UIS 2010 Retreat

Last weekend, I went on the UIS retreat.

Where I discovered that UIS alumns are some of the most dedicated people I have ever met. A few of them came all the way from the bay area to help with the retreat. They cooked, cleaned and took care of us all during the retreat, all the while giving us excellent career and life advice. I wonder if I will be that dedicated to UIS after I graduate. One of the alumns is even helping me get an internship. I will be sending in my application to her directly, which hopefully will improve my chances.

Also, one of the main things that we did at the retreat was plan out the quarter's. It was during this time that I announced an idea that I had a week prior to the retreat. The plan is to start a UIS blog that gives our club much more transparency. Since our weekly meetings usually consist of a workshop or presentation from a professional in the industry, I decided it would be a great idea to start summarizing these presentations and put them in a blog so that they would be easily accessible to anyone who is interested in UIS. In addition, the posts will be supplemented by a 2 to 3 minute soundbite of the presentation. The UIS blog is now my new baby and I think it will really just round out the club's social media experience.

During the first and only hard night of drinking, I ended passing out on the couch and got drawn on for the first time. The guy seriously owned the shit out of me. I had a huge swastika on my forehead, inspired by Inglorious Basterds, penises on both my cheeks, a Hitler mustache and my whole nose blacked out. Thankfully, I woke up before it all dried and was able to get it all off without much hassle.

The team building activities were utterly ridiculous. One of the activities we had to do was the traditional video scavenger hunt. Members were split up into teams and given a list of tasks that they had to do and record on video. On it were some ridiculous things like run around the parking lot in your boxers, or walking up to a fast food cashier with a partner and exclaiming that you are so hungry you could just eat your partner up, then proceeding to lick his face. As a member of my team pointed out to me, we basically got hazed.

After the retreat, I really understand why all the Christian groups do it. It is most definitely a bonding experience, because there is something about being stuck in the middle of nowhere really brings people together. Suddenly, I know all the new officers by name and have really become friends, not just acquaintances, with the old ones.

-muffinman