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
It’s All About the Cows
Taylor Molina
2020-06-09
It is hard to pack everything that has happened in these last few weeks into one blog post. I mean it has been a pretty eventful time filled with walking my cows, making some incredible friends, and getting E. Coli. So where do I begin? I guess I can talk about the cows. During the...
Read MoreMy Water
Taylor Molina
2020-06-09
As David Foster Wallace explained, a fish does not know it is in water. In fact, he might even ask what water is, if you told him he was in it. Yes, we have all these things around us, but we often do not recognize it or how impactful it is. As I am nearing...
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Los que nos cuidan
Sofia Santos
2020-05-04
The De la Torres are an endlessly loving, patient, and thoughtful family whose priority is always their unit. For people that are so devoted to their bond, I realize how lucky I was to be embraced by them without question. The first week with my host family I instinctively inherited the role of an...
Read MoreThe Paro Buzz
Elaine Liang
2020-04-20
Cars and trucks honked endlessly to celebrate the end of the paro, with the government withdrawing its Decree to stop gas subsidies. It was October 13, 2019, 11 days since everyone had been confined within their communities. While life appeared to return to normal, throughout the rest of the year, there had always been tense...
Read MoreAdvice to Future Fellows
Amelia Joss
2020-04-03
The past seven months in Ecuador taught me a lot. If I could go back in time to August and give advice to myself, this is what I would say. Advice for Future Fellows: Ecuador is so much colder than you think it is. Bring sweaters and warm socks. Also bring things to do. Bring...
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24 hours to leave Ecuador
Annika Kapp
2020-03-30
I’m sitting at my gate at Guayaquil airport, trying to eat my breakfast. In a state of exhaustion and mindless hunger, I made the unfortunate choice to buy a cinnamon roll. It’s hot and delicious, but also completely drenched in a sticky chocolate sauce. I don’t have any cutlery, and even though the nice man...
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What I Want To Remember
Sadie Price-Elliott
2020-03-21
How was your trip? Let me tell you. Let me tell you how the sun never failed to rise at 6 AM and descend behind the Andes mountains precisely twelve hours after. About the incredible view of the sunset from the small, wooden table outside of the restaurant. How I watched it almost every day,...
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Places and Faces
Charlie Dickerson
2020-03-09
Alright people, here it is… The long awaited photo album of my travels throughout December and January. ~ The first trip was to Manta, a city on the coast, with my friends Buddy, Luke, Amelia, Sadie, Abby, and Drew. I didn’t take that many photos because we pretty much just went to the beach, which...
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One Choice
Ogugua Nwaezeigwe
2020-02-28
There are moments when an epiphany will lurk on the doorstep of our consciences, and there are moments when an epiphany will clang, with the punctuality of church bells, in our minds. I experienced the latter. It happened as I sat in my school auditorium on March 30th, 2019, and my screen flashed, "Congratulations, You're...
Read MoreMaría (Mi Mamá)
Abigail Mann
2020-02-15
María has been my mamá since September 7, 2019, and she’s one of the toughest, most resilient, and most caring women I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. My mamá has been through a lot. She grew up with a father who firmly believed that a woman’s place was in the kitchen, and her purpose...
Read MoreYa Falta Poco Tiempo
Abigail Mann
2020-02-08
I left my home in Stonington, Connecticut in late August thinking that 7 months was a ridiculously long period of time. I thought I’d miss all my friends and my family, and I thought I’d want to come home before my time was up. Oh, how wrong I was. Of course, home is still home,...
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What I learned in Ecuador
Aniska Bitomsky
2020-02-06
In October I realized that my gap year wasn’t going to be what I wanted it to be. I wanted to take a gap year to gain practical experience in environmental conservation before starting uni. Working at a tourism office doing mostly photo and video editing was not going to fulfil that goal. After some...
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