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
Connecting
Jaxom Moore
2014-08-19
Connecting A central theme in my pre-departure training to Global Citizen Year has been connecting with my community, family, friends, new Global Citizen Year fellows and the world. In so many ways Global Citizen Year has helped me connect with… New Friends In January one of the first things I did after getting accepted to...
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Fear
Rayla Freeman
2014-08-19
Disclaimer – I wrote this about a month ago, when everything was a little bit different. While the contents of this blog are the same as they have been, there was a small period of time where I felt that maybe fear would interfere with my trip. In that, I want to say that what...
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And so it begins…
Isabel Nardi
2014-08-19
Only a few days lie between me and the start of my Global Citizen year. I would like to take you back to show you where my journey truly began. A few months ago I was lost. I felt out of place, I dreaded college talk, and I said the bare minimum when the topic...
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Fundraising Challenge
Jessica Chai
2014-08-19
“Raise twenty-five hundred dollars in the span of 3 months” It sounded ludicrous, not to mention intimidating, particularly to an amateur like me. The extent of my fundraising experience extended to selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door in elementary school. The experience had been a blazing success, with a grand total of two subscriptions and one pity...
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Agri/Dulce
Jose Cruz
2014-08-18
Escribo estas palabras en la mañana del lunes, 11 de Agosto de 2014. Hoy, muchas de mis amistades comenzaron sus semestres escolares. Yo, en cambio, me encuentro sentado en un Denny’s vacío en la Chardon, aquí en Hato Rey. Me estoy cuestionando si debo practicar mi francés—que está medio sala’o—o si debo tomar ventaja de...
Read More Bitter/Sweet (English Blog #2)
Jose Cruz
2014-08-18
I write these words on the morning of Monday, August 11, 2014. Today, most of my friends started their school semesters—high school, college or otherwise. I instead, am sitting down alone in a Denny’s diner in the heart of San Juan, Puerto Rico. I’m questioning whether I should start studying my French—which I am slightly...
Read More Going beyond
Shaquerra Blackwell
2014-08-18
A summer ago, I was partnered up with another student volunteer for an eight week service learning project in Oaxaca, Mexico with a program called Amigos de las Américas. I grew personally as a human being from my time in Cruz De Piedra. I found justice and love for a different culture. I was also...
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The End of an Era: My Pre-Departure Feelings.
John Spence
2014-08-18
Things are terrifying right now. Not because by the end of the month I’ll be in a foreign country to stay for eight months. Not even because of all the dramatically different potentially more formidable challenges I’ll face over the next year. No, things are terrifying not because of the new things ahead but the...
Read More Why I Chose Ecuador and Global Citizen Year.
Noah Applebaum
2014-08-16
I’ve always had a yearning to learn the Spanish language. Something about it drew me to it. My mother’s side of the family is from Spain. When they came to America, they weren’t too keen on the fact that they were “different.” They stopped sending tortillas with my mother to school, and refused to speak...
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On Writing
Charlotte Reider-Smith
2014-08-16
Dear Readers, I want to write to you now – whoever you are. Maybe you read my last blog post. It’s 1:35am right now and I’m writing because I am feeling inspired to write and because I want to address my previous blog post. I don’t think that blog post is real. It’s not me....
Read More Working for Maybe
Alice Brower
2014-08-16
When I tell people I’m not yet going to college – that instead I’ll be living in Senegal for a year – the response is quick and strong. Sometimes I get fearful shrieks and confused narrowed eyes. Not everyone, of course. Some people react calmly, with wide-mouthed awe, and tell me their own nostalgic stories....
Read More The Long Bumpy Road
Christobal Urquiaga
2014-08-15
Life can be filled to the brim with hard challenges that sometimes block your way to your goals. My preparation for this program is no exception to this. With getting documents late, being kicked out of my house, dealing with personal drama, and having to come up with money for expenses in which I can not...
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