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
I Am Not A Dancer.
JT Su
2013-09-05
I have short legs and skinny arms. My coordination and sense of rhythm are horrendous. I don’t listen to much music. The result when I dance is ghastly, to say the least, and while normal people are able to quickly pick up moves, I cannot catch on if my life depended on it. Being unable...
Read More
Bienvenidos a Quito
Claire Wohlers
2013-09-04
“Bienvenidos a Quito and welcome to Ecuador,” the woman working at immigration told me, as she told every other person that walked by her window. But for me, I was being welcomed to my new home, Ecuador. Because our flight arrived at midnight, I had no choice but to submit to my body’s needs, immediately...
Read More
Questions. Thoughts. Feelings
Nikita Dolin
2013-09-04
What are you doing? What are you thinking? Where are you going? What’s the point? What is life? Why do we live? What meaning do we have? Do we have a set destiny? Can we change anything? Are we just here for the ride or can we choose every part? Why did that happen? Why...
Read More
Onwards
Eva Ackerman
2013-09-04
While other families brought their old clothing to either a homeless shelter or a secondhand store, my mom brought them to her job. Our clothing, like many other family’s clothing, was donated to homeless families, yet in our situation, there was no middleman. Instead, my mom gave the clothing directly to her clients: homeless families. My...
Read More
Light, Naked, Vulnerable
Aitran Doan
2013-09-04
I’m doing it. Yes, I am. There’s no going back. That’s it; the boy-cut Mom used to give us was coming back. Remember when we lived in Vietnam and she always cut our hair short so we can run around like crazy boys? I look back the old pictures now and laugh at our innocent...
Read More
So Long, Farewell
Leah Mesh-Ferguson
2013-08-29
“Actually, I will be spending next year in Ecuador…” This Thursday at 7:00 AM, I will climb onto a shuttle bus with 50 other Fellows, my duffel and backpack packed under the bus, and depart Stanford University for the airport. We will all check in together. We will all go through security together. We will...
Read More
Taking a Moment to Breathe
JT Su
2013-08-29
6:30 AM. I roll out of bed and trudge to my bathroom like a lifeless zombie, wishing for just ten more minutes of sleep. After getting ready for school and always seeming to miss breakfast along the way, I arrive for orchestra rehearsal by 7. Then comes my long day of school until 3. I...
Read More
my first attempt at entertaining you
William Kershner
2013-08-29
My name is William Kershner and after living in Palo Alto, CA for eighteen years, I’ll be living in Ecuador for one year. Compared to everyone else from Palo Alto nothing in my life has been unique…until now… I’ve progressed through thirteen years of public education with plans to attend a four year college. I’m...
Read More
Procrastination
Russell Gens
2013-08-29
I am a born procrastinator. Projects are saved for the last minute, homework left untouched until sunday night, even this post was pushed back until mere hours before fall training. That is not however, how I feel about my upcoming bridge year. This isn’t some elaborate plot to escape the threat of summer reading, nor...
Read More
My Perfect Year
Sarai Patterson
2013-08-29
When people ask where I’m from, I’m not exactly sure what to say because I feel like I’m from so many places and people and experiences. I am from sweet California lemons, rusty swing sets, and mudcastles, but I am just as much a part of the harsh Utah desert. I am from sharp red...
Read More
Heading out, not moving in
Isaiah Fischer-Brown
2013-08-29
Today, rather than unpacking in my dorm, I am packing for my year in Ecuador. Tomorrow is not my first day of class, but the day I leave for Fall Training in California, and the start of my Global Citizen Year. After helping my friends move in to college, I initially felt left out, like...
Read More
Hushing the SHOULD’s
Aitran Doan
2013-08-29
“Only 1% of human beings are able to attend college—any college—even the worst one in the remotest area of the world”(100People.org) This statistic haunted me from the very beginning of the college process because I knew college was not my next stop. But what was? I should go to college. I should go for my...
Read More