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
My Internal Hypocrisy
Jensine Raihan
2016-10-08
I am writing this while swinging on a hammock that hangs on the balcony in front of my room. The trees and plants contain the house, they grow around the walls of it. It’s what one would picture when one thinks, “garden house.” In the distance are mountains–they are a constant sight, surrounding you in the Andes....
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Month 1- Getting Grounded
Ian Herel
2016-10-04
The beginning of October has brought with it a major milestone in my journey here in Ecuador: the end of In-Country Orientation, the end of consistently seeing my fellow fellows, and most importantly the true beginning of my homestay and apprenticeship here in San Roque, Ecuador. Over the month of September, I developed a foundation for the truly transformative...
Read MoreFinding Love in a Foreign Language, Family, Community, People, and Culture
Jensine Raihan
2016-10-03
My Quito host mom finally pulled up onto the block I was waiting on. I was the last fellow on the street and I was very nervous. Why is she late? Will it be terribly awkward because I know zip Spanish? (Yes) When she came out of the car, I approached her and said hesitantly, “Muchu gustu,”...
Read MoreA Sara Synopsis: First Days in Quito, Ecuador
Sara Barac
2016-10-03
I leave for the San Francisco International Airport in roughly 5 hours, and I am now completely done with my Pre-Departure Training, sitting in a dorm in Stanford University trying to come to terms with the fact I am leaving behind everything I have ever known. I’ve never been more in my element. ...
Read MoreTo the stressed high school seniors club:
Sara Barac
2016-10-03
Dear high school seniors: Maybe you’re starting your college applications right now, or receiving your decisions, all of which is pretty tumultuous with pressure from your parents, teachers, peers, and even the universities you might or might not want to go to. You’re stressed out about essays and test scores and grades, things you can’t...
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Getting Settled in Paragachi, Ecuador
Dominic Snyder
2016-10-02
Three weeks ago, I received a piece of paper detailing my community placement in bullet points. From what I could glean, I was heading to a relatively small Ecuadorian community named Paragachi to live with a family of six and work for a local non-profit. Fast forward a week, and I entered a room where all of our...
Read MoreGap year? WTF?
Jensine Raihan
2016-10-02
I was sitting in my friend’s eccentric, beautiful, simple, and fresh aesthetic, literally “apartment GOALS” living room. It was a nice, warm Sunday afternoon in late April and we were doing a girls’ day in Brooklyn. I was with my sister, a year younger than me, my ever-since-middle-school best friend, and two of the raddest...
Read MorePicking Up Some Ecuadorian Norms
Sahar Thomson
2016-10-02
As of today, it’s been about two weeks since I’ve arrived in the community of Santa Ana, Cuenca, and I thought I’d share some of my observations, thus far. 1. Years of high school Spanish classes go out the window when you live in a place where the Spanish language is so rich in whatever modismos are...
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On Building Yourself from Scratch: Notes from Quito, Ecuador
Sophia Pandelidis
2016-09-29
I am not myself here. At least not yet. They say your identity may change or be challenged outside your context. They say you might be a different person–but maybe for a while you don’t feel like a person at all, just an outline with blank space in the middle. A clean slate may seem...
Read MoreYup, I Ate The Guinea Pig
Sahar Thomson
2016-09-24
I hopped off of the bus at my stop in Santa Ana, a rural parish in Cuenca. I had been holding eight bags of garlic, I will now take the time to apologize to the person who sat next to me on the bus and had to inhale me for 15 minutes. The garlic was for the 7...
Read More4 Ways to Convince Your Parents: Value Can’t Be Quantified
Sara Barac
2016-09-23
First off, you can’t convince your parents. Not completely anyway, because I really think that parents need to convince themselves. You can talk about how a bridge year is going to change your life and you’ll return with a new set of skills and you’ll be a new person, but that doesn’t really mean anything...
Read MoreTwo Weeks In
Lily Jorrick
2016-09-22
As I write this, it’s been exactly two weeks since I arrived in Ecuador’s capital city, Quito. With one more week to go here, I feel as if there’s still so much more to learn from this city. So far, Quito has taught me how to fight my way onto over-crowded metrobuses, how to manage...
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