Meet Om, my Indian brother (yaar in Marati) who has dedicated his life to mountains. Whether it's in the jungle of Maharashtra or trekking in the Himalayas, Om spends his time showing off India's beauty and getting out of the city chaos as he leads Durgaraj Adventures.

Join us as we sat under the stars at one of his campsites, drinking Indian wine and reminiscing the cool life he lives. I feel lucky to have met Om and am so grateful for the time he took to show me his awesome world. When I grow up, I want to be Om!

Follow Om's adventures on Instagram @mountain_head:

https://www.instagram.com/mountain__head/

For all Reflections content and material including our Instagram and book 'Reflections: The Student View' go to:

https://linktr.ee/reflectionsmedia

To get involved in the Movement 4 Improvement mission, check out the website I made below. Your support is SO appreciated:

www.movement4improvement.com

Shalom! Salaam alaikum!

In this episode, we're reflecting on my journey hitchhiking & couchsurfing across one of the most diverse, ancient, holy but also conflicted regions of the world. From Mars-like deserts, to the lowest point on Earth, to the birthplace of Jesus, this was some experience!

For more info on the history of the region:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYZjOuUnlU

The Gorgeously Relevant Music By the Tau Ensemble:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flHwurwaXhQ

Instagram: @tau_ensemble

For all Reflections content and material including our Instagram and book 'Reflections: The Student View' go to:

https://linktr.ee/reflectionsmedia

To get involved in the Movement 4 Improvement mission, check out the website I made below. Your support is SO appreciated:

www.movement4improvement.com

After 5 weeks roaming Bulgaria and Türkiye with Callum, I took the opportunity to hop on a €15 flight over to get some Croatian sun. The Balkan Peninsula is a beautiful, raw and underestimated part of Europe full of very recent history that you can still feel exists today.

Listen in on the hitchhiking adventure from Zadar to Koper and back, reuniting with my buddy Darragh in the meantime who is living the dream as a Mountain Bike Guide for a Mediterranean Cruise Liner.

I began my first ever solo trip in Croatia when I was 18, so it was interesting returning and making comparisons to the traveler I was then to the traveler I am now. This episode is a reflection of the two different Johnny's.

For all Reflections content and material including our Instagram and book 'Reflections: The Student View' go to:

https://linktr.ee/reflectionsmedia

To get involved in the Movement 4 Improvement mission, check out the website I made below. Your support is SO appreciated:

www.movement4improvement.com

Здрасти! Meet Христина (Hristina). A graphic design student in the oldest city in Europe, Plovdiv. At 10 years old, Hristina left Banya along with her brother for her to go to art school. She’s been in Plovdiv since and is constantly inspired by the ancient artistry that surrounds her.  Listen in and find out what it was like for a 10-year-old to live in a house of university students, the misconceptions about Balkan life, art school and the Bulgaria Hristina grew up in vs the Bulgaria in Socialistic times.  Bulgaria was an extremely interesting hybrid between Western and Eastern ways of living. And Plovdiv, with a historical heritage of over 8000 years, is considered as a European cultural capital along with its pop-up street concerts, jazz jam sessions, movie bars, traditional dancing, buskers, museums, kick-ass walking tours and Bulgarian, Ottoman, Greek, Roman & Russian influence. Did you know? The Bulgarian language is actually older than Russian ! For all Reflections content and material including our Instagram and book 'Reflections: The Student View' go to:https://linktr.ee/reflectionsmedia

Callum and I set off for Sofia with our Ryanair tickets in hand along with our desire for pure adventure and our plan of not having a plan. Ripe and ready for absolutely anything after graduating in Dublin together, what unfolded in September/October of 2022 was nothing short of magical, but extremely enriching. 

We had a lot of fun, but we were in search of the difficult moments. The moments that build character, hit our egos and humble us a little. 

Reflect along with us as we unravel our time in Bulgaria and Turkey together and find out what these moments were, the many transitions one goes through after finishing college, seeking (and finding) kindness, what it takes to get along with someone while traveling for a long period of time and the mental highs and lows one can go through after consecutive peak experiences.

And I couldn’t forget… We’ll also get a couple of Callum’s daily reflections he wrote while we were on the road.

Hope this is somewhat educational! If not, we still had an absolute ball going back in time to this exciting period. Can’t wait for our next adventures dude.

Some references from the episode:

Zhivko's amazing art:

https://mutafchiev.art/

Books:

The Gulag Archipelago - Alexandr Solzhenitsyn

Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual - Jocko Willink

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Podcast episodes:

The Foundations of Physical and Mental Performance - Tim Ferriss & Dr. Andrew Huberman

For all Reflections content and material including our Instagram and book 'Reflections: The Student View' go to:

https://linktr.ee/reflectionsmedia

Merhaba! This episode is a little summary of what Callum & I got up to while traveling in Turkey in September/October. Callum was an awesome travel buddy to have for many reasons, but what made our partnership so great was that we were constantly holding each other accountable for our own personal growth. We used a personal coaching technique to create a desired persona we'd like to have, and set 8 commitments each for ourselves in order to try and be this person. In this episode you can also hear about what we got up to in Turkey, 'maktub' learning and a couple examples of encounters we had with Turkish locals (both good & bad experiences...) For all Reflections content and material including our Instagram and book 'Reflections: The Student View' go to:https://linktr.ee/reflectionsmedia

A life of getting paid to travel around the world? Meet Berkay, a cultural chameleon who thrives to understand the world’s different kinds of people and relate with them. Every week he flies around the world to a destination unknown to him until he gets his weekly schedule working in the airline industry. Callum and I met Berkay in his house in Istanbul whilst Couchsurfing and couldn’t have had a richer cultural exchange thanks to him and his wonderful family. In this episode, listen to Berkay’s reflections on the subtle and major cultural differences he’s experienced having travelled to over 50 countries across the globe. Understand the Couchsurfing community a little more and why someone may CHOOSE to sleep on a local’s couch instead of the hotel room offered to him by the airline. Also, I’d just like to add how unbelievably amazing Turkish hospitality is and how many heartfelt exchanges we had from Couchsurfing in Istanbul to hitchhiking to tiny mountain villages in Antalya. Teşekkürler! To follow Berkay and his adventures, follow him on Instagram: berkymozak Music by https://pixabay.com/users/34123235-34123235/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=141725">34123235 from Pixabay For all Reflections content and material including our Instagram and book 'Reflections: The Student View' go to:https://linktr.ee/reflectionsmedia

Chris lives the traveler musician life. He plays 6 gigs per week in 6 different Bulgarian cities. Where did this artistic hustle begin? Nottingham, England. He moved on his own at 17 years old to go and earn some £'s. Frustrated with the work he was doing, he quit and decided to start busking on the streets instead. Which turned out to be a successful risk. His life turned and he returned to Bulgaria to compete in The Voice Bulgaria, where he finished runner-up. Since then, he has been gigging around Bulgaria and teaching through his own music academy. In this episode we talk about Chris's musical journey including The Voice Bulgaria, his advice for song-writing, Bluebird - his music academy and moving to Nottingham. You can find Silent, the song included in the episode, here: https://open.spotify.com/album/1GupCOeBQZRs3gWVRq3STp?si=8uRt3F2WR3qE7ObPM04bnQ Chris's Insta: chris_zayane His Music Academy, Bird Studios: https://birdroadstudios.com/ For all Reflections content and material including our Instagram and book 'Reflections: The Student View' go to:https://linktr.ee/reflectionsmedia

Saoirse Kelders is highly motivated, a go-getter & an opportunity taker. She graduated in UCD studying International Commerce with Mandarin in 2022. She’s currently working for a startup called Protex AI, as a Founders Associate. She also founded her own startup, Passionfruit (known as Strive during the time this episode was recorded) which is a ‘Tinder for jobs’. A machine learning matching startup that ensures student-organisation cultural & skill alignment. We go through her journey along with her co-founders, from idea initiation to winning first place in UCD’s dragon’s den competition to funding programs. We also talk about how she prioritised getting as much value out of a Covid degree as possible; mountain running, being Student President of the Data Society, participating in UCD’s Formula Student, being the student chairperson of the Chinese Society, and also participating in Model UN in Boston as she represented Ireland at Harvard last year, as the delegation of Guatemala in the social, humanitarian & cultural committee. The model aims to focus on the accountability of administering powers in the 17 remaining territories and the process of decolonisation in the delegated countries. She has also worked in 3 corporate internships and we discuss the differences between the startup world & the corporate world. So, learn about Saoirse’s compact journey, college life in Dublin and a COVID world, recruitment, the tech startup industry and the exciting opportunities after final year & how you should take as many as you possibly can.

For more information about Passionfruit, visit:

https://passionfruit.ie

Or:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/passionfruitie/

To learn more about Protex AI:

https://www.protex.ai/

Or:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/protex-ai/

You can find what Saoirse is up to professionally on LinkedIn as well:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/saoirsekelders/

For all Reflections content and material including our Instagram and book 'Reflections: The Student View' go to:

https://linktr.ee/reflectionsmedia

Dave is a High Performance and Executive Coach, a Master Practitioner in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and an International Trainer of NLP coaches. That doesn't tell the full story however. Dave was also a Senior Solicitor for 12 years prior to moving full-time into his business, a rugby player and continues to be a musician to this day. Born in Dublin, a number of years ago Dave set up his own Coaching Business, 'Write Your Story NLP', whilst still practising as a Senior Solicitor, to help people navigate personal and professional challenges, often similar to what he has gone through, to not only recognise their potential, but to realise it also. Having just turned 21, whilst still in College with one year left to complete, Dave became a father, and had to quickly navigate his way through the years and the twists and turns that followed to find his lane in this world, whilst also ensuring he took care of his responsibilities and things most precious to him (including his daughter and her older brother). In this episode join us as we go through his journey in taking ownership in his own life, and now helping others do the same through his Coaching and Training. We discuss gratitude, journaling, the importance of the language you use to motivate yourself, methods to set up your internal world, visualisation, goal setting, and being able to ask 'why'. You can find his website, podcast ‘Starting From Scratch’ and courses which he is running soon all in his Linktree here:

https://linktr.ee/writeyourstorynlp

Give his Instagram a follow, along with daily coaching anecdotes and material @writeyourstorynlp.

If you're interested in his music, his band 'Fade to Light' has released a cool song on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/track/2uu2zjIXnhiZlZPLiYifMU?si=fde4d3d9cc2244d9

The music video for this song is also available here:

https://youtu.be/bUTwTf5xiI0

Also! Dave wrote a beautiful song about his daughter called 'Stars in the Night', which has me tearing up...

https://youtu.be/8Pw_iQUjkjE

For all Reflections content and material including our Instagram and book 'Reflections: The Student View' go to:

https://linktr.ee/reflectionsmedia

Matheus recently moved to Ireland from Nigeria. In this episode we dive into learning about his background, tribalism in Nigeria, 'falocom' and having an entrepreneurial mind, subtle discrimination, African community vs Western individualism and starting life in Ireland as an African. Matheus was enjoying his Sunday in the park, reflecting with a smoke in hand, and if you listen carefully you can hear some Nigerian tunes & birds singing along with us in the Irish (African-like) sun!

For more Reflections content, including our book 'Reflections: The Student View', Instagram and more all available at:

https://linktr.ee/reflectionsmedia

James is a recently graduated BCOMM International student with Mandarin at UCD. He's from a town Monaghan, a county in the north of Ireland. James's passion after tiring college days is playing, teaching and writing traditional Irish music. Frustrated by the inactivity during the pandemic and noticing the lack of material for scholar banjo musicians starting from scratch, he wrote a book for beginners to learn how to play the banjo.

Together we explored the journey he went through from student to teacher, his book-writing process, transitioning into university life (before and after COVID) and the exciting post-college phase of life that lies ahead for James.

Website:

https://www.thebanjobuddy.com/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4E6jBmxAwvOK9bAPtLqQCg?view_as=subscriber

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/thebanjobuddy/

James's tune recorded on the episode 'Na Ceannabháin Bhána', which he teaches on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0EDlM1e2FU&list=PPSV

You can contact James directly at: james.banjobuddy@gmail.com

For more Reflections content, including our book 'Reflections: The Student View', Instagram and more all available at:

https://linktr.ee/reflectionsmedia

Slán abaile!

I met Janko on the banks of the River Dodder in Dublin, as we were both having a meditative moment with a heron and stroke up conversation. Janko has been a mentor of mine since then. Having recently retired, Janko shares the wisdom he has gained in his lifetime through growing up in socialism under Tito, hitchhiking from Slovenia to India at age 16, living in 8 countries and experiencing a Yugoslav war. Join the quest for self-discovery with us as we symbolically sat along the river and discussed how we meander our way into finding the truth about ourselves.

For more Reflections content, visit our Linktree page where you can find links to our book 'Reflections: The Student View', our Instagram page & more:

https://linktr.ee/reflectionsmedia

Reference: H Hesse (1922), Siddhartha, Penguin Books

Hello and welcome to the Reflections Podcast! This first episode is an invitation for you to learn along with me, Johnny, from all of the perspectives of the amazing people I have met on my travels. I give you a brief introduction into who I am, what Reflections is all about and what's in it for you to join the journey as a listener.

Reflections: The Student View and all the 121 perspectives of life after high school is available at:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reflections-Student-View-Media/dp/B0BCD7C1RK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1EWCZ9J0ZFNHK&keywords=reflections%3A+the+student+view&qid=1675778899&sprefix=reflections+the+student+vie%2Caps%2C308&sr=8-1

Rafiki Wisdom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZfGTL2PY3E

Follow the Reflections Instagram @reflectionsmedia_ig

Or find Johnny @johnnysheridan10

Thanks for listening!