Andi's Adventures

My time in the Tramuntana mountains of Mallorca was incredible. I did a training about guiding people in solo experiences in nature, essentially how to facilitate a space and event that brings a group of people together in nature, help them connect with the land and to themselves, send them off into nature for hours or days at a time, and then when they come back helping them process their experience together with other supportive participants. It was fun and challenging and restorative and exhausting, all at the same time. I hadn't signed up to be trained in how to do it, I just wanted to do the guided solo experiences, but now I have this nice experience in my tool belt so I can introduce other people to it later! Solo experiences can be used in a bunch of different frameworks: adventure/nature therapy, outdoor education, rites of passage, ecopsychology, or spiritual practices. In adventure therapy, solo experiences is about using land & nature as part of the therapeutic pr...

Hi everyone, I spent the previous 10 (11? Idk) days in Barcelona, learning about Spanish and Catalan culture and history, and meeting with some awesome adventure therapy practitioners. Enjoyed tapas, sangria, paella, flamenco shows, museums, architecture, and making friends from people I met at the Picasso museum and a city tour. La Basilica de la Sagrada Familia was incredible to gaze upon, and walking around Park Güell was lots of fun, and I love the colorful mosaics. I really wish I knew Spanish. And Catalan. I probably should write more about all the observations I made and things I learned but I've already journaled about it all and I'm not in the reflective mindset right now, so that's all the reflection you're going to get from me today! Hopefully the pictures make up for a bit of it. I wanted to write an update before I start my solo nature training tomorrow morning at the Lluc Monastery in Mallorca. The streets of Barcelona are old and narrow and beaut...

Hey it's me! Andi! (I wrote this yesterday but was having trouble posting the pictures, so  I'm actually in Barcelona now! Just pretend I'm still in Doha when you read this) I'm sitting in the Al Maha lounge at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar during my 10-hour layover from NZ to Spain. My flight here was 15 hours long and I expected it to be way worse than it was, luckily I ended up sleeping for most of it. Next step: a 7-hour flight to Barcelona. Here are some of my thoughts about the rest of my time in New Zealand. In keeping with the theme of my time in New Zealand, my body decided to get sick one more time before leaving, so I've been on antibiotics for a whole new bout of strep throat! For anyone not keeping track, that means I spent about 75% of my time in NZ recovering from an illness. Even so, I had a great time. I just hope this curse doesn't follow me to Barcelona. My experience in NZ was filled with hikes along the coast, caving, fo...