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
Lessons in being human: The beautiful girl from Coca
Kirin Gupta
2011-11-11
I knew Cynthia for twenty minutes. And that will be it. But it was enough. Swaying with inherent elegance at 5’9’’, thin as a rail, and darker than midnight, she was wearing lavender the night I saw her. She stepped into the seat next to me on a cramped Jumandy bus on my way home from classes...
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Finding Family
Priyanka Rao
2011-11-11
Day Two on the ELA Sumaco tour with the entire class of 24 students, driver and conductor of the bus, Mary and Patricia of the National Parks Association, and Rocío (my boss), Luis, and me. I started out very discouraged at my ignorance, but I’ts taken me a day to acclimatize to the point where...
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Snapshots
Abigail Hindson
2011-11-11
The following are three anecdotes—“snapshots” of my life, if you will—about my past week in Tena, Ecuador; they include an everyday bus ride, a rainy adventure, and an epiphany I had walking down the street one evening. I saw the blue-and-white bus in the distance, and crossed the road to catch it. There isn’t a...
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Split Personality
Mitchell Mankin
2011-11-10
There are two people living in my body. One of them is writing to you now. He’s constantly thinking, turning an analytical eye to important and decidedly not important things. He’s often told that he thinks too much, which is true. The other doesn’t have that luxury. His mind is absorbed entirely by trying to...
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Almost Ecuadorian
Taylor Lawson
2011-11-09
Before leaving the United States, one of my directors told me, “You can pass for Ecuadorian, so you’ll have fewer problems.” Once we all got into the country, we began discussing how to blend in when going around the city. I absorbed these lessons like a sponge, and started observing and copying as instructed. I...
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We’re Everywhere…
Lily Ellenberg
2011-11-09
The last thing I expected was bagels. I never imagined the heaven of a brunch of Jewish comfort food. But indeed I had the opportunity, along with two other Jewish fellows, to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur with the Jewish community in Quito. To get into the synagogue we had to bring copies of...
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Adapting to a new life
Michael Winfield
2011-11-09
Oh Ecuador, am i feeling high! I have only been here about two months now, and my mind set has already changed. I might sound cliche but, being here in Ecuador made me appreciate what I have at home. I also remind myself that I am so blessed to have this opportunity at my age. I have to remind...
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Take a leap
Trevor Porter
2011-11-08
The first week I spent with Ruku Kausai at the Jumandy Caverns was amazing, and a great precursor of what I hope my sixth months will be like. Although I didn’t work much that week, I was able to observe the going on-s of the people and the caverns. During the week I helped out...
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Patience
Madeline Campbell
2011-11-08
Hola, everybody, I first want to apologize for being so slow to update my blog. I’m sure all of you are wondering where the heck I am and what the heck I’m doing. The truth is, I have been busy having the most amazing time of my life, and I have been bursting with things to tell...
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The Power of Tamia
Joan Hanawi
2011-11-08
Wilma is the oldest of my eight siblings, and has been a hard worker her entire life. When she was younger, she was an excellent student, a fast learner, and a dedicated scholar, but her gender constantly held her back. When she wanted to move on to study biochemistry after high school, her father told...
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Saturday Nights
Lydia Crush
2011-11-08
Incidental music has never been so abused. The telenovelas here use all this intense music for a simple scene; things are way over-dramatized. My mom is watching a show and someone broke someone else’s heart, or killed someone, or saw something, whatever happens in soap-operas. All of a sudden this heartrending sad orchestral music pops out...
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A New Family
Elizabeth Warren
2011-11-08
We had been in Quito for four days and the next day, we were meeting our Quito families, who we would be living with for the next month. The night before and that same morning, we were filled with excitement and nervousness, wondering how our stays would turn out and what living with a family...
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