#living in a foreign country without a citizenship tho with no need for a visa

[sawthatmountainburn]

i really wanna transition, man, but idk if that's going to be possible for me any time soon...

[actualbird]

Irt Vyn’s disaster driving, yeah you can get your driver’s license revoked. In the US it can happen if you get a certain number of traffic violations within a certain period of time. Also I did some research and (I mainly found stuff irt US licenses, but methinks it probably applies elsewhere) in order to drive legally in a foreign country you are usually required to apply for an International Driving Permit (IDP), which you show with your driver’s license (in my reading the US is more lax on foreigners not having a permit). It’s only valid for like a year though. And you need a valid license to get one. Now I’m just imagining Vyn doing all of that awful paperwork for a permit that he can’t even use because of how awful his driving is lol

irt vyn drives like shit cuz svart and stellis has the driver's seat on opposite sides

uh, i went off topic and ended up with a vyn fake dating concept at the end of this

wc: 911

oh my gosh, thank you so much for this information!!! with this in mind, yes absolutely in the og post scenario, vyn gets his license revoked KJBKJSKFJDS

THE IDP IS VERY INTERESTING TO ME OMG. tho canon tells us that when vyn moved to stellis in 2028, he became a naturalized citizen eventually and thus he is no longer considered a foreigner of stellis by the law. so maybe his hell paperwork wont be on the IDP side but just on the naturalized citizen portion wHICH. IM NOW WONDERING IF STELLIS IS SUPER LAX ABOUT?

here in the ph (and also the US, which is where we probly adopted it from), you have to have lived here for at least 3 years before qualifying to apply for naturalized citizenship. but by 2030, vyn is already a legal citizen of stellis.

so theres three possibilities i can see explaining this

stellis is much more lax about the period of time one has had to live in the country to quality for naturalized citizenship. their time requirement is probably one year

vyn (or vyn's father tryna make the life of his son (who may or may not hate his guts) easier past the borders of svart) pulls some royal lineage strings to get the process done faster. could be either one of them cuz if vyn doing it, while vyn stays quite divorced from his past lineage, it has been shown in Lost Gold (he pulled SOME KINDA political manoeuvre related to svart to get the cruise ship past that inspection vessel that could not see the golden mask, or something like that, i have a blurry memory) that he'll use that connection still if the situation really needs it. if vyn's father does it i just think itd be an interesting story of "yes, i was a not great father, i'll try to make up for it in any way i can" and vyn being like "noted without thanks"

OR---and this is my favorite one because it can result in something very very funny---VYN IS LYING ABOUT ALREADY BEING A NATURALIZED CITIZEN

okay continuing on that last bullet point, do you guys know of the romantic comedy The Proposal (2009) starring Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock?

well, if u dont, the summary of the premise is that sandra bullock's character, somebody from canada who is residing in the US with a visa, is now facing deportation because her visa expired. shes in a high position at work and thus does not want to get kicked out of the US so, in a desperate bid to stay, she asks ryan reynolds' character to be fake engaged to her since a marriage would make her a citizen. and to make sure theyre not accused of fraud, they have to get married too (and just deal with the divorce later).

it's not a great movie imo kjbJBKJS but it does have a convoluted premise for fake dating. the expired visa made them fake date.

anyway i want that to happen to vyn HAHAHAHA

hes gotta get fake engaged to one of the nxx (mc would be the most popular choice but would he really rope her into kinda breaking the law, the institution that which she works for? same would go for artem. still could work tho!! i just like all nxx ships/interactions so everybody is a possibility i love so much) so that he can stay in stellis bc his visa expired one way or another.

and this could either go platonic found family where the whole thing just brings the team closer together and understanding vyn more irt to his past (which will inevitably get roped into this situation) and then cue the feels :').

or it could go the romance route like in the romcom itself and whoever he decides to fake propose to is somebody he truly falls in love with. in this route, itd be best if the one he fake proposes to is somebody he DOESNT LIKE ALL THAT MUCH cuz in the og movie, the characters did not like each other but then grew to love each other during the fake engagement period, as is expected in a romance movie. anyway, if we stick to that, his options would be marius or artem. i CANNOT figure out which of them is funnier and will be the most emotionally tender thing as the slowburn fic goes on.

i hate this i hate that ive thought about this now because i want it so bad but i KNOW that this premise in either iteration is gonna be like 50k words at LEAST cuz it's either a slowburn friendship journey or a slowburn enemies to lovers fake dating journey. IT WOULD BE SUCH A LONG FIC. BUT IF IT EXISTED I WOULD LOVE IT TO BITS.

dont look at me, i cant write it myself, im not built good enough for that also i have 8945835 wips. this idea is very much up for adoption, if somebody is into it, jus follow credit link rules yadda yadda

god. how am i gonna think of anything but this for the whole day

THE PROPOSAL (2030) STARRING VYN RICHTER AND THE REST OF THE NXX INVESTIGATION TEAM!!!!!!!!!!

[artbyabiola]

How do you respond to “where are you from”? seems like a simple enough question to answer right?

Well, wish I felt the same way about it. “Where are you from?” has always been the one question I’ve always dreaded answering the most. So what about that question I find so dreadful? Well, I was born and raised  in Italy, by Nigerian parents who blessed me with lots and lots of melanin – which I love – but that does not match my “italianness”.

Needless to say, I was asked where I was REALLY from countless time…sigh… annoying but eh…I’m sure it will be better when I visit my family in Nigeria right?Wrong. “Oyinbo” is a yoruba slang word for white, talk about irony. I was not Nigerian enough because growing up abroad apparently gave me a privileged look that had to be pointed out at site, and took away how Nigerian I should have been.

I think I look as Nigerian as everyone else in this picture (insert arms in the air emoji)

Well, just to add a little more flavor to the cultural clashes I decided to move to Texas. I am not going to lie, until I open my mouth this has been the one place where my provenience was not questioned at site, however, my accent never really let me be great, cue the” oh where is your accent from?!”. Like honestly can a girl just find a place where she can belong without having to give a whole life history dissertation to simply answering “where are you from?”.

Well for a very long time I thought I was alone in this feeling of frustration and longing, not literally, but non the less I didn’t have a definition for what I had been feeling.  That was until I found out about Third Culture Kids (TCK) – BEST – FINDING – EVER.

TCK are people that are raised in a culture that is different from their parents. You know that awesome feeling when you find a random article and it’s totally talking about you? That is how I felt about this write up explaining what are the top 10 struggles of TCK. I was able to truly relate and see in plain english what I have been feeling all these years! Well now that I have some validation here is the list and how I related to it!- I strongly urge you to read the original article.

1. Answering the question “where are you from?”

We already went over this: it’s an anxiety inducing question and I pledge to find a place on this planet where that question will not be required – going to Cuba next week I am low key hoping that will be it!

2. Explaining your “international” accent

I have been told multiple times that my accent does not sound Italian, maybe a hint of Nigerian, but almost sound like you could be from the islands – which one people, which one – I usually  simply respond I have my own trade marked accent and when my parents, my brother and I speak, we all have completely different sounding accents from one another, so there’s that I guess.

3. Mixing up your languages

I count in Italian- honestly do not know why, but I lose count after 5 in English. I randomly replied in Spanish to a non Spanish speaking co worker, simply because I over heard someone speaking Spanish in the hallway. My autocorrect is the absolute worst – ok, I am a REALLY bad text proofreader to begin with-  but my keyboard is often on something other than English which does not help at all.

My actual keyboard

4. Planning holidays

Let’s just say I wish my Nigerian family would get on a plane rather than me planning to go over there, but then again is one of me and a lot of them…

Dad’s side (incomplete)

Mom’s side (incomplete)

5. Long-distance friends and relationships

Can you say never booking an hotel EVER? I absolutely love having friends all over this globe I have a good time, a tour guide and accommodation all in one and of course so do they when they come to visit me!

Rome

Tel Aviv

London (with the fraternal unit)

Rome

Tel Aviv

Eilat, Israel

London (with the fraternal unit)

6. Dealing with ridiculous questions

Yes I speak Italian- I’m italian. No there are no tigers in my backyard in Nigeria. No I have not ridden an horse on the highway in Houston.

7. A constant need to travel

One of my closest friends loves to tell me : “You just don’t know how to sit down somewhere and be still, do you?” Well, no I don’t! Cue my next solo trip to Cuba after a quick New York pitstop (one week to go!!!! Yes I am quite excited lol)

Petra, Jordan

Vegas

London Bridge

Athens, Geece

Eilat, Israel

8. Passports and immigration

Well, on the bright side I have two citizenships (American pending further consideration!) which means two passports. Even tho the Nigerian passport does not have that much visa power around the world, it will get the job done for those African countries I am itching to visit ( Ivory coast, South Africa, Egypt, Madagascar, Ghana, Mauritius are on the short list) for the rest of the world, the Italian passport is like the magic key of travel!

9. Explaining your lifestyle

It sounds weird when I say out loud that I don’t actually miss my family, but is not that I don’t love them, I am just used to being on different time zones, different countries and  continents.

The parental unit

10. Different currencies and costs of living

Let’s just say when I was in London everything was so freaking expensive, the simple act of buying bread pissed me off! But also, did you know that when you have foreign exchange left over most places will not change coins? Well I put all my foreigner change to good use and turn it into a part of my art work – It’s all on her jacket.

“Unbothered”

  While it does feel good knowing that I am not alone in feeling “lost”, at times I still do hope to randomly stumble across a place where I just am, no questions asked and I finally fully belong!

Are you a TCK? do you know anyone that could relate? I would love to hear your experience!

Until next time,

Aby

I am a Third Culture Kid- who knew....but what does it mean? How do you respond to "where are you from"? seems like a simple enough question to answer right?