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
To the Wathie Family, With Love, Maam Faatu Toubab
Mia Reyes
2019-05-21
On the morning of pick up day, I woke up early at 6:00 to finish packing my room, and as I finished I sat down on my bed, looking at the family picture that my dad had made us take the night before, and wrote this, glimpses into the mountains of lessons I learned from...
Read MoreLooking Back
Dena Muething
2019-05-20
I worked hard to compile my 7 months living in Ecuador into just a 7 minute video. I experienced and went through so much more and past the highlights and what is shown. And as a disclaimer, this video is representative of my experience in Ecuador in the small rural town I lived in the...
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Fundamentally Different, Fundamentally The Same
Maya Foster
2019-05-20
My mother has created the perfect response to an imperfect question; when asked if her daughter returned from her gap year more “__________” (insert mature, worldly, grounded, etc.) or simply just “different,” she avoids a direct answer. Instead, she opts for an anecdote. I will preface this with the fact that I have this information...
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Sweet Rainfall
Maddy Gibson
2019-05-20
There is something comfortable about rainfall. The steady drip of a leaky gutter, a downpour in the middle of the night. It is familiar; it is unchanging. Rain is a constant here in Oregon and it wasn’t uncommon where I lived in Ecuador. In Imbabura, the rain usually comes in the night, settling the dust...
Read MoreTeacups Full of Chai
Luciana Ribeiro da Silva
2019-05-20
I wrote this piece in my journal on February 5th, when in Shillong, Northern India. Earlier this morning, a proverb about a teacup was told to us and something sparkled. There was a wise Zen master that received people from all over to teach all sorts of life lessons. One day, a scholar came seeking for...
Read MoreSomething Found
Julia Salomone
2019-05-18
Here is a poem I forgot I had written around September of last year, after about a few weeks of being in country. I think I was really hoping to be in an emotional space I wasn't quite in yet. I don't think I really understood it at that point, but reading it now, I...
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Minha Familia, My family
Natalie Glick
2019-05-18
My last night with my host family my host mom Marcella said to me: “Você sempre será nossa filha.” You will always be our daughter. I often think about this. In the span of seven months, I went from a stranger to a daughter. My host families openness towards me is something I admire deeply...
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What I Did
Ara Vickers
2019-05-17
Note: These experiences were very specific to my apprenticeship, if you are a current applicant please be aware it is unlikely you will have the same position as I did. It has been a whirlwind of a year, and even after a month of being back in the United States, I am just now beginning...
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post-ecuador/pre-going-home
Surabhee Arjunwadkar
2019-05-17
A series of thoughts about a series of things attempting to address the question, “So, how was Ecuador?” 1. Going home has been different for everyone, Or so I’ve heard. I’m not home yet. And at this point, I don’t know if it is really home, or just an incredibly familiar place that...
Read MoreOctober
Averielle Van Horne
2019-05-17
October 4. Those of us in Garopaba got together for “Catch 2” at Karin’s house. She has a super cute, fluffy dog that stole my heart. October 8. My host family’s guinea pig gave birth to little babies!! October 25. Went to a relative’s sixth birthday party with my host family. October 31. Halloween! The...
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A ilha da magia The magic Island
Mauro Ramirez-Azofeifa
2019-05-17
Nos fins de semana, quando eu ia na praia, quase sempre fazia trilhas na charmosa e assombrosa ilha da magia (Florianópolis). Quando a gente está em outro país, é difícil de encontrar e fazer amizades novas. Mas eu tive o prazer de conhecer e fazer essas amizades com pessoas do Brasil. Às vezes ia sozinho,...
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Fwd: Independent Travel
Pamela Martinez
2019-05-16
I have always loved to feel independent. I have been moving from places for a long time now so when I decided to spend 7 months in Brazil I thought it was going to be positive to stay in the same place for a while. I loooved after every seminar the feeling of going “back...
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