We are a quite international team and not everybody’s at the same place at the same time. Thus we know Zoom conferences very well. And it works for us. This is probably why the ever ongoing pandemic does not cause us to be drawn apart, although our chances to meet happen to be shrunk to a minimum periodically. All the more of a bless it was for the group that we could eventually go on a retreat this autumn.
Having settled in a cosy, but spacious wood house in the mountains of Austria, we went about an extensive program which we had planned beforehand: Presentations, group discussions, a hike, little workshop and – of course – self-cooked meals filled the days until and into the evening. When I, the author, asked around how those days were experienced by the individuals, answered seemed to suggest ‘work at its best’. The time spent first and foremost served as an overall inspiration and it seems like we had missed seeing each other more than we had actually realised.
Wether it was the round of talks after dinner on tackling life and a science career, or having the freedom to develop ideas with colleagues who you didn’t know how helpful they would be: The group experience was the common theme which made us treasure the retreat in every way.
