FlixSummer

Thursday, June 21, 2018
Brühl, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
When I went into the office to arrange visa papers before starting, my HR hero, Jana, asked me if I was going to FlixSummer. "What's FlixSummer?" I found out it was the main event of the year and everyone in the whole company was looking forward to it. "Sure I'll go."
Man I did not know what was coming. EVERYONE I talked to, besides my boss's boss was going. There were over 700 in attendance. Not too shabby for a 1200-person company spread all over the world. The company paid for EVERYTHING. I could've easily left my wallet at home. We (the Berlin office) arrived at the Hauptbanhof (central train station) at 8am on Thursday morning... oh also these days counted as normal work days, so we were being paid and not being docked vacation. AMAZING. We hop on the train and everyone is HYPE. We snuggle into our compartments and take off. My compartment was a bit quieter and older (like 40 aka not that old but old in comparison to everyone else), so Carmen and I switched compartments after about an hour. We moved over to where my team was sitting, I love them they're so fun, and we jumped in on a card game. I thought Americans were competitive, but these people were really into it, and I mostly just wanted to sleep I guess. Lunchtime rolled around and I made my way over to the lunch car, which turned out to be a party car with bumping music and lights and beer and everything. It was pretty awesome. I sat there in that moment thinking "If you had asked me two months ago if I would be travelling across Germany in a party train with my company, I'd tell you you were crazy. " But there I was. It was pretty awesome I can't lie.
Before we knew it we were in Köln and hopping on a FlixBus to Phantasialand, Germany's response to Paris's Disneyland. We got to our hotels (there were two hotels on the grounds, and the company booked both of them for two nights... dang!) and chilled outside in the sun. Man it was good. We creeped into the park and rode a few rides until the "All Hands Meeting". This was a huge meeting of everyone who was there, basically like a formality thing of "this is a company event, so we should talk about the company at least once" so they told the history of the company and told us we were great. It was about an hour and then we all were given beers after to toast to a successful company. After a company photo, it was dinner time!! They sectioned off one area of the park and put out fancy food and cocktail tables all over - it was incredible! They kept one of their best coasters open for us throughout dinner - not sure what the thinking was there - but it was really fun. And the food oh my gosh it was in bounties and it was so good and there was such variety and oh my gosh I wish I ate that every day. And there's people walking around offering you wine and beer... it was incredible. We met lots of people - I got to meet a good portion of the American office so that was cool, and some people from elsewhere, mostly the Munich and Stockholm offices.
The night ended with a party - which was funny because the schedule had the party listed for Friday night. .. But we turned up anyways. Open bar, DJ (ok how was this not planned), lights, dancing... it was awesome. Also it was so so fun to just hang out and be (more than normal) fun with coworkers. I got to dance with all my faves - Björn, Axel, Carmen, Fabien, Jasmin, Yannic, Claudia, Kris, Erik, Quan, Bea... it was awesome. My favorite thing about internationals is the variety of dancing types... ok skills to be honest. It was so fun.
The next morning was the "activity day". When we signed up for FlixSummer, we chose an activity - Coasters, Volleyball, Hiking, or Paddleboarding. Most people (including myself) signed up for rollercoasters. But it was like a treasure hunt, and teams started at different times. We signed up for the latest time because we're lazy. It was great though because we got to sleep in (in a super fancy and comfy hotel room) and chow down hardcore at the breakfast buffet. It was great. By the time we got to the activity, we were kinda running out of time - there were only 5 hours left of the park being open - but oh well. We (Carmen and me) were on a team with Frenchies so that was fun for me, but the motivation and communication was lowwww. We did a few things but we took a long time doing them. It got us to see some cool things in the park that we wouldn't have known about otherwise. After a bit, Carmen, a Frenchie (Sarah), and I went on an intense coaster to which the other Frenchies said "nah we'll go a different direction." Sara was SO funny - she cries on roller coasters just as a reaction - but she loves them. So I was super pumped to take her on the park's most intense ride for her first time. This ride was really good. I was really impressed with what the park had, I guess I had low expectations with it being Europe and all. But we get to the end and I turn around and Sarah is absolutely BAWLING hahahaha it was hilarious!! She loved it!! We tried to go again but it was closing up :( Carmen and I went to one of those huge spinning rides and this time she was the one who freaked out and loved it! She was so funny, talking about all the features but running out of words cuz she had so much fun. It was awesome. "The fire... and the water... and the fire and the water and the sky!!" One of my favorite quotes from her.
It was dinner time again, and this time we ate in a different section of the park with a different ride held open. Unfortunately it was a water ride, and it was a bit chilly that weekend so not many people went on it. I had gone earlier, had a lot of fun but got absolutely soaked, so I was fine just eating my food. Again, the food was amazing, and they also held open an ice cream shop for us. Amazing. Afterwards we made our way over the the aforementioned "party" and holy cow they weren't kidding. I don't even know what kind of building we were in, but we were all of a sudden transported into a Berlin club in the middle of the amusement park and again hit with an open bar and DJ and lights and smoke and glow sticks and paint... it was crazy. And SO fun. I really did not expect such an elaborate event put on by the company, but I can see why they didn't list the night before as a party. It had nothing on this. We danced for a long time and met a lot of people, but got tired eventually and Carmen and I went to sleep. I think it was a good point in the night though because people were still fun and we missed a lot of the trashy. It was great.
We slept in (compared to the Munich office who had to leave at 9am) and ate one last beautiful breakfast buffet before packing up and leaving. We hopped on the bus which seemed to take longer than last time and made it to Köln and waited a bit for the train. I boarded the train then realized I didn't have my bag (genius) but luckily had enough time to run back out to the platform to grab it. This train ride was MUCH quieter. Most of it was spent in silence/sleep, so it was nice. The lunch car was still trying to keep things going though, so you got roped into dancing on your way to your sandwich and coke. I thought it was still fun haha. I had a great time on the train, it was so calm and I got to just watch Germany pass by. It was really a cross-country trip, so I appreciated seeing more than Berlin.
Germany was playing that night (World Cup) so I asked all around to see if people wanted to go to a bar to watch, and no one did!! I was shocked. Who lets sleep get in the way of your country's football game??? Whatever. Luckily the Americans were there so we had a similar desire to experience the country in our own way so we all went to a bar near the office and watched the match. They were super super nice, and it was extra fun that we won!! (This ended up being the only game Germany won in the entire Cup; they were champions last Cup :/// ). So we went to another bar to celebrate and I felt bad because I was SO tired and I ended up half-falling asleep while we were talking and started dreaming and was saying out load what I was saying in my dreams. DUMB. I'm with the network planning manager of the US office aka I want this guy to like me and I'm being a complete fool. BUT we met up the next day for karaoke in Mauer Park and I brought it up and they said the had no idea I was tired haha they all thought they were the ones falling asleep. Crisis avoided... kinda. I still feel dumb about it.
So that was FlixSummer - I was absolutely 100% shocked at how much they put into that event. It was SO nice and fun!! They totally got me though - I loved work before but now I reallyyyyy love it. I totally know what they're doing but I can feel it working. Darn them... 

Comments

tu amiga
2018-07-03

This made me smile so wide! Glad you had such a fantastic experience. Wish I could have been bailando alongside you!!! Abrazos

2025-02-09

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