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
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...
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...
Read More8 Months in 8 Pictures
Sara Ahlich
2019-05-15
Yesterday, I presented to several classes about my Global Citizen Year. In creating my presentation, I realized how hard it is to pick a few pictures, or a few stories, to properly convey my time in Brazil. Each picture has layers of experiences behind it, as does each story. Here is an album of 8...
Read MoreDiscurso despedida Farewell Speech
Mauro Ramirez-Azofeifa
2019-05-14
Há um ano, vir para o Brasil só era um sonho. Todos pensávamos mhhh “ainda falta muito tempo para começarmos nossa aventura no Brasil”. Tínhamos muita vontade de começar, mas também a gente tinha medo, E posso dizer com muita certeza que o medo era deixar casa, deixar mãe, pai, irmãos, amigos, seres queridos para...
Read MoreA Letter
Tenzin Gyalmo
2019-05-13
A letter to me just starting the GCY journey. (And to future fellows who might read this) Dear me, You are getting way ahead of yourself. It’s great that you have these expectations but your expectations will serve you a good laugh. Seven months in Brazil seems like such a long time but it will go...
Read MoreOwning Happiness
Rebecca Rose
2019-04-29
It’s my last night in Brazil and I’m….happy? I set aside time tonight to write something profound. A pontification on life’s beginnings and ends, a graceful foray through my best memories in Brazil, and the things I’ll miss most of all, hammering the keys as tears stream down my face. And yet it’s here and...
Read MoreSanto Antonio in Postcards
Ida Nydelius
2019-04-27
During my gap year, I lived in a culturally rich neighbourhood called Santo Antônio de Lisboa. A community which is named after the Saint Anthony of Padua, who is known as the patron saint of lost things (which was very adequate after losing my peace somewhere in the IB exams and transitioning) and as a...
Read MoreBLOG#6 Last Days and Re-Entry Training.
Haider Ali
2019-04-26
It was March now, and April was coming soon. Time was coming to leave soon. Breakthrough memories of everywhere. I was not ready yet to leave for Pakistan. In March, I didn’t have much to do. We started to saying bye-until-next-time to my host community. About language learning, we finished our final test and after...
Read MoreBLOG#5 Carnival and Curitiba
Haider Ali
2019-04-26
It was January when our Garopaba was full of Argentines and bunch of people from northern and southern Brazil. People of the north and the south of Brazil came up because summer without the beaches is boring and extremely hot. It was after our independent travel, as it was same circumstances for Argentines. The population...
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