Fellow Stories
True gap year stories from Fellows abroad!
Check out the latest blogs from Global Citizen Year Fellows in Brazil, Ecuador, and India!
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Class Year
Country
Awa is…
Megan White
2011-10-05
It’s easy to feel competent. Easy, that is, until you find yourself spending the week in a Senegalese village with only a basic knowledge of Wolof and no Western toilet! During my first week of village life, my name became Awa, after the first of my father’s two wives, and my journal became my new best...
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Mangi Fi Rekk – I’m here
Lukas Brenard
2011-10-04
Hey everyone, Asalam malekum, I probably didn’t spell it right but it means, “peace be upon you and upon you be peace”. There are a lot of pains made here to ensure ones individual peace and many questions in Wolof are answered smilingly with the phrase “Jamm Rekk” – peace only. I have never felt...
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Japonezinho
Winson Law
2011-10-04
Back in the United States, people sometimes ask me, “what type of Asian are you?” This sort of question makes me believe that I am some sort of species, ready to be examined for my assumed virtuoso violin skills, mathematical prowess, and whether or not I eat with chopsticks every night. I tell people that...
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Pelourinho: A City Within A City
Sarah Coyne
2011-10-03
Pelourhino resides in the Centro Histórico of Salvador, Bahia. Its cobblestone streets and colonial architecture holds the largest accumulation of historic wealth from the seventeenth and eighteen centuries in the Americas, and remains as a mark of national identity for Bahians all across the state. Watch the video to learn more!
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One Step at a Time
Stephanie Dunning
2011-10-03
I’ll start with the first day and we’ll see how far we get from there. Saturday was a day filled with anticipation. Those of us unlucky enough to know just enough Spanish to get by had to go to class for a final cramming-session before loading into buses and heading to our eventual long-term...
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The Best Lemonade
Stephanie Dunning
2011-10-03
I am very excited to announce that you will be spending your year as a 2012 Global Citizen Year Fellow in ECUADOR!!! My family and friends breathed a giant sigh of relief. I almost felt like crying. My heart had been set on going to Senegal where surely, few others would dare to venture. How,...
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More than a Pair of Jeans
Abigail Hindson
2011-10-03
“¿Puedo lavar mi ropa?” I sheepishly held up my jeans, filthy from a long day cleaning up tree limbs outside for my apprenticeship at El Parque Amazónico. It was 5:30 on Friday afternoon, and my host mother was lounging with my baby brother, Aron, in the evening light. She glanced at my displayed garment and smiled...
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Mountains
Heather Kurtz
2011-10-03
Everyone climbs mountains of some form. Well, today the 30 of September we climbed mountain Pasochoa. This was a great climb and learned many things. I realized some of the mountains I have climbed here and some that I am still climbing. Pasochoa was a beautiful mountain. I loved climbing it and seeing all of...
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A New Perspective on Islam
Paulina Personius
2011-10-03
In the US talk of Islam and Muslims in general often comes alongside talk of war and violence. At home the news talks about Muslims as terrorists and makes it seem as if the majority of them are extreme jihadists. Here in Senegal I have discovered a new, very peaceful version of Islam that vastly...
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