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
Dry heat to Humid Heat
Erik Oline
2017-09-05
9-4-17 Theis, Senegal. Let’s go back…… I arrived at Stanford University for the orientation last Sunday. Between now and then a lot has happened. The orientation week (or Global Launch) was very busy, there are about 140 “fellows” in total, but only 23 of us are in the Senegal Cohort (we are the elite cohort...
Read MoreThe Beginning
Isabelle Johnson
2017-09-01
Packing up my life into a few bags and leaving home (yet again) was not as easy as it had been four years ago. When I was 15, I felt more then ready to leave home. I rushed through goodbyes and swallowed the salty tears almost effortlessly. I craved adventure…and was lucky enough to have...
Read MoreWhy everybody can be a leader
Sophie Schonbach
2017-09-01
I believe for one to join a program such as Global Citizen Year it takes a rather cheesy, naive and idealistic dreamer. It takes someone who is looking beyond their horizon with an indescribable curiosity to listen to the stories that humans as equal as ourselves are telling every day around the globe. It takes...
Read MoreAugust 27th
Katie Dodge
2017-08-31
Hello! I wanted to do a quick explanation before I started the actual blog post. I’m currently at Stanford, where I will be for the next two days until I fly to Dakar. I wrote most of this on the plane from Seattle to San Francisco, but because I take forever to articulate my words,...
Read MoreWhy Fear is Good
Sarah Candee
2017-08-28
The last time I flew into SFO I held the hand of a strange woman during takeoff; I feared flying alone. Now, less than two years later, I’m on a flight to SFO again and the two seats beside me are empty. My fear today is different. My fear is not of a rough flight...
Read MoreOn Preconceptions
Elise Leise
2017-08-26
She grasped a stick of honey in her fingers, carefully, as if handling a precious possession. “Here,” she said. “I want you to have it.” Five years old, she stood in front of me, serious, dark hair brushing her shoulders. She didn’t have that much to spare, her family didn’t have a lot to get...
Read MoreThose Blue Moving Carts
Ebunoluwa Akinbode
2017-08-25
My culture, as well as GCY, contains a huge element of storytelling, so I’m going to share a story with you guys. First let’s set the scene: I’m lying on my bed flipping through my senior yearbook. I’m on the phone with my sister Ewa, and contemplating my upcoming graduation. It’s dark outside which means...
Read MoreJe suis prêt!
Tiffany Hurtado
2017-08-24
So now that I’m done with high school, everyone asks me what’s next. I guess the obvious answer would be going to University, yet people are constantly surprised by my plans, which is often followed by the question ‘But why are you going to Senegal?’. And every time someone asks me this question I give...
Read MoreLes ailes de poulet
Avinash Jagroo
2017-08-22
The real inspiration behind my decision to take a bridge year lies in a tiny classroom at Clear Brook High School in Friendswood Texas. Half way down the foreign language corridor is Madame Chavez’ French classroom, where I soon learned is where any hope of dwelling in ignorance and kicking back in a blow off...
Read MoreONE MORE WEEK
Ashtin Laurion
2017-08-21
ONE MORE WEEK!!!!! One more week till I depart on a lifetime experience that will be part of me forever! As you all know I will be traveling to Senegal, Africa for the next 8 months! I’m beyond pumped for this adventure and I can’t say thank you enough to everyone who supported me on...
Read MoreBlog Entry 1
Isabel Munoz Beaulieu
2017-08-21
Not so long ago I was reading a magazine and encountered a quote which read: “Real choices require courage”; I ripped the whole page off, grabbed some tape and put it on my wall. At that time, I didn’t really think much about it, I just liked how it looked in my room. However, now...
Read MoreUna -no tan- carta a mi misma
Julieta Lechini
2017-08-17
Mi vida parece cambiar drásticamente de un momento a otro. Donde estoy y que hago. Y hasta quien soy. Las cartas para uno mismo deberían ser leídas por uno luego de un tiempo, para ver cambios y enorgullecerse o no de ellos. Para presentarme y para luego recordarme, decidí escrbir una y compartirla con ustedes....
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