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
One Word
Mary Modisette
2013-04-23
It’s funny how we look at things over the passing of time, the way our minds once saw something a certain way but one day see it again, as something else completely different. How what was once a judgment becomes an understanding, how insecurities turn into pride, and so on. I came to find this...
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Toubab! Eh, toubab!
Olivia Hill
2013-04-23
I can become fluent in Wolof, I can wear the exotic clothes, I can cook ceebu gen bu suff (rice and fish that is tasty), and I can get myself a Senegalese husband, but there is one thing I cannot do. I cannot change the color of my skin. I’ve even asked if there are...
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Birth Order
Caroline Blanchard
2013-04-23
When I arrived in Boussoura on October 2, 2012, the Souare compound was a fully functioning family of 9. One dad, two moms, 2 little girls and 4 little boys all under age 11. I wanted more than anything to be a part of this family. For the first month, I wasn’t. I was a...
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A Self-Diagnosis
Grace Bachmann
2013-04-23
Dindefelo lacks a certified M.D., let alone any sort of therapist or psychiatrist. Thus, I take it upon myself to access my own mental health condition. Diagnosis: Frantic Socialite Syndrome Frantic Socialite Syndrome is a type of anxiety disorder derrived from assimilating a social and cultural code but lacking the ability to default to said...
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As Soon As I Wake Up
Emma Anderson
2013-04-23
Saturday 2nd February 2013 Place Marietu, 11:52 am Baby Astu rolls back, smacking her perky wet lips, and stares up at me over her mothers broad shoulder. She stretches out her long-nailed fingers toward the table standing directly in the center of a small shack walled by tin roofing slats. Its palm roof, supported by crossbeams...
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Kichwaaa
Bijan Sanchez
2013-04-23
Since November 2012 I have been taking Kichwa classes with Kimberly Tellez once or twice a week; I’ve also joined in with my sixth graders at my local school thursday afternoons for their Kichwa class too. I have learned so much of the language, but what I’ve found more interesting is the ancient beliefs and...
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The Garden
Ava Hoffman
2013-04-23
Follow this link to watch a video that I compiled of my final community project. Thanks for watching!
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The Sparknotes Version
Emily Ford
2013-04-23
In a true testament to the pace of Senegalese life, I have read my fair share of books while here. Autobiographies, fiction, anthropological research. Some, forcing myself to finish, while others I excitedly sped through. But none have been quite as challenging yet enthralling as the one that has encompassed the past seven months: a...
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Me?
Ariel Vardy
2013-04-23
Me? I’m nothing remarkable. Are you going to thank me for “roughing it” out in the “middle of nowhere”? No need. Are you going to wonder whether I almost died of hunger, or disease? Please don’t. Are you going to get your mind blown about the idea of living without electricity and indoor plumbing? Nah,...
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Why We Blog
Carly Sitrin
2013-04-23
“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” – Anaïs Nin We do it for you. The reader. The individual sitting at home who is even mildly curious about where this journey has taken us, and the experiences that have transformed us. We type these words in internet cafes and parks and...
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With 2 more weeks in Mindo
Graham Collins
2013-04-23
I don’t believe that I have blogged anything in the last four months. I suppose I should apologize. I owe ya’ll more. I have been avoiding internet and pretty much all life outside of Mindo. It would have been easy for me to give you some simple updates, so please forgive me. Frankly, I haven’t...
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A Despedida
Joshua Reason
2013-04-23
I’m not a very sentimental person, but saying goodbye to Lençóis and all of the people I had the pleasure of spending this time with was one of the hardest parts about my experience. Coming to Brazil was the first experience I had being abroad for such a long period of time. This lack of...
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