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
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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I Want To Be A Quiteño
Mitchell Mankin
2011-09-22
Buenas Tardes, Sorry it’s been so long that I haven’t written. Nearly every day I’ve started a blog post, only to look at it the next day and discredit it as naive, cliche, or based on ideas that I no longer hold to be true. Finally, I’ve decided to let go of the next day...
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Not a Mexican Restaurant
Tessalyn Morrison
2011-09-22
View from the Spanish classroom As fellows we were all asked questions before we left about why we were taking a gap year. In my house it was “Will this experience be worth it?” If I had already been abroad for a year in Germany, then was I wasting time before starting my career? After my first week...
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The Glorious Worldview of Clams
Welcome Frye
2011-09-19
Although I’m currently working on a new blog post, I thought I’d post up one of my journal entries of one of my favorite days so far to give my readers an idea of what I’m up to. This is a massive entry, so consider yourself warned! 09/18/2011 My family in Santa Rita, Napo,...
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Flight
Priyanka Rao
2011-09-15
Here we are in to Atlanta – flying over it at the moment. “Starting our descent.” Left at 4 am this morning to the extenuating circumstances of leaving 31 soul-mates that I met last week. I am awake to say the most of this situation, since I have been falling in and out of a doze...
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Why We’re Here
Priyanka Rao
2011-09-15
Training hit hard. Standing over my 28 lbs suitcase, I only think “I didn’t pack for this.” I didn’t have the shorts, the appetite or the expectations for two beautiful weeks inStanford University, California. Training hit hard. It hit with the punch of 56 different personalities from across theUnited States, gearing up for a year...
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A Corazón Abierto
Galen Burns-Fulkerson
2011-09-15
Eleven days ago, as I settled in for my first night with my wonderful host family, I sat down with my two sisters to talk. As I stumbled through some barely cohesive Spanish sentences, they listened patiently and nodded their heads in encouragement. After a mostly successful conversation about our respective high schools and pets,...
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Walking the Talk
Trevor Porter
2011-09-13
It’s always easy to say something, but to actually experience and know it is a whole different matter. I came to Ecuador knowing I would experience a different way of life, however, I didn’t realize the extent of the challenge I was taking. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m welcoming the challenges of the coming...
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The Fellowship
Nicolas Freschi
2011-09-08
I wanted to take this blog post to share some thoughts that I’ve been having about the meaning of the word “fellowship”. I am a Global Citizen Year “Fellow”, or so they told me when I was accepted to the program. I was to travel to Ecuador, Brazil or Senegal with fifty five other “Fellows”...
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