Fellow Stories
True gap year stories from Fellows abroad!
Check out the latest blogs from Global Citizen Year Fellows in Brazil, Ecuador, and India!
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Class Year
Country
Autumn 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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Another Glass
Chloe Bash
2012-11-21
The clear plastic cup is filled halfway with golden liquid then passed down the line of chairs or around the standing group. The recipient, stranger or friend, nods in thanks, blows the foam onto the floor, and finishes the glass in two quick gulps. He or she throws the remaining foam on the floor with a flick of the...
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Living in the Andean mountains within an indigenous Native American community: Check.
Tsion Horra
2012-11-21
Lots of things have passed since the last time I wrote a blog: Fall Training at Stanford in August and in-country orientation in Quito from September and October. But by far the most interesting and challenging events happened to me in the last month and two weeks. Waking up in a rural village to the...
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It’s The Little Things.
Kalea Moore
2012-11-19
Playing soccer in the rain. Seeing a double rainbow on a bad day. Watching a loving bother hug his baby sister. Listening to a grandfather tell his granddaughter the story of Red Riding Hood (and letting her make some up as he goes along). Showing your 4 year old host sister one of your favorite Disney movies...
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A Pearl-Colored, Silk Button
Sydni Heron
2012-11-18
My first time stepping into a nursing home was a simple experience. I was not there to visit anyone or to share my talents with the residents or anything of the sort. I was simply waiting for a friend. I sat down on a couch alone in the midst of older people and people in...
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Dia de los Difuntos
Aidan Holloway-Bidwell
2012-11-14
Halloween isn’t well recognized in Los Bancos. On the thirty-first, my house boasted a jack-o-lantern in spooky solitude, and not one child could be found roaming the barrio in search of tricks or treats. Luckily, the festive spirit that I instinctively accumulated through October found another outlet two days later. The holiday is called Dia de Los Difuntos, or Day...
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Cotundo – My Gateway to Change
Meliza Windmoeller
2012-11-14
This is the poem I wrote as my “self documentation” when we stayed in our communities for one week last month to “get our feet wet.” Anxiety and loneliness are prominent Will the confusion ever end? The experience of a new culture In the heart of the Amazon. I focus on the horizon As...
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Life is Good
Daniel Schwarz
2012-11-14
A smile swept across my face while riding in the back of on old pickup truck. To be specific, a rickety but sturdy and faded green Chevy with lots of miles on the odometer and lots of life left in it. The wind whipped at my face causing a rucous in my overgrown hair. I...
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