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
A Sense of Self
Daniel Schwarz
2013-10-22
A Sense of Self “I don’t know Mom, I just don’t care” (a typical response to why I got a bad grade and how I felt about it). The truth is that I really did care about high school. I always got okay grades because school was easy. Occasionally there would be a...
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My Soul, My Riobamba
Leah Mesh-Ferguson
2013-10-22
Today, I felt like I was in a city thousands of feet above Earth’s surface. As I stepped out of Plan’s office around 5:30, in the fading light, all I could see were clouds. They had moved so low as to obscure all the surrounding hills and snow-capped volcanoes. On my way home, one street...
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Un Retrato Retrospectamente
Madeline Lisaius
2013-10-22
At breast level, my aunt takes my hand and leads me to the bus stop. Her burlap-like skin chafes against my raw, blistered palm. She has invited me to go to El Centro, and although I’m not really sure why, the “say yes to all opportunities with discretion” attitude is prevailing. As we take the 45 minute-long bus...
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So what have I been doing here?
Lauren Guido
2013-10-22
Although I’ve only lived in Ecuador for a month and a half I feel more open, care free, excepting and independent than ever before. I’ve jumped on moving buses. I’ve followed strangers into remote areas. I’ve bathed, washed clothes, panned for gold & gutted a chicken all in the same river. I’ve stayed up all night listening to roosters and...
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Gratitude
Abigail Clavin
2013-10-22
Spanish words fill my ears, dust swirls around my legs, and the colors of Ecuador spin around me as my blue eyes soaks in each one of them. Every day I am awakened by the screaming roosters 10 feet from my door, followed by the rest of the chickens and dogs communicating throughout my small town. I wake up...
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Family Reunions and Napo
Charles Hill
2013-10-18
The experiences that I have had with my family and community over the past two weeks are indescribable. I finally understand how much a community is wrapped up into one huge family here in Ecuador. Everyone relies on each other and cares for one another especially my family. They have welcomed me as one of their own. I first...
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Vision Statement
Alexandra Lines
2013-10-18
My vision for my Global Citizen Year in 3 words is Celebration, Equanimity and Connection. Right now I feel like I’m undercooked. I want to learn to be the best version of self. To be graceful, and to expect the unexpected. To not always have an idea in my head about how things should be,...
Read MoreThis is Not a “Gap Year.”
JT Su
2013-10-11
“I basically say, ‘Congratulations, you’re in. Now go away.'” — Robert S. Clagett, Former Dean of Admissions at Middlebury College According to the American Gap Association, only 1% of high school graduates across the United States take a year off before attending college. We live in a culture that I believe is too often dominated by what...
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Freedom Writer
JT Su
2013-10-11
“I have received full payment and even more.” — Philippians 4:18 Writing will always be my first love. It is my comfort, my joy, my pastime, and ultimately, my escape. It is there for me in my happiest, saddest, most exhilarating, and most troublesome moments. It lets me play with words on a page–the best...
Read MoreFinally in the Amazon
Aden Gilmour
2013-10-11
The sound coming from the few dogs barking is easily drowned out by the screeching chickens from around the small neighborhood of Pepita de Oro (the little golden nugget). Since the first night I have been in this house, things have been the same every night, with the noise starting at2am and ending around an...
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My Life Flashing Before My Eyes
Lillie Mayfield
2013-10-10
No, I did not have a near-death experience. The idea of my life flashing before my eyes came to me this morning as I was walking back from my first warm shower since I left Quito almost 3 weeks ago. As I was marveling at the amount of hair I lost to my comb, I looked outside at the...
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Hola, Zuleta
Claire Wohlers
2013-10-10
After a teary goodbye with my Quito host family about 2 weeks ago, I traveled to Imbabura with my cohort. I was met by my new family at the Ibarra Train Station, which, I was told was about 30 minutes from my house. I was greeted by my host mother, father, sister, cousin, supervisor, and...
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