Sophomore Rory Miller is always on the move – and not just between classrooms. 

Miller has moved a total of four times internationally. She was born in Terneuzen, Netherlands in 2006; migrated to London in 2007; then to Belfast, Northern Ireland in 2009; Ohio in 2015 and California in summer 2021.

While immigration can present its array of challenges, Miller said she sees it as an opportunity to learn about new traditions and cultures. By exposing herself to different places around the world, she has grown accustomed to various international foods, dialects and languages.

But the cultural and language norms can make such moves a challenge. For example, in the United Kingdom, people use the word “rubber” instead of “eraser,” which led to an awkward moment once Miller moved to the United States. 

“I asked the girl next to me if she had rubber, and she looked at me like I was insane and was horrified,” Miller said. “I was like, what is going on? I just need to erase some work. So that was definitely part of the language boundary.”

One of the most unique differences between European education and American education is the outdoor activities performed during school hours.

“A lot of things were very outdoor-oriented even though it rained a lot. We had something called forest school in year 4 where you would go into the woods and learn about trees and build fairy houses Then also in year five, part of our P.E. was learning to sail.”

However, moving did come with its set of challenges. After hearing the news that she would move from Ohio to California, Miller said she had mixed feelings because she had just settled down.

“Because I’ve really spent my whole life moving, I don’t really have a singular place that I can say, ‘Oh, this is where I’m from,’” Miller said. “Because when you live some place, you can spend your whole time living there being like, ‘Oh, I don’t like living here’ and ‘I just want to leave,’ but then when you actually leave, you realize how much you love it.”

Miller also said she noticed that she does not have as many physical items in her house compared to many who still have belongings that date back to their childhood.

“I think [moving] definitely affects your attachment to material objects,” Miller said. “Because for me, having an attachment to material aspects of life — the sort of books or the artifacts in your house — definitely gets smaller because, when you move, you detach yourself from a lot of those material aspects.”

But Rory Miller is not the only one who has had a life of moving. Her parents, Mark Miller and Kavin Miller, have been moving around a lot even before she was born. The reason why the Miller family moved so often was because of Mark Miller’s job at an international utility company that focuses on renewable sources of electricity. 

When moving around, Miller noticed that public transportation differed between each place, whether it be the type of transportation, the accessibility or the types of people utilizing it. For example, she found that there were more opportunities to ride public transportation in Europe compared to the United States, which allows for European children to have more independence.

“Kids in Europe, I would say their parents give them a lot more leeway and a lot more freedom,” Miller said. “Travel opportunities were so easy, so a lot of kids in Europe have traveled at a very, very young age. So I think that having all those opportunities and being able to have that freedom and opportunity to travel made me a lot more aware of the world.”

Ultimately, Miller said she thinks that moving has shaped her identity and lifestyle.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have been able to have the opportunity to travel to so many places and just the proximity where I was living. It definitely opened up so many opportunities,” Miller said. “Because for me, in the UK, flying to France was like flying from California to Kansas.”