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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Sodoku?!
Alec Yeh
2009-10-07
It’s weird to think that so many things in Senegal and so many things in the US are actually quite similar. I ordered just a simple omelette for lunch; essentially a fried egg. It’s weird to think when you order a fried egg anywhere, a fried egg will always be a fried egg. You can’t...
Read MoreDrunk Puppy?
Alec Yeh
2009-10-07
I was in some basement that I’ve never been in. There was a red cup of some clear liquid in front of me, and a puppy on the ground. It was an adorable puppy; brown with white spots. I didn’t know what the cup was full of, but the puppy spilled it over, and started...
Read MoreOut on A Different Boardwalk
Ananda Day
2009-10-06
Under the boardwalk, out of the sun Under the boardwalk, we’ll be havin’ some fun, Under the boardwalk, we’ll be fallin in love. As the sun beat down today, lifting moisture into the air and slowly boiling us, Gaya, Matt, our guide Adama, and I walked along the boardwalks of Dakar… and by that I...
Read MoreFood, Family, and Witch Doctor?
Alec Yeh
2009-10-06
Today was our culture orientation, and wowee, did we learn a lot. So many new ideas, new concepts, new values, just a whole different way of life that I find so fascinating. We began with food and lunch. So first off, much of the time Senegalese eat on the floor with a huge communal bowl....
Read MoreMeet the Thiaws
Alec Yeh
2009-10-06
We were finally introduced and dropped off at our homestays today. My family are the Thiaw’s (pronounced Chaw). They’re extremely extremely nice. The home is quite big. I get my own room, with my own bathroom! It’s a pretty nice set up I’ll admit. It’s quite hot, since the house doesn’t have much circulation. I...
Read MoreFirst day in my new home!
Gaya Morris
2009-10-05
Bonjour! I find myself now in a cyber not too far from my new home in Mermoz, a neighborhood of Dakar across the VDN highway from the Baobab language school in SICAP baobab. Amongst the usual street noises through the open door I can hear singing, a sort of chanting coming from a small group...
Read MoreCulture Shock?
Hilary Brown
2009-10-05
When the other fellows and I arrived in Dakar four days ago I had no expectations other than being over whelmed. Having never been to Africa I knew I would never have been able to imagine things such as the level of humidity and heat or the sheep that look like goats grazing in the...
Read MoreDesole, I thought you were Senegalese!
Mathew Davis
2009-10-04
As everyone I have ever come into contact with knows I like to talk. I love to have discourse about things of substance. I know there are different forms of communication but it pains me to not be able to speak French or Wolof. I have so many questions. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy...
Read Moredancing barefoot, heading for a spin
Victoria Tran-Trinh
2009-10-04
So.. my plans to write more frequent blogposts didn’t come to fruition. Obviously. I had every intention to update my blog, but the U.S. Training Institute was such a constant whirlwind of activity. Any and all free time that we Fellows had was devoted to reflecting, talking and just catching our breaths. True, some of...
Read MoreNeighborhood Sortie
Alec Yeh
2009-10-04
I couldn’t sleep last night. The terror of not being able to communicate with the Senegalese, the fear of being alone, kept me up most of the night. I woke up at 2:30 in the morning and didn’t sleep the rest of the night. Perhaps it was the jet-lag. Who knows. But I couldn’t stop...
Read MoreA Smattering Of First Day Moments
Ananda Day
2009-10-03
October 3, 5pm. By the way, the theme song for this year’s GCY fellows was decidedly Cat Stevens’ Wild World. Sweet sweet song. Hmms. So a quick recap of the world as is, and has been for about a day. I got a red hard cover moleskin in the airport because I think I’ll run...
Read MoreFamiliar First Impressions
Gaya Morris
2009-10-03
(Here is a journal entry i wrote yesterday morning. The “quartier” we are in is in fact called “SICAP rue 10.” I am able to post this blog thanks to the amazing persistence of Ananda who managed to find a internet connection at about three feet off the ground in the doorway in between the...
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