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
Looking Back
Kimberly Nerea Tellez
2013-04-23
Eight months ago I was living in Quito, soaking in what I could from the new culture I was experiencing here in Ecuador. Though it was a great experience, it seems like I was living in a different country all together at the time. Today is my last day in my community, and I’ve been...
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What I’ve Seen from Seat #24: La Madrugada
Mackenzie McMillen
2013-04-23
It’s Wednesday and it’s 5:25am, which means I have to run. The challenge is to make it from my room to the bus station in under 4 minutes. The stakes are high; if I don’t make it there’s a chance I’ll have to stand for the majority of the 2-hour bus ride to Riobamba for...
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The End
Benito Aranda-Comer
2013-04-23
It’s the end of a journey here in Brasil. I will soon be spirited away to the United States and have a “I’m-not-in-Brasil-anymore” mentality. I have been thinking long and hard how best to say goodbye to not only my friends and family but to the type of life I have lived here. This video...
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Bagunçaço
Camille LeBlanc
2013-04-23
Here are some photos, new and old, that I’ve taken at Grupo Cultural Bagunçaço, a youth cultural center that uses cultural education to restore the identities and self-esteem of low-income Afro-Brazilian kids.
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Final Thoughts
Nathan Edwards
2013-04-23
Hey friends and family, Well, the end of my time in Ecuador is rapidly coming to an end and on the horizon looms home. Home. Many things have passed in my life and in the lives of those who I am closest to since I set foot in DIA 8 months ago. Relationships have been...
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Utopia
John Villanueva
2013-04-23
When I began working for Fundación UTOPIA, the word “Utopia” tritely exaggerated the impact that the organization seemed to make. Every other Saturday, my coworkers and I set up Community Baskets – or Canastas Comunitarias1 – in order to provide paying customers easy access to organic produce at an affordable price. That’s pretty much it, it...
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An Inspiring Woman
Fikrte Abebe
2013-04-23
In Ecuador, there is a population of about 3.4 million of indigenous people that are descendants of the Inca Empire that existed about 500 years ago before the conquest of Spaniards. To this day, they speak their own language called Quichwa; they dress in their traditional clothing that consists for women of an “anako” (long...
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An Amazonian Adventure, Pt. 2
Benito Aranda-Comer
2013-04-23
This video is just a little supplement to get an idea of what exactly I was seeing and experiencing while I was in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Enjoy.
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Middle Ground
Betty Gebre
2013-04-23
“Was that me eight months ago?” I asked myself as I stared at my Global Citizen Year blog picture. I looked so young and naïve, not knowing what my year would really be about. The picture felt more like it was taken eight years ago rather than eight months before at fall training. My facial...
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Five Things I Learned in Brazil
Alan De Leon
2013-04-23
I am now presenting a reflection of things I did not know until I began living here in Brazil. So! Here it is: 1. Exotic Fruits The next time you walk into an American supermarket, notice all the different fruits they have to offer. It may seem like a lot. The truth is that those stores carry but a...
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Esperanza en Ecuador (Hope in Ecuador)
Brian Riefler
2013-04-23
When a volunteer embarks on a mission to change the world, he finds he has to confront many obstacles, both good and bad. Sometimes the people he intends to help do not understand him because he comes from a different place. There are days in which the world seems to come on top of him....
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Yellow, Black, and White
Alison Rivera
2013-04-23
Frustrated at times, amused at others. Being a Hispanic-American in Senegal is quite an extraordinary experience. “‘Foo joge?” “Where do you come from?” they ask me as I sit next to the girl with light brown hair and green eyes. My tangled wavy hair and my dark brown eyes. Not only am I a...
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