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 Last Three Months: A transformation from existing to truly living in Ecuador
Eliza Stowe
2019-02-25
How do I sum up the last 3 months of my life in a single blog? The idea of November seems recent, but when I close my eyes and think back to it I see the last three months flash by with millions of memories and stories. When I close my eyes, the first thing...
Read Moreslips seeking3
David Bisset
2019-02-23
i remember when i first arrived here. how an hour seemed like an eternity, and how patience was a foreign word. but now, now the minutes slip through my sand-encrusted fingers and i can’t seem to hold on tight enough. the days flow in and out. light and dark. they open and close nearly the...
Read MoreWandering Thoughts
Mia Reyes
2019-02-22
2.13.19 15:37 Some people fell in love with Senegal quicker then others and some have not and may never will. Me, I fall in and out of love with Senegal frequently and I think that there’s a certain beauty to that. I refuse to idolize an experience that others choose to believe is “admirable” or...
Read Moreslipping seeking surrendering
Ellie Van Gorden
2019-02-22
i remember when i first arrived here. how an hour seemed like an eternity, and how patience was a foreign word. but now, now the minutes slip through my sand-encrusted fingers and i can’t seem to hold on tight enough. the days flow in and out. light and dark. they open and close nearly the...
Read More
May the Best Candidate Win
Peter Dull
2019-02-22
The Senegalese elections are here! This Sunday, Senegalese citizens will vote and elect their next president for the next five years. At a time when the US State Dept. declared a level 2 warning for US citizens, I am watching the political festivities on the family television set and making sure I don’t get hurt...
Read More
Here Comes the Bride
Katarina Guillot
2019-02-22
My host parents are young and during my GCY year, they decided to have a church wedding which is how I became a bridesmaid along with FOUR other GCY Fellows in my host mother’s wedding. My host parents, Eli and Sairy seem to be on a perpetual honeymoon stage, especially as this wedding day approached....
Read More
My Independent Travels
Barbara Peck
2019-02-22
From December 15th until the end of February, the fellows have the opportunity to create their own travel plans to explore more parts of Ecuador. This is such an amazing experience because we get to leave our homes and see places that interest us independently. Personally, I would like to travel everywhere in Ecuador, but...
Read MoreLanguage Barriers!!!!!!!
Rebecca Bogart
2019-02-21
I remember being dropped off intomy host family six months back not knowing a single word of Spanish. I was soworried on how I was going to be able to communicate if I can’t speak thelanguage. I started my first month here conversing by using only google translate.It was so stressful and difficult. I would...
Read MoreWhen the NO becomes a YES
Jovana Jovanovska
2019-02-21
Since I can remember, I’ve been surrounded by various languages. Some of them I learned to speak, others just to recognize in a crowded room of people. As a result of being exposed to languages at an early age, for some of the ones that I speak I don’t even remember learning them, such as...
Read More
Their baby is growing up
Kaya Pearson-Gaglia
2019-02-20
My time here has been extremely special and positively changed me as a person and possibly my favorite part of the time here has been being able to share what I have been experiencing with my family who have come to visit. Being able to show them that “their baby” was able to come to...
Read More
Snaps and Captions Part 2
Jasmine Johnson
2019-02-19
*November* *Otavalo Train Station* [image: IMG_3768.jpg] In the tourism office I worked in they were doing a small advertisement film campaign. They needed a model to play an indigenous Otavaleña woman to pray at the two churches in Otavalo. It took me about five times to get the Son Father and Holy spirit action correct,...
Read More
Snaps and Captions Part 1
Jasmine Johnson
2019-02-19
*A picture says a 1000 words, and considering I haven’t posted a blog in a while, I thought I’d share 3 pictures from each month up until now. If I’ve done the maths correctly that’s about 18,000 words. So that should put me in a good place. Enjoy.* *September* *San Rafel* [image: IMG_3112 2.jpg] This...
Read More