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
Brown and Bold
Ashley Trejo
2019-04-24
I can recall my early preschool and kindergarten days where I would spend countless hours (probably minutes) drawing and coloring to my heart’s content. I was not one of the children that would paint the sky green as the sky is blue or cloud anything other than shades of white and gray. That was not...
Read MoreWater
Avry Richter
2019-04-23
Water. Uncontrollable and flawlessly wild. The substance that binds our bodies and quenches our throats. This precious and invaluable resource has unspeakable power. This value is ever present and largely known. I must pay homage to a body of flowing water that kept me sane, that kept me loved, and reminded me that I too...
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Falling in Love
Julia Salomone
2019-04-21
It was the beginning of January and I still wore fear like a scarf around my neck. I was grappling with it – truly! The week before I had even eaten a new type of pastel my friends had been begging me to try. I came to Brazil very afraid of the world around me...
Read MoreAre you taking a gap year?
Salome-Valdivieso
2019-04-20
For everyone thinking about taking a gap year in a foreign country: If you are taking a gap year make sure your baggage is full of expectations. So then you can break them along with all prejudices built by single stories. Only then you will start being surprised rather than only expecting. A gap year...
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dance – friends – live
Gema Benavides Jimenez
2019-04-20
Just turn the music on and I will no longer own my body or mind but the music. Throughout my whole life dance has been a vital part of it, from moments of extreme happiness, joy, pride, and excitement to moments of confusion, sadness, fear, and hopelessness. Dance has been through it all. Even though...
Read MoreA Statement on Fear
Grace Partridge
2019-04-18
My error was fear of error, was silence, was numbing myself and convincing myself that the shadow of existence I was living as was who I was supposed to be. (frozen, terrified of failing, voiceless) Until one day, I wasn’t. And it didn’t happen right away, either. It happened in little moments that forced me...
Read MoreCollege Decision Day 2.0
Sophie Auvin
2019-04-18
I hit the refresh button willing the status update to appear early. It was Friday, February 8th and Hamilton College EDII decisions were coming out at 8:00 pm EST. I hit the refresh button again just as the clock changed to 11:00 pm Brasilia time and the blue “view update” link appeared. Breathing in and...
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thoughts before i said goodbye
Sophia Youngdahl
2019-04-18
From my journal, 23 March 2019… when goodbye was still a fleeting idea I cannot define what force holds me here What roots I have somehow discovered Curling their way upwards to the sunlight Seemingly carved into existence By red clay And ancient hands, A face with crinkles when she smiles and the belt of...
Read MoreManifest about ants and heroes
Paula Medina
2019-04-16
*February 17th 2019* “If any of you, students, are curious for a while, go and observe the ants in their daily routine, you will see that they all follow a perfect line. Everyone marches following the one in front of them, without deviating from the norm, without trying to jump the queue, without following a...
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