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
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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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The Small Things
Meliza Windmoeller
2012-11-14
Welcome to the Amazon. Where everything is a luscious green, drinking water is a luxury, the electricity is questionable, and spiders the size of your fist join you at bedtime. What…exactly have I gotten myself in to? I must have asked myself this question dozens of times since leaving the comforts of Quito. There I...
Read MoreRight Choice ≠ Easy Choice
Betty Gebre
2012-11-14
“Why am I doing this again?” I thought after my honeymoon phase in my host community had ended. I was scared, feeling lonely, and was experiencing culture shock. My smooth sailing had come to an end and reality started to hit. The fact that I would be spending six months in my community and the expectation of “change...
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The Foundation of a Community
Carrie Hamilton
2012-11-13
Upon coming to my community in Ecuador, I was expecting to be introduced to a world where women tended to the home all day whilst men set off to do manual labor. What I was not prepared for, however, was the reality of Alto Tena, where women are responsible for nearly everything. They are the...
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We Killed the Pig
Ella Wegman-Lawless
2012-11-13
When I walked back into my yard after delivering lunch to the workers in the field, BAM. There was a dead and bloody pig lying in the dirt. Golly I sure do love Ecuadorian surprises. My mom had told me earlier in the week that we were going to kill a pig although I had forgotten. “Just a...
Read MoreMountain Monents
Chinyere Aniagoh
2012-11-10
It’s been a roller coaster in my time here so far. Driving down the mountains on our way to Los Bancos has been the most rewarding experience for me thus far. I became filled with a wave of intense emotions. I finally truly understand why I’m here, why I made this decision; better understanding myself, and what I want to...
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