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
8 People That Have Inspired/Impacted Me Throughout Program Launch*
Marissa Emerson
2017-09-12
You may be wondering why I've written a list of eight individuals and not a nice, well-rounded number, like ten. Well I'll tell you that there is a deep, philosophical reason for it that will absolutely blow your mind: Eight is my favorite number. (Mind = blown) So, here is a list of eight people that...
Read MoreBem-vindo ao Brasil
Leonardo Salvatore
2017-09-12
Two weeks have gone by since I embarked on this adventure and it feels like forever. The first week was all about getting to know the incredible people who have created this path for students around the world and mentally preparing to overcome the inevitable challenges we will have to face during our bridge year....
Read MoreLive From The Field
Callista Helms
2017-09-12
And so the adventure begins. The saying “It’s not an adventure until something goes wrong” came to be very true throughout the start of my travels. It began after landing in San Francisco. I discovered that my suitcase wheel had broken, and there was no way I could carry two fifty pound bags when one...
Read Morenon-stop
Alexandra Moreno
2017-09-12
On Wednesday around 1AM we made it out of customs and into Ecuador. I was very happy to be out of Berkeley and finally in country. We spent four nights together at this spiritual retreat, two to a room. Each room had a bathroom, hot water available from 7AM to 8AM and like almost every other...
Read More
Carrots
Phuong Nguyen
2017-09-11
“No comprehendo.” “No hablo espanol bien.” “Estudio espanol” And silence. Smiles. Smirks? An abundance of shame. The car ride to my host family’s home was unbearable. The welcome to my Quito home was an overestimation of my social skills. Those had expired the moment I set foot away from my cohort. I was loitering in...
Read MorePeace Only
Isabelle Johnson
2017-09-10
The last week of training is finally coming to an end. The cohort & I have been staying at the TosTan Training Center in the city of Thiès. TosTan’s mission is to bring the community together by teaching literacy skills to adolescents and adults in Thiès. It is lovely meeting and communicating with the staff,...
Read MoreThe Art of Mindfulness
Ebunoluwa Akinbode
2017-09-09
“If I can be here now, I can be there then.” -Abby Falick Where am I right now? Close your eyes. I’m standing in a parking lot. The Meier Stanford dorm stands erect in front of me. Beside me is the massive coach bus that will be transferring my fellow Senegal cohort and...
Read Moresydney scanlon
Sydney Scanlon
2017-09-09
I stand here as a daughter Young, ripe, and sweet as clementines’ Dripping sticky down your hand I am a sister Calloused as the camels’ back Grown rough to pinches, teases, and taunts A lover Sometimes lapping lightly up the shoreline And other times thrown into a feverous riptide Salty, leaving lips parched...
Read MoreReturning Home
Danny DeBare
2017-09-09
Full disclosure: I am writing this post in the Houston airport on three hours of sleep in one of the most tumultuous weeks I’ve had this year.* I was hoping to upload this second blog post last Saturday, September 2nd; the day the Ecuador cohort was supposed to leave for Quito. Due to Harvey’s damage...
Read MoreThoughts of The Mind
Henry Yeary
2017-09-09
I’m currently suspended 37,000ft over the Caribbean Sea, finally on my way to Ecuador, where I will spend the next 8 months of my life expanding my notion of normal by immersing into an unknown culture. Acknowledging that adapting to a foreign lifestyle is easier said than done, I made sure to pack my bags...
Read More
journal entry #002 -universal joy
Stephanie Sanchez-Aguilar
2017-09-08
“Sometimes crying or laughing are the only options left, and laughing feels better right now.” –– Veronica Roth, Divergent That first initial contact with Senegalese air was intense. It was humid, the sun was hot and the feeling of being overwhelmed started to bubble in the pit of my stomach. What in the world...
Read More
The Toubabs of Thies
Elise Leise
2017-09-08
In a street shop bursting wall to wall with colorful boxes and packaged foods, I ignore the curious eyes on me and step up to the counter with my attaya and bleach. Conversation blurs around my ears in a rapid-fire stream of unintelligible words. “Toubab,” I hear. Foreigner. I smile, the one universal gesture...
Read More