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
Getting There
Jeremy Chan
2018-09-11
As I fly into my new adventure, my gap year in Ecuador, I can’t stop thinking about what my second year told me about her gap year experience in Ecuador. Just 2 weeks ago, I was still in HK, having lunch with her. Time passed by real quick. I left Hong Kong a week and...
Read MoreGlobal Launch Take Aways– Don’t Forget to Snap
Bihotza James-Lejarcegui
2018-09-10
Dreams are universal, opportunities are not. Snaps. This. This phrase, this thought, this realization, is enough to break a soul. It is enough to cause a panic, enough to catch a breath and still a mind. It is enough to make one notice themselves, the world they were born into, what they...
Read MoreWhat is my Identity?
Brinley Barton
2018-09-10
Jet lag, living out of a suitcase, being surrounded constantly by people, meeting new people, saying where you are from 1000x, sharing your challenges, re-thinking what you’re doing with your life, coming to a whole different place, trying to find wifi, finding out where you’ll be living for the next 8 months, meeting your host...
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First Sneeze in Ecuador
Maria Bossert
2018-09-09
As our plane descended 37,000 feet down from the clouds into the capital city of Quito, I was struck with an obvious thought: “this is my first time in Ecuador.” (duh). It was my first time outside the United States, so of course this was my first time in Ecuador. However, as a person...
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First Impressions
Macy Lipkin
2018-09-07
In the weeks leading up to Global Launch at Stanford, I made some resolutions. At the dawn of a new era, I decided that I would be excited and outgoing; I’d greet everyone with an enthusiastic hello. New Macy, as I imagined her, would be notoriously kind and confident. And most importantly, New Macy would...
Read MoreFrom Summer Camp to a Bridge Year
Grace Peel
2018-09-07
I’ve always made fun of Camp Kids. By that, I mean people who have gone to camp every summer since age 6; the people who became counselors once they were too old to be campers. Summer camp was never for me. I never identified with the unique brand of enthusiasm and spirit that I saw...
Read MoreA year behind or actually ahead?
William Shain
2018-08-31
Who says you need to follow the beaten path? There’s a reason that the trail is so worn down and its because today’s young adults are ushered blindly in a direction of college and a subsequent career, without ever questioning what is it that I really want to do? Though I could have easily started...
Read MoreThe Beginning
Holly Shankin
2018-08-31
A lot is happening in this week before I leave for California, and let me tell you it is not easy. A week full of anxiety and seemingly empty of everything else. It’s really, for lack of a better word, weird. While visiting my friends and sisters at college my feelings are jumbled up all...
Read MoreThe past does not define me
Kaya Pearson-Gaglia
2018-08-30
Going into global citizen year I was scared, anxious, and I held a lot of emotional baggage. I was skeptical of what the true reason I came into this program is but after the last group meeting we had I can confidently say I have found my purpose. As some of you may know I...
Read More#1
Tiarnan Ferry
2018-08-26
232. Right now I'm the 3, currently in Oakland, sandwiched between home and home. The first of which I lived for 18 years, and the second of which I'll live for a mere 7 months, though it will certainly feel much longer. I'm the 3…. three hours behind in time from where I'd be if...
Read MoreI have No Keys Left
Ali Yuksekkaya
2018-08-26
As I am moving on to a new and different part of my life, I am excited, nervous, and a little bit scared. I am excited because I always wanted to go to different countries and learn new things. I am nervous and scared because as someone who has changed schools quite a...
Read MoreBe Your Own Pressure System
Adriana Martinez-Smiley
2018-08-26
To ease my nervous breath before I travelled to California, I decided to read a poem or two. I shuffled through my Grandmother’s book collection, letting my fingertips gently graze upon each book’s spine until it landed on one that felt right.The book that I happened to pick up was called Winds by Mary O’Neill,...
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