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
Being Lost
ericagonzales08
2015-09-15
“No expectations. Stay in the present. Curiosity before judgement.” I recited this mantra in my head as all the Brazil Fellows prepared for the reveal of our final placements. We were practicing mindfulness. Eyes closed, we focused on the moment – what and how our bodies felt, what we smelled, what we heard. As the...
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Future?
Deonte' Lee
2015-09-15
If I told you my only ambition is to be happy, would that be enough? Now in Curitiba, I am sitting in my family’s backyard listening to Jack Johnson play in the background, hearing the chirps of the birds resting in the trees, and my mother’s conversation in Portuguese with her sister in law....
Read MoreBailando
Brianna Gilmore
2015-09-15
“1,2,3” “5,6,7” I said with my dance partner Andrew as we taught the Ecuador Cohort basic salsa dance steps. In our first regional cohort meeting, one of the Team Leaders asked Andrew and me to lead a salsa dance workshop. Immediately, I took the stage and began to teach. It was wonderful to be...
Read MoreThe Modern Tribes of Brazil
Daniel Lewis
2015-09-13
The participants in the ritual stand around a huge grassy field with nets on opposite ends. Some of them have drums, setting a fast beat for the others to chant to, others are shirtless, their banners painted across their chests. The singers cry their tunes preparing the audience for the biweekly ritual. Their voices are...
Read MoreThe Power of Chocolate
Charlotte Robbins
2015-09-13
Ever since I was little, chocolate has been an integral part of my diet. I’m up to eat chocolate at any time, any day, whether it be chocolate cake for breakfast, ice cream for an afternoon snack, or chocolate pudding cake instead of lunch. In the winter, I almost always drink a cup of hot cocoa...
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The Voices Not Many Hear
Munyaradzi Munyati
2015-09-12
As I enter my second week in Quito Ecuador, I feel that I have only just scrapped off the surface of what the Quitenian life is; knowledge that I use to construct the summaries that I send home in reply to the question of “How’s it going?” Most times conversations end with me talking about...
Read MoreStretching
Mason J. Sedlack
2015-09-12
Never before has two weeks felt like two months. The days whip by but I can only feel like I've been here much longer than 15 days. Never before have I had so much to drink in, to absorb… Not even in those last 2 weeks leading up to IB exams. I have learned so...
Read MoreMud, mud, mud
Janet Sebastian-Coleman
2015-09-12
Early Thursday morning the pouring rain began. Normally, I sleep straight through thunderstorms and torrential rain. But on Thursday, I drifted in and out of sleep, when I awoke I was not quite sure if I was awake: there was endless drumming of rain in reality but the sound of water also flooded my dreams. My alarm brought me...
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A Glimpse of Home
Maria Morava
2015-09-11
The sun was kind today. Making the commute to our afternoon session, I realize a few new assets to my intuition: knowing when to cross the street, how to greet the people I pass, where to find the mango man. As I enter the office I feel air conditioning evaporate the sweat on my face...
Read Moremorning walk
Maisie Coburn
2015-09-11
September 9th, 2015 I walk in the shadow of mountains. Turning the corner they rise before me, big and green and crowned sparsely with clusters of telephone poles and satellite dishes. My lunch box bumps against my thigh with each step and breakfast sits heavily in my stomach. There is a small round hole...
Read Moredinner
Maisie Coburn
2015-09-11
September 7th, 2015 The three of us sat around the kitchen table watching La sombra de Helena. Pauli ate ramen noodles with canned tuna and mayonnaise; Magi sipped coffee. I smeared a small, flat circle of corn bread that she had made for me the night before with peanut butter and Nutella and took...
Read Morenap
Maisie Coburn
2015-09-11
September 6, 2015 My favorite thing is taking a nap later in the day. Falling asleep with the sun still blindingly bright and waking in the soft gray twilight. The sky is overcast in the evenings in Quito, mixed with Cotopaxi’s ash and threatening of rain. The glow of the recently lit street lamps...
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