Despite their diverse national backgrounds, 28 interviewees speak similarly about the complexity of the cultural realities with which they live, and refuse to be pinned down to specific cultural types. While nation is of great importance, unless personally inspiring, it tends to be an external force which is in conflict with a wide variety of layered cultural realities which collect around personal life trajectories (including religion, family history, community, occupation, politics and language), often in multiple national locations. These findings are resonant of social action theory, where culture is in dialogue with, rather than defined by, social structure.