Happy Valentine’s Day!

On this special day of friendships and love, we want to share with you our love for TED, its members, and everything it encompasses. This organization has taught us countless lessons, brought us endless friendships, and memories we will cherish forever. We wanted to give you all a sneak peek at something new we did this year that combined all the previously mentioned qualities that helped all members bond in our equal love for TEDxUTAustin.

You guessed it, we went on a TEDxUTAustin retreat!

Day 1

It started off with everyone driving to Shanil’s, our VP Internal’s, house in West Campus. The night started off with pizza and fun games (thought of by Elif, our beloved VP of Membership). However, as the night went on, the atmosphere shifted. Soon, we were all standing outside, huddled around a somewhat large bonfire in the backyard. We all shivered in the cold, with a marshmallow-roasting stick in one hand, and a hand-cooked smores in the other. As we savored our sweets and let our sticks burn slowly in the fire, Elif handed us a notecard to write one thing we wanted to leave behind in 2019. The notecards were thrown into the fire, to be consumed by the flames and smoke, just as 2019 took away our doubts. 

We headed back inside, to soon play a game of questions. Every member sat in a large circle in the room, while Elif pulled a question from the New York Times article, “The 36 Questions That Lead To Love.” There were three categories of questions: Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3, each increasing in the degree of seriousness. As we all went around saying our answer to the given question, a bonding sense enveloped the room. These were all questions and responses that might’ve otherwise never come up in a typical conversation, and offered a deeper insight into what each person truly valued in life. Eventually, the questions ended and we departed ways to our own respective homes.

Day 2

The following morning, we regrouped in Elif’s apartment for pancakes and waffles, prepared to drive to our designated destination for the second half of the retreat. Bags and sleeping bags were thrown into the living room before we quickly drove off to a nearby hiking trail. 

Halfway through, we hiked to the Barton Creek Greenbelt to chill and skip rocks across the water (and played with 6 different dogs that were also there). We were only a little heartbroken when we had to leave the dogs and walk back to the house.

Part two of day two consisted of fueling up on grilled burgers and hot dogs before leaving, once again, to another park. For the next two hours, various groups of members broke out into games of volleyball and soccer, while a separate group went off to record their own rap music video. Unfortunately, we were not given permission to post the music video on the blog, but trust us, it was some quality content.

The night ended with homemade Italian food (courtesy of Zane’s mom, Mrs. Giordano) and even an inspiring TED-esque talk from Mrs. Giordano about the state of the future intertwined with the developing technologies of today. She spoke about how there were many different possibilities in the future due to the growing technologies, and how we could either choose to accept said futuristic possibilities or let our fear get in the way. That ultimately concluded our night before we knocked out until our departure the next morning.

Ultimately, we LOVED this retreat. It was truly inspirational, emotional and heart-warming. From the poignant responses given in the question round to the light-hearted hiking, we TEDx members grew to love each other and this organization even more deeply over the course of two days.

We hope you too can find love, whether it be in the form of passions, family, relationships, or friendships. 

Until next time we connect,

-TEDxUTAustin