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
Rosita The Chinita
Rose Hoang
2016-11-03
18 years of 180,000 Vietnamese people in one city. Now, just one here in Ibarra, and it’s me. When I walk down the streets, there’s two things I know I can be sure to find here: a Claro store and a Chifa. Claro is a cell phone company here like Verizon but on steroids. A...
Read MoreTo Those Making the Decision to Go Crazy, Early
Phoebe Park
2016-11-02
Ding! I get a notification to view my Facebook’s On This Day. In an Ecuadorian coffee shop, I open a post from exactly one year ago on October 31. I remember so very clearly the months of bitterness that ensued for the following months. The Chainsmokers, SNBRN, Big Gigantic, and Yacht Club were just some...
Read MoreOn Humility: Wondering If I Actually Do Speak English
Lily Jorrick
2016-11-02
On the first day of my new apprenticeship, I walked into the classroom with high expectations. I’ve been placed in a co-teaching apprenticeship in the Unidad Educativa San Bartolome, (the town’s high school) which means that I work with one of the English teachers in all of his classes. I am the only native...
Read MoreNew home, new identity
Aden Fischer-Brown
2016-11-01
Ascending the stairs towards their classroom, it’s clear the sixth and seventh graders spot me before I see them. I hear excited shouts of “Profe ya viene!” and “Ingles!” and a group of kids that was loitering outside hurriedly rushes into the room. As I enter, the thirty-plus kids rise and begin to say, “Buenos...
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Henry Duerr
2016-10-29
There are many things I wish I could tell my younger self. The mistakes I could save him from, the triumphs I could coach him to. The wisdom I could impart to him could fill a book. It has. But I’m not sure he would recognize me. I never anticipated becoming the person I am...
Read MoreNotes from the Field
Lily Jorrick
2016-10-28
One month ago, I moved to San Bartolome, Azuay, Ecuador, and I have been living here with the family Delgado Dominguez ever since. San Bartolome is a tiny town known for farming apples and for producing hand crafted guitars. It is high up in the Sierra, meaning that it’s very cold a lot of the...
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Learning like a Child
Noa Bridson
2016-10-24
One might assume, as I initially had, that turning 19 and moving half way across the world to a foreign land meant I had finally “grown up”. However, literally every conversation I have, every thing I try to do here, I am reminded how much of a baby I am. Instead of asking, “why the water...
Read MoreThe Fear of Voluntourism: Downsides of a Bridge Year
Benoit Dupras
2016-10-21
It’s been a month now since I’ve entered my new community, and I’ve had an amazing time with my host family, exploring el Valle del Chota, Ibarra and the surrounding sierra region. From bathing in el rio Chota with my host brothers and the watchful mountain peaks surrounding us to experiencing a mix of traditional...
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My apprenticeship
Merle Nye
2016-10-19
I’ve often talked with my mom, a high school teacher, about the seven fifty minute periods at her high school being crazy and wondered how she could be expected to keep track of grades for two hundred plus kids, let alone remember their names. So far, my teaching schedule here has made that look like...
Read More10 Things to Know About Quito
Lily Jorrick
2016-10-19
Quito is Ecuador’s capital city, boasting over 2 million people. It’s one of the most hectic and diverse cities I’ve ever visited, and I spent three weeks living there with a host family during In-Country Orientation. While this list hardly begins to summarize Quito, here are some of the best things I learned while I...
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YOU KNOW YOU’RE IN ECUADOR WHEN…
Hanna Karnei
2016-10-17
Since I moved to Ecuador two months ago, I’ve been constantly finding myself surprised, charmed and amazed by the local culture. Here are a few glimpses into what I think makes Ecuador the way it is. 1. You master the skill of getting off the bus while it is moving. In rural areas of...
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Where in the World is She?
Noa Bridson
2016-10-09
Three years away from home, three hours North of Quito and three weeks living here in rural Ecuador, I find myself crouched in my bedroom collecting beetles for dinner as I listen to the synchronized squeals of the guinea pigs and my 2 year old brother. Much has happened since I first arrived weeks ago, and while...
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