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 Picture in Every City I Visited in Brasil
Christopher Iba
2017-03-20
Curitiba, PR Garopaba, SC Florianópolis, SC Guarda do Embaú, SC São Paulo, SP Rio de Janeiro, RJ Brasília, DF Manaus, AM São Luis do Paraitinga, SP Foz do Iguaçu, PR Balneário Camboriú, SC
Read MoreI may not be doing, but I’m still living
Julia Shankin
2017-03-17
In the past seven months, I have spent more time doing nothing than I have doing something. I have hours of unconstructed time every day, with no obligations, responsibilities, or anything better to do. I spent the better part of seven months waiting for whatever I was doing to be over so that I could...
Read MoreWhat to do When the Entire Party is Staring at You
Will Kosling
2017-03-15
In the past few weeks, I have experienced what this terrifying thing called “adulthood” is. Since the last time people gathered in my presence to eat cake and expel their appreciation for my existence upon me, I have been told i am now truly responsible for myself. Everyone knows what responsibility means, it’s very basic...
Read MoreLearning from Mistakes (Thoughts on Paper)
Will Kosling
2017-03-15
In the past few weeks, I have experienced what this terrifying thing called “adulthood” is. Since the last time people gathered in my presence to eat cake and expel their appreciation for my existence upon me, I have been told i am now truly responsible for myself. Everyone knows what responsibility means, it’s very basic...
Read MoreMeditating Inner Peace
Will Kosling
2017-03-15
As I started to write this blog post, I sat in silence and frustration, resenting my inability to understand my host family, disappointed in myself for learning Portuguese at a slower pace than my peers, and afraid of the emotion and internal conflict I am filled with since it is unlike any I have experienced...
Read MoreThis IS my year
Alondra Quiles
2017-03-10
I can honestly say that I am genuinely happy with myself and where I am in life. A year ago, I wasn’t in a great place. I craved love so deeply that I ended up wounding myself. Settling for anything and everything and making reckless decisions that not only jeopardized my relationship at home, but...
Read MoreCarnaval!
Eugene Henninger-Voss
2017-03-05
February was crazy! It started of finished “Training Seminar 2”, the second of three program retreats. This time I was hanging out with all of my friends in the state of São Paolo. On the second weekend of February I went to Blumenau, the city with the largest Oktoberfest in the world after Munich. The...
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Feeling Lost Is Okay
Kenya Barbosa-McCauley
2017-03-02
I have felt lost more times than I can count this year. Since I left home on August 19th, I have found myself fiddling with things to pass the time, struggling to keep my mind focused on one thing, and frantically searching for the blinking sign that tells me “You Aren’t Lost!” The first time...
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Helping Hands and Helping “Harriet Tubmans”
Jordyn Voss
2017-02-27
On Monday I received a text from my Team Leader here in Brazil: “When in doubt, be generous. Practice observing and acting on every generous impulse you have. What happens? How do you feel?” It was like a big yellow balloon popped in my head (why was it yellow? Heck if I know). Why don’t...
Read MoreWhat does it mean to be American?
Christopher Iba
2017-02-23
A·mer·i·can /əˈmerəkən/ adjective of, relating to, or characteristic of the United States or its inhabitants. *Meriam Webster Dictionary It is sad to think that the US has stolen the name America from millions. America is not one country. It is actually 54 countries that span across two hemispheres. I think as citizens of the...
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Give Some, Get Some
Alondra Quiles
2017-02-23
19 February 2017. Today marks exactly six months since the beginning of pre-departure training. It’s crazy, and I honestly cannot comprehend how fast time has passed by. I remember the dreaded feeling in my tummy on this exact day as my friends all gathered in my house during the morning. We had agreed that...
Read MoreFamilia
Sophia Carroll
2017-02-23
I went last weekend to visit my host family in Curitiba, the city that I stayed in for two weeks when I first got to Brazil for In-Country Orientation. My family in Curitiba is a couple with no kids, and they are both doctors, (financially comfortable and extremely well-educated), and spoke English. I was very...
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