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
Misconceptions
Florin Langer
2013-11-11
No, I’m not living in a shack. I’m not single-handedly building a school or orphanage. I’m not building wells or applying some “first-world” knowledge only I possess to solve the major problems that exist. But that’s not what I’m really here to do, and that is not the point of this bridge year. Global Citizen...
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Quito, Ecuador: The Beginning
Chan Mi Joo
2013-11-11
The sun gently caressed my face. The dogs nearby began to bark in unison. I got up out of my bed, dazed, and opened the curtain in front of my window. I was suddenly blinded by the intense light and then I saw it… Quito! Ecuador! I was finally here! After months of fundraising for my summer campaign, after...
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Home
JT Su
2013-11-08
Our world is massive. And us? Well, we are tiny. We wander around like a giant colony of ants. And no matter how many we are, We will inevitably be a minuscule part Of an infinitely larger context. We are part of a crazy, hectic thing called life. We breathe everyday, We live everyday, Rarely...
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New Roots
Sayre Quevedo
2013-11-08
The first night I arrived in Riobamba my host brother, Paúl, took me out to a show. He didn’t tell me what kind of show it would be. And honestly even if he had I probably wouldn’t have understood, only smiled and nodded and said something like, “Si” and followed him. We walked around for about an...
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Oxfam Ecuador
Madeline Lisaius
2013-11-04
During our initial training at Stanford, the Global Citizen Year Cohort did a sort of simulation called the “Oxfam Dinner.” After a long day of lectures, we were greeted in our dining hall not by the usual line of hungry fellows, but with staff and an ominous bag. Except a few tables still left out in one corner, the...
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Defining Home
Carol Brown
2013-11-01
Originally written en route to Quito, Ecuador somewhere over some ocean on August 29th, 2013. Edited during home stay in Quito. There’s nothing better to make you reconsider the definition of home than to leave everything you’ve ever known behind. From a vantage point sandwiched between Isabel from the Bay area and Emily from England (or Cleveland,...
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Climbing Mountains
Emily Brett
2013-10-30
It was on the way down that I noticed, the beauty that was surrounding me, it was unbelievable! The orchids, the animals, the scenery were all so overwhelming. Earlier that week the Cazuay Team and I had left our designated locations for Training Seminar Zero. We were headed to Tarqui, about 35/40 minutes outside the...
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Fear
Vijay Dukkipati
2013-10-30
“What would you do if you didn’t have Fear?” It was of many thought-provoking questions that Abby Falik had asked of us before we had arrived in our designated countries. However, for some reason, this one in particular rang throughout my mind like a bell. Its echoes reverberated through the experiences of my life as I realized just...
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Pichincha
Russell Gens
2013-10-29
I could see my breath as I began the descent. Hand, hand, foot, foot, I cautiously lowered myself down, seeking out holds as if my life depended on it. This was the Pass of Death after all. About forty minutes prior, a fellow Fellow and I had ran into a group of Quito (the capital...
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How It Is
Nikita Dolin
2013-10-28
These words are hard for me to say. Not because I am a coward but because I have wanted to be accepted earlier and all through my life I assumed that if I were strong and showed a bare minimum of emotion, I would have just that; acceptance, love, wanting. So here goes nothing; This...
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Inhibition
Neil Singh
2013-10-28
When I arrived at my homestay I was overjoyed by the surrounding beauty of the Sierra, how friendly my host family was and how great the food was. Life here seemed so different from any other place I had ever visited. It seemed almost too incredulous to believe I’d be spending the next 6 months...
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Under the Full Moon
Nikita Dolin
2013-10-28
I went to a Native South American drum circle two days before I left for my main homestay which is now a month ago. I knew I had no rhythm but eventually I let myself go and joined in on the music, letting it envelope me in it’s strong yet warm embrace. Something felt wrong...
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