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
Estoy Lista.
Madeline Lisaius
2013-08-14
Recently, I have been thinking about give-and-take. To get the “Debbie-Downer” material out of the way, I fractured my arm and have been somewhat puzzled by it. A year ago, I probably would have been angry, sullen, and all “why me?” about the break. But when a member at the gym I worked at gave me that stereotypical concerned...
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Perfection
Alexandra Lines
2013-08-05
As my adventure grows closer, I begin to think more and more about how to prepare myself. I’ve made my packing and shopping lists- batteries, toothpaste, a medical kit, peanut butter to hide away and eat when I need to taste America- and my to do list of all the tasks I have yet to...
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Outside my comfort zone
Cecily Montgomery
2013-08-02
“There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it’s easy.” This is the quote I repeat to myself as I prepare for my journey to Ecuador. I could, like most of my peers, go straight to college. This path would be the easier one for...
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Blank Journal
Christina Joyce
2013-07-26
When I was younger, and I got a new journal for a birthday or Christmas, I would flip through the blank pages and wonder about what I would write about, what the future held. I am getting a similar feeling now. I can hardly believe that for the first time in my life, I am not going back to...
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Introduction
Aden Gilmour
2013-07-24
My name is Aden Gilmour and I will be going to Ecuador this September. I did not get the idea to take a bridge year until I started my college visits. After touring a number of schools, I was sitting with an admissions officer and they asked me if had considered doing a gap year program. I had...
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Narwhals Go To Ecuador
Carol Brown
2013-07-24
This time last year, a burly black guy from Brooklyn, also known as to me as teddy bear and best friend, nicknamed me ‘white chocolate’. I began learning about the Black Power movement from a mixed race woman born in Chicago at a time when my ancestors in Tennessee may still have been racist. A...
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I am Chan Mi, an exotic pizza!
Chan Mi Joo
2013-07-23
I am not your typical pizza. In fact, you may find my combination of ingredients to be strange, exotic, or just plain ol’ different. Let me explain: Seoul of South Korea. Nairobi of Kenya. Rhode Island, California, and Alaska of America. All these locational ingredients have each left unique and strong impacts on my life: Step 1: Pizza dough that...
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Who? What? Where? Why?
Yani Alexander
2013-07-22
School isn’t the real world. It’s artificial. Half the information you learn you will never use or will forget. That’s what people say, and they may be right. I just want a chance to try to use the other half. In high school I learned about how histories of oppression, hatred, war, genocide and slavery have created the social inequities...
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Dare to be Different
Valerie Hurst
2013-07-22
“So how long are you gone for?” he asked. “8 months!” The look of surprise is normal now from people asking about my bridge year. When they inquire if I’ll be okay staying that long abroad, I answer with a resounding yes. I also laugh a little bit; because each time I confidently say “I’m ready,” I get...
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Some Luck
Divya Sampath
2013-07-20
I was raised to discover, primed by my mother, my city, and a large helping of wanderlust to seek and absorb. And as a result, I’ve found myself in some pretty ridiculous situations, from getting mistaken for a Nicaraguan refugee to ending up locked in the American Museum of Natural History at night and accidentally calling the police. My friends...
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2:43 p.m.
Abigail Dring
2013-07-19
I’m siting in my favorite local coffee shop on a 91 degree day sipping my highly caffeinated and over-priced drink (That I love) and I’m feeling a rush of emotions. However, the one that is most prevalent to me is the anxiety that stems from tardiness. Late. I’m always running late. I’m late on this...
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Put A Stamp In My Passport
Calvin Ross
2013-07-19
On January 26, 2013, I was at a wedding with some of my mom’s best friends from childhood. I was talking to the brother of the groom, who was inquiring about my plans after I graduate. My plan was to go to college, but the truth is that I had no idea what I wanted to do or...
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