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
Learning to Sweat
Becky McClements
2012-09-13
I’m no stranger to sweat; I practically grew up dosed in it. From doing triathlons in the scorching summer sun to muck stalls and lifting bails of hay in the horribly humid air, I’m used to having every part of me drenched with beads of salty water. That being said, I think I have sweat more in the past...
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Every Step Counts
Benito Aranda-Comer
2012-09-13
The last couple of weeks have been nothing short of thrilling, thought provoking, anxiety producing, and most of all: life changing. Stanford University is the perfect setting to foster global change with a group of extraordinary individuals. From conversations on women’s empowerment and foreign aid to reflective yoga and late night singing and dancing there...
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Bienvenidos
Nathan Edwards
2012-09-13
Hola mi amigos, Ecuador!!! I posted some pictures of the soccer game that we attended against Bolivia (Ecuador won 1-0!!!!). What a great experience to go to the game. The atmosphere in the city and stadium was electric before, during, and after the game. Que cheverre! My host family is a great group of people....
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Having finally left the US of A
Graham Collins
2012-09-13
We just flew over Panama on our way to Quito from San Francisco (via Miami). Many of the talks and discussions that occurred during fall training involved meditation, self-reflection, and mindfulness. I suppose I should write some reflective words down. I consider myself to be a very thoughtful person, normally overthinking even the most basic...
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“One more week” on repeat
Alan De Leon
2012-09-13
As I am typing this, I am laying on a couch-bed hybrid in a hostel in the heart of the University of California, Berkeley. Indeed, I am in Berkeley, California right now – not Salvador, Brazil. I am finding it very difficult to distinguish a starting point on how I could possibly begin to explain...
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Unicycling 101
Kim Asenbeck
2012-09-12
I rode a unicycle today. But let me get back to that in a moment… First, a bit of background: Fall Training–a ten-day period of exhausting yet exhilarating seminars, field trips, workshops, and training sessions–serves as the start to every fellow’s Global Citizen Year. The aim of Fall Training is to prepare us for our...
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A New Country – A New Home
Meliza Windmoeller
2012-09-10
I left my heart in San Francisco…as the saying goes.Who knew that spending 10 days in the city by the bay could permanently change me? Not me that’s for sure. When I first arrived at the beautiful campus of Stanford college my mind was cluttered with the unimportant clatter of usual teenage din and the...
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Here I am
Ely Kadish
2012-09-10
Here I am a baby. I do not yet know how to live in this place. I am guided and my hand is held. I see all, but understand much less. I soak up all I can each day hoping to retain something for tomorrow. I am ready to grow. Here I am a child....
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Training at Stanford
Brian Riefler
2012-09-07
Let’s say the world is a village of 100. What do we see? There are differences in ethnicity—57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 Americans (North and South), 8 Africans—gender—52 females, 48 males—religion—30 Christians, 70 non-Christians—language—66 multilingual speakers (not one of whom is American)—sexuality—89 heterosexuals, 11 homosexuals—income—6 have 59% of the world’s wealth (all from the U.S.), 80 live in substandard housing, 50 are malnourished—and...
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