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
First.
Holt Mettee
2017-02-08
My host sister knocks on my door and hands me a glass of pale pink-ish orange-ish juice (the same color as the house, my bedroom walls a few shades paler), says “I like you” and walks away. My new name is Aida. My bed sheets are purple with printed flowers. My host brother watches French...
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From Tivaouane to Dougnane
Gloria Kirk
2017-02-08
Returning from a trip into the city on a horse cart. My favorite way to meet people and practice Laalaa. Click below to have a listen!
Read MoreA Disclaimer
Thea Holcomb
2017-02-08
If you ask me right now how I am doing in Senegal, or this spring, if you ask me, “how was Senegal?” I’ll tell you about how it’s been a wonderful experience, thanks to an astonishingly generous scholarship, and I’ve grown so much, and how it’s also been incredibly challenging. If you pry a bit...
Read MoreFor words only go so far
Karina Lisboa Båsund
2017-02-05
I’ve written countless blog entries, yet I’ve posted none, and there’s a simple reason why. I can’t do just to my experiences by the use of words only, or any other form of media. I can tell you a story from my life, but in the end, it will only be a story based on...
Read MoreI am alive!
Fernanda Savaris Nunes
2017-02-02
Hi. I know I haven’t written as many blog posts as I said I would. In fact, I know I haven’t written any since that short introduction about why I am here. The truth is that, for months, I forgot why I was here. Fortunately, days come and go, smiles close to open again,...
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Teranga
Jasen Lo
2017-02-01
Teranga – best translated into English as hospitality – is a quintessential element of Senegalese society. The word is painted with the same enthusiasm and gravity as religious sayings (and oh are there many) on the sides of public buses and the walls of restaurants and inns. Teranga is everywhere and instilled in everyone. If...
Read MoreTry to Praise the Mutilated World
Thea Holcomb
2017-01-24
“…Praise the mutilated world and the gray feather a thrush lost, and the gentle light that strays and vanishes and returns.” -Adam Zagajewski, Try to Praise the Mutilated World One day, you think of the News, and you realize that you no longer feel your heart race, your breath run shallow, and your eyes...
Read MoreSmall Acts of Kindness
Mariana Ossa
2017-01-18
Ever since arriving to my homestay in Dindefelo, I’ve been consistently surprised by the kindness and warmth of my community. At the beginning of my stay I remember thinking to myself that their kindness was just because they felt obligated to make me, the newcomer, feel welcomed and comfortable. But in reality as time goes...
Read MoreAttaya
Sidney Stevens
2017-01-18
Abdul comes running down Mako’s main road, swinging a clumsy haze of flying ashes and embers. In a hurry to get back to his friends’ soccer game, he sets the little stove down at an angle beside me, and hot charcoal tumbles out. Eight years old, Abdul does not hesitate to scoop up the live...
Read MoreA Little Peek
Isabel Najjar
2017-01-18
Hey friends! Here’s a little peek into what I’ve been up to lately. Before I arrived, it was so hard to imagine what life would look like here, and I imagine a lot of you back home feel the same way. Hopefully these pictures and my notes can help to shed a little light. ...
Read MoreBridge Years are Actually Exactly like Guitar Hero
Delaney McKinley
2017-01-18
Have you ever played Guitar Hero? I have, and I’m really bad at it. Really, really pathetically bad. Even on the easiest level, I somehow miss 98% of the beats and always find myself just a couple beats behind. My brother, the musical mastermind in the family, perfected every song within a month of having...
Read MoreWolof Information
Kyle Healy
2017-01-18
So, before all of these blogs are posted in chronological order, I would like to give readers some contextual information on Senegalese culture and the language of Wolof. Wolof, originally being a spoken language, has caused many misunderstandings in the short four months that I have been here. For example, the word for “to come”...
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