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
Home in California
Lukas Brenard
2011-07-05
Hello everyone, my name is Lukas Brenard. I was raised in Stinson Beach, a small beach town in Northern California. At home it was paradise: surfing, sun, simplicity, and comfort. I knew everyone in town and they knew me. Yet at 15 I moved to Los Angeles to study music and see the world from...
Read MoreSmall Town Girl
Aubrey Haddard
2011-07-05
I once saw a bumper sticker that read, “do something every day that scares you.” In all honesty, this motto, my personal favorite, was largely a part of my decision to take a Global Citizen Year. I have lived in the same home in the same small town for all seventeen years of my life...
Read MoreA Tale of Two Paths
Charlotte Benishek
2011-07-05
The beaten path. We can all envision it. We have all encountered it. It is a physical dirt track in a forest, worn bare by hiking boots. But it is also invisible — a societal phenomenon. At my age, the next step on the beaten path is college. However, I have already stepped off the...
Read MoreDiscovering the World
Megan White
2011-07-05
I’m Megan White, mover extraordinaire.I call myself this because it’s what I do. For the past year or so I’ve been living in upstate New York, but I’ve moved all over the US. I jam the synthetic material of my small black suitcase into the overhead compartment, dirty socks and favorite books bulging against the...
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Learning to Let Go
Joan Hanawi
2011-07-05
I have been very late with uploading blogs so I want to firstly apologize to those who have been waiting for an update from me. So much has happened between August and now that I myself do know how to decipher the different, completely opposite , emotions that sometimes intertwine at the same moment. I...
Read MoreSummary: Excitement
Paulina Personius
2011-07-05
I believe I first became interested in international development in the third grade when I accompanied my mother on a trip to volunteer in a school in Nicaragua. Although I did not yet understand or have the words for the concept of international development at that young age, I realized that I had a passion...
Read MoreNous Sommes Ensemble
Tess Langan
2011-05-25
I left my little blue wallet with my two credit cards, half of my monthly stipend, a hundred dollar travelers check that my visiting mom had posed there, my emergency contact information, and the scribbled passwords for both of my credit cards in a local boutique when I went to buy a little sack of...
Read MoreAre You Ready?
Gus Ruchman
2011-05-16
I am home! And I have a lot of stories to tell. If you (or your child, student, friend, etc.) are interested in a Global Citizen Year, you might want to watch the video below, a sort of teaser-trailer for my Senegal experience. Enjoy!
Read MoreSenegal in Numbers
Tess Langan
2011-05-11
1) Bottle of shampoo that I brought with me and made last for 7 months, economizing by occasionally tilling my hair into neat corn rows and forgoing shampooing. 1) Thin beach towel that has traveled with me from Dakar to Saint Louis to Mbour, from cool showers, to colder showers, to beautiful beaches. We took...
Read MoreMy Voice
Josh Hamilton
2011-05-03
“Silence is freedom’s greatest enemy” so today I stand up for freedom and let my voice be heard despite certain fears inside of judgment or misinterpretation/misunderstanding of what falls from my lips. I am just simply speaking out because my voice counts. Here in Senegal there are certain restrictions on who decides what and assigned...
Read MoreSenegal in Syllables
Naomi Wright
2011-05-03
Over the past months, I’ve occasionally jotted down little haikus in my journal. Perhaps you’ll get a different perspective on my life in Senegal from these mental musings. I have drunk friendship, Brown-olive, thick with sweetness, From a glass teacup ————————————————– Sneezing and smiles: The same in every language. Ah-choo! Ah-choo! Eeeee! ————————————————– Beans make...
Read MoreFresh Prince of Pointe Serene
Josh Hamilton
2011-05-02
Aujourd’hui, je dois dire suma dek bi dafa rafete. (Today I must say that where I live is beautiful!) The day I arrived at my home stay in Point Serene it was not quite, alright not at all what I expected or anticipated: Pointe Serene can be characterized by long walks on the beach enjoying...
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