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
“Permanent Placement”
Camille LeBlanc
2012-11-13
Although I loved my high school, I always felt trapped in the confines of the classroom. I was living in a rut of text books and class discussions and research papers, and all I could think about was my desperate need to break out of that comfort, to immerse myself in a completely unfamiliar environment, and to see...
Read MoreUma Vida Cheia de Belez
Dianne Perez
2012-11-13
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&feature=youtube_gdata&v=UFQG0fg6IX8
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In Country Orientation Video
Jayshawn Anderson
2012-11-13
Check out my In Country Orientation video!
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Good People, Better Pizza
Camille LeBlanc
2012-10-31
I don’t claim to know a lot about Brazil. It is rich and poor, African and European, image-conscious and free spirited. It is a place of seeming hypocrisy and contradictions. But it is this complexity–the diversity of categories and space between the extremes–that I can’t even begin to wrap my head around. And a pequena community eight hours inland...
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An Open Letter to an Entity Unlikely to Respond
Avery Ashwill
2012-10-09
Dear Portuguese, You haunt my dreams at night. I wake up in cold sweats wondering how I’ll begin to decode you. You’re like Spanish’s drunk sister, or Italian’s less rhythmic mother, or French’s brother who caught a cold. You make me feel like I’ve got 27 marbles in my mouth, while chewing gum, as I...
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“I Don’t Like the United States”
Benito Aranda-Comer
2012-10-09
My stay in Capão has been nothing short of enlightening. Capão is a small town about 8 hours from my future home of seven months, Salvador. It is also within the Chapada Diamantina region that serves as an enormous source of pride for Bahia. In short, inhabitants of Capão can be said to love their rural...
Read MoreAlternative Lifestlyes
Jayshawn Anderson
2012-10-01
Far removed from the big city, the town of Capão has its own unique identity. The town is made up of foreigners and passing tourists and backpackers combined with native Brazilians, making this a special place. For example, my host father is French, but lived in Spain, Argentina, Australia, and the UK and his “wife”...
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Assimilating Myself
Alan De Leon
2012-10-01
Allow me to offer just a general outline of what my two weeks in California after Fall Training was like (in chronological order): Stayed at Stanford University one extra day. Went to Lake Tahoe in California for three days immediately after. It is located in the middle of a forest that kisses the Sierra Mountains....
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Noise Pollution or Noise Beautification?
Drew Hayes
2012-09-24
Hey friends! Long time no blog. I have lots of excuses up my sleeves, but what matters is that I’m in Bahia, Brazil. Finally, I’m abroad. Finally, I’m a foreigner. New words, new people, new habits, new things. So many new things that I do or say each day that it’s difficult to process each...
Read MoreHome sweet home
Julia Carter
2012-09-24
Throughout the past three weeks, I have lived in three different homes. Whether it was a dorm, a hostel, or a local’ house, I knew I had found a home in each place because I knew without a doubt that I belonged there. My time at Stanford was spent meeting 92 amazing people who all...
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Abelha Rainha
Kim Asenbeck
2012-09-20
Let’s talk about bees. What I like most of all about bees is that they’re feminists. The quee bee-a abelha rainha– rules the hive. She gives orders to all of her female worker bees, which pollinate flowers, build the hive, guard against any sort of intruder, and create honey. (Fun fact: honey = bee vomit.) Besides honey, bees also...
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True Life: I’m a Noveleira
Kim Asenbeck
2012-09-20
“Voce ta virando noveleira, Kim!” (You’re becoming a noveleira, Kim!) The first utterance of these words-said by my host father-was the result of my extreme and nearly obsessive dedication to Lado a Lado, Brazil’s newest novela. Then, the words were uttered again. This time, our team leader, Sol, called a meeting which would start at the same time as Lado...
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