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Trigger warning: This episode touches on mental health, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders, so please take care while listening.
Moving countries can be an incredible opportunity—but for a teenager, especially a teenage girl, constant change can also come with a very real emotional cost.
In this episode of Quiero un Panino con Cheese, I talk with Andrea Schmitt Lozano, a teen girl life coach with a master’s degree in clinical psychology, longtime expat, and mother of a Third Culture Kid (TCK).
Andrea brings both professional experience and lived experience to the conversation. After more than 30 years of expat life, she understands the challenges of raising globally mobile children—and she experienced firsthand what happened when her daughter reached adolescence after years of moving between countries and changing schools.
Her daughter had changed schools eight times by the age of 14. As the moves continued, Andrea noticed changes in her daughter’s friendships, identity, self-esteem, and sense of belonging. That experience ultimately became part of what led Andrea to focus her work on teen girls, TCK girls, and globally mobile young women.
In our conversation, we explore:
One of the most important messages Andrea shares with parents is that you don't have to make your daughter's life painless. Instead, parents can create a safe space where their daughters can talk honestly about both the exciting and difficult parts of their globally mobile lives.
For TCK parents, expat families, globally mobile teenagers, and anyone trying to understand the complex relationship between identity, culture, and belonging, this conversation is a must.
You can find Andrea on Instagram at globalgirlcoach
as well as on her website, Global Girl Coach
and on LinkedIn at Andrea Schmitt Lozano
If this conversation about Third Culture Kids, global parenting, identity, belonging, and raising multicultural children resonated with you, I'd love your support.
Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review, and share this episode with someone navigating international life, raising globally mobile children, or searching for where they truly belong.
Together, we can help more globally mobile families feel understood, connected, and at home—wherever they are in the world.
For more, please follow me also on Instagram at Quiero un Panino con Cheese
Send us Fan Mail
What happens when two Third Culture Kids from very different backgrounds meet, lose touch, reconnect years later, and build a multicultural family together?
In this episode of Quiero un Panino con Cheese, I talk with Madison and Rob about growing up between countries, navigating TCK identity, and what it means to feel at home when “home” isn’t a single place.
Their paths first crossed as teenagers, when Madison was living in Peru and Rob had just moved to Argentina. They became friends online, dated briefly, went their separate ways, and eventually reconnected in their twenties. Their story is a beautiful example of how relationships—and people—can remain part of our lives even when geography keeps getting in the way.
They share their experiences of moving across cultures, returning to their passport countries, finding belonging, raising multilingual children, and building a multicultural family in the Netherlands.
They also explore the unexpected strengths that can come from a globally mobile childhood—including adaptability, empathy, and open-mindedness—and offer advice to young TCKs navigating friendships, identity, and constant change.
In this episode:
Their final message to young TCKs is especially powerful: stay connected to the people who matter, embrace your adaptability, and recognize that what may feel like a weakness or insecurity today can eventually become your superpower.
If you've ever struggled to answer "Where are you from?", questioned where you belong, returned to a country that was supposed to feel like home and discovered it didn't, or wondered what happens when two globally mobile people build a life and family together, this conversation is for you.
Follow Madison Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/nomad.ison.k/ for more of her perspective on multicultural life.
If this conversation about Third Culture Kids, global parenting, identity, belonging, and raising multicultural children resonated with you, I'd love your support.
Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review, and share this episode with someone navigating international life, raising globally mobile children, or searching for where they truly belong.
Together, we can help more globally mobile families feel understood, connected, and at home—wherever they are in the world.
For more, please follow me also on Instagram at Quiero un Panino con Cheese
Send us Fan Mail
What does it really mean to move abroad?
We often focus on the exciting parts of becoming an expat or international family: discovering a new culture, learning a language, meeting new people, and creating a new life. But the emotional reality of moving abroad can be much more complicated.
In this episode of Quiero un Panino con Cheese, I sit down with Lidia Budziszewska, a clinical psychologist from the multilingual therapy center, Open Psychology, based in Madrid, who has lived in Spain for 19 years and works with expats, international families, children, teenagers, and Third Culture Kids
Drawing on both her personal experience of moving from Poland to Spain and her professional experience as a psychologist, Lidia helps us understand some of the emotional challenges that can come with living abroad—and why struggling doesn't necessarily mean you made the wrong decision.
In this episode, we discuss:
Perhaps the most important message from Lidia is this:
Difficult thoughts and feelings don't necessarily mean you made the wrong decision.
Moving abroad changes your context. The things that worked for you at home may need to be rebuilt or adapted in your new country. Feeling lonely, vulnerable, homesick, or uncertain doesn't automatically mean you should leave.
Sometimes it simply means you're adjusting.
Moving abroad isn't simply about changing your address. It's about rebuilding parts of your life while carrying your old life with you.
And perhaps that's why the experience can be both incredibly rewarding and incredibly challenging.
About Lidia Budziszewska
Lidia Budziszewska is a clinical psychologist who has lived in Spain for 19 years. Originally from Poland, she moved to Spain as an Erasmus student and went on to complete her Master's and PhD studies there.
She is one of the founders of Open Psychology, a Madrid-based psychological center offering support in multiple languages to adults, children, teenagers, couples and families, as well as support in schools and at home.
Lidia works in Polish, Spanish, and English, and Open Psychology's multidisciplinary team also provides psychological support in additional languages.
Find Lidia & Open Psychology here:
🌐 Open Psychology Website
📱 Open Psychology Instagram
💼 Open Psychology LinkedIn
If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who is preparing to move abroad—or someone who has already made the move and is discovering that the emotional side of international life is more complicated than they expected.
If this conversation about Third Culture Kids, global parenting, identity, belonging, and raising multicultural children resonated with you, I'd love your support.
Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review, and share this episode with someone navigating international life, raising globally mobile children, or searching for where they truly belong.
Together, we can help more globally mobile families feel understood, connected, and at home—wherever they are in the world.
For more, please follow me also on Instagram at Quiero un Panino con Cheese
Send us Fan Mail
Belonging, Identity & the Emotional Journey of Living Between CulturesWhat does it really mean to feel at home?
For Third Culture Kids, expats, immigrants, global nomads, and anyone who has lived between cultures, “Where are you from?” can be a surprisingly complicated question.
In this episode of Quiero un Panino con Cheese, I’m joined by Nina Aziz Justin, keynote speaker, strategic advisor, resilience mentor, and author of The Home Within: A Soulful Memoir of Self-Belonging Across Cultures and Change.
Nina was born in Malaysia and has spent decades living and working across cultures and more than 40 countries. Her experiences have led her to explore one of the most fundamental questions of multicultural life: Where do we belong when we no longer fit neatly into one place, culture, language, or identity?
Her book The Home Within explores migration not simply as a physical journey, but as a journey of identity, becoming, and ultimately returning to ourselves.
In this episode, we talk about:
A conversation about the multicultural experience
One of the things I loved most about this conversation was Nina’s reminder that we don't have to choose between gratitude and grief.
We can be grateful for the life we've built and still miss home.
We can love our new country and still long for the language, food, humor, people, and childhood references of somewhere else.
We can be successful and still feel lonely.
And we can discover that belonging doesn't necessarily mean finding the one place where we finally fit. Sometimes, belonging means becoming comfortable enough with ourselves that we no longer need to shrink in order to fit anywhere.
Nina's beautiful concept of “the home within” feels especially relevant for those of us who have spent our lives crossing borders—physical, cultural, linguistic, and emotional.
About Nina Aziz Justin
Nina Aziz Justin is a keynote speaker, strategic advisor, business resilience mentor, and author of The Home Within. Her work draws on decades of international experience, weaving together resilience, identity, migration, reinvention, neuroscience, and belonging. Her book explores what it means to build a sense of home within ourselves while navigating cultures, change, and different versions of who we are.
Connect with Nina
Website: The Resilience Mentor
Instagram: @nina.aziz.justin
LinkedIn: Nina Aziz Justin on LinkedIn
The Home Within: Buy or learn more about The Home Within
A question for you
Where is home for you—and has that answer changed over the course of your life?
If you've ever struggled with the question “Where are you from?”, I'd love to hear your story.
If this conversation about Third Culture Kids, global parenting, identity, belonging, and raising multicultural children resonated with you, I'd love your support.
Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review, and share this episode with someone navigating international life, raising globally mobile children, or searching for where they truly belong.
Together, we can help more globally mobile families feel understood, connected, and at home—wherever they are in the world.
For more, please follow me also on Instagram at Quiero un Panino con Cheese
Send us Fan Mail
What if learning a language wasn't really about vocabulary and grammar?
In this fascinating conversation, I sit down with Michelle from WeCultivate Training and Media to explore the deeper layers of language—how history, identity, culture, bias, and belonging shape the way we communicate.
Michelle shares her multicultural upbringing, her journey from UX designer to language educator, and why she believes language learning is just as much about psychology and sociology as it is about memorizing words.
Together we unpack why speaking the same language doesn't always mean understanding each other, how stereotypes influence the way we judge accents and language ability, and why curiosity is one of the most powerful communication tools we have.
Whether you're raising multilingual children, living abroad, learning a new language, or simply interested in understanding people more deeply, this episode will challenge the way you think about communication.
In this episode, we discuss:
Michelle is the founder of WeCultivate and host of WeCultivate:The Pod, where she explores the intersections of language, communication, culture, and identity in real-world contexts.
With a multidisciplinary background across science, policy, and tech, her work focuses on the often-overlooked realities of multilingual communication—especially for professionals navigating complex, global environments.
She’s known for challenging traditional ideas of “language learning,” shifting the conversation beyond the textbook and toward how people are actually understood, evaluated, and experienced in everyday interactions. Drawing from her experience living across multiple countries and cultures, she brings a perspective that pushes beyond conventional narratives and into the realities most conversations miss.
You can find Michelle here:
Substack: https://wecultivate.substack.com/
Main podcast page: https://wecultivate.world/podcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wecultivate.world/
If this conversation about Third Culture Kids, global parenting, identity, belonging, and raising multicultural children resonated with you, I'd love your support.
Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review, and share this episode with someone navigating international life, raising globally mobile children, or searching for where they truly belong.
Together, we can help more globally mobile families feel understood, connected, and at home—wherever they are in the world.
For more, please follow me also on Instagram at Quiero un Panino con Cheese
Send us Fan Mail
Can a single meal transport you back to childhood? Can trying a new dish change the way you see another culture?
In this episode of Quiero un Panino con Cheese, we're exploring the extraordinary role that food plays in shaping identity, preserving culture, and creating connections across borders.
For Third Culture Kids (TCKs), expats, immigrants, and multicultural families, food is often much more than nourishment. It carries memories, traditions, family stories, and a sense of belonging. At the same time, being willing to embrace unfamiliar foods can open the door to understanding new cultures and building meaningful relationships.
Joining me is Gloria Senescall, who shares her family's multicultural story and reflects on how food has become both an anchor to home and a bridge to the many places they've lived. Together, we discuss how every shared meal offers an opportunity to connect, learn, and celebrate the diversity that makes our lives richer.
Whether you're raising children across cultures, living abroad, or simply passionate about exploring the world through food, this conversation is a reminder that sometimes our greatest cultural lessons happen around the dinner table.
In this episode, we discuss:
I'd love to hear from you!
🍝 What food instantly makes you feel at home?
🌍 What's the most unusual dish you've ever tried that completely changed your perspective?
Join the conversation on Instagram at Quiero un Panino con Cheese and share your story!
If you want to know more about Gloria, you can find her on LinkedIn
Sometimes all it takes is one bite to feel at home… or to discover a whole new one.
If this conversation about Third Culture Kids, global parenting, identity, belonging, and raising multicultural children resonated with you, I'd love your support.
Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review, and share this episode with someone navigating international life, raising globally mobile children, or searching for where they truly belong.
Together, we can help more globally mobile families feel understood, connected, and at home—wherever they are in the world.
For more, please follow me also on Instagram at Quiero un Panino con Cheese
Send us Fan Mail
What does home really mean when you've spent your life moving between countries, cultures, and continents?
In this episode, I sit down with Sam Frearson-Tubito—author, speaker, and third-generation global nomad—to explore the realities of growing up as a Third Culture Kid (TCK), raising globally mobile children, and navigating identity, belonging, and home across cultures.
Having lived in 15 countries and raised four fourth-generation global nomads, Sam shares her deeply personal journey of international relocation, expat parenting, and motherhood. Together, we discuss the emotional realities of global mobility, the gifts and challenges of raising multicultural children, and why belonging isn't tied to one place—it is something we build throughout our lives.
Our conversation is inspired by Sam's beautiful memoir, Beneath a Borrowed Sky: A Woman's Search for the True Meaning of Home, a powerful reflection on family, resilience, identity, forgiveness, and finding home wherever life takes you.
Whether you're a Third Culture Kid, an expat, an accompanying partner, raising an international family, or simply trying to understand your own sense of identity and belonging, this episode offers encouragement, practical wisdom, and plenty of moments that will make you feel seen.
In this episode, we explore:
Sam Frearson-Tubito is a third-generation global nomad, writer, and mother of four fourth-generation global nomads. Having lived across 15 countries on four continents, she writes about Third Culture Kids, identity, belonging, motherhood, international relocation, and global mobility.
Her memoir, Beneath a Borrowed Sky: A Woman's Search for the True Meaning of Home, beautifully intertwines her experiences growing up internationally with her journey raising globally mobile children, offering an honest and moving perspective on what it means to create home across cultures.
Connect with Sam:
If this conversation about Third Culture Kids, global parenting, identity, belonging, and raising multicultural children resonated with you, I'd love your support.
Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review, and share this episode with someone navigating international life, raising globally mobile children, or searching for where they truly belong.
Together, we can help more globally mobile families feel understood, connected, and at home—wherever they are in the world.
For more, please follow me also on Instagram at Quiero un Panino con Cheese
Send us Fan Mail
In this episode, I’m joined once again by Annegret Bertsch, a Certified Professional Coach, for a thoughtful conversation about the realities of accompanying a partner abroad and the complex emotions, challenges, and opportunities that can come with it.
Together, we explore why the term “trailing spouse” often feels limiting and discuss how accompanying partners can reclaim their identity, purpose, and sense of belonging while navigating life overseas.
Annegret shares both personal and professional insights, offering practical advice, encouragement, and a fresh perspective for anyone living an international life.
In This Episode We Discuss:
Connect with Annegret here:
Enjoying the Podcast?
If this episode resonated with you, taught you something new, or made you feel a little less alone in your journey, I'd love to hear from you.
Please:
⭐ Rate and review the podcast
💬 Leave a comment
📤 Share this episode with someone who might benefit from it
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For more, you can also follow me on my Instagram page: Quiero un Panino con Cheese
Thank you for listening and for allowing me to be a small part of your day.
Until next time, on Quiero un Panino con Cheese. ❤️
If this conversation about Third Culture Kids, global parenting, identity, belonging, and raising multicultural children resonated with you, I'd love your support.
Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review, and share this episode with someone navigating international life, raising globally mobile children, or searching for where they truly belong.
Together, we can help more globally mobile families feel understood, connected, and at home—wherever they are in the world.
For more, please follow me also on Instagram at Quiero un Panino con Cheese
Send us Fan Mail
What happens when the answer to the question “Where are you from?” is both everywhere and nowhere?
In this episode of Quiero un Panino con Cheese, I sit down with author Kathleen Gamble to discuss her remarkable memoir, Echoes of a Global Life. Born in Burma (now Myanmar), Kathleen spent her childhood and young adulthood moving between continents, cultures, languages, and identities. From surviving a plane crash as a child to living through political upheaval, attending boarding school in Switzerland, and later building a life in Russia, Kathleen’s story is a fascinating exploration of what it means to grow up globally mobile.
Together, Kathleen and I explore the joys and challenges of the Third Culture Kid (TCK) experience, including identity, belonging, adaptability, unresolved grief, and the lifelong search for home.
In this episode, we discuss:
Kathleen’s story reminds us that while a globally mobile life can bring challenges, uncertainty, and repeated goodbyes, it also offers extraordinary opportunities for growth, perspective, and connection. In a world that often asks us to choose a single identity, her journey demonstrates that belonging can span cultures, countries, and communities.
You can learn more about Kathleen by following her blog, Expat Alien - Foreign in My Own Country
She is also on Instagram at Expat Alien
If this conversation about Third Culture Kids, global parenting, identity, belonging, and raising multicultural children resonated with you, I'd love your support.
Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review, and share this episode with someone navigating international life, raising globally mobile children, or searching for where they truly belong.
Together, we can help more globally mobile families feel understood, connected, and at home—wherever they are in the world.
For more, please follow me also on Instagram at Quiero un Panino con Cheese
Send us Fan Mail
In this deeply moving episode of Quiero un Panino con Cheese, I sit down with therapist, researcher, and author Dr. Rachel Cason to explore the complex emotional landscape of Third Culture Kids (TCKs).
Rachel’s book, Incredible Lives and the Courage to Live Them: Thoughts of a Third Culture Kid Therapist, offers a compassionate and powerful reflection on identity, belonging, grief, adaptability, and what it means to grow up between cultures.
Together, Rachel and I dive into:
This conversation is gentle, honest, emotional, and validating for anyone who has ever felt caught between worlds.
Rachel Cason is a therapist, researcher, and Third Culture Kid whose work focuses on identity, belonging, life stories, and the emotional experiences of globally mobile people. Her PhD research explored TCKs’ relationship to place, identity, and belonging.
Her book, Incredible Lives and the Courage to Live Them, combines professional insight with lived experience to create a compassionate guide for TCKs and anyone navigating questions of identity and belonging.
You can find out more about Rachel by checking out her website, Life Story Therapies
Her book (paperback and Kindle) is available here on Amazon UK and Amazon US
and on Audible.
You can also find Rachel on Instagram as well as on LinkedIn
If this conversation about Third Culture Kids, global parenting, identity, belonging, and raising multicultural children resonated with you, I'd love your support.
Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review, and share this episode with someone navigating international life, raising globally mobile children, or searching for where they truly belong.
Together, we can help more globally mobile families feel understood, connected, and at home—wherever they are in the world.
For more, please follow me also on Instagram at Quiero un Panino con Cheese
From the publisher's feed
Ever tried answering the question “Where are you from?” and gave a 10-minute monologue? Ever caught yourself switching between three languages in the middle of a sentence? Ever wondered what…
If so, welcome to Quiero un Panino con Cheese, the podcast for parents, kids, and families living the beautiful chaos of multicultural life.
Season 2 will be hosted by Gaia Striano, a TCK mom who has raised 3 TCKs across borders, cultures, and languages.
This show explores the joys and challenges of Third Culture Kids—kids who grow up between cultures, languages, and identities.