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
Trying To Find The Right Words
Caroline Montag
2017-05-09
It was challenging but great! I lived with a lovely host family, had two host brothers and awesome host aunts, struggled at first with Spanish, worked in a school as a co-teacher, tutored kids in a women’s shelter, my closest Ecuadorian friends were probably the teachers, I loved the diversity of the country and...
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Great experience with this lovely family.
Tejas Ramdas Renuse
2017-05-08
How do I even start describing about my family? They are just amazing people with kind hearts. I had have siblings. My brother is studying a engineering and my two sisters are in high school. My dad works in a Municipal corporation for the government and my mom is a housewife. I definitely felt that...
Read MoreAndy
Nathaly Romero
2017-05-05
For this blog post I’d like to highlight one very special member of my family in Ecuador. This is a video for my five year old nephew. His name is-well, you’ll see in the video. He’s an amazing little guy who I feel so lucky to have gotten the chance to meet. So funny and...
Read MoreSkating, Songs, and Salchipapas: A few of the things I am currently missing about Ecuador (in no particular order)
Sophia Pandelidis
2017-05-04
Sometimes you can't help getting a little sentimental… “El Lobo” I’m pretty sure my three-year-old sister, Sami, always had a boatload of energy at the exact hour when I was ready to take a nap. However, I never failed to respond to her plea of, “Topi, vamos a jugar!”, or, “Sofi, let’s go play!” Her...
Read MoreMarch 27, 2017: A Look into the Centro Inicial
Kai Milici
2017-05-03
On my first day working at the Centro Inicial in Imbaya back in September, I was miserable. I had decided that I hated working with little kids and I knew very little Spanish. I didn’t know anyone in the town and they didn’t know me, and I didn’t feel like I would be able to...
Read MoreBELARUS, ALSO KNOWN AS TERRA INCOGNITA
Hanna Karnei
2017-04-29
In UWC we quickly learned to pick up the names of the countries that were unfamiliar to us and locate them on the world map. I remember I had to look up Swaziland when I found out my roommate is from there. I had a vague idea where Maldives were; neither did I know anything...
Read MorePhotographs.
Rachel Koltsov
2017-04-28
“I vibe with that slide concept” (September of 2016 in Parque La Carolina, Quito) Rachel’s first time eating cuy during a picnic with my host family and their friends. (October of 2016, Paute, Azuay) A panel of glass was removed from this church window. I took this photo during a Christmas celebration for my apprenticeship....
Read MoreLos Pancitos
Aden Fischer-Brown
2017-04-27
Every Sunday morning during most of my time in my town of Bella Union, I would walk a small 50 foot stretch from my house to enter a bakery. There I’d find my host uncle, David, rolling out dough and covered in flour while a playlist of Spanish love ballads, Backstreet Boys and soccer highlight...
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The Story of the One-Legged Jeans
Phoebe Park
2017-04-21
I finally found my item of significance from my bridge year: my one-legged jeans. I wore them practically every training seminar, a four-day series of sessions and dance parties with fellow fellows in my region in different parts of the country. Although I never wore them in my community, these half jeggings half booty shorts...
Read MoreContinued…experience summary part 2
Ian Herel
2017-04-09
My apprenticeship search found some success in December when I began working for a local craftsman. Here we are gathering rocks by the river and an up close look at his mortar and pestle work. Amidst my apprenticeship work, I, as hinted, also changed...
Read MoreExperience Summary part 1
Ian Herel
2017-04-09
Hi again! As promised, I’m back with some pictures and videos to share the first half of my experience. This is a video of my first host dad, Luis Alberto, and his bandolina. He was by far the most important person in my life during the first couple of months in homestay. I used...
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