"Outside the classroom, the experience gave me a rare, restorative pause to reconnect with different facets of my identity. I spent afternoons tracing diasporic history across the streets and museums of Paris, where it felt surreal to walk the very same paths my grandmother walked decades ago."
Outside the classroom, the experience gave me a rare, restorative pause to reconnect with different facets of my identity. I spent afternoons tracing diasporic history across the streets and museums of Paris, where it felt surreal to walk the very same paths my grandmother walked decades ago. Between navigating daily life in French and falling in love with the piano all over again just as I had as a child, I felt deeply grounded. Most meaningfully, I was able to speak my native tongue, Kreyòl, with family members and reconnect with a childhood friend after ten years apart.
The creative inspiration and critical frameworks I gained from these courses will stay with me throughout this coming year and well beyond. This experience has inspired me to engage with music actively rather than passively during my time at Columbia by listening with greater intention, understanding the cultural histories behind the sound, and seeking out ways to participate in musical and artistic life on campus. Ultimately, I left the program with far more than course credits. I left with rigorous historical knowledge, a sharper musical ear, strengthened relationships, and memories that will last.
GLS helped me achieve everything I had hoped for by allowing me to learn through books and real-world observations simultaneously, but it gave me something even greater: the unhurried time to show up, connect, and be present with my growing family.
