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
Have I Changed?
Elizabeth Ollila
2018-01-07
A quick snapshot of me right now: I am sitting in a crowded bus next to an old Ecuadorian man who sells fruit by hopping from one bus to the next hoping its riders are hungry. I'm on my way home from the city two hours from my town. It has been 3 days since...
Read More“Finding Myself”
Isabelle Johnson
2018-01-06
My first few weeks in this country acted like a giant wrecking ball came down on me without mercy. It squashed me into nothing & showed me how massive and diverse the world can be. These last 4 months have slowly built me back up into a different version of my old self. Not one...
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Kwanzaa in Senegal
Miniya Ali
2018-01-03
Unfortunately no, there were no Kwanzaa celebrations going on in the Theis or Touba Toul areas that I knew of. This is the first year in my life that I’ve ever missed a Kwanzaa celebration, but Senegal isn't a bad place to be missing it. Many people incorrectly believe that Kwanzaa is a traditional “African”...
Read MoreMadre. Nanay. Mother.
Layla Solatan
2018-01-02
My seven-year-old, meatless arms surge a fifteen-inch wooden spoon through a sea of nut and milk as it slowly transforms into a stubborn pillow of sucrose. I’ve thrown crumbs of pili nut along with three cans of condensed milk and sugar into an unforgiving wok. In just a few hours, these simple elements will all...
Read MoreAn introduction to Ecuador
Rene Ramos
2017-12-29
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFA1ybDQ0Gw&t=1s [vc_video link=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFA1ybDQ0Gw&t=1s’]
Read MoreSama Waa Kerga
Erik Oline
2017-12-20
My halfway point of my time in Senegal is just days away now; if I blinked I would have missed the past 3.5 months. I figured that by this point I probably should have devoted a bit more of this blog towards my amazing host family, but hey, better late than never. My host...
Read MoreStereotypes: My Analysis After (almost!) 4 Months of Life in Ecuador
Sadie Troup
2017-12-18
Okay, so I’ve been living in Ecuador for around 3 to 4 months now, and I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of the times when I talk about my life here, I accidentally end up stereotyping my experience. Here’s what I think the fundamental problem is: When people ask...
Read MoreTips + Tricks to Bond with Host Families
Phuong Nguyen
2017-12-16
Say yes more! Carpe diem! Sometimes you end up on a pleasant walk, sometimes you end up at your nephew’s Baptism (severely underdressed). My host brother Freddy, his wife Andrea, and their bootiful children Nico and Andy 🙂 Laugh. You don’t have to get the joke (and they probably know you don’t get...
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Move those hips!
Filip Carnogursky
2017-12-14
“Dance is the best therapy” a dance professor confidently announced on the beginning of my first samba class. It startled me. When I thought of dancing, I either thought of monotonous jumping in a club with one fist raised to the ceiling, or of strenuous counting of my steps and stressing out whether I and...
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