My name is Alexi Thomas. Actually, I’ve always liked the story of how I got my name. While my sister was attending high school in Kingston, she became friends with the child of Russian ex-pats. His name was Alexei.
Sometimes I wonder if this name is the reason why I love Russian literature, cinema, and language so much. She didn’t tell me the story until after I started my independent study in Russian during my time at Bard High School Early College Queens.
I was born in Kingston, Jamaica. I spent the first eight years of my life in a rural district of Clarendon, located in the south of Jamaica. It’s interesting, because being a young, new immigrant was like having two different halves of the same life that I somehow had to reconcile. The stories I heard about “farrin,” the Jamaican Patois word for the United Kingdom and the United States, led to the creation of and belief in a narrative that left me feeling betrayed during my first few years in the United States. It was a rough transition, but I think that that the experience gifted me with flexibility of mind, empathy, and probably most of all, confidence in my own adaptability.
Another formative experience that bears mentioning is my time in high school. BHSECQ is a very special place. The sense of academic curiosity, passion, and rigor that is both demonstrated and encouraged by professors there changed the course of my life. By the time I finished at Bard, I had read, either for pleasure or as assigned reading, each and every one of the books that I would be assigned at Columbia over the two year sequence of Literature Humanities and Contemporary Civilizations. I still grab dinner with my Spanish professor from BHSECQ every few months.
Columbia’s impact upon me is almost indescribable. Of course most people consider college the place where they might truly find themselves, or become adults, or go through a coming of age that reverberates throughout the rest of their lives. Nevertheless, the sense of community and the total, unequivocal support from staff and faculty allowed me to structure a truly one-of-a-kind experience for myself throughout my four years there. Studying abroad in Paris while majoring in Hispanic Studies, finishing the language requirement in Russian while working two jobs—without Columbia’s uncommon affinity for diversity in all of its manifestations, I just would not be where I am or who I am today.
In terms of who I am today, I consider myself versatile and emotionally intelligent, with a passion for service that can sometimes lead to taking on more than most. I love what I do and where I am doing it, and my goal is to make partner at a large law firm like Kirkland one day.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I love to try new things and meet new people!

Music, Movies, and Books

Sweet bitter
Memoirs of a Geisha

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Law School

Countries I’ve Visited

Bahamas, Cayman Islands, France, Germany, Honduras, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Jamaica, United States