When I was a kid I wasn’t aware of cultural differences and never even questioned that other people lived differently. I took what I had as the given way of living and doing life. I now realise that I had a privileged upbringing. I spent most of my summer holidays in the countryside with my grandparents, where things like going to the fields and picking up watermelons, or making tomato sauce for fall or winter were normal and casual activities. The waste was thrown in a big pile for compost or was used for fire for the outdoor stove. I grew up sustainably, but I had no idea it was a thing back then. I didn’t know it was a thing when I moved to the UK as a teenager either.
As anyone who moved abroad may say, I wanted to fit in and belong. I grew up buying clothes a few times a year, when school started and at the beginning of winter if I needed a new jacket. I had an ordinary closet and big brands were not a thing. It was during my second year in London when I got my first branded item, a pair of purple Adidas. They didn’t go with a lot of things but I didn’t care, they were on sale and they were Adidas. I would finally fit it.