Fellow Stories
True gap year stories from Fellows abroad!
Check out the latest blogs from Global Citizen Year Fellows in Brazil, Ecuador, and India!
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Class Year
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Short Hair, Don’t Care
Elise Leise
2017-09-07
Phones recording, people yelling, razor buzzing, I flicked remnants of my hair to the floor of the Stanford dorm bathroom. The electric atmosphere of the overcrowded space hummed, punctured with gasps and uncontrollable laughter. In the space of four days, not even the duration of Global Launch, the Fellows around me flipped...
Read MoreBlog Entry 2
Isabel Munoz Beaulieu
2017-09-07
I’ve been in Thiés, Senegal for almost a week now and I must admit that I’m loving this country. Since making lists is therapeutic for me, as weird as it sounds, I’m going to list the things I’ve observed and experienced this week that are making me fall in love with this country ‘ndank ndank’...
Read MoreDallen ak jamm!
Wyatt Foster
2017-09-07
Dallen ak jamm!! AKA, welcome to Senegal!! This phrase was printed on a huge banner in our main classroom at the Tostan Training Center where I’m currently staying during my first week in Thiès, Senegal. That phrase is written in Wolof, the second national language, behind french, in Senegal meaning it’s spoken by nearly 50...
Read More51 Things to do While Waiting for the Plane to Dakar
Katie Dodge
2017-09-07
1. Go pee. 2. While peeing, think about how you won’t be using toilet paper for the next eight months. 3. Try to calm the rising panic in your stomach as you imagine your life without toilet paper. 4. Go for a walk around the terminal. 5. Charge your phone. 6. Second-guess every decision you have...
Read MoreGanesh Chaturthi Sept 5
Sy Richardson Dragon
2017-09-07
Have you ever held hands with a stranger. Have you danced on pink sand and shouted into a crowd of red and white and brown. Have you felt the beat of a hundred drums vibrate through your bones. Been consumed in culture. Have you walked across a street full of people and cars and bikes...
Read MoreLearning to Disconnect
Kaya Van Dyke
2017-09-05
I am learning to balance connection and disconnection. In the last week here at Stanford, I have heard hundreds of names and become familiar with dozens of faces. I have been met with people who are passionate, enthusiastic and inspired by the same things that I am. Simultaneous to all of this new connection, I’ve...
Read MoreDry heat to Humid Heat
Erik Oline
2017-09-05
9-4-17 Theis, Senegal. Let’s go back…… I arrived at Stanford University for the orientation last Sunday. Between now and then a lot has happened. The orientation week (or Global Launch) was very busy, there are about 140 “fellows” in total, but only 23 of us are in the Senegal Cohort (we are the elite cohort...
Read MoreMaking Memories
Elizabeth Ollila
2017-09-04
I left my comfort and home about a week and a half ago, and since then my life has been a whirlwind in California (at Stanford) while we have had “pre-departure training.” I just wanted to share with you all some of the things that have gone “wrong” in the last 2 days, and I...
Read Moreat home home sickness
Alexandra Moreno
2017-09-04
So this past week and a half has been too jammed pack. On August 27th, I landed in San Francisco and found myself instantly thrown into a group of over 100 strangers- the only exception being a person I met at a college fly out where neither of us really knew each other but we...
Read MoreLiftoff
Sunghoon Kwak
2017-09-04
Awareness. Mindfulness. Accountability. Perspective. Engagement. All words thrown around this week as we tiptoed toward the prospect of being global leaders. We used these words to fuel our curiosity while at a week-long session at Stanford. Used them to ignite the flame within our minds as we prepared to step into the unknown. My adventure...
Read MoreHow I’m Learning Portuguese (And Having Fun Doing It)
Savion Sample
2017-09-04
Hello, and welcome to my first blog! For this post, I’m going to be explaining some of the ways that I enjoy learning languages in general, and currently Brazilian Portuguese! Duolingo Contrary to many others, I actually really enjoy Duolingo. It’s a simple, yet effective way to get a good baseline in a variety of...
Read MoreTaking Charge of My Own Learning
Shannon Yang
2017-09-02
“Why are you taking a gap year?” The question would often catch me unprepared, like a storm coming earlier than forecasted. I would often shrug and tell the curious asker that I just needed a little more time, or that I felt burnt out, or that I was young for my grade anyway. Though all...
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