From her Brazilian classmates admiring her accent to living the British ex-pat lifestyle in Malaysia, Lauren says that living abroad through her childhood has only made her feel more British.
“When I was seven my family moved to Brazil for two years, and over there I always felt that I was British,” said Lauren. Going to an international school with classmates from around the world, as well as a lot of local Brazilians, cemented her British identity, with her accent setting her apart as someone who came from a different place. But when they then moved to Malaysia, Lauren found herself surrounded by Brits, living in an ex-pat community where things were very easy, she said.
Eventually moving back to Swindon in Wiltshire, Lauren has now lived there since her early teens. But with parents from Herefordshire and Scotland, Lauren says she definitely feels British rather than English. “My Auntie is now married to a Scotsman, and we have family who still live there, so there’s that aspect to my family…but we also lived in Ireland when I was three, so I’d definitely identify myself as being British.”
Watch a video of Lauren talking about her British identity:
;
