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
Country
Why I’m Such a Bus Advocate
Sunghoon Kwak
2017-09-25
Last year, my main mode of relaxation was driving to some of my favorite music. I would plug in my phone, turn the volume knob up to a comfortable position, and cruise down the highway everyday to school. This year, it's not much different. I find myself racing down the bumpy roads of Pune, but...
Read MoreNo fear
Sy Richardson Dragon
2017-09-23
I swear I thought it was a gun shot. But then I saw the orange sparks against the dark sky. Fire crackers. Ignited for me. I got out of the car and was welcomed by my sister Saroja. Eager to see my new home I left my chapals at the door and walked inside. A...
Read MoreStuck between two monkey bars
Ayla Blair-Smith
2017-09-23
Monkey bars were one of my favourite things at park as a child. Swinging from one bar to another. Though occasionally I was caught in between two bars, sweaty hands, slowly slipping, you know how it goes. It was in these moments that I was afraid to let go of the bar behind me and...
Read MoreSaved by Sheer Luck
Soraya Waller
2017-09-19
I’ve had a lot of adventures in the past few weeks. Things that make good stories. Things that probably would have made good blog posts. But whenever I sat down to write something up, I realized I wasn’t inspired to share these stories. After two weeks in India, I began to wonder if that was...
Read MoreBitter Discourses
Isabel Hallock
2017-09-18
The first day I arrived in my host family, my grandmother me an old book called Bitter Discourses. It smelled of curry and old dust, but she said it was one of her most sacred books, and to not damage it, or specifically, put it on the floor. As I began reading, one of the...
Read Moresydney scanlon
Sydney Scanlon
2017-09-09
I stand here as a daughter Young, ripe, and sweet as clementines’ Dripping sticky down your hand I am a sister Calloused as the camels’ back Grown rough to pinches, teases, and taunts A lover Sometimes lapping lightly up the shoreline And other times thrown into a feverous riptide Salty, leaving lips parched...
Read MoreGanesh Chaturthi Sept 5
Sy Richardson Dragon
2017-09-07
Have you ever held hands with a stranger. Have you danced on pink sand and shouted into a crowd of red and white and brown. Have you felt the beat of a hundred drums vibrate through your bones. Been consumed in culture. Have you walked across a street full of people and cars and bikes...
Read MoreLiftoff
Sunghoon Kwak
2017-09-04
Awareness. Mindfulness. Accountability. Perspective. Engagement. All words thrown around this week as we tiptoed toward the prospect of being global leaders. We used these words to fuel our curiosity while at a week-long session at Stanford. Used them to ignite the flame within our minds as we prepared to step into the unknown. My adventure...
Read MoreTaking Charge of My Own Learning
Shannon Yang
2017-09-02
“Why are you taking a gap year?” The question would often catch me unprepared, like a storm coming earlier than forecasted. I would often shrug and tell the curious asker that I just needed a little more time, or that I felt burnt out, or that I was young for my grade anyway. Though all...
Read MoreWhen Reality Hits
Glory Jacquat
2017-09-02
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, heard, or even touched, they must be felt with the heart”-Helen Keller. As I write this blog from the bus on the way to SFO, I await the moment where it hits me, the feeling that I am embarking on an incredible journey,...
Read MoreFirst uncertainties
Marta Allegue Souto
2017-09-02
Confusion. भ्रांति Uncertainty about what it is happening. It was a warm August morning. I found myself alone, seated in a plane towards San Francisco airport. A 12 hour-long spiral of emotions overtook me as I saw Europe for the last time. Goodbyes had started feeling normal to me. After attending a UWC school in...
Read MoreJust A Shy Distance
Alexis Floyd
2017-09-02
I have never written a blog, which has made this first post a bit difficult to write, but here I am writing my first blog post. The same blog post that should have been written months ago! One of the hardest thing about writing blogs is finding things that you think that others will actually...
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