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
City Names
Soraya Waller
2017-11-03
I was rereading some stuff in my journal, and stumbled upon some stuff I wrote my first night here in India, that never made it on my blog but is kind of interesting. It isn’t as relevant now, but I wanted to go back and talk about it. The city I live in has two...
Read MoreClassrooms are Overrated
Jordan Kendall
2017-11-03
There were so many people in my life that thought I was absolutely insane for deciding to travel to Ecuador instead of going to college like everybody else. I was constantly met with statements along the line of “you can always travel abroad in college” and “why don’t you focus on your education first?”. To...
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Halloween in Ecuador
Leila Merzenich
2017-11-02
As you may know, Halloween isn't really a thing in Ecuador, which made me pretty nostalgic for the days when I would dress up in often a homemade costume and go trick or treating with my cousins, or even just watch scary movies with my friends. So I decided I would create a Halloween experience...
Read More“Oh no, oh no, oh no”
Ashtin Laurion
2017-11-02
That’s the first thing I said after I lost my second wrestling match. I want to tell you guys something crazy that happened about a week ago. As I said I was wrestling… In Senegal this is a HUGE sport. As a matter of fact it’s the national sport here! So I’m going to tell...
Read MoreTrial By Fire
Sunghoon Kwak
2017-11-02
12:33 I entered the classroom with my mentor and pulled out my notebook. It was the first day of my apprenticeship. Observation day. My Teach for India (NGO) teacher sat me in the back of the classroom and told me to take it easy. Okay, sweet. I can do that. 12:47 The lesson had progressed...
Read More5 things Kichwa has taught me about Indigenous Culture
Maya Wilcox
2017-11-02
Ecuador has three different regions: the coast, the sierra, and the Amazon. I live in the Sierra, as do all GCY fellows, and one of the most wonderful and unique aspects of the Sierra is that all the indigenous people here speak some dialect of Kichwa. As most of you know, I’m pretty fluent...
Read MoreBleached Hands and Backflips
Trevor Hall
2017-11-01
Bleach is for clothes. Not for hair. At least this is what I thought until today. As I rest my body against this hard bus seat, I reek of bleach. My hands are stained in the best way they have ever been before. I am not even sure if I am on the right bus,...
Read MoreThis Woman’s Work
Miniya Ali
2017-11-01
The wait to receive the slip of paper that would detail our host family members names and ages was one of the most anxious and nerve-wrecking times of my life. What kind of people would we be staying with for the next eight months? Since I was one of the last people to receive my...
Read MoreWhat an inspiring month!
Maria Lanza Arancibia
2017-10-30
It´s been one month of living in this country and I am still not over how much beauty there is around me, it´s quite exciting to think that there is still so much more to see and explore. I have proposed myself to do something related to video every month and this is my September...
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In-between
Leandra Pedretti
2017-10-30
Before my time in Ecuador, when it still felt hypothetical and distant, I was entirely convinced that this bridge year would be one inspirational story after another heartwarming encounter-on repeat. One after the other, all day, every day. A factory line of heartfelt anecdotes and life lessons. Every success would be insightful and significant, every...
Read MoreWeekly VLOGS
Rujen Amatya
2017-10-30
The link to my weekly VLOGs while I am at Florianopolis, Brazil. Please subscribe and enjoy weekly updates! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUGk7i3uND0&list=PLqSOz82Pixrg71SH2BgIWUhAq8yq5ncUo
Read MoreLearning How to Learn
Wyatt Foster
2017-10-30
Growing up in a town where taking time to step back and reflect on life was viewed as a waste of time, and self care meant hopefully finishing homework before 1AM so you could get a few hours of sleep, life in Senegal is a big transition. I remember begging my dad at least once...
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