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 Adventure Stroller
Talia Katz
2012-07-20
I was raised in the “adventure stroller.” A pink, blue, and green conglomerate of lightweight plastic, it was the vehicle of choice by which my 4’11, volcano climbing, Guatemalan grandma fiercely edged through the crowds of Washington, D.C. to show her first female grandchild life beyond suburbia. While my kindergarten classmates headed to ballet recitals...
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Wanderlust
Jordan Ricker
2012-07-17
I wanted to move. Ever since I was born, I’ve been moving. I’ve never lived in the same house for more than three years of my life – I’ve lived in eleven houses at last count. My dad’s not in the navy, and my mom isn’t an ambassador. They’re divorced, which has led to each...
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An Unboxed Present
Jay Choi
2012-07-17
Hi, my name is Jaeho Choi. I was born and raised in South Korea. What has driven me to take a Global Citizen Year? It’s a difficult question to answer in a simple way. I can easily come up with five decent reasons that are perhaps shared by every equally passionate Fellow: to learn a...
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Adaptability
Kevin Do
2012-07-17
Hi there, I’m Kevin Do. I’ve lived in New Jersey for my entire life, but have been fortunate enough to travel to many different countries, ranging from Thailand and Japan to Australia and Germany. However, while I didn’t get a true cultural experience, I did get snippets of it here and there. These snippets merged...
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My Bridge Year
Becky McClements
2012-07-16
I have known for a while now that I wanted to take a year off between high school and college to do some kind of service, but as the end of this school year approached I had no idea exactly what I wanted to do with my twelve month hiatus from the educational system. That...
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A Life All My Own
Mary Modisette
2012-07-13
For many it’s difficult to pinpoint a moment in time that changed their entire perspective on life. Often it is a series of events and happenings that occur over a period that shape the way one views the world, even if ever so slightly. This is not the case for me. I was thirteen years...
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Dancing in the African Rain
Emma Anderson
2012-07-11
My name is Emma Anderson and my favorite color is blue. Blue like the color my left knee turned after I collided with another player during my last soccer match of high school and tore my ACL and meniscus and fractured my femur the second day of November 2011. Blue like the ocean in Senegal,...
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The Odyssey
Glenn Sherwin
2012-07-10
I can’t say that I have had a “normal’ education, but at this stage in my life I find that it has been one that serves me well. Waldorf schooling, home schooling, bits of college, forays into art schools in California and New York and a NOLS adventure in Mexico have ultimately brought me here....
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Viewing the World as a Whole
Joe Wolf
2012-07-10
My name is Joseph Wolf, and I am an 18-year-old high school graduate from Pine City, Minnesota. I have been heavily involved with school and local government. I was the senior class president, director on the local chamber of commerce, a student representative on the local planning commission, and a volunteer in my community. I...
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The Thrill of Living
Tasha Torres
2012-07-10
It was a big decision for me, choosing to take a year off of college in exchange for the opportunity to study abroad in another country for a year. After overcoming the struggles of applying and getting rejected from numerous colleges, I applied to Global Citizen Year. This was my opportunity to live abroad and...
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Sat Nam
Emily Collins
2012-07-10
Sat Nam; Truth is my identity. A yogi mantra that I discovered in my first session of yoga 5 years ago, unaware of how much value it would hold to me in the future. I have always been one to question the way the world works. Why does society hold certain expectations and how have...
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Marching Into An Unknown World
Allie Wallace
2012-07-10
“After much anticipation, we hope you will be excited learn that you will be spending your Global Citizen Year in Senegal!” As these words sunk into my head, a memory surfaced amongst waves of excitement and nervous energy. The memory is that of an event which seemed insignificant at the time. It was a typical...
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