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
Whiplash
Elizabeth Schubert
2015-10-13
Driving in India looks like a scene from Fast and Furious, except picture rickshaws everywhere and more cows. There is no such thing as a lane in India; most streets don’t even have lines. One direction of traffic uses 2/3 of the road on their left side, and the other direction uses 2/3 on their...
Read MoreA different dance
Chantal Tonnessen Smeland
2015-09-27
The melody, OUR melody, starts, filling my ears and making my heart skip a beat. I feel a cooling tear run down my red cheek, complementing my slightly skinnier profile. It takes me right back. I stand up, turn off the fan and light, close my eyes and start moving, letting the rhythm take me...
Read MoreGHOST CHILDREN
Indiana Nunez Sharer
2015-09-25
Amongst the city span there are children who seep out of every niche and corner. Silent they are as they approach you with outstretched arms and haunting, wanting eyes. It is not until after that you notice the pitter-patter of their teensy bare feet as they trail along behind you. Pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat. Almost a nonexistent sound yet...
Read MoreTrunk-tied
Elizabeth Schubert
2015-09-25
Today in school (if you don’t know, my apprenticeship is assisting a Teach for India fellow, teaching English and/or History), the teacher read a poem to the class, called “Eletelephony”. Eletelephony By Laura E. Richards Once there was an elephant, Who tried to use the telephant, No! No! I mean an elephone Who...
Read More“Was it my fault?”
Chantal Tonnessen Smeland
2015-09-19
A sound, imaginably similar to platonic collisions, fills the air. The monsoon season illustrates its mighty powers as lightning blinds the eye, and a pool of water falls down from the dark clouds above. The natural powers perfectly illustrate the power dynamics that battle within, and the petrichor the state of mind I find myself...
Read MoreFirst blog post
Timia Pratt
2015-09-02
This is the story of how my life journey has started. I’m some normal city black girl that some how ended up living in China and now India. I literally have 8 months of my life to focus on making connections, learning, roaming, self realizing and just being. This is literally the most ridiculous thing...
Read MoreThe plunge
mimieshleman
2015-08-30
The only thing I can really say is that I am inspired. I am inspired by the dreamers around me and the hope that flutters in all our hearts. It is difficult to explain this feeling, because it is a feeling. It goes way beyond what words can describe. So I guess the only...
Read MoreA New Journey
Mandula Bashu van den Berg
2015-08-29
PROLOGUE Strangers cry in California and I am there, dressed in vibrant red. Knots tie my stomach to my skin, the patio shuffles my bare feet apart. They, we, us, them, she, him, I are leaving. Really now. FIRST CHAPTER In the corner of our stuffy common room, a boy softly plays the piano. People...
Read MoreI just joined a cult….
Chantal Tonnessen Smeland
2015-08-28
Human emotion is a rather peculiar aspect of the species. How we get attached to places and people, what satisfies our deeper desires, and what shreds the already fragile said centre of our emotional being- the heart. I find myself in an anomalous state of mind, as I have been amidst dozens of churches and...
Read MoreBlog Number 2
Jeff Pham
2015-08-28
Sitting here at the airport. Currently in Frankfurt, Germany. Just got off the plane and it’s been 10.5 hours since we sat in that plane. I was really happy in the plane because it’s been so long since I’ve traveled so having a full course meal for the first time on the plane….. its awesome!...
Read MoreProcrastination: A Work in Progress
Alana Poole
2015-08-28
If you already know me, you know that I am one of the biggest procrastinators in the world. This first blog post is due before we get to our countries. So here I am: sitting in the airport, writing this. Impressive, right? Well, over this past week we have been pushed to recognize our strengths...
Read MoreJeff blog
Jeff Pham
2015-08-27
I am sitting here at the lounge room waiting for our departure to the airport. So far the only people remaining in this room are the Indian fellows, staffs, and alumni. A few hours ago Senegal, Brazil, and Ecuador left and the farewells for me, at least was pretty tearful since I won’t be seeing...
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