One of the main events that occurred during re-entry in California was the Donor Dinner Night. During this event we had some of our Global Citizen Year donors join the fellows and the rest of the Global Citizen Year staff as we shared our new stories, pictures, videos, and skits from the all-different countries. That…

08 May, 2012

Out of all three of the countries that Global Citizen Year takes students (the other two being Senegal and Ecuador) Brasil is by far the most developed. I think it would be pretty safe to say that two countries previously mentioned fall pretty well into the third world category, but what about Brasil? Where does…

25 April, 2012

How do you create a solution to a problem? Where do you start? How do you fund something so grandiose when the government refuses to give you money, and these days giving money to non-profits has become synonymous with “fueling corruption”. It’s easy to come up with a thousand reasons not to do something, but…

25 April, 2012

America is not perfect.  I would say that almost universally Americans would agree that this statement rings true.  Just ask an American about recent politics and when you hear just a long moaning noise you will know what I am talking about.  But what is easy for Americans to see isn’t always so easy for…

30 March, 2012

Every seven weeks the fellows come together in a unique or an important place within the country that are staying in to discuss different aspects of their gap year and their journey thus far. During the days the fellows usually engage in what we like call “modules” where we focus on different aspects of our…

21 March, 2012

  15 years after Michael Jackson chose to record his historic music video “They Don’t Care About Us” in Brazil, the problems that Jackson tried to reveal through his video still exists. If you haven’t watched his video (the one he made in Brazil, not the one that was made in the U.S.), I recommend…

05 February, 2012

Ola amigos. The following post will be useful for anyone who is interested in meeting the best Brazilians. This guide comes from the heart and first hand experiences. It is especially useful for people who know little Portuguese. First, in order to find the most friendly Brazilians one must first fail at being able to…

12 September, 2011

You might ask what brought me here. What made me decide to take a gap year? To be honest I wasn’t quite sure of the answer when I first applied to become a Global Citizen Year fellow. I wasn’t quite sure this nerdy, debate-loving, music listener, high school graduate could handle a gap year. I…

06 July, 2011