THE EXPATRIATE SYNDROME 


After 8 months of living in Australia, far away from my native country sometime I ask myself :

Who am I ? 
Well it  depends of the point of view and the country : I have an Italian passport, so I am an Italian citizen,  In Europe I am considered a citizenship with the right of living and working freely everywhere, and here in Australia, since I have only a temporary Visa, I am considered only an IMMIGRANT, one of those who is here to steal the good job to the Australians. It doesn't really matter if I am working teaching my language and broadcasting as Italian journalist...I am a B category citizen and everyone is ready to take advantage from it.

These considerations  create in me identity problems... The tipycal one that every foreigner experience after working and living abroad for long time.  After six months interviewing Italians for my radio program in 3zzz, and after studying the phenomenon of the new Italian immigration in Australia, I realised that  we all develop an expatriate syndrome.  This is the feeling of not belonging to your country anymore, but in the same time you do not feel to be a citizen in the country that host you.  We live all the time with the emotional impression of a lack of something. We experience very controversal emotions regarding our country: We are homesick,  but in the same time we are afraid of coming back to our country and face the economical crisis again,  we love our country and we hate it...

In a period in which moving to another country to find job is an urgency and new immigration waves are a new reality, I think that sociologist and polticians should really take into consideration the side effect of it.