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
The Way Things Change
Alisa Nelson
2014-12-02
I was in Lome, Togo trying to catch a taxi. My family and I were there for the weekend during spring break and we had gotten lost looking for our hotel. My dad was attempting to use his non-existent Haitian Creole to talk to people, and I was nervously trying to make myself understood in...
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Joal
Elizabeth Schmidt
2014-12-02
I have now been in country for two months and I have made the switch to my final host stay. Although I am going to miss my family in Dakar, I definitely feel like I left off in the best possible way. My two older brother had become some of my best friends, my uncles...
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My Rocky Stream of Consciousness
Elston Tortuga
2014-11-24
Writing used to come easily to me. It does now too; my swiftly improving cursive speaks for itself, but the polished creative writing and analytical essays I used to turn out for Lit & Comp feel out of reach. I suppose the ease resulted from a lacking of qualms when it came to embellishing; stories...
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Kurt Vonnegut is a Genius
Diego Ramos-Meyer
2014-11-24
In a collection of his infamous graduation speeches (found after the previous Fellow Eli left it in my house), there are a few things that stand out about Vonnegut’s brief, insightful, words. He chooses a different theme and moral for each speech, but they always have the same recurring stories to illustrate that theme. One...
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Senegalese Respect
Diego Ramos-Meyer
2014-11-24
I never should have made that French toast. I had missed cooking and American food so badly that I’d spontaneously decided to buy dehydrated milk, eggs, bread, and oil and managed to prepare a half-decent “dinner,” that sweet, thick, crispy dish I used to make every Sunday morning after a late night. Matar, my 26-year-old...
Read More 6. Mango Tree Revelations
Sophia Richter
2014-11-21
When I first arrived in Thiadiaye in the beginning of October, everything was new and fresh and begging for my attention. Yaay would take me to the Luma (the farmers’ market of Senegal) and every basket was full of vegetables, every table laden with fresh fish, every tent offering colorful cloth, and beautiful jewelry, and...
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Losing “They”, Living “We”, Becoming Me
Alice Brower
2014-11-21
This blog first appeared on the Everyday Ambassador Blog as a part of Wednesday Wisdom. “Everyday Ambassador is a network of global citizens who believe that human connection, even in an increasingly digital world, is the key to lasting, positive social change. Everyday Ambassador visions a world in which all travelers and volunteers approach the...
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In Need of Grace
Alice Brower
2014-11-21
A small cloud of hot sand followed my swift steps as I walked home from teaching preschool. As I reached my gate I saw sema yaay (my mother in Wolof) regally dressed in a vibrant pink and blue boubou sitting below our lemon tree in her plastic lawn chair. As I approached her, my shoulders...
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In Constant Bloom
Aiman Ahmad Marzio
2014-11-14
November 9th, 2014 Before embarking on this bridge year, I was excited to live in a different country and immerse myself in a different culture. These were reasonably simple steps to take… I just hadn’t realized what a world of learning I was opening myself up to. I thought culture is lettoo (getting my hair...
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Mangi Fi
Olivia Orosco
2014-11-14
Momma, I am still here waiting for something profound to happen. To be enlightened, hit with an epiphany, struck by my life’s purpose. So far, the only things I’ve been struck by are rogue soccer balls and disoriented grasshoppers. But I don’t think this “something profound” I await will happen like that. Maybe, probably, I...
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Culture ShOctober
Grace Mannix
2014-11-14
I’m at a loss for words. Even with all of these internal and external changes happening, I’ve been struggling with what to write a blog about. My goal is to write at least one blog per month. I started off strong in September, but October has proven to be more of a challenge, both for...
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October in Threes
Alisa Nelson
2014-11-03
Describing my last month in segments of three. 3 THINGS I DO EVERDAY Drink Coffee. I hate coffee. More accurately, I hated it. I drink it every morning at breakfast, and while my favorite part is still the powdered milk that clumps at the bottom, I’m getting used to it. Measure the Wind Speed and...
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