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
The Best Lemonade
Stephanie Dunning
2011-10-03
I am very excited to announce that you will be spending your year as a 2012 Global Citizen Year Fellow in ECUADOR!!! My family and friends breathed a giant sigh of relief. I almost felt like crying. My heart had been set on going to Senegal where surely, few others would dare to venture. How,...
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More than a Pair of Jeans
Abigail Hindson
2011-10-03
“¿Puedo lavar mi ropa?” I sheepishly held up my jeans, filthy from a long day cleaning up tree limbs outside for my apprenticeship at El Parque Amazónico. It was 5:30 on Friday afternoon, and my host mother was lounging with my baby brother, Aron, in the evening light. She glanced at my displayed garment and smiled...
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Mountains
Heather Kurtz
2011-10-03
Everyone climbs mountains of some form. Well, today the 30 of September we climbed mountain Pasochoa. This was a great climb and learned many things. I realized some of the mountains I have climbed here and some that I am still climbing. Pasochoa was a beautiful mountain. I loved climbing it and seeing all of...
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Mas Duro
Nicolas Freschi
2011-10-03
If there’s one thing I learned this week, it’s that there is a big difference between saying “I’m going to be living in rural Ecuador on a Global Citizen Year,” and living in rural Ecuador on a Global Citizen Year. There is one phrase that was beaten into my head these past few days that...
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Adaptation
Heather Kurtz
2011-10-03
One of the hardest things I have learned my first few weeks in Ecuador is to adapt. I never knew how valuable a quality that is. To be able to see something and to not react but instead to realize it is different and change yourself so that things work for the better. My week...
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Sin Bici No Hay Paraiso
Priyanka Rao
2011-10-01
Just coming back from Cumbaya, the cutest town in Ecuador, and suffering from the paradise syndrome. A stucco church with bell tower edges a hedge-rowed garden park complete with a trickling fountain in the center. Boutiques surround the square across a cobblestone road that leads past the mission-style Educativo where the uniformed school-children are getting...
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Arrival
Priyanka Rao
2011-10-01
I’m here bumping along on the road to Tena. We drove through flat lands of farms and now we are going through those mountain roads that follow a river up through the wallowing hills. It’s all the browns and greens of moss and heather. Clay- the ground is saturated with water. And we feel very...
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Ask
Priyanka Rao
2011-10-01
I have been very proud to learn how to ask questions, not only questions that arise in the end-of-a-chapter Review, but the ones that actually reflect what I am thinking. The ones that reflect the true issues that complicate me, but also questions that can bring out very interesting answers. Effective questions. They give me...
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Meet, Cheese and Olives
Priyanka Rao
2011-09-29
My first family outing was to a baby shower–it was a solid evening. By the time it was time to go, I decided my Indian outfit would pass for something unique at least, to avoid the other judgments. It was a nice town-house out in the mountainside with lots of nice people to kiss on...
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You Do the Math
Joan Hanawi
2011-09-29
I remember back in April, when I was first accepted into this program, dreaming of this part of the journey. The time when I’d have my final first. My last first day. The end of initial newness, unfamiliar introductions, constant irregularity—in a word, the end of discomfort. What I found instead was the hardest first...
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El Supergringo
Jacob Stern
2011-09-23
I’ve adopted various nicknames in the past. They have included Blondie, Stretch, and Bird. But in Ecuador, it’s “El Supergringo”. I stand out here. I am very white, very 6 foot 2, and very Supergringo. I’m the only blonde no matter where I go. My Spanish accent is terrible, and my Spanish is worse. I...
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Jakydoodoo
Jacklyn Joy Byrd
2011-09-22
I keep postponing my blog writing until I can say something truly profound and mind-altering, but I just can’t wait any longer! Most of the things I’ve experienced so far are the love of Ecuadorians. From short to tall, from Quito to Cayambe, I’m always met with excitement and a warm presence. This is my...
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