Could we start with you telling me a bit more about yourself with regards to you moving around a lot as a kid?
Sure nick, hi everyone, so um I was born in Wimbledon in the Uk Wimbledon is just outside London as a baby then I moved to Spain with my parents, to Madrid and I stayed there till I was 9. After that, we moved from Spain to the Netherlands, which is where I continued to go to school un till the end of high school, I then left my parents home and I started working first in Germany and then back in the nether lands and the I went to university in the states I lived in Washington DC and then New York city then uh mom and I we got married and we got to know each other in the states and then we moved to Spain and then to Austria then brazil and finally Switzerland which is where were still living
Compared to your other characteristics, how important to you is the part of your identity?
Well I consider myself Dutch I have a Dutch passport my dad is Dutch all my siblings have a Dutch passport and I speak Dutch with my parents and my siblings, but weaved moved around so much that even though I’m Dutch I also feel I've taken a little bit of from all the places from where I’ve liver so I feel very much at home in Spain in Switzerland and in the US Austria and also in brazil as you know we speak all these languages because of that too, so in terms of my identity, yes I feel Dutch but I’m not just purely Dutch my mom as you know is German so we also have that part of our identity
What was it like growing up with moving a lot?
Well moving around as a kid is not easy, its never easy really but especially leaving Spain moving to Holland half way through my school year when I was 9 or 10 that was tough. But later on I realized when you move to a new place even though you leave your friends behind and stuff that you know and that your familiar with actually you always have the opportunity to learn something new and I always saw the positive in moving as as a negative so at the end of the day I always enjoyed learning new languages and learning about new cultures.
Have you always felt the same about moving around or has it changed over time?
Yes, like I just said I enjoyed it.
What are the countries you've lived in?
So as I said I lived in the UK, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, the US, Austrian, Brazil and Switzerland
How have these countries impacted who you have become?
Well in each place when I lived there I was at a different stage of my life, so Spain and the Netherlands for example that’s where I went to school So they certainly impacted me because I had to go through the public school system, then Germany it was work experience before going to uni and then the US that was university and because of that I have friends from all over the place fr4om different backgrounds and different cultures. And so it certainly impacted me a lot moving from one place to the other because again you take with you a little bit from each place in the US the university period especially was very formative for me after that I moved around and continued working first in banking and then in real-estate and then you know that has allowed me to develop myself further and each time learning more about how to apply what I learned during university in the different cultures and in the different countries I’ve lived in and from that perspective it has shaped me and made me the person who I am today.
Do you have any good or bad memories about growing up moving around a lot?
Plenty, many, I have good and bad but most of them are good. Well, a difficult one was that you know my dog when I was leaving spain he was sick and he was so sick that he had to be taken care of by someone else and we couldn't take him with us so that was a very sad story, which I still clearly remember today but the good ones are plenty ful and its mostly about the people that ive met and the culture that I experience while living in these different places I love food, as do you and learning about food was something really enjoyed
Which nation is most attached to your identity? Or is there one? Please explain
I think its certainly the Netherlands, that's where I have my passport from and where my parents and your grandparents live
How did it affect your emotions and friendships while you were moving around a lot?
Well like I said its hard to leave friends behind and move one, but I’ve kept most of my friends from most of the places I've lived in and that’s the fantastic thing about moving, its that now I have friends from all over the place
Did you find it hard moving, or did you enjoy it?
t was hard sometimes to leave people behind that I was used to but I was also excited to learn new things and make new friends
t was hard sometimes to leave people behind that i was used to but I was also exited to learn new things and make new friends
Learning alot how you move alot but Why did you move a lot?
First I moved alot because of my dads jobs so your grandfather he moved from job to job so thats why we moved a lot, and later that happened to me as well, so I started my carrer in ney york and then got a job in madrid , and then in vienna, and then is brazil and another job in zurich so thats whats made me move around. The same time though I enjoy thinking about new opportunities open to be globally mobile.
How did you feel about learning a new language every time you moved?
I enjoy, I mean in my case in the world really wants to learn Dutch because its a small country and no one that lives outside Holland really wants to learn our language so as a Dutchman we always had to learn different languages early onm and so we learned German French English as a kid and later on I learned Latin and Greek so languages have come pretty naturally to me, because of a lot of practice early on.
Do you miss moving, or do you prefer to not move?
I think that by now we have moved so much that I would be happy to stay put in Switzerland its a great place to live its very international and very happy to be part of this international community.
After you met my mom, did she cause you to move more?
No. actually I caused your mom to move with me and we moved because of my job
Its almost time to end the interview, is there anything you wanna add?
Yes, I wanna tell you that moving around and experiencing different cultures as your doing youved moved around from brazil to switzerland you have a mother thats honduran and a dad thats dutch that gives you and opportunity to really understand different cultures and you should cherish those what you learn about different places because understanding where people are from and how they look at the world will help you at a later stage in life to become a better human being and a better citizen in the world
I think I will add just one more question have you ever felt proud or embarrassed about moving?
Well mostly I felt proud about moving because of promotions in my job and I was proud of that and I was happy to take you guys along and we can together move to a new place.
