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
Eighteen Year Olds
Meg Crenshaw
2012-07-10
Eighteen is a funny age. In the summer, eighteen year olds fill the spectrum. There are eighteen year olds completely dependent on their parents, and there are eighteen year olds paying rent independently. There are eighteen year olds who have a three-month interlude during the summer, and there are eighteen year olds whose summers are...
Read More
Let’s Go!
Carly Sitrin
2012-07-10
Would you do me a favor? Imagine I have crafted here an entrancing tale of adventure and romance. Pretend, just for a moment, that I have traversed mountain ranges, crossed miles of unforgiving desert sand, and have gained spiritual insight from the wisest humans in the most remote locations. Paint yourself a picture of an...
Read More
Slowing The Pace
Graham Collins
2012-07-10
My parents gave me the name Graham Collins. My first 18 years have been spent in Charlotte, North Carolina. I have grown up in the suburbs. Based on my position in the world, I am expected to behave and be respectful; work hard and make good grades; get into college and find a lucrative job;...
Read More
The Beginning of a New Me
Meliza Windmoeller
2012-07-10
Hi everyone, I’m Liza Windmoeller and like almost everyone else I’m 18 and a recent graduate. I am from northern Wisconsin, a very small town called Phillips. Our population is barely 2,000 and our ethnic diversity is sorely lacking. But needless to say it is the place I call home. I sat here for a...
Read More
Looking Ahead
Lydia Collins
2012-07-10
The first thing I remember was the graffiti. Stucco buildings had drawings and words scrawled across their whitewashed walls. Stray dogs sulked past windows with metal grates, scavenging for dinner. The arid air was thick with cigarette fumes and exhaust from passing mopeds. Strangely dressed teenagers passed around suspicious looking bottles, laughing and smoking. I...
Read More
Life’s Highway
Jennifer Ostrowski
2012-07-10
As a child, I became very well acquainted with the 242 miles of Wisconsin highway stretching between my grandparents’ house and my own. For as long as I can remember, my brother and I would count down the miles to Grandma’s molasses cookies and Grandpa’s homegrown vegetables from the back seat of our Dodge Caravan....
Read More
My Unconventional Path
Fikrte Abebe
2012-07-10
My name is Fikrte Abebe, I am from Ethiopia and came to the United States at the age of eight. One of the main reasons my parents wanted to move to the United States was because they wanted a better educational opportunity for their children. Therefore, taking a year off school was out of the...
Read More
Something New
Daniel Schwarz
2012-07-10
Hello all. My name is Daniel Schwarz, born and raised in the Philadelphia area. I got my primary education in a town called Havertown. I went to Oakmont Elementary, which is sadly no longer a school today. I then attended Haverford Middle School. My next and last institution was Haverford Senior High School; this is...
Read More
Community
Sammy Gachagua
2012-07-10
I am Samuel Gachagua and I hail from Kenya! I arrived in the US three years ago from a small orphanage in Nyeri, Kenya. Exactly ten years ago, I was living in the streets of Kenya without food, shelter or anyone to take care of me. One thing that has kept me sane, breathing and...
Read More
A License-less Monolingual
John Villanueva
2012-07-10
Two things: I’m not bilingual and I can’t drive. With full Filipino blood running through me, many find it surprising that I can’t speak my ethnic language of Tagalog, or at the very least understand it. It surprises me too, honestly, and I am full of pent up discontent when Filipino TV shows, potential friends,...
Read More
Opportunity
Josh Thompson
2012-07-10
Hi. My name is Josh Thompson. During my freshman year of High School I traveled to Nicaragua on a week long “missions trip” with my church. While I am not certain about the impact of the trip (there are legitimate concerns about the efficacy and wisdom of short term missions), I was definitely enlightened by...
Read More
And My Journey Begins
Carrie Hamilton
2012-07-10
I have fallen in love with travel many times. It happened as I drove with my family through the Midwest of the US, mesmerized by the golden hues that colored the plains like acrylics on a canvas. It happened as I watched flamenco dancers in Madrid, twisting and turning in the same way that pieces...
Read More