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 Day in My Life
Delia Ross
2012-11-26
One of our assignments for Training Block 1 is called A Day in My Life, and we have to take 5-10 pictures that describe our daily life in our community. Here is my selection of photographs of around Puerto Rico to share with you. And although they do say pictures describe a million words, here’s...
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Day in the Life
Graham Collins
2012-11-22
Day in the Life Link Well hello there, readers. We have had some problems with the blog site, but they are now fixed. One of my assignments has been to do a “day in the life” project. I have ten pictures with background music, then a few slides of thoughts at the end. If you...
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A Day in My Life
Carly Sitrin
2012-11-22
Just an average day in Bayushig, Ecuador! Photo 1) My room Photo 2) I am a giant! Photo 3) My backyard Phtoto 4) Odie Photo 5) Hard at work pairing socks Photo 6) Hanging out at La Casa de la Caridad with my boys
Read MoreThe process of getting settled in Ecuador
Kimberly Reed-Hyman
2012-11-21
“I can’t believe it, I’m finally here; my dream has become a reality.” That was the first thing I thought as I got off the plan from Miami. Honestly I didn’t know what I was in for, but I soon found out. Quito, the capital of Ecuador, was a lot like the U.S, except...
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The Human Connection
Delia Ross
2012-11-21
I can recognize just about everyone in my community of 40 families by face. That said, when someone new comes through, it’s pretty noticeable. So when I was walking down the street yesterday selling raffle tickets for an upcoming fundraiser with some of the younger kids and one of them turned to me and whispered,...
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The Foreignness within the Normalcy, The Normalcy within the Foreignness
Emily Soule
2012-11-21
I feel the stories I share should be filled with pithy anecdotes and cultural insights. Yet all I have to offer is normalcy. Life does not change from one hemisphere to the other. Relationships, societies, human beings – they mesh and flow in similar collisions, no matter the place. My life here in Ecuador feels…normal. That surprises me. The day before...
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Teach me, Ecuador
Emily Power
2012-11-21
My first day in the Amazon I went to a Kichwa wedding. I briefly met my new family, Lidia Cerda, my mom, Jorge, my brother in law, Erika, my sister and Jorge’s wife, as well as some cousins whom I did not have the chance to meet properly until much later. We all sat on a log to watch...
Read MoreAutumn Moon
Galen Tsongas
2012-11-21
Before I begin transcribing the blog I’ve written in my journal, there are a few minor things I’d like to make clear. This blog post will be a culmination of journal entries and a few attempted blog posts, which may mean the writing will be choppy. I am a bit technogically incapable, so I don’t...
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The Village Gringa
Carrie Hamilton
2012-11-21
One of the many things I have come to realize during my time in Ecuador is how inherently obvious my foreigner-status is to the Kichwas of Alto Tena. I don’t know if it was my look of disbelief when my mother put a plate of chontacuro (most accurately described as maggots) in front of me...
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Meditation in the Maze
Brian Riefler
2012-11-21
Having had a Jesuit high-school education, I have been taught the value of reflection, which I believe is vital to staying centered on life, family, and most importantly to God. Kairos, a three-day retreat at most Jesuit high schools, is named for the Greek term meaning “The Lord’s time” and is vastly different from linear time because it invites us to...
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Only in Ecuador
Daniel Schwarz
2012-11-21
It really is lucky that I now work in the productive development office of the provisional government of Napo, Ecuador. My job is challenging, fun, and allows me to experience things I never could anywhere else in the world. I’m either sitting in an office, sending and receiving emails in a language I have not come close to mastering, calling...
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One Silent Night
Betty Gebre
2012-11-21
It was a semi-normal night for me in Ecuador when a conversation I had not anticipated started to unravel with my host-mom. It was a holiday week and my host-siblings were at their grandmas for the week so the house was unusually silent. My host-dad had decided to hang out with his friends than to join my host-mom and...
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