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
Meet the Family
Elston Tortuga
2014-11-03
My immediate family consists of my mom, Sokhna Deme, president of the Ngueniene Women’s Association, a woman unable to have her own children, a woman married to a slowly dying man 30 years her senior, who lives an hour away with his first wife and children; she is a strong, noble woman, a woman who...
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A Love Letter to Ataya
Alice Brower
2014-11-03
My first day in Senegal, I sat with my knees close to my chest, leaning against a concrete wall, while warily eyeing my new Senegalese host brother as he lounged on a mat and invited me to join him. A lanky twenty-something approached us, placed an old rusty black stove on the ground along with...
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Connecting, Among Other Things
Sarah Richmond
2014-10-30
**Written September 18th, delayed posting due to technical difficulties** While discussing our plans for the upcoming weekend with my host sister, I mentioned how sad it was that I would be leaving their family soon. She looked at me and smiled wistfully, shook her head and said, “Three weeks is not a very long time...
Read MorePersonal Mission Statement
Ian Frank
2014-10-28
Begin with the end in mind; each experience will shift that into perspective. Expect that you will not understand, ask questions, and seek the counsel of others for assistance. I am a meager captain steering this expedition in uncharted waters. The current has cut veins in the earth so deep, I can’t change or manipulate...
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First Impressions
Irie Ewers
2014-10-28
Take a moment to reflect about Ecuador. What do you know about this “developing” country? What images start circulating in your mind? Do you picture an immense Amazon filled with emerald trees and buzzing insects of iridescent colors? Maybe you visualize the prominent Galapagos Islands where Charles Darwin first broached the topic of evolution using...
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Dear Applicant (The Veil Lifted)
Bennett Quintard
2014-10-28
Dear Applicant, As you make your way through the grueling Global Citizen Year application process, I’m sure you are faced with many questions. One of the biggest questions you might be asking yourself is, What will it be like? Everyone you talk to will have something to say about this question, whether they be your...
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Baby Soy
Yui Lee
2014-10-28
When I came to Guano, Ecuador a month ago and met my Ecuadorian family for the first time, I was overjoyed to see a baby in my host mother’s arms; the newborn looked so happy, adorable, and chubby. I learned that her name was Soy, she was six months old, and today, she is as...
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Sigue No Más
Samantha Srok
2014-10-23
I literally cannot focus in class because I am so angry. Why would you not have a comprehensive bus schedule easily available online or in places people can read? Why would the same bus I’ve used every day suddenly take me to the Rio Coca station?! Who would make this transportation system so unclear? This...
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Clarifying Chaos
Alcyone Magana
2014-10-23
Two winters, and what seems like a lifetime ago, I read a sentence that went something like this: If you’re in a creative void, stuck, and not making progress, simply stand on top of your chair and observe… this simple shift in perspective will provide clarity and perhaps will bring new ideas to what you’re...
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Lessons Tena Has Taught Me Thus Far
Hadiyah Grubish
2014-10-22
1. It’s hot. Not just “Oh, it’s a little warm out today,” but a real ” I think I might be dying,” type of heat. Think Georgia in the end of July, just before the near daily afternoon thunderstorms where the humidity is at it’s peak, with the mid-day sun multiplied by five, and no...
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Brazil!?!
Isaac King
2014-10-22
I’ve counted down the days, or more like hours now, until the big arrival into a new country. A new country filled with new gestures, new foods, and new dreams, and somewhere in the midst of all that change, hopefully a newly well-rounded Isaac Lee King. I have held onto this dream of venturing out...
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When you Face Two Roads Diverged, Pick the One that Seems Harder
Paulina Jedrzejowski
2014-10-21
Feeling the harness bite into my thighs and stomach, I knew that the pain was only for my safety and I had to do this to begin the journey of overcoming fear. As I looked up the ladder, I knew that I had to climb about two hundred feet to begin the journey… I still had an...
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