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
Ecuapace
Sophie Meltzer
2018-09-26
It is impossible to imagine how your life will change before it actually does. You throw yourself in, full of ideas and images of a world beyond your own, yet devoid of actual knowledge of what exists. Before the jump, changing everything seems purely adventurous — even glamorous. Yet, I have found that the landing...
Read MoreComparisons
Sophie Auvin
2018-09-25
Let’s talk about comparisons. I have spent a majority of my life entangled in this never-ending cycle of “he’s smarter than me”, “she’s faster than me”, “they’ll go to a better school than me”, and any other he/she/they is please fill in the blank here than me. It’s funny because everyone says not to compare...
Read MoreJacqueline Oeschger vs. Fatou Djiba
Jacqueline Oeschger
2018-09-23
Have you ever read the article called “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”? It unveils our innate bias and tendency to assume that there are always “others”. When in reality we all stem from the same tree of life. I am in a new land. I have been given a new name, a new family, a...
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Blog Post #4
Stephanie Duarte-Pedrosa
2018-09-23
I have now spent two weeks in Garopaba with my host family. I have continued to eat truck-loads of papaya and can confidently say that I just about understand the public transit system. The three best Portuguese words that I learned this week: 1. roller coaster – montanha russa 2. ribs – costelas 3. wave...
Read MoreRemoved…Once Again
Ellie Van Gorden
2018-09-23
As I sit at this squeaky, uneven table with the remains of a strawberry milkshake at the only restaurant I’ve been to in Thies thus far, I watch the world go by and wonder why mine was so suddenly stopped. I was thriving in the everyday hustle of my neighborhood. I had become accustomed to...
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Finding a new place to call home…
Maddi Schink
2018-09-23
Hello again! Welcome to blog post No.#2! There is a A LOT of new information to share with you all since my last post, as I am finally in Ecuador!!! 🙂 I arrived in Quito, Ecuador at the beginning of September and after a week of training, fostering some incredible friendships with the other program...
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BUSES GO EVERYWHERE IN ECUADOR, BUT NOWHERE IS BUS FRIENDLY
William Shain
2018-09-22
This is the wisdom that I have gained in my short time here in Ecuador. Though pickup trucks and small cars make up more than 80% of the automobiles that you see on the road, giant 40+ person buses dominate the paths as they hurdle past town after town, always en route to the next...
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Pimampiro, Ecuador – The New Place That I Call Home
Eliza Stowe
2018-09-22
Expectations (n): a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future. Throughout the Global Launch week at Stanford, we had countless seminars about expectations. We heard numerous speeches about the importance of flexibility and adaptability. They told us it would be impossible to enjoy our year if we set expectations...
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Love
Macy Lipkin
2018-09-20
Two hours into my seven-month homestay, the three-year-old told me she loved me. “¿Tan pronto?” I responded. “So soon?” I’m living in Quiroga, a suburb in northern Ecuador, with my host mom, host dad, and their three girls, who are three, eleven, and thirteen. My host mom, Paola, introduces me to friends as her daughter....
Read MoreGetting Unfamiliar
Jacqueline Oeschger
2018-09-20
I’m becoming very familiar with a pen and paper, With the stack of undeveloped film on my desk, With melted gum, With the pages of my books, With Senegal’s heavy sun, With quick showers, and tea without milk. I’m becoming very familiar with my own thoughts, Now that I have nothing to distract myself from...
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Chapter 2: The New Ways of Doing Old Things
Xandra Coleman
2018-09-20
On my way to being dropped off to my host family for the very first time, amidst an utter lack of traffic lights and street signs, I saw three versions of a stop sign.1. A post holding up the mere metal outline of a stop sign with no hint of red 2. An empty post...
Read MoreGetting to Know Giron and Mi Familia
Barbara Peck
2018-09-15
The first thing I saw when I walked into my new home: Have you ever had a teacher explain the same thing in three different ways but you still didn’t understand, and so you just end up smiling and nodding? That pretty much sums up my first week here with my host family. Regardless of...
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