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
So Many Peanuts!
Samuel Parson
2012-01-13
If you give way to the mind’s stream of flowing consciousness, then you’ll surf through to the waters of enlightenment. I really love to write because writing is in many ways and for many reasons, a great form of expression. So on this day I sat with my laptop while snacking on some peanuts and...
Read MoreThe Americans Are Coming!
Erica Anderson
2012-01-13
Dear Mom and Dad, You are preparing to come visit me in Senegal in a few days’ time. My family and I cannot wait to see you in person and I know you are more than excited to take this thrilling journey; one that I think is unparalleled in your lives in terms of adventure,...
Read MoreTaajaabone
Semira Sanchez
2012-01-13
It was just a normal evening in Palmarin, Senegal. I had just eaten dinner and was sitting on the patio looking at the palm trees outside my house. All of a sudden a bunch of drumming interrupts my peace and quiet. All I see is children with powdered faces and drums coming to my house...
Read MorePapa Noël
Semira Sanchez
2012-01-13
In my village, not many people understand the concept of Santa Claus. They don’t have Christmas music, stockings on the fireplace, no Christmas trees or Christmas caroling. So for a Christian village it was quite odd for me to understand how they celebrated this holiday. One evening, I was sitting with my three siblings watching...
Read MoreBiodiversity
Priyanka Rao
2012-01-09
I’ve been waiting to encounter the famed biodiversity of the Amazon. I have pictures of the yellow green butterfly I picked nearly dead off the highway, and of the green frogs that hopped in when it rained too hard for too long. The carpenter ants never stop...
Read MoreNew Renditions of Old Traditions
Kirin Gupta
2012-01-09
Sharing the Celebration of the New Year Location: Riobamba, Province of Chimborazo, Ecuador My host brother Christopher, my host mother Nancy, and I, on New Year’s Eve, in the Park of Lights in the Center of Riobamba. A true Ecuadorian family, though Chris was surprised by the horrifying brightness of the camera’s flash here :). Before...
Read MoreBanana Bonanza
Sienna Walker
2012-01-09
In the blink of an eye, I was seven years old again, bouncing along on the rough dirt road to my grandfather’s ranch. There I was seated lazily on my sister’s lap in our old blue pick-up, counting the kangaroos that passed. The thick groves of eucalyptus trees lined the single road to our...
Read MoreMy Second Birth
Holli Sullivan
2012-01-06
My alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, but it was wasting it’s time. I had already been woken up by the sounds of tambours, maracas, and chanting in the distance. I jumped up and quickly got into my bathing suit and beach dress…but I definitely wasn’t going for a day at...
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A Warm Welcoming in a Cold Place
Lindsey Sepulveda
2012-01-04
I live in small city called Ibarra. It’s central to many small communities which host other fellows such as San Clemente, Cochapamba, Salinas and Zuleta. The week Maria Cristina (my team leader) was visiting the fellows for the monthly check-ins, the school in Zuleta had reached out to her and asked her if there...
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