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
You live and you learn
Ezekiel Alford
2017-10-23
So today was a good experience. They called me tobob because of the color of my palm but if they only know what there brothers and sisters went through when they left there land it would click my hands are white because I’m a product of mixing and breeding so I ask why is that...
Read MoreTubab (“White person”) Findings In Senegal
Shannon Yuen
2017-10-22
Let me take you on a simulation that is somewhat replicative of my first 1.5 months here in Senegal. And in case you do experience culture shock just from reading this and in case you do have trouble choosing your coping mechanism for it, take my advice: an excessively aggressive sense of humor never fails....
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Why Rooftop Yoga Makes Patriotism Hard
Elise Leise
2017-10-17
I fold my legs beneath me, silently stretching my arms up and out to the edge of the periwinkle horizon, where streetlights trace a thin line between city and neverending sky. The half-finished cement buildings create a jigsaw puzzle, cut through with abstract slashes of laundry lines and dirt rectangles of futbol fields. Far below...
Read MoreSocial conventionalism, free will, and Senegal
Shannon Yuen
2017-10-12
The way I see it, too much social conventionalism makes you dumb and that free will is never quite free. (wow preachings from an edgy teen how insightful) But I say this only because I’ve experienced what most people have — realizing that they want from life is clouded by social expectations. So I managed...
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My Courage Is A Bucketful of Dirty Laundry
Elise Leise
2017-10-12
My hands plunge into the bucket of soapy water in search of the next piece of clothing. Grabbing a corner, scrubbing vigorously, I rid the fabric of all the dust smudges, sweat, and rice I tried to eat with my hands but that decorated my shirt instead. The sun hits hot on the nape of my...
Read MoreMonth 1, Theme: Happiness
Isabelle Johnson
2017-10-12
Hello All! The culture shock has subsided, the fog has cleared, and i can finally form semi-rational thoughts about the last 3-4 weeks. It's been an eye-opening, difficult and wonderful adventure. First of all, I am starting to get used to all of the little aspects of life here that are so different compared to...
Read MoreBlog Entry Three
Isabel Munoz Beaulieu
2017-10-12
I’ve been contemplating for a while what to write my next blog about, and I came to the conclusion that pictures speak more than a thousand words, and hence I will show you my first month through them! Life in the village is very chill, and people would often just sit under a tree a...
Read MoreTBH: The First Month(s) of a Bridge Year in Senegal
Wyatt Foster
2017-10-10
October 3, 2017 Anyone remember TBH’s? Talking about them now seems juvenile and trivial, but I remember at one point in middle school getting in a fight with one of my best friends because I didn’t write her a long enough TBH on her Facebook wall (don’t worry we made up love you Grace (:...
Read Morejournal entry #003- it’ll be okay
Stephanie Sanchez-Aguilar
2017-09-28
“Sometimes, the most healing thing we can do is remind ourselves over and over and over… other people feel this too. ” –– Andrea Gibson The hour is 21:30, the muffled voices of my friends are drowned out by the sound of my own beating heart. I float aimlessly in the hotel pool, eyes closed,...
Read MoreA letter to my parents
Avinash Jagroo
2017-09-24
Mum and Dad, Where to start. A measly three weeks here has opened eyes more than I could have ever imagined before. The beauty of this country is mind boggling. Every where I turn there's a goat baobab tree proving shade for dozens of people, people who are smiling at me, greeting me, asking...
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Sama Kër
Katie Dodge
2017-09-23
There is one paved road that runs through Thienaba. Shops and stands line either side, hoping to entice weary travellers with roasted peanuts or watermelon. Motorcycles weave around the trucks and taxis carrying goods and people from town to town. Every now and then a rickety bus will pull over and cram on another person...
Read MoreBlog 2
Ezekiel Alford
2017-09-23
I feel really out of place with my cohort. Besides with a few members. My new family I’m so happy the places me here I bonded so fast with my 5 brothers. They remind me of my friends back at home.
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