![Barbara Troqe, Albania to Italy](/~/media/mckinsey/featured%20insights/europe/people%20on%20the%20move%20migrant%20voices/barbara-troqe-albania-to-italy.jpg?cq=50&mw=767&cpy=Center)
My family lived in a hostel—together with migrants of all nationalities—for the next 15 years. As a kid, I didn’t think it was strange; I didn’t feel uncomfortable or uneasy. It felt like a big family.
But when I went to school, I started to realize that my classmates had really different living conditions. I began to feel shy. I started to feel like there was something missing from my life—something not right.
When I started dating in high school, I noticed that guys wouldn’t call me back when they knew I had Albanian origins. But things have gotten better with time.