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
dinner
Maisie Coburn
2015-09-11
September 7th, 2015 The three of us sat around the kitchen table watching La sombra de Helena. Pauli ate ramen noodles with canned tuna and mayonnaise; Magi sipped coffee. I smeared a small, flat circle of corn bread that she had made for me the night before with peanut butter and Nutella and took...
Read Morenap
Maisie Coburn
2015-09-11
September 6, 2015 My favorite thing is taking a nap later in the day. Falling asleep with the sun still blindingly bright and waking in the soft gray twilight. The sky is overcast in the evenings in Quito, mixed with Cotopaxi’s ash and threatening of rain. The glow of the recently lit street lamps...
Read Moreplane
Maisie Coburn
2015-09-11
August 19th, 2015 Thirty-four thousand one hundred and five feet up, one thousand five hundred and twenty-two miles to go. A brisk negative 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Nothing but three inches of aluminum and hard plastic separating my cheek from the cold oxygen-starved Iowa stratosphere. As I look down at the cottony white clouds below...
Read MoreSick Day
Mila Le
2015-09-10
Today I stayed home, sick and bedridden. After an episode of constant vomiting, insomnia and headaches, I’ve decided to never eat McDonalds ever again. Laying down with my aching stomach and pounding head, I’ve realized what an important day it was, and what a unfortunate time it was to get sick. Today was supposed to...
Read MoreFour seasons
Andrew William Dunn
2015-09-10
When you ask geography experts what seasons you can find in Ecuador, they say that you get a Dry season ( summer) and a wet season (winter). However when you ask the natives, the Ecuadorians, they say that although that may be true, in each day they experience all four seasons. In the morning they...
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Dear me, remember this.
Joana Dizon
2015-09-09
It’s been a few weeks since I stood in the middle of the airport in Houston, Texas and waited to board my plane to Ecuador. Bodies passed in a blur. Feet scurried toward their destinations. Luggages dragged behind grudgingly. Despite the pace of the environment I braved the ocean of people, propped my camera on...
Read MoreUntitled
Celina L. Ma Kwan
2015-09-09
a poem to departure lately i have been finding myself gripping on doorknobs as if they were hands clasping on ever so tightly to the stillness and consistency as i transcend in between a moment of hesitation and assemblies of brief holy gatherings in my lungs unmolding my soles from familiar floors it is a...
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My place at the table
Andrew William Dunn
2015-09-07
My place at the table I am unsure of what I am feeling. Could this be what culture shock feels like? That every time one of these people with whom I live, open their mouths, I sit there with my hands in my lap, with nothing to say, no way of saying it. We went...
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Uncertainty
Jose Francisco Esquer Jr.
2015-09-07
Uncertainty In this moment the world beyond seems of distant happening. Reality slowly seeps into the now. All ideas, all thoughts, all preconceptions about what I know will be challenged and tried. In a few weeks’ time my life as I know it will change. I welcome this experience and I have chosen to embrace...
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Tocando El Cielo
Gabriella Westcott
2015-09-06
Hola mis amigos! I am in the midst of finishing up another written blog. While you wait, here are some of my favorite pictures I have captured so far. Just as a reminder, I arrived in Quito the 27th and will be staying here until Sept. 19 for In Country Training (ICO) which involves language...
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Through the Looking-Glass
Bennett Donine
2015-09-05
August 19, 2015 I have pondered for quite some time, the notion that someday I will travel far away from the place I have lived my entire life. I assure you, finding out where has been a long sought imaginative prowl. Today I reach toward a newer and richer experience. Bringing a new light...
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Feliz viernes!
Noah Hapke
2015-09-04
Or, in English, happy Friday! I can’t believe I’ve only been in Quito for a week. Maybe it’s because of this Ecua-time. I live on the hustle-bustle street of Av. Américan, which lies right in the heart of Quito. Every morning I wake up to a slight pollo singing faintly in the distance, just for...
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