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
By April
Anita Yan Chen
2016-01-13
By April, I will have received a new name. I don’t know what it will be, but I know that person who awaits me on the other side of this journey, will be vastly different, a leveled up version of me. More resilient, more prone to laughter, more accepting of herself and of what she doesn’t...
Read MoreLil’ T
Anita Yan Chen
2016-01-13
Until a few weeks ago, I had three host sisters. But one weekend, Nene, after a visit to nearby Guinea, had a little 5-year-old clinging to her side. She was introduced to me as my tokora, one who has the same name. And like that, a little sister was added to my ever-growing family. DAY...
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Rapid Roll
Anita Yan Chen
2016-01-13
Upon our arrival in Dakar back in September, the Senegal fellows and I were all issued cellphones. These babies were OG Nokias – the indestructible, would-survive-the-apocalypse type. Besides being useful for texting messages to our fellow fellows, (letter by letter on the numeric keypad) things like: “ok u wouldn’t believe where i just found an...
Read MoreCat Hunting
Ruby MacMillan
2016-01-13
My host family likes to shoot cats with guns. Okay, maybe I can rephrase that since they’ve never actually hit one- my host family likes to shoot at cats with guns. For whatever reason, each time this happens I am in my hut or in the garden behind it reading, taking a bath, or simply...
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Who do you want to become?
Brooke Donner
2016-01-12
After receiving answers like “teacher,” “nurse,” and “soldier,” Mr. Sall turned to me and asked, “What do you want to become in the future?” As I looked out at the classroom full of 13 year old students, my mind flickered to the list of college majors I’ve been poring over, diligently noting which pre-requisite and...
Read MoreA Change in Seasons
Janet Sebastian-Coleman
2016-01-10
Since the beginning of my homestay in Ibel the landscape around me has shifted and changed almost every week. In this video I sought to capture a brief glimpse the beauty of both the rainy season, dry season, and the transition between the two. https://vimeo.com/151280174
Read MoreSenegal 2016 Fellows Video
Janet Sebastian-Coleman
2016-01-09
A video of appreciation for my fellow fellows, it wouldn't be the same without them. https://vimeo.com/151225163
Read MoreA Day in the Life
Janet Sebastian-Coleman
2016-01-09
Mid-December: My dream fades and I am aware I am laying down, tangled up in sheets and wrap skirts; the morning has arrived. A silver light frames my closed window and a soft breeze sneaks beneath my door and ripples the curtain. I adjust the sweatshirt that serves as my pillow and wonder at the time, could I close...
Read MoreLooking Back, Thinking Forward
Allison Douma
2016-01-09
Sometimes I like to think back to what I was doing this time a year ago. This time last year I was starting my second semester of my senior year and gearing up for a rocky college process, that would leave me hopeless with dwindling confidence. After I got told I wasn’t good enough to...
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Becoming an adult is probably the dumbest thing you could ever do.
Jackson Harris
2015-12-23
Written on December 23, 2015 On Blossoming into a Beautiful Young Man It’s pretty fitting that my birthday gift was The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes, 250 pages that whisked me back to childhood evenings spent leaning over Calvin and his furry best friend at the dining room table, staining the pages with spaghetti sauce....
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A Reminder
Ruby MacMillan
2015-12-20
In the southernmost reaches of Senegal, there sits a village known as Thianghe. Here, amidst a rough estimate of thirteen hundred others, lives a girl known as Hawa Diallo. She’s a toubab, or foreigner, and this she rarely forgets. She also has another name, yet this she often forgets. However, when it comes time to...
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