Coming Home, Remembering Ecuador

From time to time, Ecuador makes itself present in me, even here at home. It’s the way that I sometimes accidentally greet random people on the street, the way I almost forget to leave tips at restaurants, the way I find myself eavesdropping whenever I…

23 May, 2017

Friendship at home vs. friendship abroad

Moving to Ecuador has pushed me to change my definition of the word “friendship”. I arrived in Ecuador for a bridge year with Global Citizen Year in September, and spent the first few months of my homestay without many close peers in my community, in…

12 March, 2017

On Humility: Wondering If I Actually Do Speak English

  On the first day of my new apprenticeship, I walked into the classroom with high expectations. I’ve been placed in a co-teaching apprenticeship in the Unidad Educativa San Bartolome, (the town’s high school) which means that I work with one of the English teachers…

02 November, 2016

Notes from the Field

One month ago, I moved to San Bartolome, Azuay, Ecuador, and I have been living here with the family Delgado Dominguez ever since. San Bartolome is a tiny town known for farming apples and for producing hand crafted guitars. It is high up in the…

28 October, 2016

10 Things to Know About Quito

Quito is Ecuador’s capital city, boasting over 2 million people. It’s one of the most hectic and diverse cities I’ve ever visited, and I spent three weeks living there with a host family during In-Country Orientation. While this list hardly begins to summarize Quito, here…

19 October, 2016

Two Weeks In

As I write this, it’s been exactly two weeks since I arrived in Ecuador’s capital city, Quito. With one more week to go here, I feel as if there’s still so much more to learn from this city. So far, Quito has taught me how…

22 September, 2016

PreDeparture Training 2016

(All photos courtesy of Jasen Lo) Pre-departure training is an integral part of Global Citizen Year, as it’s the first time that the fellows come together as a global cohort. We spend half of our time in the Redwoods of Northern California, and the other…

20 September, 2016