Fellow Stories

Global Launch Take Aways– Don’t Forget to Snap

Bihotza James-Lejarcegui

2018-09-10

  Dreams are universal, opportunities are not.   Snaps.   This. This phrase, this thought, this realization, is enough to break a soul. It is enough to cause a panic, enough to catch a breath and still a mind. It is enough to make one notice themselves, the world they were born into, what they...

How to eat a pomegranate 1

Emiliana Reinoso

2018-09-10

Monday 10th, September and time flies- I feel like I had left home yesterday, however, the calendar says something different. (Should I believe on the calendar?) The first stop, before India, was in San Francisco. There we had something called Global Launch. It's basically a week to meet other fellows and the GYC team, introduce...

What is my Identity?

Brinley Barton

2018-09-10

Jet lag, living out of a suitcase, being surrounded constantly by people, meeting new people, saying where you are from 1000x, sharing your challenges, re-thinking what you’re doing with your life, coming to a whole different place, trying to find wifi, finding out where you’ll be living for the next 8 months, meeting your host...

Kontaana fi ci Senegal: I am happy here in Senegal

Manuel Quesada Nylen

2018-09-10

Its only my third day in my homestay here in Taiba Ndaiye and I can wholeheartedly say Bëgg uma ñiibi Etat Unis. I don’t want to go back to the United States. My days are jam packed with reading the novels I brought with me under the welcoming shade of the mango trees in my...

Ready to Fly

Luciana Ribeiro da Silva

2018-09-10

(wrote this as I was boarding to California for the Global Launch, but didn’t have connection to post)  As I'm in one more airport, ready to fly, waiting for another connecting flight that will take me to the next chapter of the never-ending adventure my life seems to be, I can finally slow down for a...

First Sneeze in Ecuador

Maria Bossert

2018-09-09

  As our plane descended 37,000 feet down from the clouds into the capital city of Quito, I was struck with an obvious thought: “this is my first time in Ecuador.” (duh). It was my first time outside the United States, so of course this was my first time in Ecuador. However, as a person...

Suitcase

Rutendo Magade

2018-09-08

You don't need much for this trip, just one suitcase should be enough. Somewhere to pack a pair of jeans, a few shirts, and maybe a swimsuit. I hear the weather will be nice out. Maybe we could immerse ourselves in the ocean, let the salt stick onto our bodies, then when we wash it...

First Impressions

Macy Lipkin

2018-09-07

In the weeks leading up to Global Launch at Stanford, I made some resolutions. At the dawn of a new era, I decided that I would be excited and outgoing; I’d greet everyone with an enthusiastic hello. New Macy, as I imagined her, would be notoriously kind and confident. And most importantly, New Macy would...

Lessons from a History Lost Forever

David Jiang

2018-09-07

Lessons from a History Forever Lost Sunday, September 2, 2018. For me, the date will always be remembered as a happy one: the start to an exciting eight month bridge-year odyssey. Yet, in the meantime, to the hundreds of millions of Brazilians around the world, September 2 will forever be a day marked by unfathomable...

From Summer Camp to a Bridge Year

Grace Peel

2018-09-07

I’ve always made fun of Camp Kids. By that, I mean people who have gone to camp every summer since age 6; the people who became counselors once they were too old to be campers. Summer camp was never for me. I never identified with the unique brand of enthusiasm and spirit that I saw...

Reflections on the Unknown: Afundar ou Nadar

Rebecca Rose

2018-09-07

I'm on my way to my host family right now. I wish I could say I wasn't sweating it. I wish I could say I was cool as a cucumber, secure in my knowledge of the Portuguese I devoutly studied. Confident in my ability to navigate this new city, eager to connect with my host...

New York to Stanford to Florianópolis to Barra da Lagoa

Lynn Drescher

2018-09-06