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
Tug-Of-War, and Penguins
Trevor Porter
2011-07-05
When I was introduced to Global Citizen Year, the program sounded like a challenge and a little bit like a game of tug-of-war. There is a little give and take involved in every exchange, every challenge, that we have to overcome throughout our lives. I’ve experienced this game of tug-of-war several times, but the experience...
Read MoreBlack Beaches
Kirin Gupta
2011-07-05
The beaches in Greece are not always perfect. The black bed of rock I stood on, years ago, was difficult to walk on, large round stones that were smooth individually, but a rough surface to maneuver all at once. The world often comes at you with all the appearance of something perfectly smooth, perfectly beautiful...
Read MoreA Tale of Two Paths
Charlotte Benishek
2011-07-05
The beaten path. We can all envision it. We have all encountered it. It is a physical dirt track in a forest, worn bare by hiking boots. But it is also invisible — a societal phenomenon. At my age, the next step on the beaten path is college. However, I have already stepped off the...
Read MoreDiscovering the World
Megan White
2011-07-05
I’m Megan White, mover extraordinaire.I call myself this because it’s what I do. For the past year or so I’ve been living in upstate New York, but I’ve moved all over the US. I jam the synthetic material of my small black suitcase into the overhead compartment, dirty socks and favorite books bulging against the...
Read MoreBeauty and the Beast
Winson Law
2011-07-05
When I was a child, if I disobeyed my grandparents, they would often threaten to “throw me out” so that I could live with some other, foreign family. With certain panic, I would eat every last grain of rice, obey my grandfather’s wishes, and clean up after myself. At that age, I locked myself into...
Read MoreTripping Up
Abigail Hindson
2011-07-05
If you’ve ever spent any good amount of time with me, you will find that I fall down a lot. I have this amazing ability to somehow find every tree root and every crack in the sidewalk, and promptly trip over it. I know exactly how to get both my feet stuck in a wet...
Read MoreSummary: Excitement
Paulina Personius
2011-07-05
I believe I first became interested in international development in the third grade when I accompanied my mother on a trip to volunteer in a school in Nicaragua. Although I did not yet understand or have the words for the concept of international development at that young age, I realized that I had a passion...
Read MoreAll I Hear is Words!
Lydia Crush
2011-07-05
“Words, words, words. All I hear is words!” sings Liza in My Fair Lady. She has a valid point; words make up a huge part of our daily activities. As I walk through the halls on the last few days of school, I’m exposed to many different languages: Korean, Spanish, German, Burmese, Japanese, Bengali, American...
Read MoreBeing Different
Holli Sullivan
2011-07-05
I have always been one to take the road less traveled. Ever since I was a little girl picking bikes over Barbies and cameras over clothes, I’ve never quite been able to squeeze into the little space of the ordinary. When I was a small girl I began thinking to myself… “Why be the same...
Read MoreEntering a Shrinking World
Annie Plotkin
2011-07-05
Before stumbling across Global Citizen Year, my plans for the future were nebulous. After finishing a grueling college experience, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to head straight back to the classroom that had wrung me dry just in time for graduation. However, I wasn’t eager to try my hand at a year abroad without...
Read MoreDo One Thing Every Day That Scares You
Galen Burns-Fulkerson
2011-07-05
Like many high school seniors, I spent this past fall writing essays, filling out transcript requests, and entering my personal information on the Common Application. For one of my essays, I had to write about the best piece of advice I had ever received. I discussed the inspiration that I take from of one of...
Read MoreBuilding a Foundation
Sarah Coyne
2011-07-05
I still get random bursts of excitement with adrenaline surging through my body and a smile plastered across my face when I begin to think about this upcoming year. It’s amazing to think that one month ago I was grudgingly getting ready for graduation — senioritis still in full-gear — pathetically confused about my college...
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