Fellow Stories
True gap year stories from Fellows abroad!
Check out the latest blogs from Global Citizen Year Fellows in Brazil, Ecuador, and India!
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Class Year
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Farewells Are Not My Specialty
Yui Lee
2015-04-02
Farewells were and are still not my thing. I can’t let the feeling go of not knowing when I will see people again. Even though the people I’m departing from always ask me when I will return again, I can never make a promise. Of course, I want to say it and follow through on...
Read More6. Child’s Play
Brittany Caceres
2015-04-02
11.11.14 “You’re like a child” my fourteen year old sister laughs, as I trip over yet another hole in the road, a hole that she easily hops over. I’m walking home from work at the bakery, savoring my first nega maluca my face and hands sticky with chocolate. I don’t respond, quietly relishing last bits...
Read More5. My Commute
Brittany Caceres
2015-04-02
11.5.14 I’ve always been the one with the crazy commute. I lived in Staten Island and went to school in the city. This meant that I woke up at 5 AM for 8 AM classes, left my house at 5:55 AM and still managed to be 20 minutes late. It meant I took basically every...
Read MoreSickness
Rachel Swartz
2015-04-01
Sickness Day 1 – Started From the Bottom I awoke with a jolt during my first night living in San Pedro de Aucaparte. My cloth window had been blown across my bedroom allowing steady gusts of wind and rain make their way into my room. The pitch black was emphasized when the lightning hit, illuminating...
Read MoreClockwork
Ava Rofougaran
2015-03-31
One February morning, I woke up to a refreshing scent of untouched nature and a soothing sound of trickling rain drops, in addition to a ghastly rash under the band of my watch. At first, I assumed the rash was one of the many effects of the bug-ridden jungle, as it couldn’t have been the...
Read MoreSaying Goodbye
Bella Bjornstad
2015-03-31
I’m going to miss the strawberries, because they are sweet and organic and cheap, and I will miss the carrots because one is almost enough to be a complete meal. I will miss getting on my bus on my way to Ambato and feeling the wave of relief that it actually showed up. Even though...
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With Love, Ex Vegetarian
Danielle Spencer
2015-03-27
I should have saved you earlier, but we were coming for you and there was nothing I could do at that point. You might wonder, why should “I” have been the one to save you if “we”, including “I”, were the ones coming for you. Well, I’ll get to that later. I watched you being...
Read MoreThe Bike Chronicles
Myriam Sitterson
2015-03-27
To say that my bicycle is problematic is an understatement. Its shortcomings made themselves evident early on, when the chain started falling off every half kilometer like clockwork. That was before I started working on a farm an hour’s bike ride away. Last week, the chain exploded. That’s probably not the most accurate verb choice,...
Read MoreOn Becoming Whole
Nicholas Chieng
2015-03-26
Back in the USA, weekly excursions to BostonÛªs Chinatown have always been a big part of my life. As a child, IÛªd always go to Chinatown with my parents and younger brother to get our haircuts, shop for groceries, and eat dim sum, Chinese brunch consisting of shu mai, pork buns, sticky rice, and my...
Read MoreUnder The Net
Rayla Freeman
2015-03-26
I have cried in your arms and taken respite from many a’ hard day there Spent nights in your embrace Willling myself to be strong I have cried again I have fallen apart I have felt alone and when I finally couldn’t cry anymore I built myself back with you around me like a shield...
Read MoreHoles and Home
Alice Brower
2015-03-26
My whole life I’ve been told to “hand wash delicates” because it’s gentler. So when I found out that everything in Senegal is hand washed I thought my clothes would last forever. That was before I met my host sisters. Within two months their strong, insistent hands bore holes into all my clothes and their...
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Forever A Little Bit
Olivia Orosco
2015-03-26
When I first got here I was extremely reluctant to dance, actually I was extremely reluctant, hesitant, and/or scared to do much of anything. But I’m going to focus on dancing, as it can easily be extrapolated out to represent more broadly my immersion. When I first attended any kind of get together there always...
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