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
Dead Bodies
Sarah McMillan
2013-02-28
One day my Ecuadorean family told me we were going to move the bones of my mom’s dead father and first husband. I was like, okay, it’s some kind of ceremony where we rest their coffins somewhere else. I was right about the ceremony part. After work, I go home and much of my extended family is getting ready...
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The Uneven Road to The Unknown Destination
Ely Kadish
2013-02-28
As the bus chugs up the side of Volcán Imbabura I catch myself associating the rhythmic whining sounds of overworked gears with the Little Engine That Could’s positive motto, “I think I can, I think I can”; only I’m really hoping we make it up in one try. The bus bounces over the jutting rocks...
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Mother and Child
Mai Lee
2013-02-27
A mother and her child. They epitomize intimacy in our society. But what regardless of what they symbolize, our modern world has built barriers between this mother-child relationship. Not brick walls nor iron gates, but baby carriages and and diapers have created barricades in the relationship. In Senegal, the women here have not yet abandoned...
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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,...
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High, Low, High GO!
Kalea Moore
2013-02-27
HIGH, LOW, HIGH GO! Chimborazo has not been the easiest place to live. Basically the last 4 months have been a struggle. From people switching families, difficulty with apprenticeships and weight gain. But through all these struggles we have grown closer as a group. In our group we refer to the good things as “highs” and the not so...
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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,...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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