A Bilingual Immigrant

Hi everyone! My name is Nika Kartvelishvili and it is a challenge for many people to pronounce my last name because of its length! I am a true immigrant as I came to the United States at age 7 from Russia and have visited Russia many times since. My parents are actually double immigrants; they first migrated to Russia from Georgia (the republic) and then from Russia to the United States. Unlike many other immigrants who come here as children, I was able to maintain my native language and I am currently able to speak, read, and write in Russian as well as in English. Ever since my family and I came to America, we have been living in Brooklyn. As a result, I’ve never went to school in Manhattan up to this point. Going to college in the City is a great experience for me since Manhattan is a lot prettier and more exciting than Brooklyn. I am very glad to be studying at Baruch College under the Macaulay Honors Program, even though it is not always easy. This class appears to be quite challenging in terms of the workload (as are all Macaulay Seminars), but I expect the content of the material to be very interesting! I am eager to learn how the many immigrant groups living in our city manage to get by in this tough world of ours despite many cultural and economic barriers.