Students at Liberty with dual citizenship

Elizabeth Rollison, Editor In Chief

RUSSIA

Viktoria Bliznyuk (9): “Both of my parents are originally from Russia, and I was born here, but I get Russian citizenship from them. Most of my relatives are in Russia, and I’ve visited Russia three times. The last time I visited was three years ago. Let’s just say that a lot of cultural things are different. Almost everybody has a garden there. It’s kind of like, even if you have enough money to buy food, you’re going to have a garden. It’s a big Russian cultural thing. I would love to see my relatives more often. I have a great-grandmother, and a grandpa, so it’s really important for me to remember the Russian language. Because I’m living in America and speaking English every day, I’m starting to forget some words. I’m trying to save it, so that I can travel and speak with my family.”

LUXEMBOURG

Allie Gross (12): “I’m a dual citizen of the US and Luxembourg, which is a small country in the middle of Europe. You’re probably wondering how this happened. Recently, Luxembourg started a repatriotization program, where, if you have an ancestor who was a citizen of Luxembourg in the year 1900, you can apply for citizenship. It’s a great opportunity if I ever want to live or work in the EU. The population of the entire country is less than the city of Seattle, which makes for a really different environment. Not much happens in Luxembourg. Once, the big news headline of the week was about how three cleaning ladies got sick on a train. When they were cleaning, they found an unopened packet of cookies that had a THC content of 0.3. That was the huge thing that happened in the country for the month!”

CANADA

Kyle McCarthy (12): “I am a dual citizen of Canada and the US because my lovely mother was born up north, in Vancouver. I go to Canada probably every other month or so. I have relatives right next to the border, so it’s probably an hour or two to go visit. Next year, I’m actually going to college in Canada, which is definitely a perk of being a dual citizen. Canada is way cleaner. And people are way nicer. Also, they have Tim Horton’s, which is far superior to any fast food chain here. I’m not so sure about permanently living in Canada, though. It’s pretty cold, especially aside from the BC area. Everywhere else is really snowy, and I’d prefer to live in the tropics. The one thing I’m considering is the free healthcare, which would be pretty nice, but living there isn’t exactly the first thing in my mind.”