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
Vagringa / Varinga / Vaginga
Charlotte Reider-Smith
2015-01-06
The white jersey dribbles down the field, to the right, where in some fast-paced seconds, she steals the ball and places it on the feet of a colored shirt 20 meters down the field. They cheer and holler, the crowd of ten or so. Que rico estÌÁ la noche, the night time air. For the...
Read MoreThe Meaning of Panic and Gratitude
100dragonflyz@gmail.com
2015-01-02
To explain my moment of sheer panic I must first go back in time. To a time when I was naive and much younger. To a time that I hate remembering. To a time that brings me unbearable pain to think about. In 2011 I lost someone very important to me, my first love. This...
Read MoreTumor
Lucas Weber
2014-12-23
Some times you think to yourself…life sucks. And most of the time you’re right. The other day my mom asked me if I wanted to go around Quito and visit the terminally ill. How could I say no? I was under the impression that we would be visiting a hospital in Quito, my parents are...
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No, Americans Don’t Have All The Answers
Elias Smolcic-Larson
2014-12-20
I have now been in my community for more than a month and I am still searching for a place in an area not used to seeing many foreigners. I continue struggling to make new friends my age (I am experiencing a similar situation that Sara, a team leader, experienced in her time doing research...
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Three Embellished Legends of Imbabura
Jessica Chai
2014-12-19
Disclaimer: Stories hold to the original legend, but ample artistic license taken! 1. The avaricious due̱o oråÊThe Origin of the Lake of San Pablo The lake of San Pablo did not always exist in the land of many lakes. No, where San Pablo rests today there used to be dust that only reflected the footsteps...
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In the Land of Possibility
Jane Tobias
2014-12-18
I enter a driveway shaded by the tangled jungle canopy. I take in a deep breath of the cool air, and feel relieved to have escaped the heavy, tropical heat. A layer of green moss blankets the trees and clings to the stone pathway. Ferns and bromeliads grow on either side and the breeze carries...
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Weekend Update with John Spence
John Spence
2014-12-18
*** As you’re reading this, know that it was written at the beginning of October – the beginning of my time in my community and a difficult transition period best described as a whirlwind of emotions. You’re reading it two months after the fact because of my incompetencies operating this website. It’s not the...
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Gettin’ Her Done
John Spence
2014-12-17
***Again due to my ineptitude on this website, this blog was written around mid November, so you’re reading it about a month after it was written. I won’t lie. High school was pretty darn difficult for me. The school year was always a befuddling blitzkrieg of things to do, and after four years I...
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Since August
Clarissa Bury
2014-12-12
The three months I have been in Ecuador have been full of adventures . In Quito I stayed with a sweet old lady and spent my days squishing myself onto the buses and developing my leg muscles tackling the hill between Spanish classes and Global Citizen Year lectures. I went to an Ecuadorian soccer game,...
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Cañar
Irie Ewers
2014-12-12
“We are one with our environment. The boundary between our bodies and our environments is not just permeable, but a blur of movement as components from Earth, Air, Water and Fire cycle through us. We partake of, and contribute to, the hydrological cycle, atmospheric circulation, the nutrient cycle and the mineral cycle. We embody, and...
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Life Goes On
Elizabeth O'Malley
2014-12-09
Recently a family member back in the US passed away. It wasn’t someone I was close with, or had even seen in years. He was old and sick; for some reason this death affected me more than I would have expected. I got the news over a Facebook message. It didn’t hit me right away....
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Powdered Milk & Apple Spice Incense
Ava Rofougaran
2014-12-09
At home, it’s common to encounter little inconveniences like running out of milk or an early wake up call on Saturday morning to the voice of NPR’s Scott Simon. It is not common, however, to lose your temper and chuck the empty milk carton at the refrigerator; to storm downstairs in a state of utter...
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