Interesting topic! I've lived for a bit in various countries. Each frames my race in a different way.

Netherlands - People just see me as American ... which I love. I feel like Dutch people tend to be more practical about labels. You're defined less by your appearance and more by where you grew up and how culturally assimilated you are.

That all's not to say that Holland is some progressive paradise. Some Dutch people are pretty damn racist against Moroccans (not seeing them as so assimilated), and Zwarte Piet is an ongoing topic of debate.

Latvia - Unfortunately my experience in Latvia was not awesome. New acquaintances literally compared me to soy sauce or described me as an immigration problem. People gawked on the street. Once a friend pulled at my hair to show the black color to everyone else, as if we were in a zoo. It felt horrible and I tried to cut my stay short.

Indonesia - I'm living here now. It's funny, all my family here are Chinese Indonesian - a persecuted minority in itself - but I get treated pretty well. Part of it is that, whatever the standard of Indonesian beauty is, I apparently check a lot of the boxes. Don't get me wrong. I think I look fine, but people have literally screamed on sight and compared me to a celebrity. There's a racialized component to it too; people think I must be Korean or Japanese, not Chinese, probably because Kpop is in fashion and Chinese Indonesians are looked down on.

It's weird. Sorta refreshing to be the hot girl at the bar for once, but undeniably weird.

Comparing these experiences to growing up in the U.S. ... it's hard to say. America is my home. At the same time, I still struggle with feeling fetishized, or friends who claim they "don't even see [me] as Asian", or feeling simply estranged from my Asian American side. I got the racist rhymes and songs in elementary school like many of us did. It's an odd feeling, to belong but not belong in your own country. That being said, the more I travel, the more I appreciate how American I really am.