İlayda Gökgöz

Educator/Teacher, Student

I am a multilingual speaker and an undergrad student who is passionate about law, politics, government, languages, philosophy, literature, and physics. In my free time, I love translating, solving puzzles with thousands of pieces (even if it takes me weeks I love to challenging myself...), painting, and reading books. Richard Feynman's The Pleasure of Finding Things Out & The Meaning Of It All, Republic by Plato, The First Three Minutes by Steven Weinburg, After The First Three Minutes by Thanu Padmanabhan, and Penguin Orange Collection's On the Road by Jack Kerouac, Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan & Jessica Hische, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, and White Noise by Don DeLillo are among my favorites.

working to improve the languages I am able to speak.

Always do your best, and everybody's best is different. You can't always be the best, but you can always do your best. Remember that only you can change and direct what happens in your life. Stop procrastinating and start working on your dreams today, right now, this minute, this second. Don't procrastinate using your tiredness as an excuse. You will never have more energy or enthusiasm, or brain cells than you have today. As Mustafa Kemal Atatürk said, "Those who set out never to rest never and ever get tired.''

I believe ideas need to be shared. Every time I translate, transcribe, and review, I imagine myself sitting on a chair, listening to the speaker's speech. At the end of every speech, there are always things that teach me about life, about being human, about becoming a better person. As a child I loved losing myself in stories and now I love them more. They are what make us human, person, lover. I started translating for TED because at TED, the story never ends.

Volleyball is one of the most enjoyable pastimes of mine. My passion for volleyball began at the age of seven, in addition to playing in an official club, I was also the captain of my school team for several years during my time there. As soon as I started high school, the COVID19 came out and I started training every 3-months vacation, but once I started high school, I decided to quit my team due to the COVID19 coming out, but it remains my most memorable passion.