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
The plunge
mimieshleman
2015-08-30
The only thing I can really say is that I am inspired. I am inspired by the dreamers around me and the hope that flutters in all our hearts. It is difficult to explain this feeling, because it is a feeling. It goes way beyond what words can describe. So I guess the only...
Read MoreA New Journey
Mandula Bashu van den Berg
2015-08-29
PROLOGUE Strangers cry in California and I am there, dressed in vibrant red. Knots tie my stomach to my skin, the patio shuffles my bare feet apart. They, we, us, them, she, him, I are leaving. Really now. FIRST CHAPTER In the corner of our stuffy common room, a boy softly plays the piano. People...
Read MoreStyle
Miyo McGinn
2015-08-29
Last October Taylor Swift released an album. My friend and I had both been looking forward to it for ages and wanted to listen to it, together, as soon as possible. I picked her up at 5am Monday morning, to give us enough time to listen before school started. It was still dark when we...
Read MoreI’m not really sure how I feel right now? Frazzled?
Maxx H. Jordan Espinosa
2015-08-29
I looked down from the video titled “instructions for a bad day” and leaned over to the girl next to me. “I almost put my glasses on, thought I felt a tear”. She just looked at me unimpressed… As I looked around I saw a fellow, hunched over in his chair covering his face sobbing....
Read MoreI just joined a cult….
Chantal Tonnessen Smeland
2015-08-28
Human emotion is a rather peculiar aspect of the species. How we get attached to places and people, what satisfies our deeper desires, and what shreds the already fragile said centre of our emotional being- the heart. I find myself in an anomalous state of mind, as I have been amidst dozens of churches and...
Read MoreBlog Number 2
Jeff Pham
2015-08-28
Sitting here at the airport. Currently in Frankfurt, Germany. Just got off the plane and it’s been 10.5 hours since we sat in that plane. I was really happy in the plane because it’s been so long since I’ve traveled so having a full course meal for the first time on the plane….. its awesome!...
Read MoreProcrastination: A Work in Progress
Alana Poole
2015-08-28
If you already know me, you know that I am one of the biggest procrastinators in the world. This first blog post is due before we get to our countries. So here I am: sitting in the airport, writing this. Impressive, right? Well, over this past week we have been pushed to recognize our strengths...
Read MoreEmotions, Excitement, Ecuador, OH MY!
Makaleh Smith
2015-08-27
I was set on posting a semi sappy blog reassuring the people I love that Iwas no longer scared, but rather at ease with my thoughts about the monthahead. Well that was a week ago, and now I’m sitting in my dorm aftersaying too many goodbyes with only six hours until I leave Stanford andhead...
Read MoreQue Chevere!
Hillarie Madden
2015-08-27
Sitting on my connecting flight from Dallas to San Francisco, I frantically glued my eyes to my Spanish survival guide. Trying to sound out the words quietly without looking too weird I asked myself “ what the hell did you get yourself into this time Hillarie? You got yourself in deep, I moving to Ecuador...
Read More“WELCOME TO THE WORLD”
Jackson Harris
2015-08-27
Written from 24-27 August 2015 On Curiosity before Judgement Looking back at my summer, I remember numerous conversations that seemed to follow the exact same script: JACKSON walking down the street, enter FRIEND/FAMILY/FAMILY FRIEND/ETC. FRIEND: “So, when do you leave for school?” JACKSON: “Actually, I’m taking a bridge year before college.” FRIEND: With concern. “A...
Read MoreWelcome to Travel
Mason J. Sedlack
2015-08-27
8-27-2015, JFK New York Wow. What an amazing few days… Well… Week. What am amazing week. I've met so many people and learned so much and now, as I sit in JFK airport watching two of my cohort, Abby and Jackson, play hacky(?)sac and listen to the two women next to me argue in Arabic,...
Read MoreJeff blog
Jeff Pham
2015-08-27
I am sitting here at the lounge room waiting for our departure to the airport. So far the only people remaining in this room are the Indian fellows, staffs, and alumni. A few hours ago Senegal, Brazil, and Ecuador left and the farewells for me, at least was pretty tearful since I won’t be seeing...
Read More