End of August we organized a seminar for our group in the mountains of Austria. For a week we stayed in the Ravensburger Hut at almost 2000-meter altitude located close to Langen am Arlberg. We started our trip in Paderborn and in two days we travelled by public transport to Lech am Arlberg. From there it was a three hour walk up to the hut. Even though the weather was not always nice on that day, everyone enjoyed the challenge and the experience of getting wet in the rain. On the hut we had a seminar room that was perfectly suited for the 12 of us attending the seminar. We are especially happy about the fact that group members from all different levels ranging from bachelor students to professors were able to join the trip and contribute. We took the chance of reduced distraction to focus on future challenges and goals we will encounter in our research and to grow as a team. Everyone had the possibility to prepare and share multiple sessions such as group vision, social outreach, problem solving strategies, diversity and inclusion, to just name a few. Due to the nice weather, we were able to have some of the fruitful discussions outside. We felt that our discussions highly benefited from the isolated location we were in. In the evenings we set together and enjoyed the company of each other over different rounds of pub quiz and other board games. After five days of long but rewarding discussions, we had to hike down the same way we came up. Since the way to Paderborn was quite a long one the alarm rang at 5.30 in the morning and the shoes were tied at 6 am. On the way down we got the chance to see the sun rise over a clear blue sky with mountains surrounding us. We are looking forward to organizing such a seminar again. We thank the Ravensburger Hut for hosting us and giving us the chance to work in such an inspiring environment.
