ABOUT ME
I have never belonged to just one world
Hi, I’m Anna.
I grew up in Germany in a Polish family, surrounded by more than one language, culture and idea of what “home” could mean. For a long time, living between worlds simply felt normal to me. Only later did I realise how deeply it had shaped the way I see people, places and belonging.
Growing up between German and Polish culture taught me early that there is rarely only one way to understand the world. The same situation can feel different depending on the language you use, the traditions you grew up with and the people around you. Sometimes it appears in something as small as a word: an expression that captures a feeling perfectly in one language but has no real equivalent in the other.
Only later did I understand how deeply this had shaped my curiosity about other cultures—and my idea of home.
When places become personal
When I first went to China as a teenager, the country stopped being a distant place on a map. It became classrooms, shared meals, misunderstandings, laughter and people who welcomed me into their lives.
Years later, I returned to Beijing for another chapter. I knew more of the language and understood more of what was happening around me, but I was still constantly learning.
Some of my most meaningful memories are surprisingly ordinary.
I remember sitting in the living room with the whole family, eating fruit together. Everyone had reasons to be busy or stressed: there was always more studying to do, more work waiting and another responsibility to take care of. Yet family, community and sharing food still mattered.
That small moment stayed with me because it represented something I experienced again and again: food was rarely just food. It created a reason to sit down, make space for one another and be together, even when life felt demanding.
China eventually became more than somewhere I had lived. It became a place of the heart—a place connected to people, memories and versions of myself that I do not want to lose.
The people behind the places
What stays with me most is rarely a famous sight or a perfect photograph. It is the people I met and the everyday moments we shared.
A country becomes real to me when someone teaches me a phrase, explains a tradition, invites me to eat with their family or shows me a part of ordinary life that I could never have discovered as an outsider passing through.
These encounters have challenged my assumptions and changed how I understand both the world and myself. They remind me that culture does not exist only in museums, history books or national symbols. It lives in language, humour, hospitality, family habits, recipes and the way people care for one another.
That is why I love experiencing cultures through encounters, food and travel. I do not simply want to see a place. I want to understand what makes it feel like home to someone else.
Home in more than one world
Today, being between worlds no longer means feeling as though I have to choose only one.
It means knowing that wherever I travel, I may find a small piece of home: a familiar language, a shared meal, a family that once welcomed me or people who continue to matter even when we live far apart.
Every meaningful connection makes the world feel a little smaller and less foreign.
I no longer feel as though my life exists only within the borders of one country. I feel connected to something larger—a network of people, places and memories that stretches far beyond Germany.
My different worlds do not cancel each other out. Together, they have become my home.
Why Anna Between Worlds exists
Over the years, I have collected more stories, memories and ideas than I ever knew where to put.
Social media never felt quite right. It moves quickly, expects constant updates and often turns meaningful experiences into content that disappears almost immediately. I wanted something slower and more personal: a place that could grow with me without demanding anything from me.
Anna Between Worlds is my digital memory collection.
It is where I gather countries, recipes, music, languages, journeys and stories about the people I have met along the way. Some chapters may become extensive; others may begin with only one meal, one photograph or one memory. I can return years later, add what I have learned and let the site change as I do.
This is not an attempt to become an expert on every country. It is a record of curiosity, connection and the many ways the world has shaped me.
One country at a time. One story at a time.
Anna Between Worlds 