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
Sheep instead of turkies
Gaya Morris
2009-12-18
Earlier last week I believe I reached an important turning point in my homestay experience: I was allowed to do dishes! It has been a long month of sitting on the highest, softest chair and watching; having the choisest morsels of ceebujen into my corner of the bowl; being allowed to stir the pot but...
Read MoreSenegalese just want to work – Alec Yeh
Alec Yeh
2009-12-17
This post by Fellow, Alec Yeh has been Cross-posted from the Current TV News blog. Q: What are your first impressions? Things here are incredibly different, even from Dakar [the capital]. Being in the village is just a lot more downtime. Things seem to move at a slower pace, and it isn’t a bad thing...
Read MoreTabaski
Mathew Davis
2009-12-13
Tabaski is most important holiday in the Muslim community. The reason for celebrating Tabaski comes from the Koran when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as a test of his faith. Abraham took Ishmael to the top of Mount Kaba and was blindfolded. Before he could sacrifice his son, the angel Gabriel snatched...
Read MoreThe Giche
Mathew Davis
2009-12-13
The Giche. The words African and American have never carried so much weight as they did while I was on Goree Island. When I was in Dakar, I went to Goree alone because I knew that it would be a special experience for me and I knew that the fellows would respect that. I took...
Read MoreLast week in the city
Mathew Davis
2009-12-11
Due to complications with my rural home stay I was able to stay in Dakar for another week. It was fine and I was willing to wait for my for home stay because I loved Dakar. Right after I got the news from Rachel I planned my week out. First thing I did was get in touch with my friend Mike, who...
Read MoreIt’s a Party
Ananda Day
2009-12-11
Well to say the least, chickens are no big deal. I mean really, they are small, equivalent to a soccer ball. You could even kick them if you really wanted to. Rams are really not small, and I’m sure that if you kicked one, that it would kick you back, with sure damage being done....
Read Morea domesticated girl, that’s all you ask of me
Victoria Tran-Trinh
2009-12-06
Before I left Boston, my mother warned me not to argue with people if I disagreed with their cultural beliefs. It’s better to bite my tongue, she said, to avoid creating problems for myself. Before in-country arrival, GCY gave us instructions to steer clear of discussing controversial topics with our host families and newfound friends....
Read MoreA small dose of America
Gaya Morris
2009-12-06
Off in search of a pot of jam (to add some fruit to my diet), some face wash (to remedy the annoying spots due to an excess of oil in Senegalese cooking that tend to provoke the question: did a mosquito bite your face?) and some interesting candy (to bring home to every person who...
Read MoreLegos
Ananda Day
2009-12-06
When I first arrived in my new family, all I had to go off of were first impressions. In my head I tried to decide how I would describe these people who I would live with for the next six months, both to myself and to others. So that is what I did, I described...
Read MoreNo Tudd?
Hilary Brown
2009-11-25
I recently started one of my apprenticeships at Sebikotane’s Poste de Sante. For the World Day of Diabetes the health center set up a week of free testing for all the people of Sebikotane and the surrounding communities. My job was to write the names, ages, neighborhoods and blood sugar levels of the people being...
Read MoreBeyond Turtles
Ananda Day
2009-11-23
Up until this point it’s been all about turtles. French turtle vocabulary, cleaning, feeding, and picking up after turtles, turtle facts (Sulcatar turtles can grow up to 100 kilos and 150 years old), and even a turtle shirt with the eleven specials of Senegalese turtles on it. This past week I finally saw more than...
Read MoreMMM…Chicken
Ananda Day
2009-11-23
The book Heat by Bill Buford is about his culinary education as he runs through an intense number of first class culinary jobs. He was first an understudy at Mario Batali’s Babbo, then a pasta student in Italy, and finally shadowing arguably the most famous butcher in the word, Dario Cecchini. This past Saturday I...
Read More