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
A last minute change
Ndenda Mutsaku
2018-10-05
English When you take a gap year you know it will be full of surprises, but you never know when the first one will come. My first challenge and big surprise was sooner than I could have imagined. Because of visa issues, I had to change country. I was no going to India anymore I...
Read MoreExpectation V. Need
Giselle Esquer
2018-10-04
August 31, 2018 Global Launch was not what I expected but it was definitely something I needed. I’ve flipped through all the pages in my notebook at Global Launch and I see a pattern. Every inspiration wrote or idea I wrote down has to do with self reflection and expectations. What is it that I’m...
Read MoreRiding African Sand Dunes, Seeking Medical Attention, and Meeting My Dad’s Second Wife… Oh My!
Peter Dull
2018-10-04
It has been a little over a month since arriving here in Senegal. Here is a list of things that I did not expect coming here: – how every kid will call you tubbab (Westerner in Wolof) and go up to you and stroke your hair and skin (now I am fine with kids calling...
Read MoreMaybe the journey begins where the pavement ends and the cactus grow
Avry Richter
2018-10-03
Wow! What a world we live in! A couple ponderings from the life I am creating in Ecuador: Maybe the journey can only begin when the pavement ends and the cactus grow. And maybe at this place you may find a heart filled home where the walls have cracks in them because of the strength...
Read MoreBack to School…
Gema Benavides Jimenez
2018-10-03
At all times, First Days of school are worth remembering. Without a doubt, I’ll say that the one at Sant Tukaram School in Pune has definitely been the most overwhelming of them all. Like in every first day of school, the moment you step a foot in the school, all eyes are on you —...
Read MoreTransitioning
Jeremy Chan
2018-10-03
Upon arriving at Ibarra, I felt like we were so privileged. We stayed a very fancy hotel with a nice buffet breakfast and many facilities. The rooms were cleaned every single day and I truly believed I was on vacation. We did all the touristy things such as going to the famous ice cream places,...
Read MoreA radio program about Senegalese Education.
Salome-Valdivieso
2018-10-03
Photo Credits: Kaitlyn (from left to right -Mamadou, Salomé, Alex, Fallou, Elaine, Ousmane) As an apprenticeship, Alex (an English fellow) and I started working on E-Jáng radio. E-Jáng radio is a fellow’s initiative that started last year. This radio show/program is a free platform for high-school and university English students around Thiés. In this show,...
Read More"Poco a Poco"
Maya Foster
2018-10-03
Poco a poco, little by little, bit by bit. “Poco a poco” has been my favorite phrase recently. It is so simple in both English and Spanish, but I find that is the answer to most of the questions I’m asked right now: *How are you adjusting? How’s the language acquisition been? Do you feel...
Read MoreBlog Post #5
Stephanie Duarte-Pedrosa
2018-10-02
This last week has defiantly been my most active week so far. The weather was perfect – not too hot, not too cold, so I got lots of biking in! It allowed me to explore the area with a new found sense of independence. Also, in one of my language classes, we learned a bunch...
Read MoreIn the "Honey Moon" Stage
Katarina Guillot
2018-10-02
I am in love with the way the sun peeks out behind a tall daisy covered green mountain behind my house at 5:47 am every morning. I am in love with the sound of the dog’s paws running on the roof above my bedroom around 6 am as if they were about to begin a...
Read MoreFeeling 18 and Ecuador
Jasmine Johnson
2018-10-01
[image: IMG_3260-3.jpg] Today I did something pretty stupid. Back home in Singapore, I love nothing better than riding my bike. Going out without a helmet (I do not recommend) onto the streets blasting my music, knowing every path and alleyway. Through the nights and into the mornings, I would cycle my thoughts away and watch...
Read MoreA Blunt Pencil
Laura Harvey
2018-09-30
Whilst drawing out in the landscape, an art teacher once told me that “you must draw faster, because every time you look up, what you see will have changed.” Pencil in hand, and sheltering my sketchpad from the late winter drizzle, I realise that this concept transcends much further than the Tuscan hills. On the...
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