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
![](https://blog.globalcitizenyear.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/191.jpg)
A Day in Mai (My) Life
Mai Lee
2013-02-27
Here is a glimpse into my typical day: 7:00 AM Phone alarm goes off but I remain in bed 7:30 AM I roll out of bed and take a shower, eat my breakfast, try to look decent, etc. etc. 8:15 AM I am off to work at the local preschool, Jardin d’Enfant Soeur Marie Agathe...
Read More![](https://blog.globalcitizenyear.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/1931.jpg)
Pretentious Prissies
Mai Lee
2013-02-27
The day before I left Dakar, I stopped by the local supermarket for some last minute shopping to buy what I “needed” to bring to the village, my home for the next six months. I placed that word in quotations because my “needs” differ so much from those of the villagers. At Casino, the supermarket,...
Read More![](https://blog.globalcitizenyear.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Senegal-A-perfect-sky-in-Gandiol1-e1363045484441.jpg)
My Bird Story
Mai Lee
2013-02-27
About a week ago at my homestay in Palmarin, Senegal, a small yellow bird probably made one of the worst decisions of its life. This little fellow flew into my house, perhaps out of curiosity, only to be captured by my little siblings. When my 11-year-old sister caught it in mid-flight, my initial thought was,...
Read More![](https://blog.globalcitizenyear.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Looking-over-Dakar1.jpg)
Zoo Animals
Mai Lee
2013-02-27
Every passerby stares. Even a brief passing calls for double takes, especially with groups of children. Staring. Gawking. Examining. Even through my shades, my eyes alternate between looking straight ahead and a random object that I suddenly find oh-so-interesting. My hand adjusts its grip on my bag strap and I continue forward. Is there anything...
Read More![](https://blog.globalcitizenyear.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/beauty.jpg)
An Ugly Perspective on Beauty
Claire Amsden
2013-02-27
I walk into the small beauty boutique with my sister and as she starts to bargain with the storekeeper for better prices my mind begins to wander. I look around, and I start comparing this store to beauty shops back home. I’m not talking about the differences like concrete floor to impressive sparkling tiles or...
Read More![](https://blog.globalcitizenyear.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/clothes-line-goree2.jpeg)
The Girl Double Effect
Jay Choi
2013-02-27
Senegalese girls are very strong—both physically and mentally. Every morning before school, my thirteen-year-old sister Saly does a good amount of chores—whether it be running errands for her mother to buy twenty cents’ worth of baguette and powdered milk from a boutique (shop) for my breakfast, or sweeping a dirt-covered cement porch to smoothness. She...
Read More![](https://blog.globalcitizenyear.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/002.jpg)
Camera Shy?
Jordan Ricker
2013-02-26
When I first got to site in Mboro, almost five months ago now, my 12-year old sister was totally OK with me taking pictures of her. She even took my iPad and took pictures of herself with it. However, as I’ve spent more time here, and as she had her 12th birthday in October, she...
Read More![](https://blog.globalcitizenyear.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Senegal-A-perfect-sky-in-Gandiol.jpg)
To The Moon
Emily Collins
2013-02-26
In the 1950’s, a radio show came out to inspire Americans in a time of uncertainty. “This I Believe” has currently been reawakened, and even brought into the form of a book. People from all across the United States can write about all forms of love they have possessed in their lives. I was smart...
Read More![](https://blog.globalcitizenyear.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/025.jpg)
Hot Soup with a Face
Tasha Torres
2013-02-26
The love of food is shared by everyone all around the world. The choice of food though, depends on location. You can find people that eat horse, dolphin, spiders, pigs, cows, goats etc. You might even find a dog lover or two. People have their preferences, I know I have mine. Before I came to...
Read More![](https://blog.globalcitizenyear.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/IMG_7235.jpg)
Waking Up Again
Ariel Vardy
2013-02-13
Maybe it’s a sleeping kick from her sister, lying in the same small bed that wakes her up. Whatever it is, maybe a knock on the door from her mom, She wakes up at about Seven a clock. Having no blanket, her consciousness comes with an immediate and sharp awareness of the harsh, cold temperature....
Read More![](https://blog.globalcitizenyear.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/18127_533637999998496_793755502_n.jpg)
Bricks by Bricks
Alison Rivera
2013-02-11
I remember when Mom bought property; what it meant for the family…new start, a promise, the beginning of something better. The house was just missing paint, and it was completed… ready for our arrival. I also remember five months ago, how I hated the sight of cement buildings with no doors or installed windows no...
Read More![](https://blog.globalcitizenyear.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/DSCF2997.jpg)
Re-thinking “Poverty”
Jordan Ricker
2013-02-11
I have now spent over one hundred and fifty straight days in Senegal, a country that the World Bank defines as “developing.”* That’s quite a change from spending the last eighteen years of my life having only lived in or visited “developed countries.” Passing this hundred and fifty days mark, I have also passed the...
Read More