American plane in England in the midst of war. My father--Jim Buckner--went on to become a low-church Episcopal clergyman and I went on to become, much later, a pushy atheistic secular humanist (but not because of his beliefs or actions). Been happily married for over half a century and we're proud to be the parents of Michael. There's more, but I'm tired. And old. And decrepit. And ....
And here I thought I knew you! (And I did.) Are we who're paid permitted to copy and share your posts with friends? Especially this interesting one? (More later on where I'm from.)
Born in New York Hospital...
I am from the Garden State. Don't laugh - I know, I know, New Jersey ain't Rome, but believe me, as a kid growing up in the 1950s and early 1960s, it seems like paradise now.