Hometown is a word that can be interpreted in various ways: the city where you grew up, the place where you currently reside, or any place in the world where you would feel at home. In the Dutch language area, we don’t have a clear word for it; our place of residence, our home, perhaps a “heimat.” But when we talk about hometown, we’re referring to a place that only you have a connection with, a place to which only you assign meaning.

Our identity is shaped in part by the stories and history of our family, their birthplace, and our own birthplace. But also by the places we have been or would like to be. Hometowns.