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
River of Dreams
Andrew Poirier
2013-10-22
The song “River of Dreams” by the equally dreamy singer Billy Joel speaks about the human search for “something taken out of my soul, something somebody stole.” This search takes many trails, and even occasionally a stream. One week ago, under a clouded brazilian sky, 16 North Americans decided totake a long walk through the jungle to a...
Read MoreSmoke on the Horizon – The Promise of Something New
Andrew Poirier
2013-10-18
This is a link to my first video blog post from Brazil! It’s a video that covers some of the things I’ve been thinking about during my first few weeks here. I hope you enjoy!
Read MoreThe golden news is in!
Edward Katz
2013-10-18
The Golden news is in alright! I finally know my final home and internship placement! I have already started staying with my new family and working with the organization. I am going to be living in the capital of the state of Paraná, the big city of Curitiba with my new host parents, Lucas and...
Read Moreum mês
Kristen Lee
2013-10-10
A month can be a lot of things – a compilation of trials and tribulations, yes, but with an acknowledgement of overall progress. A month is a time period long enough to make broader goals, long enough to make lasting friendships, long enough to track progress, long enough to be tricked into thinking we have more time. Yet it,...
Read MoreBus Adventures
Thien Tran
2013-10-10
The most exciting part of my day for the past few weeks in Florianopolis can be summarized in a few short words: pegar o ônibus (to take the bus). To me, taking the bus is more than a way of transporting myself from one place to another. I see it as an opportunity to dive into the minds of...
Read MoreEu Não Sou Cathólica: Faith in Brazil
Libby Parker-Simkin
2013-10-02
On Sunday, my Italian-Brazilian host family took me to their church. This story will make more sense if I tell you that I grew up in a Unitarian Universalist congregation and I have attended Catholic church services exactly twice, once for my church’s Neighboring Faiths class, and the other for a good friend’s confirmation ceremony....
Read MoreO Barco
Joanna Shieh
2013-10-02
Ah the boat! A total of 90 minutes of my day are spent on the boat to get to and from my Portuguese classes in Lagoa de Conçeicão. It is during these 90 minutes where I learn the most about the country I will be living in for the next 8 months, beautiful Brasil. From the outside, this boat appears...
Read MoreJust a Little Sugar and Butter
Zoe Rose Clarke
2013-09-19
Cookies were a big part of my life back home. My mom lives in the kitchen, venturing out rarely to buy ingredients, exercise, and talk with her friends about food. For imageries sake, I will tell you that she is a nice looking lady with a strong body. She has made the same cookie recipe for all the years...
Read MoreHow’s my new world?
Edward Katz
2013-09-19
Brazil! Wow even just reminding myself that I’m really here is still exciting. Every day I take a moment to just realize where I am and what I’m doing here. I live in the house pictured above in the neighborhood of Rio Tavares in Florianopolis, SC Brazil. My host family is great with a mother,...
Read MoreA Little Bit of Background
Maria Gamache
2013-09-13
My very own, highly personalized, (highly public), blog. Well, I do have to say this was much more of a challenge than I originally anticipated. Over the course of, well, frankly far too long, much of my time spent on creating this first post went a whole lot like this: Step one: Sit down and think of...
Read MoreNeverwhere: Home, But Not
Libby Parker-Simkin
2013-09-13
In the 30+ hours I spent flying down to Brazil, I read Neil Gaiman’s fabulous book “Neverwhere.” Its about an ordinary man named Richard Mayhew who helps out a mysterious girl he finds injured in the street and is transported into an alternate version of London called London Below. London Below is part in the...
Read MoreThe Difference of 34 Seconds.
Jaelen Buxton-Punch
2013-09-13
I’m sitting atop of a tree 30 feet high. Below, I see the faces of Fellows; white, black, brown, tan, all a physical manifestations of the diversity of social, economic, and cultural differences we’re comprised of. I can’t do it. I refuse. 34 seconds (the elapsed time from beginning to end) though quick and unnoticeable...
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