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
Cuy-istmas
Elena Doss
2015-12-14
Carol of the Guinea Pigs (Cuy) Yum! how they taste Sweet Cuy smells All seem to say, "Cook it away" Tia is here Bringing good shears To young and old Meek and the bold Squeak, Squeakish, Squeakish, That is their hum With joyful All squeakling One seems to hear Cuys running there From ev'rywhere Filling...
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Just Some Thoughts and an Attempt at an Update 12/10/2015
Steven Schwab
2015-12-11
I’m easily realizing – I can’t necessarily say quickly realizing – that it’s too easy to get lost in one’s thoughts, to get trapped per se. It can feel like I am running on a treadmill without an end and it can also feel like I am opening a door to escape some mental reality...
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Learning to Find Peace
Maya Panicker
2015-12-09
So, I used to know this girl named Maya. She was nice. She cared. But she worried all the time about what people thought of her. She compared herself to others and never believed she was spectacular or even enough. Her life was a constant competition with her peers and herself. Thoughts on what to...
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A Letter to My Host Mom
Maria Morava
2015-12-07
To my host mom who only speaks Wolof – a language I don’t yet. Here are some things I wanted to say in those early days spent in silence. Sama yaay, I still don’t know what to call you. Even beginning this letter I’m not sure how to address it. In my time here you...
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Permanent
Tatiana Calonje
2015-12-07
When a needle drags upon our skin and bleeds ink, it’s a tattoo. When I showed up at the Mumbai Airport, there was some sort of eye contact and mutual understanding I made with the promise of what was ahead. There still isn’t a name for this, some call it brave. Some call it incredible,...
Read MoreThe Quinceañera Celebration
Alice Wong
2015-12-07
Dear All, Last night I joined my host family as the community was going to celebrate the birthday for a 15-year-old. I have known that a girl turning 15 here is particularly special as it marks the transition from childhood to young womanhood in Latin America. My host mum said it was a fiesta for...
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Elizabeth Schubert
2015-12-06
I recently received an email from the high school I graduated from requesting me to fill out a post-graduation survey. It contained this question: What is your current work/school status? o Full time employment o Part time employment only o Part time enrollment at a post-secondary institution (2yr, 4yr, Certificate Based Program) AND employed o ...
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The Year of 19
Madison Lommen
2015-12-05
Last week, I turned 19. While reflecting on my new year, I concluded that I feel much older than my actual age. If the fact that I was contently journaling to the soft tunes of Van Morrison and Ray Lamontagne while friends smoked cigars nearby was not enough of an indicator to lead me to such conclusion,...
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Roll With It
Anita Yan Chen
2015-12-05
PREFACE I suppose I’ve been running on Senegal-time for a while now, even before I knew what it really was. In other words, my blogs are very late. But hey, you can’t rush art, right? The order of my blogs will not be chronological and they will come as they will. The way waves do. ROLL WITH...
Read MoreThe arrow
Zoe Barnes
2015-12-04
Culture shock. Homesickness. Loneliness. Lingual incompetence. FOMO (fear of missing out). Just a few on the list of difficulties I should be prepared to face during my eight months in Brazil. It was no surprise when these topics were introduced in both orientation at Tufts and upon arrival in Curitiba for in-country orientation, as they...
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Stop being satisfied with one single story.
Chantal Tonnessen Smeland
2015-12-04
When I left my home country I told myself that I would approach this experience and challenge with open arms- no limitations. No expectations, no biases. I would let the mind free, be a sponge to everything India has to offer me. And then I actually started living here. A part of the programme is...
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An Interview with My Alma Mater
Madison Lommen
2015-12-03
To the adventurous, motivated, and restless high school senior: With January first just around the corner, ’tis the season for college frenzy. But in the midst of your preparations, remember that there is an option to ditch the hyperactive high school-college-work treadmill that keeps you so busy you don’t have time to stop and think...
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