Fellow Stories
True gap year stories from Fellows abroad!
Check out the latest blogs from Global Citizen Year Fellows in Brazil, Ecuador, and India!
Category
Class Year
Country
Ñuca Yachashcacuna: Part I
Sam Garcia
2012-10-31
Over the past two months, I can say without a shadow of doubt that I have learned and grown more than I can fully appreciate right now. That is in no way saying that my experience has been easy, in fact, this is certainly a testament to how challenging it has been. It has taken longer than...
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Taking a Leap of Faith
Abby Lindsay
2012-10-31
I find myself thinking a lot about Abby Falik’s metaphor of the monkeybars at this moment in time: I started at home where both my hands were firmly planted and comfortable, swung over to San Francisco, had a moment of panic in a mid-air suspension until I met people I clicked with and started having...
Read MoreVideo of my first two weeks in Senegal
Jordan Ricker
2012-10-30
You can watch my video on YouTube by clicking here!
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The student teacher
Nathan Edwards
2012-10-29
Hola familia y amigos! I am wrapping up my week in Pedro Vicente Maldonado after leaving Quito and saying goodbye to the other fellows two weeks ago. It was difficult to say goodbye after spending such quality time together and having the privilege of seeing each other every day of the week. With that being...
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The mothers of Keur Dioba
Jordan Ricker
2012-10-26
Just the other day I traveled with Marisa (another Fellow) and two people from my Apprenticeship to a village called Keur Dioba that was about 20-25km outside of Mboro, the town in which I’m currently living. We went to a children’s school in the afternoon and there was an after-hours program for adults going on....
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Bamboo
Ella Wegman-Lawless
2012-10-26
Upon coming to Ecuador and during my stay in Quito I hadn’t gotten overwhelmed or scared. That all changed when I moved out the cloud forest region. As the bus drove me farther away from Quito and the majority of the other Fellows, I entered into a whole other world. This new world was to be my new home....
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Time has Fallen Asleep in the Afternoon Sunshine
Emma Anderson
2012-10-26
Once upon a time, two young global citizens named Aissatou and Aminta, thoroughly exhausted with the prospects of chilling in their respective Senegalese family’s compounds all day, decided to go on an adventure. Their illustrious plan was to meet at a particularly convenient hotspot and from there catch a bus to a small village approximately...
Read MoreThe ‘Girl’ Effect
Alison Rivera
2012-10-26
I met this one girl in Dakar. She was cool; she took me out dancing one night. Brazen would not describe her but the slang word “sassy” will. Her false name is going to be Alpha; not exactly a pseudonym since the name perfectly describes her. Catholic, Senegalese, single mother were my very first impressions....
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A Village of Their Own
Emily Ford
2012-10-23
1993. A special year for planet Earth, for I was brought into this world. It also happens to be the year my host sister, Daba, was born. I seemingly won the geographic lottery by being born in the U.S., while the cosmic forces fated that Daba should be dropped down in the village of Medina...
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Reflections Eternal
Annie Schwandner
2012-10-20
I’m living in a village named Sebikotane. Technically it is the outer, outer rim of Dakar, Senegal. But if it were up to me, I would place them in different galaxies. Although this village has 25,000 people and a paved main road, it is incredibly different than Dakar. Differences can be caused by many factors; geography, socio-economic standings, how...
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Dafa Tang
Olivia Hill
2012-10-16
When I told my host family in Dakar that I would be going to Kebemer there were no words of encouragement. “Tres difficile” my host grandma said to me as she shook her head and wagged her finger, “not Dakar.” As the exchange of gestures and a few words went on I started to get...
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My First Ecuadorian Holiday!
Aidan Holloway-Bidwell
2012-10-16
Today is my first Ecuadorian Holiday. Wednesday was 192 years since the independence of the coastal city of Guayaquil, but we get work off on the following Friday to make a long weekend. For the past 24 hours there’s been a rare abundance of traffic through Los Bancos as Quiteños head through the cloud forest to...
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