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
Ndank-ndank
Paula Medina
2018-10-29
10 Sept 2018 With every new sunrise, there’s laugh, heat and learnings. I feel I can now assure how essential language is. Without communication, there’s no interaction, and so there’s no socialisation, inhibiting life in society. With this feeling of chaos and lack of sense of belonging yet, I realise how humans are without doubt...
Read MoreMulheres
Sophie Auvin
2018-10-29
At first, I was at a loss for what to write about for this month’s blog. So many things had happened, yet there was always one idea I came back to. This idea, however, was riddled with challenges that accompany writing about issues from the perspective of an outsider in a country I call home...
Read MoreLet’s talk about feminism. -Senegalese women in Leadership positions
Salome-Valdivieso
2018-10-28
On October 3rd, Dakar elected their new major, Soham El Wardini, the first post-colonial female major in Senegal. This news opened our curiosity and interest in a new topic for our program, E-jáng radio. Senegalese women in Leadership positions. Alex and I agree that we needed to open our media space to give a voice...
Read More
Mi primer mes en Brasil. My first month in Brazil
Mauro Ramirez-Azofeifa
2018-10-27
El 2 de Septiembre llegué a Brasil. Después de un largo viaje de más de 30 horas desde la Universidad de Stanford. En mi primer semana estuve recibiendo capacitación en el sur de la Isla de Florianópolis. Desde el primer momento me sentí como en casa cuando comí arroz, frijoles, frutas, ensalada y carnes. El...
Read MoreA House Divided, Two Nations at Stake
David Jiang
2018-10-26
A House Divided, Two Nations at Stake In a flash, two months of my bridge-year odyssey has passed. This period will forever be remembered as a significant milestone, a time when I succeeded in the enormous task of settling myself into this new life abroad. Being an American living in Brazil, an individual invested in...
Read MoreA Reflection on Fear
Rebecca Rose
2018-10-26
Disclaimer: I fully understand and respect each individual’s right to interpret political landscapes as they will. The following is not the right answer. It’s simply my simplified understanding of extraordinarily complex political dynamics. Brazil, as with much of South America and elsewhere, has repeatedly struggled with corrupt politicians in the government. In 2003, PT (Partido...
Read MoreMy first week/ Mi primera semana
Ndenda Mutsaku
2018-10-25
La primera semana en Senegal fue fabulosa! Fue la semana de bienvenida, estuve en Dakar con todos los Fellows y comenzamos a alistarnos para ir con nuestras familias de acogida Cosas que aprendí en mi primera semana en Senegal: -No olvides tomar tu pastilla para la malaria – nunca salgas sin haberte puesto repelente!! –...
Read More
I need a new watch
Laura Harvey
2018-10-25
Time is different in Brazil. There are many reasons why – I went from British summer time with the sun setting at 11pm, to it setting here at 6:30pm. We eat lunch anywhere between 1pm and 4pm, and tea just before going to bed. The busses can come up to 20 minutes before or after...
Read MoreObservations a Month and Three Quarters In
Ellie Van Gorden
2018-10-24
Sometimes, you start writing, but then the pen explodes and the mosquitoes find you. It is at this point where you recognize that the world is telling you to stop and start again. So here’s attempt number two at this blog! ~ There’s been a man in my entryway seated in one of our creaky,...
Read More
A Learning Curve
Leonie Tollefson
2018-10-24
I’ve spent the past several days trying to think of adjectives to describe my apprenticeship experience so far, and I can only think of one simple one: crazy. For the last month and a half, I have been waking up at 6 AM to hail a rickshaw to my government school 25 minutes away, where...
Read More“It’s ok to cry bro” (in Joseph’s voice)
Kaya Pearson-Gaglia
2018-10-24
It is 2:33 am on Wednesday October 24th and I am currently crying in my bed and can’t sleep. I have always heard of home sickness but I’ve never really experienced it for myself until now. It’s been a little over a month in Ecuador and it’s been nothing but posativity and amazing experiences and...
Read More
Translation
Macy Lipkin
2018-10-22
My first memory of Spanish class takes place on a dark blue carpet (which we always called “the rug”) in the corner of a classroom on the first floor of Barbieri Elementary School in Framingham, Massachusetts. I spent most of my time next door with Mrs. Gray, but us English-speakers went to the other side...
Read More