Tag: jlorthe

By jlorthe

Since I was young, I had been used to hearing French or Creole at home with my parents and family. So, it had always made sense to me to study French in school so that I could better communicate with my family. However, it wasn’t until my sophomore year of high school when my sister went off to France for an entire year that I realized learning a foreign language in a classroom is nothing compared to a full immersion experience in a different country. When my sister came home from France and nailed the accent and could speak French better than my parents, I knew I had to go. Although I couldn’t make it happen in high school, my goal during freshman year in college was to find an excellent abroad program that would allow me to stay abroad for a year but also satisfy my major requirements. Thankfully, GW has really fantastic abroad programs and affiliations that allowed me to do both. ...continue reading "My American Passport doesn’t make me Rich"

By jlorthe

These girls were the same group of girls that I roomed with during our first night in the Geneva Hostel and we’ve clicked ever since then! ...continue reading "Sweet ole’ Swiss"

By jlorthe

“If Haitians don’t think I’m Haitian and American black people don’t think I’m really black, then

what am I,” I asked my friend who looked back at me with a completely blank face.

I was in the midst of completing the analysis section of my freshman thesis for my UW class

when for the first time ever, I realized I had no idea who I was. Up until that point of my paper, I

was analyzing the significance of the word black among the Haitian culture versus the American

black culture. When it came time to provide a three-page reflection on the 18-page analysis I

had just written, I was beyond lost for words. As I tried searching for the answer through my

friend’s destitute stare, I remember beginning to feel the ache from my throat swelling up as I

tried to fight back the tears.

...continue reading "A Haitian-American Finding Herself"