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
In Need of Grace
Alice Brower
2014-11-21
A small cloud of hot sand followed my swift steps as I walked home from teaching preschool. As I reached my gate I saw sema yaay (my mother in Wolof) regally dressed in a vibrant pink and blue boubou sitting below our lemon tree in her plastic lawn chair. As I approached her, my shoulders...
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Good and Bad Do Not Exist
Jillian Doke
2014-11-21
I woke up before the crack of dawn to groggily slide my way into the backseat of my brother-in-law’s truck, squeezing in four sisters with me. As we were making our way to Cotopaxi for a giant parade, I looked out the window into the sky that was still dark, and saw Mount Cumbaya rising through...
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Welcome to Tres Juanes!
Bella Bjornstad
2014-11-21
The barrio I live in is called Tres Juanes because three Juans live here, but Tres Juanes is in the paroquia of Picahiua, named so because if you pick (pica) at the ground enough, you will reach the best water (agua) in the province (Tungurahua). All of the roads are either dirt or cobbled, and...
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Five Steps to Falling in Love
Bella Bjornstad
2014-11-21
Step 1: Look Stupid. If you want to fall in love, you must dive right in. Smile a lot, because everything is so incredible and beautiful and new. You are going to look silly, because that is what pure joy and unadulterated enthusiasm looks like. Step 2: Forget All Past Lovers It is of utmost...
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October 8th
Noah Applebaum
2014-11-14
I frantically opened my eyes to an intolerable screeching noise. I checked my phone for the time. It was 5:42 AM. The screeching sound was coming from outside a small window in the top corner of my room. A dim light from the rising sun was illuminated the pig pen. I realized that the pen...
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Sneaking Crackers through the Seat Cushion
Samantha Srok
2014-11-14
I’m sitting on the steps up to my roof, journaling in the 30 minutes I have before I teach my afternoon English class. About five minutes pass before my older sister and her husband, who live across the street, walk up the steps to sit next to me and hand me two mandarins. “Pai,” I say,...
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Shifting Gears
Aliya Habib
2014-11-14
A teacher of mine once had us write down everything that was on our mind. After, she said “How are you supposed to pay attention in my class if you are thinking of so many other things?” That was my senior year. Challenging classes, clubs that needed to be managed, laps that needed to be...
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I Can’t Hear You
Sarah Richmond
2014-11-14
Three days after moving into a small farmhouse perched in the foothills of the Andes in Chimborazo, Ecuador, I descended our spindly dirt driveway in my first attempt to go on a run. I bopped along to the infectious drum line of Paul Simon’s Obvious Child, passing grazing cows, clusters of indigenous women hauling impossibly...
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In Constant Bloom
Aiman Ahmad Marzio
2014-11-14
November 9th, 2014 Before embarking on this bridge year, I was excited to live in a different country and immerse myself in a different culture. These were reasonably simple steps to take… I just hadn’t realized what a world of learning I was opening myself up to. I thought culture is lettoo (getting my hair...
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Mangi Fi
Olivia Orosco
2014-11-14
Momma, I am still here waiting for something profound to happen. To be enlightened, hit with an epiphany, struck by my life’s purpose. So far, the only things I’ve been struck by are rogue soccer balls and disoriented grasshoppers. But I don’t think this “something profound” I await will happen like that. Maybe, probably, I...
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Culture ShOctober
Grace Mannix
2014-11-14
I’m at a loss for words. Even with all of these internal and external changes happening, I’ve been struggling with what to write a blog about. My goal is to write at least one blog per month. I started off strong in September, but October has proven to be more of a challenge, both for...
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October in Threes
Alisa Nelson
2014-11-03
Describing my last month in segments of three. 3 THINGS I DO EVERDAY Drink Coffee. I hate coffee. More accurately, I hated it. I drink it every morning at breakfast, and while my favorite part is still the powdered milk that clumps at the bottom, I’m getting used to it. Measure the Wind Speed and...
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