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
Mindfulness
Meg Crenshaw
2012-10-02
I was exhausted: I had spent the day–from 8am to 4pm–bringing big rocks from across the river to our community in the Ecuador Sun. I was lonely: I saw other workers joking around with their best friends, while I was stuck with five-year-old vocabulary. I was upset: I knew that this was not the day...
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Accepting the Grit
Lydia Collins
2012-10-02
Acceptance. This word has been at the forefront of my mind during the first few weeks of my new life here in Ecuador. I feel as if my every move in this wonderfully refreshing, yet overwhelming country has been internally motivated by the hopeful outcome of “acceptance”. Let me give you some context. This context comes...
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Buen Provecho, Ecuador!
John Villanueva
2012-10-02
Get ready to eat up! I made a video about my first month’s stay in Ecuador and about what’s in store for the next six. A full tummy is a happy tummy. CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO
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The Journey Thus Far
Delia Ross
2012-10-02
Check out a video I put together of my “journey” so far! I’ve been taking footage randomly throughout the trip, and this was my attempt to put it together and try to make it seem pretty. I’m hoping my video editing skills will improve as the year goes on, but I hope you enjoy it!...
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Desire to Learn
Jackie Brown
2012-10-02
I never thought I would wake up every day with my driving motive to get out of bed to be to go to class. Growing up it never seemed to be quite this, and I always I had to find other reasons to peel my eyes open and get the day started. I never minded...
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Who Am I?
Carly Sitrin
2012-10-01
“I’m wild again, beguiled again, a whimpering, simpering child again. Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered am I.” -Kurt Vonnegut Jr (Timequake) Who am I? What a superb question! I am quite glad that you asked! I am everything, and I am nothing at all. I am a convoluted knot of atoms, molecules, elements, and synapses....
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Learning the ABCs of Ecuador
Carrie Hamilton
2012-10-01
Culture is a funny thing. It dictates so many aspects of our daily lives and, whether we realize it or not, it is responsible for many of our values, routines, and social behaviors. When I first arrived here in Ecuador, I was hopeless. I simply could not understand how to conduct myself in such a...
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Fútbol and Friends
John Villanueva
2012-09-28
It’s the first week back from Quito from our six-month host communities and I spent eight days in the provincial capital city of Riobamba, about four hours south of Quito and ten times smaller. With a population that small in comparison to Quito, the week-long stay was therapeutic. And the night before we all returned to Quito, I couldn’t wait...
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Updates and Anecdotes Part I
Aidan Holloway-Bidwell
2012-09-26
Ok I let me get you up to date on the past few weeks of my life in Ecuador. Many of the unknowns I spoke about in my previous post are now knowns, and yet there’s still much I’m excited to figure out and experience. Here’s the low down. Last Sunday I returned from a week-long stay in...
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Wanting to Feel in a World of Infinite Possibilities
Emily Power
2012-09-26
Ever since I started the Global Citizen Year program, beginning with Fall Training, I have been experiencing this very strange feeling, which is incredibly difficult to pinpoint. It’s always on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t feel any anxiety to find out what it is. I am flabbergasted when people ask me how...
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Hard Money
Jordan Lee
2012-09-25
They are loud, heavy, and easy to lose. When in a hurry, it is difficult to distinguish one from the other. In the United States, they are somewhat of an afterthought, but here in Quito, they are an absolute necessity. They are coins, and I can never have enough of them. In 2000, Ecuador changed its national currency...
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Never Have I Ever
Sarah McMillan
2012-09-24
I wander the town like a stranger and mostly I am but I feel like spitting fire, like I always have, I feel like making myself open, like I always have, like saying anything that people could understand, anything would do, really, but my tongue is made of cement, just like every single house here. Every single one, I...
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