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
What We Say
Carly Sitrin
2013-03-01
“We come from a generation of people who need their TV or stereo playing all the time. These people so scared of silence. These soundaholics, these quietophobics.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby There’s something to be said for silence. An under-appreciated phenomenon, silence can flood a person with more information than any lecture, encyclopedia, or Wikipedia article ever could. We so often overlook...
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I am not my hair I am not my skin….
Tsion Horra
2013-03-01
Growing up in a society with people who look exactly like me, I never truly understood the term racism and how it was talked about in American Schools. I learned about slave ships, the civil war, and Martin Luther King Jr. And every February I listened to the quotes made by famous black women and...
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9 hours
Jordan Lee
2013-03-01
As I was thinking about what other fascinating aspect of my Ecuadorian life I could recount to all of you back home, I realized something. I have told you about my stint as a thief in the eyes of those in Pano, how annoying and perhaps powerful it is to have to give away half...
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The Rich American
Daniel Schwarz
2013-03-01
It’s uncomfortable being thought of as ‘the rich American’ but the reality of it is, in terms of money, I am rich, spoiled, and very fortunate. Is money what really makes someone rich? I sit here writing on an iPad which is pretty much a $700 toy. At home I have my own car, my own computer, a...
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In this moment I see me!!
Chinyere Aniagoh
2013-03-01
I’m so happy at this very moment not in a silly playful happy way butjust a moment of true bliss, thus I decided I’ll just write exactly what I’m feeling. Although, I know everything isn’t perfect and neither am I or will I ever be, but at this time in my life here in Ecuador I am the...
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Dead Bodies
Sarah McMillan
2013-02-28
One day my Ecuadorean family told me we were going to move the bones of my mom’s dead father and first husband. I was like, okay, it’s some kind of ceremony where we rest their coffins somewhere else. I was right about the ceremony part. After work, I go home and much of my extended family is getting ready...
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The Uneven Road to The Unknown Destination
Ely Kadish
2013-02-28
As the bus chugs up the side of Volcán Imbabura I catch myself associating the rhythmic whining sounds of overworked gears with the Little Engine That Could’s positive motto, “I think I can, I think I can”; only I’m really hoping we make it up in one try. The bus bounces over the jutting rocks...
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High, Low, High GO!
Kalea Moore
2013-02-27
HIGH, LOW, HIGH GO! Chimborazo has not been the easiest place to live. Basically the last 4 months have been a struggle. From people switching families, difficulty with apprenticeships and weight gain. But through all these struggles we have grown closer as a group. In our group we refer to the good things as “highs” and the not so...
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How To Make Friends
Lydia Collins
2013-02-26
Dear Reader, Below I arranged a combination of rules, guidelines, and recommendations on how to make friends. These skills were learned in a local market in a city of 100,000 in northern Ecuador. They are results of trial and error, embarrassment, laughs, and smiles. Most steps were learned while making friends with food vendors in a market. For example, a...
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Spanish Language
Sarah McMillan
2013-02-26
Learning Spanish through immersion is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Not that I’m done, but it’s pretty amazing to be doing. You notice more about your own language, too. For example, English is pretty rigid, sentence structure-wise. In Spanish, you can put words all over the place and it still makes a decent sentence. It’s great...
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Speak up: We are beautiful and should know it
Chinyere Aniagoh
2013-02-26
I just wanted to share with you something I’ve been fighting against all my teen life and considerable more since I have gotten to Ecuador, and I honestly don’t believe there is a person in the world who hasn’t suffered from this problem at one point in time. This fight is against low esteem and body image. First I would...
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Global Citizenship and Global Citizens
Sammy Gachagua
2013-02-26
When I was a junior in high school, we had to write a ten page paper on a topic of our choice. I chose global citizenship and defined a global citizen as that person who travels the world, speaks many languages, and has visited dozens of countries. I therefore included myself in the category, as...
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