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
Stagnant lake
Galen Tsongas
2013-01-25
Belay all judgments. Think. Observe. Ask. When words like weird, disorganized, and crazy are used, what is happening? Why do I perceive that someone is disorganized, or weird? I lived in a relatively small capsule where thoughts converged to funnel certain thoughts down rivulets that led to a lake of stagnant thoughts. The thoughts of...
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Earplugs
Lydia Collins
2013-01-24
One of the first bits of Ecuadorian cultural advice I remember receiving at Stanford is to expect a lot of noise. Our innocent, pre-departure selves were told that the dogs bark more here, the music is played louder, and the cars never cease to honk. I listened to the advice, processed it, and then forgot about it. I was...
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Looking Up: From Sympathy to Respect
Sydni Heron
2013-01-24
A version of this blog has also been featured on Everyday Ambassador. Follow this link to read the story there. _____________________________________ ¨ANTECEDENTES: El Patronato es un organismo de carácter social, creado para dar protección social a los grupos humanos más vulnerables del cantón. El accionar parte de las políticas trazadas por el Gobierno Cantonal...
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An Astounding Fact
Bijan Sanchez
2013-01-22
(This post was originally a speech I made for my “Speak-up” presentation addressed to the entire Ecuador cohort during Training Seminar 2 in Esmeraldas. I left most of the speech as is for some soundness.) This post has to do with the most profound thing I have ever heard that came up in a class during the last semester of...
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Ventanas
Ella Wegman-Lawless
2013-01-17
Let me tell you about a sweet little village called Ventanas in the middle of the Ecuadorian jungle country. This part of the country is a mix between the Amazonian Jungle and the coast, leaving us with an almost always cloudy but still hot climate. In the words of pretty much all Ecuadorians that have been to this village...
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Symptoms of Poverty
Gabe Jackman
2013-01-17
In my last blog post, I talked about how my host community, Pedro Vicente Maldonado, is not really poor. Although this is true, there are still some telltale signs of a relatively underdeveloped community. While reading Voices of the Poor, there were a few parts that really stuck out to me. To start out, I...
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First-Month Experiences
Lauren Holt
2013-01-15
Everyday holds something different here. Since I’ve been in Imbabura, no day has been the same. With each day comes a new experience; something new is learned, a challenge is faced, an obstacle is overcome, a bond is created with a new person, or a laugh or two is passed. The simplest things now mean...
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Quito Stories
Bijan Sanchez
2013-01-15
During our first month or so in Quito we all had some interesting experiences and met some amazing people. A big part of my journey here has been trying to understand people and their unique backgrounds. I figured that people from a completely different country would definitely have a completely different set of influences on their upbringings that would dictate...
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A Closer Look
Sam Reeve
2013-01-15
By American standards, I currently live a “poor”, simplistic lifestyle. I boil water from a local river to drink; most of my meals consist of potatoes, rice, yucca, or other high-starch, cheap, local foods; I scrub and scrub the dirt out of my clothes with river water over a large rock; and I live with a mother part-time employed...
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Strangers Like Me
Meliza Windmoeller
2013-01-15
Everybody has seen Tarzan. Or at least I hope everyone has…if you haven’t I would strongly recommend you get on that. Now, what does Tarzan, a Walt Disney 90’s classic, have to to do with my life as a Global Citizen Year Citizen? Let’s think about that for a minute. In the movie, a man who grew up in...
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La Novena: Giving and Receiving
Mackenzie McMillen
2013-01-15
I sit silently looking at the Christmas decorations around the living room of my oldest host brother’s house. Though I have a vague idea, I’m still looking for clues as to what exactly we’re doing here this evening. When I asked my mom where we were going she used a word I didn’t understand and in the moment, as...
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Getting Dirty
John Villanueva
2013-01-14
When it comes to hygiene, many of us Fellows find it difficult to feel and stay clean throughout the day. I don’t mean to call Ecuador a “dirty” country, but it’s easy get dirty here. Especially for me, staying clean is quite a difficult task. That’s because my apprenticeship at Fundación UTOPIA exemplifies dirtiness. Every two weeks we hold...
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