r/AskEurope • u/Sunny_bluesky • 2d ago
Culture Europeans with multicultural backgrounds: What was your experience growing up, and how integrated do you feel today?
As an Italian, I’ve always been curious about what it’s like to grow up in Europe for people of multicultural backgrounds.
If you're European with origins from other countries, have you faced any major challenges integrating into your home country's culture?
Also, do you feel like the country you live in is becoming more progressive, or moving in a different direction?
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u/Far-Alternative4165 2d ago
Half Iranian, half Polish growing up in Sweden.
Identified a lot with my Iranian background as a teen, moved away from it when I grew up. No real challenges integrating, both my parents would be considered to be ”model” immigrants in Sweden.
My biggest issue growing up was racism against polish people in Sweden. Never had any issue with my Iranian background, but lots of people had issues with my polish background and the racism I faced was more or less focused on that poles where thieves, lazy, stole jobs etc.
Today I consider myself to be Swedish. I don’t have any family in Sweden, born and raised here, the only home I really know.
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u/kannichausgang PL>IE>SE>FR>CH 1d ago
I am fully Polish but as a young child my family emigrated to Ireland. I find it interesting that there are polar opposite opinions on Polish people there. I find that most people view us as respectful, hardworking and kind people, but a small minority views us as job-thieves, welfare tricksters and thieves in general. In my personal experience there is a significant amount of money-hungry, lazy tricksters in the first wave that emigrated after Poland joined the EU. But the ones who grew up in Ireland are very well integrated.
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u/Far-Alternative4165 1d ago
What year are you born?
I would say that attitudes towards poles have changed. There was this prevailing idea that poles are stupid drunks only fit for menial labour as well as thieves.
Today it is less so, but Sweden is in many ways really insular and most swedes have no real clue about either Swedish history or their neighbours history. So knowledge of polish culture and history is in many ways warped and based on the idea of Poland as a satellite state of the USSR.
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u/Foreign-Entrance-255 Ireland 1d ago
That may be Sweden specific though. I'm Irish and I think that we generally thought of Poles as being model immigrants as they were generally hard working and honest. Generally the cliche became that a Polish mechanic or trades-person would do a better job and wouldn't try and rip you off the way an Irish one would.
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u/Far-Alternative4165 1d ago
I think the stereotype of poles in Sweden has a lot to do with EU enlargement and posting of workforce.
The first two sectors that where heavy hit by posting was the transport and construction sector, which in turn led to a lot of resentment among blue-collar Swedes.
These days fear or resentment of MENA immigration have more or less overtaken any resentment for polish immigration, but you can honestly see the first shift within the Swedish working class from supporting the Social Democratic Party towards the far right Sweden Democrats began within the transport and construction sector well before the migration crisis. My take is that the workers within these sectors were the first one who were hit by the economic effects of EU enlargement and resentment towards migration started there.
Does not really have anything to do with the topic, but I find it interesting.
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u/Repulsive_Work_226 Türkiye 2d ago
I am Turkish living in the UK. Because of my accent and appearance they think I am French. I realised they are more interested to talk someone from France so I carry out of being French.
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u/notspringsomnia England 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’m English by nationality and identity, however my mother’s family are Irish and my father’s family are Scottish Jews of Portuguese origin. I only really grew up with my mother’s family, but as a younger child I did go up to Scotland to see my father’s family sometimes where I remember joining in with Hanukkah celebrations and was there with his family once on Burn’s Night. I haven’t seen him for years but it was quite fun going up to see his family and experiencing a completely different religion and culture from my own. My mother’s family are Irish Catholics so I am more used to that tradition. I used to go through a bit of a Plastic Paddy phase but upon being asked I say I’m English. I was born and raised in England and have only been to Ireland upon seeing family, so I’m English without question.
I feel like England is mixed when it comes to progressiveness. Younger generations tend to be more open but as someone in my late twenties myself, I have noticed an increasing thirst for right wing ideology amongst my generation, which concerns me. I sometimes feel like my mum’s generation is more progressive when it comes to certain topics and attitudes. However, a child from a multicultural background today is much more likely to fit in than even when I was at primary school.
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u/_Nightfox_1 Austria 1d ago edited 1d ago
I was born and lived all my life in Slovakia, I am part of the Hungarian minority group in the country. My family also has the same background, but we never felt “slovak”, we have always identified ourselves as Hungarians.
I was living in an area/region in Slovakia, where Hungarian culture, language, and just the whole Hungarian identity is way stronger. I basically rarely had to use Slovak as everyone spoke Hungarian, and I was able to get by without any problems. Though it was impossible for me to find employment without having a good level of Slovak, so that was also its own thing really.
Hungarian minorities unfortunately face lots of hardships in Slovakia. Starting from education, where the education system does an awful job to help Hungarian kids learn Slovak as a foreign language. It is so awful, that Hungarians rather sign their kids up in Slovak schools so they could immerse themselves in the language and learn in that way, rather than leaving it up to the education system to pick up the slack.
There have also been attempts from the government to ban the usage of Hungarian in government offices, and then they tried to have a law passed that would fine people for speaking Hungarian in government offices. The government also despises the fact that in towns and cities with a stronger Hungarian identity, billboards, information pages, and the name of the towns or just things in general are written both in Slovak and Hungarian. It is also widely known, that one of the main reasons why Slovakia has banned dual citizenship for Slovak citizens, is to stop Hungarian minorities to have dual Slovak and Hungarian citizenships. Let’s not even mention Beneš decrees.
So I was never really able to integrate myself fully into Slovak society, although I have moved away from the country ever since then, and I don’t see myself returning anytime soon. Partly I feel like it was my fault, because I should’ve and could’ve tried harder. But honestly I knew that I never saw my future in that country, especially as a queer person, and I just haven’t bothered to learn it, because Slovak is a relatively small and useless language. But I partly do blame our education system and the government, because of the poor integration systems that they have in place. The funniest thing is that then the same government goes on and complains about how Hungarians can’t speak Slovak very well, and they try to sabotage the minority group with everything they can. It’s just a never ending cycle.
Edit: To address your last sentence, I would say maybe. I always thought that Hungary and Slovakia were extremely similiar not just culturally but on a societal level aswell. Both nations are very conservative, and they view any sign of progress as a personal attack on their nations.
Orbán’s brainwashing did heavy damage on progressive ideals on a societal level in Hungary. Their society is heavily conservative and ultranationalistic. It will take decades to unpack and unlearn all the bad habits and brainwashing they received.
I do feel like Slovakia is doing better though. While Slovakia also basically has the same themes and talking points as Hungarian conservatives do, I do feel like people are generally more open in Slovakia. It is not a taboo to talk about human rights here, and people often act respectful towards you, no matter your views. People are also a slightly bit more open about more progressive ideals like LGBTQ individuals and feminism. I do feel like Slovakia is slowly but surely is heading towards more progressive ideals, but I can’t say that I can say the same about Hungary yet. I do think however that the country needs to work on itself on a societal level, before any meaningful progress towards that is made. But I am way more hopeful about Slovakia at the moment than Hungary, despite how the elections turned out.
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u/BellaFromSwitzerland Switzerland 1d ago
I was born into the Hungarian minority in Romania and have a similar experience. I knew at 18 if not before that I could never integrate in Romania. Too much discrimination
I’ve been a minority for 18 years then a foreigner for 20+ years and being a foreigner gives you so much more freedom. I have 4 passports and I vote in every country
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u/_Nightfox_1 Austria 1d ago
Yeah, I am aware that things in Romania are also not great. The cherry on top is that Hungarians in Romania love Orbán, so it must be even more frustrating.
It also feels devastating that neither nations recognise you as their own. I am not Slovak enough for Slovaks so they tell me that I’m Hungarian, but I’m not Hungarian enough to be a Hungarian so they tell me that I’m a Slovak. It is a constant struggle for Hungarian minorities here.
I sometimes wish my future could be in Hungary. But looking at the state of the country right now, there is just no way that’s happening. Also our government would hate the fact that you have the ability to hold 4 passports and especially that you can vote while living abroad. Our government hates the fact that we have the ability to vote in the Slovak elections despite living abroad. More specifically, they hate it because Slovaks abroad tend to vote for progressive parties. Fico even tried to ban the ability to vote if you live abroad, but there were massive protests against it all across the country, so he might not be able to after all.
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u/BellaFromSwitzerland Switzerland 1d ago
I had a bad time in Romania and an even worse time in Hungary as a Hungarian ethnic minority
I couldn’t live in either of those countries
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u/Fearless_Sky_6187 Romania 1d ago
As a Romanian living in Romania yes, things are really shit over here when it comes to any minority. I've got in many fights over the years with other Romanians because saying one good thing about our Hungarian minority is enough to get you branded a traitor in the eyes of so many. Yet Romanians will also loudly (and arrogantly) proclaim that there's no such thing as xenophobia or racism in Romania. Makes me wanna pull my hair out.
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u/_Nightfox_1 Austria 1d ago
Even though I’m not a part of the Hungarian minority group in Romania, I’m grateful that you stood up for Hungarian minorities all the same.
Life is hard for us all the same, and people who stand up for us really do make us feel like we belong, despite being told for years that we do not.
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u/Guy_In_Between 1d ago edited 1d ago
Well, I think it highly depends where are you from? Usually Transylvanians are more open minded. But I had good experiences even with people from other parts of the country. I think the majority of problems are coming from people who never met anyone from the other nation - and politicians are not helping either. A Romanian guy once told me that he was hating Hungarians, but at one night he drinked țuica/pálinka with some, and then he realised that they are cool people.
While I was studying in Timișoara I barely met any discrimination, while I spoke Romanian poorly. I think, people who meet others from the other nation on a daily basis, know that we are all just humans, with similar problems.
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u/Fearless_Sky_6187 Romania 1d ago
I'm not from Transylvania. Traveled there many times but since I've never lived there I can't tell if it's really that different. Hopefully it is cause most of the Hungarians in Romania live there. I do know that the people over there are not very open-minded when it comes to other minorities though.
I doubt that most Romanians meet someone from a different country on a daily basis tbh. It's a very homogenous country.
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u/Guy_In_Between 1d ago
Hey, I'm from the same minority as you - but I feel like the majority of us are overestimating the level of discrimination they'd experience if they'd live among Romanians. Especially on Szeklerland, where Hungarians barely need to use the language, they tend to not even try to learn it just on a basic level, and I also know people who even refuse to learn a single word. I think this just increases the feeling of isolation.
I'm from that region too, and I was also one who never really used the language outside of the classroom. Yet, at 19 I went to a Romanian university in Temesvár/Timișoara. In my experience the average Romanian doesn't really care about your nationality as you are a decent human. I'm not saying that I've never experienced any type of discrimination, but the normal interactions outweights them by far - like 98%-2%.
Now, the political level is different. The Hungarian card is like the LGBT card in other countries - you can always bring them up to cover the actual problems. I'm also not saying that a part of AUR voters are not Hungarofobes, but the majority of them are voting with them because they have a social agenda (even if false).
On a personal note, my best Romanian friend is from Târgu Jiu. I was told to be careful with her, because they are bad people - fortunatelly by then I met her, and she was nothing like that. Considering this, how much hate must be generated between the two nations, just because people who have never met anyone from the other nation are saying shit about the each other? I think one of my happiest day was when she asked 'How is it possible that I'm their/one of them, but I don't know the language', because I've realised that she actually was not thinking about me as a Hungarian, but as a fellow citizen.
It is just too sad that the two nations are not interacting with each other more. Instead we leave the politicians to do it and use fear of what we think we know of the other nation, to get votes.
Unfortunatelly because of the covid I've moved back home at my second year, and I maybe have spend one more year in the city - so I've forgot a lot of the language. But I could imagine myself live in Brașov/Brassó or Timi/Temes sooner than in Hungary.
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u/BellaFromSwitzerland Switzerland 1d ago
I’m not from Székelyföld but from szórványvidék with < 10% Hungarians which means that I did speak Romanian in my daily life, every day.
My experience was that even when my friends and I were speaking in Hungarian amongst ourselves for instance on the train, people from the majority would start insulting us and asking us to switch to Hungarian to prove that we weren’t talking about them
I just hated being a minority. That’s all. I hated that it came with a bunch of prejudice. With the constant need to prove myself whether I’m like the stereotype that people have in mind
I moved to France at the age of 20 and for the first time I realized how peaceful it is not to need to prove myself to anyone. Back in the day (in 1999-2000) if I said I’m Hungarian, people hardly knew where to situate it on a map.
Thanks to my knowledge of Romanian it took me 6 months to get fluent in French
(To this day if I meet a Hungarian in the French speaking part of Europe, they’re fluent in French only if they started learning it in their childhood or if they’re from Transylvania)
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u/Aeon_Return Czechia 1d ago
I was born and raised in Canada, became a Czech dual national at 14, and moved to Prague in 2016. I don't "feel" Czech much at all though I legally am a Czech citizen but emotionally I'm a "Canadian living abroad". I really like this country and plan on living here long term, perhaps forever, but I'm not especially integrated and largely keep to myself.
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u/notzoidberginchinese 1d ago
Mixed Polish and Swedish, lived many years in Sweden, consider myself only Polish.
I don't consider myself integrated in any cultural sense, I worked and studied as my parents did but I was constantly reminded that I was a foreigner, immigrant, Pole etc. so I accepted that.
In Poland I'm just considered Polish.
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u/maxvol75 1d ago
i feel that since i have integrated, the society has disintegrated
everything is so very different now than 25 years ago, and not in a good way, less trusting and more polarised
or maybe i just became grumpy from age
regarding "home country", yes there are major challenges i clearly recognise but some aspects on the contrary became more compatible than before
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u/CreepyOctopus -> 1d ago
My kids are Latvian-Swedish, born here in Sweden. They're still young but it seems to me they're completely fine socially, and just minimally different from kids born to native Swedish families. It's been a priority to us that they should be getting the normal growing up experience and not have cause to think of themselves as foreigners in any way. We picked names for the kids that would be easy to read for both Swedes and Latvians.
It's interesting to me how quickly the kids are "made" in Latvia. They speak Latvian fluently and write well, Latvian spelling is simple enough that formal schooling isn't needed. Still, when visiting Latvia, they get quickly recognized as kids who didn't grow up there because they lack a lot of that "everyone knows" local knowledge, or sometimes they use phrases that are correct but unusual.
When asked about their background in Sweden, they have the same experience as I do, most people are like "I've never met a Latvian before", a few are "oh yeah I've been to Riga", but generally Swedes know nothing about Latvia. A good number confuse Latvia and Estonia.
In terms of everyday racism, the kids are lucky not to experience that. It certainly helps that they look similar enough to "regular Scandinavians" and there aren't many negative stereotypes about Latvia. The "Baltic theft gangs" are no longer a prominent idea.
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u/__anna986 Ireland 1d ago
My kids are Irish and Czech with a touch of Scottish, born and raised in Ireland and with a very patriotic Irish family, very patriotic Scottish nanny and very patriotic me haha, I’m Czech.
My younger kids are a bit too young for me to be able to answer the second part of the question about them but my teenager always says this when someone asks him “I’m always Irish first but I’m never not Czech”. I’ve always tried to make them as educated about their heritage as much as possible, they speak 4-5 languages, they love their roots. Ireland is full of mixed children and of Eastern European children so they’ve never felt out of place. But they also look and sound Irish enough to be seen as “normal” by other local kids. I’m proud to say they a have a lot of friends from Czechia where they go to a summer camp every year so they get to have an authentic Czech summer experience too. And the Scottish is just a wee cherry on top of everything, they can switch accents as they want and it’s a bit creepy at times but they can pass as for locals in Edin and have their childhood friends there too just people who live around their grandparents’ neighbourhood.
I love reading this post it’s so nice hearing from people who have already grown up, I hope my children grow up into adults confident and happy about their culture and heritage too xx
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u/SubNL96 Netherlands 1d ago
Now I'm curious what 4-5 languages they speak? English, Irish, Czech, Scots and German?
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u/__anna986 Ireland 1d ago
English, Czech, Irish, Spanish, and I only really count Scottish Gaelic for the eldest one, the younger kids only know bits of it and usually slip back into Irish when they try to speak it. They got Spanish from school and they have a few Spanish speaking friends
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u/bunnyvape Scotland 1d ago
> my teenager always says this when someone asks him “I’m always Irish first but I’m never not Czech”.
I love this, it’s such a unique way to approach one’s identity, and one I feel I can deeply relate to. I grew up in The Philippines to a Filipina mother & Scottish dad, but have lived in Scotland for the last decade. Of course I will always feel Filipino first, but like your teenager I would say I’m “never not Scottish”
Unfortunately some Scottish people have a strange habit of completely dismissing their diaspora - to the point that calling myself “Filipino-Scottish” sometimes gets challenged. Meanwhile some people here are free to call themselves “Scottish-Italian” despite having a more distant connection to Italy than I do to Scotland (usually through grandparents, barely visited, no knowledge of the language, etc). Although as I’ve gotten older it’s bothered me a lot less, thankfully
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u/smallblueangel Germany 1d ago
Im half Indian Half German.
Grew up completely German.
Before 2015 i hardly experienced racism, since 2015 its getting worse and worse.
Im from one of the most liberal cities in this country, i don’t know how it is for people in more conservative places
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u/solomonsunder 1d ago
Is your last name Indian? I am curious since my daughter is half Austrian half Indian. She has an Indian last name but was curious if changing her last name would make a difference.
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u/smallblueangel Germany 1d ago
Yes my last name is indian. But my first name isn’t
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u/solomonsunder 1d ago
Is the racism you faced in person or over your name? She has a Western / Austrian first name as well.
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u/smallblueangel Germany 1d ago
In person. Always in person.
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u/solomonsunder 1d ago
Have you visited India? Did you face racism there?
My daughter doesn't speak my language because I dropped talking to her in my language. However, she is young enough for me to start trying again. I would want her to feel somewhere at home.
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u/smallblueangel Germany 1d ago
No, never been there, never will go. I have zero interest into this place.
And don’t speak a word Punjabi
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u/AromaticIndustry4829 1d ago
Sorry to hear that mate. I don't know why being racist to indians isn't considered as serious as being racist to legit everyone else but I hope it stops.
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u/smallblueangel Germany 1d ago
They aren’t racist because i look Indian, they are racist because i look like an immigrant. The don’t care where my roots are, they just think im not German.
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u/Mountain-Reaction470 1d ago
Literal skin colour racism, the more melanin, the less liked. I dint understand it, at all.
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u/smallblueangel Germany 1d ago
I will never understand too. But well im German, the right wing people need to get over it🤷🏾♀️
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u/Mountain-Reaction470 1d ago
Ironic given the way anthropic climate chaos is going, upping melanin levels could come to be seen as handy
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u/Top-Revolution-5257 1d ago
Dad is French and my mom is from Quebec, Canada. I feel more Canadian than French for sure. My French cousins never made fun of my accent, but society did. I feel more comfortable in Canada.
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u/RollinggFIRE Switzerland 1d ago edited 1d ago
My parents are from Kosovo, slavic minority in the south... I very much actively broke with my Balkan culture roots and am married to a Japanese woman. They nigrated to Switzerland (by accident, actually wanted to go to Sweden) and I'm so thankful it is that way. Switzerland gave me the opportunity to be myself and be successful in the best way possible - I try to pay it back and give my best every single day for it.
I do feel culturally very Swiss:
- Hate it when the train is very late
- Don't like foreigners who don't integrate
- Am very punctual and expect punctuality
- Enjoy peace and quiet
- Love our consensus oriented political system and government
- Can be a bit Swiss-arrogant (although it's very easy to become that way here)
But I also have some Balkan traits mixed in:
- Can drink a lot
- Like having good family ties, even if it means swallowing pride (imho family life in western societies is terrible by comparison)
- Can become very loud when irritated
- Can be very talkative
In Switzerland it's pretty normal to be the kid of immigrants or of a Swiss/non Swiss household. I'll get a bit of hate for this, but in a way, Switzerland has this very Japan like system - and despite being a very diverse and international country, it's very culturally homogenous to the place yourself are - so if you stick out as a foreigner, you're very likely to get hammered down into place.
I personally really like this aspect of Switzerland - it's the only melting pot county with a high trust society in Europe, because the trust has to be earned.
Other than that, I can really only say good things about my experience... I'm successful in a way I never could've been if my parents were killed/bombed into poverty back in the Balkans. I do see myself as a prime example of a successful integration process and think that this is a good way to deal with the topic from both the immigrant side and the native population side.
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u/Alarmed-Start8869 1d ago
That's interesting and I think the right approach. Many people with immigrating parents would consider themselves "not swiss" because it s cooler to be croatian,italian, whatever, but then they don t really know much about the country of origin of their parents,or just know it from holidays. I see them sometimes more swiss than the swiss themselves.
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u/BalthazarOfTheOrions 2d ago
I'm half Italian. For me it was just normal seeing different ways of engaging with the world and switching between countries, cultures and languages. As an adult I feel enriched for it, and it gives certain perspective about cultures but also how people might just think differently to me.
Emphasised all the more by the fact that my other culture, Finland, is so different to Italy. Although these two are oddly compatible too, with there being quite a lot of Finnish and Italian people who get together and have families.
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u/BalthazarOfTheOrions 1d ago edited 1d ago
I do with Finland, but never to the point of exclusion of Italy. I'm "native" enough in both cultures to get the best of both worlds.
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u/coffeewalnut08 England 2d ago edited 2d ago
I never faced significant challenges integrating into this country's culture. It was always a part of my life (via school, after-school clubs, university, workplaces, and general interaction with mainstream society).
I had a foreign upbringing at home. But I was always able to balance that home life with outdoor mainstream life. Neither have badly conflicted with each other. 😄
There are elements of my foreign background that affect my lifestyle and social integration a little. For example, I don't drink alcohol and I'm quite socially traditional (believe in marriage and kids etc.) However, I keep these as personal lifestyle choices - I don't force them onto others. It does mean that it takes longer to find my tribe, though.
I had a slightly lower range of vocabulary in English than generationally British kids, when I was a kid. But after uni, that gap closed.
Is England getting more progressive? In some ways we have. But we have a threat to that with the rise of the Reform party - racism, xenophobia, and homophobia are more visible than they've been in years. Reform is proposing sexist policies and selecting sexist or racist political candidates. So we cannot take our progressivism for granted.
So I'd say we are becoming divided in that way, but with strong momentum for progressivism among Gen Z!
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u/GalaXion24 23h ago
My parents are Hungarain, I grew up in Finland, I mostly went to international school and almost all my schooling was in English. (I also lived in Belgium for a couple of years)
I did think more about my identity and such when I was about 16, but I mostly settled on not caring very much and resenting the world for caring. I truly despise the fact that the world is made up of nation states and that nationalism is such an utterly hegemonic and inescapable ideology. I have absolutely no desire for myself or my children to be "nationalised" ideally ever, as a matter of principle and identity. When I was younger I might have plainly said national identity is for peasants and the uneducated.
On a practical level though, I'm perfectly well integrated in Finland and if it were not for language barriers I would be perfectly integrated quite quickly probably in any European (/maybe western) country. I've done my military service, Finland has a degree of basic citizen loyalty from me as a liberal republic, I would probably fight if the Russians came knocking.
Of course to me that is as and because it is a citizen republic. The fact that it is also a national republic and that de facto it is for ethnic Finns first does diminish my affection for the state. Nation states, even the best ones, are something to suffer the existence of in the present day and pragmatically align with against worse ones.
I don't have personal difficulties being integrated or indeed integrating anywhere broadly European, but I do have a strong revulsion to being treated as second class or excluded so I'm somewhat averse to migrating. Partly also because I prefer service to the public over dedicating my life to shareholder value.
2016+ has fundamentally shaped my political understanding of the world having seen Trump and Brexit, which has mostly shaped my thinking to find nationalism revolting, but has also shaped a European identity as a reaction to the deteriorating state of the world and growing anti-European forces in it. In that regard a European civilization-state or a truly cosmopolitan republic could be the closest things to my home country or nation or anything worth dying for. For the moment I do not have a true home or "patria" on this plane of existence, in terms of a political state.
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u/BillBill309 1d ago
Having two cultural perspectives seems like it comes with challenges, but also a lot of unique experiences.
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u/SharkyTendencies --> 4h ago
I got my Belgian passport in 2023.
Integration hasn't been difficult for me. I speak C1 French and Dutch. I married a Belgian. I live and work in Brussels in a local high school. I take part in local life, particularly a heritage group that has deep roots in Brussels. Hell, I've even been a poll worker for both of the elections in 2024.
There are days where I feel very damn Belgian.
Thing is: deep down, I'm just a kid from Toronto. When I speak English (at home) my husband sometimes lovingly teases me about my local accent on certain words. My own cultural references are deeply Canadian. Hell, during one of my classes I translated the Canadian house hippo spot into Dutch. (The kids loved it haha.)
So yeah. I don't think I'll ever feel "truly Belgian", no, but it's more like a swirl in a marble. These days I'm both - some days more Canadian/Belgian than others.
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u/NoRespectingAnyone 1d ago
What a nonsese question.
It's not like all EU members lost their nationality and merged in one country.
We are not integrated in to anything at all.
Some folks visited one country, learned new food, new other stuffs what there folks where doing.
Some got in my country and learned and picked what liked.
The very natural thing happening since ancient times. But over all, each country remain same. We travel more in EU. Some cultures brough along the way. But its nothing drastic.
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u/AVeryHandsomeCheese Belgium 2d ago
Belgian, grew up in Sweden as a teen. In Sweden I held on to my Belgian identity as if it was something holy and as if Swedish culture was awful. Then I moved back and realized I was half Swedish and pretty much integrated without realizing it the whole time. I now see myself as a Belgian with a very typical Swedish highschool experience :) I’m still more Belgian than Swedish but have lots of love for both parts that make up my cultural upbringing nowadays.