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
Identity
Lauren Guido
2014-04-13
Throughout high school I searched for my identity through means of reading books, exercise, self-reflection, making friends based on common interests and goals, and questioning what I want out of my life. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I was peeling and chopping yucca, a white starchy root vegetable that grows wild in...
Read More
Perspective
JT Su
2014-04-11
Nine months ago, on a cloudy August morning, I got on a plane bound for home. But this wasn’t just any home. It was my home thousands of miles away from my physical and psychological home that I would be calling my second home. Remember that chilly night I landed in Ecuador—completely confused with where...
Read More
Why I Am Building a Community Garden: A Manifesto
Alexandra Ding
2014-04-11
The well diggers hit rock last Tuesday, and so, we did what all Pulaar Futas do when problems arise: we bought ourselves a plump hen, and sacrificed it to Allah (Pulaar: sadaka. Translation: a sacrifice to gain God’s blessing and general excuse to get together and eat chicken). God-willing, impenetrable rock will yield to water,...
Read More
R3 Animal: Playing With Owls
Joanna Shieh
2014-04-11
R3 Animal is an NGO that works to Rescue, Rehabilitate, and Reintegrate animals into their habitat. We work with animals such as penguins, parrots, macaws, monkeys, owls, and many more. http://en.r3animal.org.br Visit this website to learn more, as I don’t want to use this blog to bore you with the logistics, but entertain you with...
Read More
Minga
Sarai Patterson
2014-04-11
My first experience with Minga came on the Day of the Dead, when I was forcibly ejected from my peaceful slumber at five in the morning, handed a pair of boots and a machete, and pushed out the door with no more direction than “Follow them, today is Minga.” I sleepily splashed through the Lupi...
Read More
Learn from you, learn from me
Thien Tran
2014-04-11
Ever since I’ve arrived in Joinville, I’ve been mentally struggling with the extent of religion within my host community. I can’t speak for most of the United States, but in my community back home, religion is a very private matter. Mostly everyone keeps their religion to themselves, never blatantly flaunting it. The difference between San...
Read More
Learning
Florin Langer
2014-04-11
I apprentice at la Mancomunidad del Pueblo Cañari, an organization that carries out projects to stimulate tourism, aid farmers, and protect natural resources by managing and preserving water resources, improving pasture herbage, implementing agroforesty systems, educating children and adults about the environment and ancestral heritage, managing cooperation agreements between groups, encouraging socioeconomic development by improving...
Read More
Intentions
Madeline Lisaius
2014-04-11
As stepping on the plane to Ecuador was a huge transition, boarding the plane back to Seattle will be an equally unique challenge. Looking forward with the past year in mind, I have intentions for the coming months to foster a positive re-integration to the United States. I share them with you now both to...
Read More
Being
Maximilian Chen
2014-04-11
This, the second of three blog posts about the author’s trip to Touba, details the events of a typical day in Touba during the Grand Magal and recounts a venture into the interior of Touba. I have been in the Senegalese holy city of Touba for five days and am no clearer as to the...
Read More
A picture is only worth a thousand words.
Thien Tran
2014-04-11
“How’s Brazil! OMG, it looks amazing! “and “Looks like you are having loads of fun over there from your pictures!!”Are the usually comments I get on my facebook every time that I post a new picture. It may seem like life in Brazil only includes blue skies and beautiful beaches, but in reality it is...
Read MoreWoneng Gaa
Emily Stevens
2014-04-11
Written February 28, 2014 This last Sunday I was in Kedougou city with Alex running errands before going home for the last five weeks of our stay. Kaitlyn was hosting us and agreed to take us to her tailor. On the walk there we were discussing how far we’ve come and all the changes that...
Read More
by the side of highway BR-116
Kristen Lee
2014-04-11
By the side of highway BR – 116, I pull open my rickety gate, careful to make as little noise as possible as not to wake my host family. As I step onto my street, the morning sun hits my face. I squint my eyes, blinded by white light. I avert my gaze to my...
Read More