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
Sandal Tan
Charlotte Benishek
2011-09-09
Every morning my sandals trace a path from my family’s house in SICAP Baobab to ACI (Africa Consultants International) where we have language and cultural training. I breathe shallowly, my eyes focused on the ground in front of me, keen on avoiding eye contact with those I pass. Oddly enough I didn’t even realize that...
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Taking Candy From a Stranger
Winson Law
2011-09-09
It’s hora pico (rush hour) in Salvador and we’re on our way back to the hostel. In the middle of city, as our bus stops, a man I’m sitting next to passes some centavos (Brazilian coins) to a street vendor and gets three pieces of candy. What is this guy doing? I think to myself. Before I know it,...
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One Week Down…
Emily Hanna
2011-09-08
I wanted to wait until I’d been in Senegal for a week before writing my first blog post, and I’m happy I did. Leafing through my journal entries from my first few days in Dakar, it is striking how a seemingly simple change of location ( U.S.A to Senegal) totally threw me for a loop. Those...
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The Fellowship
Nicolas Freschi
2011-09-08
I wanted to take this blog post to share some thoughts that I’ve been having about the meaning of the word “fellowship”. I am a Global Citizen Year “Fellow”, or so they told me when I was accepted to the program. I was to travel to Ecuador, Brazil or Senegal with fifty five other “Fellows”...
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A Whole New World
Elizabeth Warren
2011-09-07
I live in a city that is located in a valley between moutains, it’s 9300 miles above sea level, the city is 3 miles wide and 20 miles long, this city is my current home for the next month. This city is Quito, Ecuador. A year ago today I would’t have pictured myself attending Stanford...
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Honeymooning
Natalie Davidson
2011-09-07
Why yes, I am writing this blog post from beneath my mosquito net. I currently have 25 bug bites (just south of my knees), two dead (massive) cockroaches in my trashcan, and a spider named Toubab that has moved in to my almost-unpacked suitcase. Despite my severe disliking of bugs in general (especially bugs...
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A Gift from God
Joan Hanawi
2011-09-07
It’s funny how quickly things can change—emotions, feelings, attitudes—it’s all fleeting. Like someone pulled the rug out from beneath your feet, but you’re caught in the space between falling helplessly and steadily keeping your balance. You’re caught in limbo. But I guess what I’m learning is that we’re always caught in a state of limbo....
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Day 15 at U.S. Training Institute
Abigail Hindson
2011-09-07
When I began the Global Citizen Year Fall Training at Stanford University just two weeks ago, I felt like I was turning onto a new page in my life—and that I would soon start inking a new chapter onto it. Fourteen days later, I’m certain that I could write a whole book with everything that...
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An Enriching Experience
Sarah Coyne
2011-09-07
August 27, 2011 was the send-off event for the Class of 2012 Global Citizen Year Fellows. Celebrating in the form of a family-style barbecue we ate, laughed, listened, and said our farewells to family and friends. Before the event, I had the pleasure to talk to my family via Skype for the first time since...
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Goodbyes and Beginnings
Annie Plotkin
2011-09-02
Two weeks ago, I wouldn’t have pictured myself standing outside a Stanford dorm at 4 in the morning to wave goodbye to 45 fellows on their way to Senegal and Ecuador. As a recent high school graduate, it takes a lot for me to give up hours of valuable sleep. However, when I found out...
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My Job
Heather Kurtz
2011-09-02
I am so exited. I am on my way to Ecuador. I will be learning Spanish and Quitwa. I am going to live with a family and work on a farm. This is going to be great, and I am so glad you are all here to share it with me. These past weeks have...
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The plunge
Jacob Stern
2011-08-30
Global Citizen Year is damn good looking. But when I met everyone for the first time when US training began, we were truly motley crew. At any given lunch table, I’d catch slang from the cornfields of Iowa, the mountains of New Hampshire, the swamps of Florida, and the hills of San Francisco. Initially, cultures...
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