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
Animal Planet
Paulina Jedrzejowski
2015-05-11
I walk into a building of two rooms, and the smell of parrots, toucans, and macaws hits me as I think about another day of taking care of these poor animals. In a corner I see a large cage on top of which I see a blanket. There is a heater facing the cage, the...
Read MoreIs Globalization actually Globalization or is it something else?
Paulina Jedrzejowski
2015-05-10
Walking down the cobbled stone street or “rua” in Portuguese I look up at the stores that surround me, “Loja Americana” says the sign on one store, a few stores down I see the two yellow arcs forming the famous “M” of “McDonalds”, I hear the latest American Pop hits, I see signs for “batata...
Read MoreLessons Learned
Paulina Jedrzejowski
2015-05-07
As I was departing the United States just eight months ago I did not want to leave my comfort zone. A few weeks before leaving I remember glancing over this quote, “Surrender to what is, Let go of what was, Have faith in what will be.” I was unable to let go of what was...
Read More7. Puzzle Pieces
Brittany Caceres
2015-05-07
11.18.14 Remember when you were a child and you obtained a new puzzle? Personally I always went for the huge ones with a thousand, two thousand tiny pieces which I’d immediately dump in a huge pile on the floor and spend hours upon hours working through. Hours spent staring at the image, the goal, until...
Read MoreHidden Gems
Jaxom Moore
2015-05-04
Brazil has been hard. Not one single moment has been wasted in teaching me an important message or point. Everything about life: morality, happiness, success, and health have been thrown at us. More often than not all of it at once. The first month of our permanent homestay was the worst for me. Right after...
Read Morecasca de abÌ_bora
Pooja Thekdi
2015-04-12
As summer turns to fall here in Ponta Grossa, a new array of crops are beginning to g r o w. On Fridays, my host family and I spend the evenings preparing for the Saturday market, washing the last bit of alface and repolho in the buckets and carrying the heavy boxes of chestnuts and...
Read MoreTanguets
Jaxom Moore
2015-04-10
There’s one thing about my life that I will never be able to hide: I was raised in the city. Before this Global Citizen Year experience I lacked the knowledge, openness, confidence, or experience to imagine myself in a place like Macacu, but this was my year to learn. In my time here I’ve fed...
Read MoreHidden Gems
Jaxom Moore
2015-04-10
Brazil has been hard. Not one single moment has been wasted in teaching me an important message or point. Everything about life: morality, happiness, success, and health have been thrown at us. More often than not all of it at once. The first month of our permanent homestay was the worst for me. Right after...
Read MoreBursting the bubble of a Single Story Christmas
Paulina Jedrzejowski
2015-04-06
White powdery snow covers the front sidewalk in the city that never sleeps as the last bell of the year rings. The warm sofa heated by the fireplace invites children as they cuddle under blanket holding a cup of fresh hot cocoa. My dad drives to upstate New York to bring back hay that we...
Read MoreA few thoughts from Paulinas desk
Paulina Jedrzejowski
2015-04-06
Last Wednesday I came home from Garopaba, and I started to think about whatåÊa friend and I spoke about on the bus going back home that night. The fear of leaving behind childhood, the fear of entering the unknown world of adulthood. This year is important – I made a significant break in my education...
Read More6. Child’s Play
Brittany Caceres
2015-04-02
11.11.14 “You’re like a child” my fourteen year old sister laughs, as I trip over yet another hole in the road, a hole that she easily hops over. I’m walking home from work at the bakery, savoring my first nega maluca my face and hands sticky with chocolate. I don’t respond, quietly relishing last bits...
Read More5. My Commute
Brittany Caceres
2015-04-02
11.5.14 I’ve always been the one with the crazy commute. I lived in Staten Island and went to school in the city. This meant that I woke up at 5 AM for 8 AM classes, left my house at 5:55 AM and still managed to be 20 minutes late. It meant I took basically every...
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