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
On The Subject of Education
Milana Venegoni
2019-12-16
So much has happened in such a short amount of time that I haven’t had time to document anything beyond a few quick snapshots on my phone and memories etched into my brain. It’s now December and I’ve been in-country for three months. I’ve had one learning seminar, a handful of...
Read MoreOn race, ethnicity and colorism
Christine Alhalabi
2019-12-16
*Vocab* Nar: Wolof word for Arab/North African/Middle Eastern Toubab: Wolof word for a foreigner of European descent _____________________________________________ At the beginning of my experience in Senegal, I would get mad why people didn’t recognize me as a nar. In the streets everyone would yell "toubab toubab" and treat me as if I was a special...
Read MoreWhy I’m So Grateful
Sadie Price-Elliott
2019-12-15
My seventh-grade teachers were masters at instilling the subtle power of gratitude. Trekking out into the forest on campus every Friday morning, with crazy creek chairs in one hand and a journal in the other, our class gathered for a community snack and gratitude circle, passing around carrot cake or scones while giving and accepting...
Read MoreLong time no see
Aniska Bitomsky
2019-12-13
Before I start this blog post I would like to apologize for not writing anything for over a month. I guess there just hasn’t been a single topic or event that inspired a reflection worth sharing. I rather spent the last one and a half months gradually working through thoughts, realizations and just learning a...
Read MoreFood, Food, and More Food
Eleanor Ross
2019-12-11
I’d like to discuss something very close to my heart today: food. Senegalese food, to be exact. I promise you that each dish will leave you begging for the recipe– and you’ll want them all. Especially the street food one’s because it is just so good here. And no matter how often Americans tell you...
Read MoreWho’s the best cook? My Senegalese host mom, my UWC school’s Norwegian cook, or me as a Palestinian? – Some recipes included!
Abdallah Salha
2019-12-11
Menu Starters to think about: Eating with your hand or a spoon is equally nice to eating with a fork and a knife! Eating foreign food for the first time is weird, but you get to the point of appreciating and missing it! Different cultures have their own creative ways of cooking and serving different foods!...
Read More3 Things the West Can Learn From India –– 3 Dinge, die der Westen von Indien lernen kann
Levin Stamm
2019-12-09
In few countries more people are lifted out of poverty, is the economy booming more than in India. Accordingly, one often reads that India is approaching the developed West at in increasing pace – and often forgets: the world’s largest democracy is already doing a lot of things better than the often highly acclaimed West....
Read MoreThe True Bridge-Year Experience
Malaika Nikiema
2019-12-08
Coming in Brazil, 3 months ago, I had a lot of goals: become a surfista*, dance samba, interact a lot with Afro-Brazilians and by now I should have been totally fluent in Portuguese. This is what actually happened. September:: I live on a mostly white island so I do not get to see a lot...
Read MoreMy spectrum / Mi espectro
Lola Ibanez
2019-12-05
(¡español más abajo!) My name is Fatou Bintou Ndiaye, that is how I have been called for the past 4 months. That is the person that embraces this experience with all its ups and downs. That is the person I consider myself to be in this country. A few months ago I was asked...
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