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 Lesson On Grieving
Lily Ellenberg
2012-01-25
The house sits on wooden stilts, sunken down below the road. When we arrived it was already full of people. I didn’t know our destination until we arrived; I didn’t know our purpose until I saw the small wooden coffin. It sat atop a table covered in tall white candles. My stomach dropped and my...
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An Hour
Jacklyn Joy Byrd
2012-01-18
Here is a journal entry from December when I traveled an hour to get data for a CARE nutrition project. I hope it captures a little of the growth that I am beginning to see in myself. ___ 7 de diciembre This is a new experience. I rode the bus from Cayambe to Olmedo solo...
Read MoreChristmas Grace
Jacob Stern
2012-01-18
“Let’s thank Jesus for coming into our house this Christmas. We’ve never been able to have Turkey before…” My mom chokes up. I feel the whole family’s eyes are all on me. Just smile and don’t look anywhere but at her. “And we also want to thank Jake, for coming to this poor house. Thank...
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Moments
Abigail Hindson
2012-01-17
This is my first video blog from Ecuador…I called it Moments because the clips are simply taken from my daily life, and the special moments I have experienced that have affected me the most.
Read MoreBiodiversity
Priyanka Rao
2012-01-09
I’ve been waiting to encounter the famed biodiversity of the Amazon. I have pictures of the yellow green butterfly I picked nearly dead off the highway, and of the green frogs that hopped in when it rained too hard for too long. The carpenter ants never stop...
Read MoreNew Renditions of Old Traditions
Kirin Gupta
2012-01-09
Sharing the Celebration of the New Year Location: Riobamba, Province of Chimborazo, Ecuador My host brother Christopher, my host mother Nancy, and I, on New Year’s Eve, in the Park of Lights in the Center of Riobamba. A true Ecuadorian family, though Chris was surprised by the horrifying brightness of the camera’s flash here :). Before...
Read MoreBanana Bonanza
Sienna Walker
2012-01-09
In the blink of an eye, I was seven years old again, bouncing along on the rough dirt road to my grandfather’s ranch. There I was seated lazily on my sister’s lap in our old blue pick-up, counting the kangaroos that passed. The thick groves of eucalyptus trees lined the single road to our...
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A Warm Welcoming in a Cold Place
Lindsey Sepulveda
2012-01-04
I live in small city called Ibarra. It’s central to many small communities which host other fellows such as San Clemente, Cochapamba, Salinas and Zuleta. The week Maria Cristina (my team leader) was visiting the fellows for the monthly check-ins, the school in Zuleta had reached out to her and asked her if there...
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Cleanse
Lily Ellenberg
2012-01-02
It’s a quiet Sunday in the Andi-Cerda household. We’ve just finished lunch when I notice my host-dad Juan cutting up something brown outside. “It’s tobacco, we’re going to mix it with water,” Irene, my host-mom, explains. “Its part of our culture,” Juan interjects, “want to try?” Although I dont know what it...
Read MoreExpect the Unexpected
Lydia Crush
2012-01-02
It’s an old cliché , but it holds true no matter what you are expecting. One of the first things we were told about this year was to not have expectations, to start our experience with a mind clear of preconceptions. I didn’t listen to well to those instructions, and thought about how different and...
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Feeling Like Family
Elizabeth Warren
2011-12-30
When I first arrived in Ibarra for my home-stay week, I was filled with mixed emotions of meeting and becoming part of my second family in Ecuador; the family I would be living with until returning to the United States in April. I was excited, anxious and nervous, but my first week there was good: my family...
Read More Lost in Otavalo
Stephanie Dunning
2011-12-30
Tuesday, October 11 Otavalo isn’t as big as Quito, but I had a map of Quito. That really isn’t the only thing I had going for me while wandering the streets of Quito. I had the mountain in the west that helped with generalizing directions. In Otavalo, there are not only mountains West, but also...
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