Fellow Stories
True gap year stories from Fellows abroad!
Check out the latest blogs from Global Citizen Year Fellows in Brazil, Ecuador, and India!
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Class Year
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"If it’s different, is it wrong?"
Jovana Jovanovska
2018-11-28
I was born in a multi ethnic community. At an early age I was exposed to different cultures, languages and religions. Amongst that, many times I’ve also experienced tensions and a lack of tolerance for “the other groups”. I was born in a region where schools are still divided in terms of different ethnicities and...
Read MoreA reality check
Sophia Alfaro
2018-11-28
I came in like a sparkler: bright, fun, and shooting embers in every direction. Now, I’ve burnt out. I’ve been held mid-air, slowly disintegrating, becoming smaller and less explosive. I am no longer reacting, no longer on fire. With nothing left to spark, to light, I have been left behind on the ground, a stick...
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Lighting Up Diwali!
Leonie Tollefson
2018-11-18
Diwali is the festival of light, and easily one of the biggest celebrations of the year in India. It celebrates the triumph of good versus evil, and it is essentially the Indian Christmas, or in some parts of India, the new year. It’s 5 days, starting on the 5th of November. I had nearly a...
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Answers
Faith Anderson
2018-11-09
I journalist for my high school’s news paper reached out to me to answer questions about my gap year. I’d like to share my answers as they share a lot about my experiences so far:)
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On teaching
Joana Mouzinho
2018-11-06
On teaching (title unapologetically inspired by Joan Didion’s “On self-respect”) The value of education lies in the fact that it is as transformative to the educator as it is for the one receiving education: It is mutual. From what I have grown to know about the world, I understand that age is a number people...
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A Learning Curve
Leonie Tollefson
2018-10-24
I’ve spent the past several days trying to think of adjectives to describe my apprenticeship experience so far, and I can only think of one simple one: crazy. For the last month and a half, I have been waking up at 6 AM to hail a rickshaw to my government school 25 minutes away, where...
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A Weekend in the Village
Khalil Laltoo
2018-10-22
I originally intended to write a poem about this experience, but sometimes poetry can be a bit strenuous. If a journal entry is like a window into someone’s life, then a poetry is like a prism. Disconnected events, colors, feelings, and fleeting moments are condensed into a single ray. Two days ago I arrived in...
Read MoreA Potential Reality: Gaining More Than I Give
Jaime Givens
2018-10-19
I was in a Tufts 1+4 orientation session when I scribbled down the phrase that “success can be more abstract.” I scribbled this phrase into my notebook after I asked a question about the potential guilt that will accompany gaining more from my gap year than the community I will be working with. One peer...
Read More*Tch*
Sophia Alfaro
2018-10-17
*Tch* Szo-Fi-Yahh. That’s the sound of whenever my host mom is disappointed or annoyed in something I did or didn’t do. One thing that I’ve loved about my host family is how immediately welcoming they are. How accepting they were and how respectful it was of them to allow me to serve myself however much...
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So, How’s India So Far?
Elizabeth Farrell
2018-10-14
The view beside my school one morning before work “I just realized I have not been on this good earth for so long..” something my host sister said in response to finding out I was born in 1999 the first time we hung out together. This statement of hers encapsulates exactly how I felt the...
Read MoreA last minute change
Ndenda Mutsaku
2018-10-05
English When you take a gap year you know it will be full of surprises, but you never know when the first one will come. My first challenge and big surprise was sooner than I could have imagined. Because of visa issues, I had to change country. I was no going to India anymore I...
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Back to School…
Gema Benavides Jimenez
2018-10-03
At all times, First Days of school are worth remembering. Without a doubt, I’ll say that the one at Sant Tukaram School in Pune has definitely been the most overwhelming of them all. Like in every first day of school, the moment you step a foot in the school, all eyes are on you —...
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