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
The “lasts”
Bailey Bullock
2014-08-13
Over this past year, I have been living my life in “lasts”: the last high school football game, the last soccer game, the last day of high school. I have even found myself categorizing these last few weeks before my trip as “lasts”: the last meal as a family, the last hangout with my girls,...
Read More Unanswered Questions
Yui Lee
2014-08-13
It was only two months ago where my high school career ended, and I thought, Ecuador is just around the corner! But reality wasn’t so easy with me. First, I had to get over the stress that I was leaving home and friends for a solid 8 months to go to a foreign country where I...
Read More Summer Storms
Sarah Richmond
2014-08-13
It rained today. Coming from Oregon, this really isn’t the most exciting news; but today’s rain was different. It was the kind of rain the grows steadily in the air for days before hand – making your bones heavy and your fingertips crackle with electricity. When the first swollen drops plummeted from the sky, soon...
Read More The Leap of Faith
Elisa Portz
2014-08-12
As I finish up my last days at Watertown High School, graduating, saying goodbye to longtime classmates, I am gearing up for a year different than your typical high school grad. This year I’m taking a bridge year between high school and college. A year for me to gain global perspective, to meet new people,...
Read More Why a bridge?
Jessica Chai
2014-08-07
At the age of seventeen, my standing in the world looks pretty good. I graduated from high school this past June. I began my first job. I was even on track to attend my dream school Stanford in the fall. So it begs the question: why am I taking a bridge year? It’s a good question....
Read More Autumn and Spring.
Elias Smolcic-Larson
2014-08-06
As I sit here, with my mouth still hurting after having my four wisdom teeth removed I now know it is time. At the beginning of summer, I thought for sure this summer would last. In early June when I was making my appointments in preparation to depart for Ecuador the entire summer loomed ahead,...
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My own trail
Charlotte Reider-Smith
2014-08-04
I’ve always liked to diverge. Rebecca, Abby, and Sam ski on ahead. I plop down in the snow, waiting for them to disappear. I want space to get lost in the snow and the trees. I want to find my own way down the mountain, far from their tracks and voices. I lay back, looking...
Read More View From The Top
Jason Child
2014-08-03
I would like to first thank everyone who has helped me during my summer campaign. You guys are great! Each and every one of you has shaped me to become the person I am today. I will miss all of you tremendously. Last week I hiked Lone Peak. It is my favorite peak to stand...
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Homes Away From Home
Aliana Ruxin
2014-08-03
I’m writing this from my bed at sleep-away camp, putting pen to paper, this time as a counselor, much as I did years ago as a camper on Letter Writing Days. Looking around at my campers, reflecting on the past six weeks we’ve spent here, remembering the previous seven summers I’ve been at camp, I...
Read More A Little Bridge Before the Big One
Jane Tobias
2014-08-01
I know it’s coming. I’ve been dreaming about the day I leave for a long time. But someday is different than a date on the calendar. When I’m bundled in bed waiting to fall asleep, walking down the street, or washing dishes in the kitchen sink, snapshots of banana groves, cobble stone streets, and markets...
Read More On Maya Angelou, loneliness, and being the boss
Cierra Bland
2014-08-01
I sat in my cap and gown for the first time- full honor chords, stoles and all- as my friend leaned in from behind to tell me that Maya Angelou had died. Right there in the middle of my Senior Awards Ceremony, stunned by the emotion of the news I had just received, I could...
Read More Until we meet again..
Elizabeth O'Malley
2014-08-01
As I form a list of what to pack for this grand adventure, I think of which shoes I’d like to wear in this new place, or if I’ll need a particular outfit. How do I choose between favorite sweatshirts? Of course, my answer is to bring the lightest ones. But, this sense of reality...
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