Shanti Group Safe in New Delhi!

James Simmons India- SHANTI
Dear Shanti Friends and Family: The Shanti group has landed safely in Delhi and have settled into their accommodation. It was a long journey, having a brief layover in Hong Kong and a few hours in Singapore. The group is healthy, happy, more than a little tired, and are looking forward to a good night’s sleep. The group will begin Orientation activities tomorrow, and will begin exploring the myriad sites,… Read More

Shanti Group: Together in San Francisco!

James Simmons India- SHANTI
Dear Shanti Friends and Family: We wanted to update you and let you know that the entire Shanti group has safely arrived at SFO airport. The group will go through security and then dive into a few introduction and orientation activities led by their Overseas Educators, Rebecca and Peter. The group will then embark on their long flight across the Pacific Ocean, en route to Delhi, India! We will provide… Read More

Kia Ora, Hongi Team!

James Simmons South Pacific- HONGI
Hey Hongi Team! In just one short week we will all be meeting as a group for the first time in the LAX airport, about to hop on a (very looong) flight to New Zealand! We hope these last few weeks have been filled with family, friends, and general excitement for the upcoming adventure ahead! Here are a few words of wisdom from us regarding packing… Dave: “Headlamp or bust!’… Read More

Final Blog: Spaff Edition

James Simmons South Pacific- HONGI
Cheers, Hongi 2018! We did it! Somehow, December 6th came and went. It feels like just a few days ago that we were all circling up (in the first of many circles) at the SFO airport – but, according to the length of the girls’ hair and the boys’ beards, more than just a few days have passed since then. And what a journey we shared – 12 weeks filled… Read More

Final Blog from Peter and Anya

James Simmons South Pacific- WALKABOUT
Farewell Walkabout! Today is the long whispered about December 6th, 2018. A few hours ago we all sat together in the sunny Christchurch Botanical Gardens, making jokes about all the unique people and places we encountered these past few months and shouting out all that we are grateful for one final time. Then we asked a stranger to take a sweet photo of us together in a giant tree, headed… Read More

Final Blog: Overseas Educator Edition

James Simmons South Pacific - KORO
Part I: One Last Sunrise Before The Journey Home By OE’s Adam & Mandy It’s six o’clock in the morning (queue Lily Allen & T-pain) and the voice above is giving us a safety briefing, as we place our carry-on’s under the seat in front of us and buckle our seatbelts. It’s rap music. It’s an unsettlingly cheery juxtaposition against the slow, creeping realization of our soon-to-be end. We’ve been… Read More

Koro Student Final Blog!

James Simmons South Pacific - KORO
Prema Shanti Marin and Sky A Koro Kind of Goodbye Greetings from the Koro group! For our final week of our big adventure, we spent time reflecting at Prema Shanti, a yoga and meditation retreat center in the Daintree National park of Northern Queensland. We were welcomed by our hosts Mara and Janardhan and made to feel at home right away in their beautiful temple. Our days at Prema Shanti… Read More

Shanti Blog: Leader Edition

James Simmons India- SHANTI
Three months ago 7 strangers met in the San Francisco airport to embark on the journey of a lifetime. Today, our journey has come to an end, and we depart no longer as strangers but as family. We have so enjoyed spending the last three months with all of you. We appreciate all of the unique qualities that each of you brought to this journey. We are sad to see… Read More

Shanti Divas: Final Blog

James Simmons India- SHANTI
We came. We saw. We experienced. Not many people can say they traveled across India for three months with total strangers but we did it. We explored the culture, we met people from all over the world, and we opened up our heart s and minds to everything and everyone around us. Some of us are more ready to take on what we have planned for our future; some of… Read More

Further Reflections on Rajasthan Home Stays

James Simmons India- SHANTI
A day for Emily: Snuggled up under my wool blanket, I am awoken by my host family chatting away in Hindi. I open my eyes and absorb the soft glow of the pre-sunrise light and take in my surroundings: the small mud patio I am sleeping on and my host brothers Lalito and Rukase coming toward me to say good morning. I get out of bed and am greeted wit… Read More

Family Time at Hart Family Farm

James Simmons South Pacific- HONGI
In our final week of our long journey through the South Pacific, we were lucky enough to stay on the Hart Family Farm and spend time with our amazing hosts Greg, Rachel, their kids George, Bill and Emma, as well as their four dogs. This week was a real eye opener for many of us, learning a lot about the way we make and consume food and how unsustainable this… Read More

Whenua Iti

James Simmons South Pacific- WALKABOUT
Friends & Family!! The trip may be coming to an end, but the adventures are definitely not winding down quite yet. Before coming Whenua Iti Outdoors, we spent a day wandering around the cute city of Nelson, full of shops, good restaurants, and lively atmosphere. Typing from personal experience, it’s a great place to shop for things you definitely don’t have any room for. Our first day at Whenua Iti,… Read More

Teaching and Learning in Rural India

James Simmons India- SHANTI
Katie and Charlotte on what it like to teach in a small village in India. Katie- This last week we got to spend our time working at an all girls school outside a small village. The school provides free schooling for over 500 village girls who would otherwise not get a chance to go to school. Everyday we taught different classes in English and got to play and run around… Read More

Gratitude and Realization

James Simmons South Pacific- HONGI
Over the course of the last week Hongi 2018 had the privilege of learning from and living with the Maori people. My main takeaway from the experience is that people are amazing. I have always admired people because I think the things they do are incredible, but this week I felt like I was just in continuous awe of how this culture lives. We arrived in Ragland (or Whāingaroa as… Read More

Scuba Week!!!

James Simmons South Pacific - KORO
In the past week we all worked diligently to earn our PADI open water scuba diving certification. The first two days were split between learning scuba skills in the classroom and in the pool. We were enthusiastically taught by our energetic instructor, Rob. Rob is an experienced diver and clearly loves what he does. From the moment we met him outside our hostel in Cairns he was full of energy,… Read More

Amritsar and Udaipur

James Simmons India- SHANTI
After the trek we quickly came back to civilization. We had a long travel day to Amritsar where we stayed for two days. We explored around the Golden Temple and visited it. We had some bougie Kulfi (indian ice cream) in chocolate, almond, rose and pistachio and mango flavors and a delicious dinner. The next morning we tried to bring our bags to spend the night at the Golden Temple,… Read More

Farm Life in New Zealand

James Simmons South Pacific- WALKABOUT
Its crazy to think that after this week we only have two more weeks left. I can’t thank Carpe Diem enough for giving me such a great opportunity with the best people I could have asked for. This past week we were working on a sustainable farm with the Hart family who have been on this farm for 22 years. Greg and Rachel, the owners, have three kids and I… Read More

Adventures in New Zealand

James Simmons South Pacific- HONGI
Hello all! We have just finished an amazing yet tiring week of student directed travel. Over the past three days we have spent fifteen hours in vans and three on a boat if that paints a picture for you. After finishing a fantastic week with Whenua Iti, we embarked on our self made journey. However, our plan quickly wen haywire when we found out the main road we needed to… Read More