Andi's Adventures

Hi friends, 2 days after publishing my last blog post, I took a flight from Osaka to Sydney and went into mandatory self-isolation for 14 days. I'm lucky I made the decision to fly here when I did, because I got into the country about 6 hours before they closed the borders to any international visitors (and they still haven't opened it since). The self-quarantine was precautionary but required, and by the time my self-quarantine was over the rest of the country was more or less shut down so I've not been able to move around Australia or engage with people like I normally would. Luckily I was able to go back to Wangat Lodge for self-quarantine, the first site I visited during my Watson year. It was a full circle experience, and wonderful to be back "home" with Dan and Verity. The Coronavirus situation around the world has made it nearly impossible for me to engage with my Watson year and project in the ways I'd been planning to. I was 'supposed' to ...

Hi everyone! (I started this draft on March 4th and then got distracted and forgot about the blog for another 14 days. This seems to be a trend in my life haha. Things around the world have changed drastically in the last 2 weeks since I wrote the first part of this post, and I'll share my thoughts and feelings about the coronavirus stuff either later or at the end of this post. ) I think the last time I updated this blog was over a month ago, so I figured it'd be a good time to share what I've been doing in Japan. I'm traveling on a series of Shinkansens (the super speedy bullet trains) this afternoon so I don't have much excuse not to write. An overview of my itinerary in Japan: 1. Tokyo Visited Institute for Nature Study and by chance happened to meet a children's book author who writes about humans' relationships with nature! We met up for coffee the next day and he gifted me a copy of his book, Gaudi's Ocean Met an awesome Hamilton alum f...

Hi everyone! Wow... my time in Budapest is almost over! I'm glad I came to Hungary, because admittedly I was a bit nervous to do so when it seemed like there wasn't going to be enough for me to do here or people to spend time with. But it's been such an interesting time. I've spoken to a bunch of different people that do some kind of version of adventure therapy, or enjoy spending time in nature for therapeutic purposes. I visited a high school psychology class and led a workshop about mental health, went hiking with psychologists in the (very few) wooded and hilly areas that the area around Budapest has to offer, and even attended a day-long workshop about the nature of motherhood. Hah! I was originally told it was more about nature than motherhood, but then even after I received clarification that it was really about being a mother, I decided to go anyways because hey, I had no better plans for my Saturday. And it was lovely! It actually did have a lot to do with co...