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
Quick Update
Caroline Blanchard
2013-05-02
October was terrible. Every negative adjective applies. I cried almost everyday and spent close to $100 on phone credit calling my family in the US trying to find some comfort in the fact that I wouldn’t be home until April. The only days I felt slightly like myself were Sundays where I would a few...
Read More
Capstone
Bijan Sanchez
2013-05-02
On my very last day in Morochos I went to town, printed out about fifty pictures of my favorite experiences with my host family, and bought a small photo album for all of them. I gave it to my mom at the very last moment before I left to Quito. They have a huge collection of photos from other...
Read More
Straight From China/ World History
Christopher LaBorde
2013-05-02
This one’s for you, Covey If you look at the history of the world, it’s all been kind of random, and following the path of human nature. The advention of institutionalized religion, the human conquest of the world, slavery. Even now we think we are advanced. Think about how far we’ve come. Think about how...
Read More
Final Video Conclusion
Barker Carlock
2013-05-02
Here is a video that is a final summary of my experiences in Senegal as a 2012-2013 Global Citizen Year Fellow. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB15gB2MUAY
Read More
Una Carta de Amor
Kimberly Nerea Tellez
2013-05-02
Querido Ecuador, Gracias por tus montañas, tu aire puro, y tu gente. Por tus flores amarillentas y patacones salados. Por el Inti dorado cuyo color predomina en tu bandera, de la cual el azul me transporta a tus playas cálidas y al cielo infinito que comienza en el borde de tu cordillera. El rojo, a...
Read More
A Day in Katy’s Life
Bijan Sanchez
2013-05-02
One of my closest friends I have had here in Ecuador has been my host sister; Katerine, or Katy, is super shy, very funny, and loves Korean soap operas. Right now in in-country re-entry training she feels like one of the few special people I really, really extrañar from my community. I feel very lucky to have spent this...
Read More
Transitioning
Canaan Muluneuh
2013-05-02
A smooth transition to a new country is ideal because it will most likely determine how your overall stay in that country will be like. Lucky for me I had a smooth transition. From adjusting to the high altitude and to accepting the strict diet of potatoes and soup in every lunch meal, I feel I have made a...
Read More
Souvenirs
Claire Amsden
2013-05-02
In Senegal, taking photos is called taking souvenirs. I can’t tell you how many times I asked my Senegalese friends and family to let me take a souvenir of them during my last two weeks there. (My photo count is telling: I had 400-something photos at the beginning of March, and had more than doubled that...
Read More
Africa
Matthew Travers
2013-04-23
When I woke up in Dindefello, a quaint village littered with tourists in Kedougou, I felt for the first time since my arrival I was living the “authentic African experience” foreigners seek when they come to this country. A hut over my head and a digital camera full of pictures of wildlife and women with...
Read More
Old Enough to Change the World, Young Enough to Still Want To
Matthew Travers
2013-04-23
There are nights where I wake up in a lukewarm sweat, still saturated with the dream that doesn’t let me sleep. In this nocturnal vision, I am back at home in my room, or somewhere in San Jose, California, and I am looking for a way to charge credit on my Senegalese phone to make...
Read More
In The Tomato Field
Matthew Travers
2013-04-23
My greatest insights are revealed to me in the tomato field. Knee to chest, hands to ground, root to soil, I spend my mornings alongside what I confidently call my friends, sixteen Senegalese seeds themselves that, through struggle and effort, now bear the fruits of laughter and companionship. Together we plant row after row of...
Read More
The Toubab Dilemna
Matthew Travers
2013-04-23
Words here in Senegal are a valuable commodity. The wisest people string the neatest webs of words, and a new word learned in Wolof is a new tool to use. However, since the beginning of my time here, one word in particular has followed me wherever I go: Toubab. As you walk down the road...
Read More