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
Making My Own Tools
Michael Winfield
2011-07-06
Hey! I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. I’m an artist, youth mentor, tennis player, humanitarian, nature watcher, and a Global Citizen Year Fellow. I wasn’t raised in a wealthy family. I was born into this world with few tools for success, but as I’m getting older I’m making my own tools to build...
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Why I’m Here
Priyanka Rao
2011-07-05
Traveling has been always a passion of mine, since those initial bus-rides ‘round the Hydrabadi loop (India), which was all my mother could do to quiet my infant cries. Even then, the entrancing rhythm of being in motion, underneath the hum and roll of people talking, brought me home like nothing else could, just as...
Read MoreHow to Speak Without Saying Anything
Madeline Campbell
2011-07-05
When I was little, my family lived in Prince Edward Island, Canada. One of our family friends was Québécois and whenever his family came to visit they would speak mostly in French. Being so little at the time, I had no idea what they were saying, but my then-outgoing self decided to speak up anyway...
Read MoreDiscovering My Differences
Jacklyn Joy Byrd
2011-07-05
For more than 10 generations, my family has lived in the state of Georgia. Why am I, an artistic 18-year-old from Atlanta, the first person in my family to venture out and experience the world? I believe that is the reason I am taking this gap year: to discover what makes me feel so different...
Read MoreIntroduction
Nicolas Freschi
2011-07-05
To be honest, I am pretty uncomfortable writing a blog post. I have long been under the impression that there are very few things I can share on the Internet that are worth sharing. I am not a noteworthy photographer, musician, comedian or journalist. In the face of billions and billions of tweets, blogs, websites,...
Read MoreTug-Of-War, and Penguins
Trevor Porter
2011-07-05
When I was introduced to Global Citizen Year, the program sounded like a challenge and a little bit like a game of tug-of-war. There is a little give and take involved in every exchange, every challenge, that we have to overcome throughout our lives. I’ve experienced this game of tug-of-war several times, but the experience...
Read MoreBlack Beaches
Kirin Gupta
2011-07-05
The beaches in Greece are not always perfect. The black bed of rock I stood on, years ago, was difficult to walk on, large round stones that were smooth individually, but a rough surface to maneuver all at once. The world often comes at you with all the appearance of something perfectly smooth, perfectly beautiful...
Read MoreTripping Up
Abigail Hindson
2011-07-05
If you’ve ever spent any good amount of time with me, you will find that I fall down a lot. I have this amazing ability to somehow find every tree root and every crack in the sidewalk, and promptly trip over it. I know exactly how to get both my feet stuck in a wet...
Read MoreAll I Hear is Words!
Lydia Crush
2011-07-05
“Words, words, words. All I hear is words!” sings Liza in My Fair Lady. She has a valid point; words make up a huge part of our daily activities. As I walk through the halls on the last few days of school, I’m exposed to many different languages: Korean, Spanish, German, Burmese, Japanese, Bengali, American...
Read MoreDo One Thing Every Day That Scares You
Galen Burns-Fulkerson
2011-07-05
Like many high school seniors, I spent this past fall writing essays, filling out transcript requests, and entering my personal information on the Common Application. For one of my essays, I had to write about the best piece of advice I had ever received. I discussed the inspiration that I take from of one of...
Read MoreWhen You Give a Kid A Camera
Lily Shaffer
2011-05-16
She’s probably going to be ecstatic. I really couldn’t have imagined the scale Kids with Cameras would grow to–how much energy I would put into it, how incredible the photos would be, how proud the kids would be to share their work, how appreciative the parents would become. Truthfully, Kids with Cameras is what kept...
Read MoreThe Family Impact
Peter Saudek
2011-04-25
Almost four months ago I moved in with my current host family after having to change from the first family I was originally placed with. The switch was a result of a series of miscommunications and some complex issues that escalated over the two months spent with the first family. During the transition from one...
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