The longest day I’ve ever had in Freiburg

Today was the day- our reason for coming on this trip- the kickoff of a 3-day offsite for my boss and his leadership team. An offsite I lead. 

I was downstairs around 7 and found a good smattering of colleagues already having breakfast. The breakfast was pretty great - lots of options, everything fresh and delicious. Fancy coffee machines. Everything we needed. We had a blend of people with cars and not. Finally, around 7:30 there were 5 of us left and we decided to band together and get an uber. I pulled it up and was dismayed to see an uber couldn’t even get to us for 19 minutes. We had to START at 8 am! So, we all ran to the train station to grab a cab. We found a mini-van that could hold us all and then, inexplicably, my colleague who must be at least 6 feet tall, climbed all the way into the back and there I was now sitting in the front with the other 3 sharing the middle bench seat. It was hilarious so I snapped this cute pic.   

What wasn’t cute was the uber driver trying to drop us off in a large, grassy field. Fred, speaking perfect German says to the driver, “No! This is not it.” The driver said yes in some language but frankly at that point I’d decided he didn’t speak German or English. Anyway, Dorothy pulled her map out and pointed to show him to please drive around the large grassy field. Thank goodness those guys were with me because I had no idea where the office was, what it looked like OR what language to speak to the driver. I did think the office didn’t look like a large, grassy field. 

We ended up late, which is awful when a)you’re leading the thing and b)your boss is the first speaker and he’s standing at the front of the room waiting to start as you walk in. Good times! That said, everyone was chill about it and off we went.

At lunch, we took several laps around outside to wake up and get some sunshine. The campus is beautiful and the catered lunch was delicious. I was starting to believe I would live through the day!

We wrapped the meetings and embarked upon some manufacturing tours to cap the day. It was all very cool to see. We ubered/taxied/drove back to the hotel where we had all of…say 27 minutes before meeting again to walk to dinner.

But, as I walked into the lobby, I saw my friend Ashley had arrived! Woohoo!! Ashley moved to Germany 3 years ago but we’re old pals from Texas and this makes the 3rd time now we’ve hung out overseas. We were so stoked when we found out we were coming to Germany! She and Jason were sitting at the bar waiting for me so I was able to have a quick drink and chat with them before the lobby was buzzing with the craziness of the team gathering for dinner.

We all took off to walk into the gorgeous old town area together. The restaurant was absolutely delicious and we had a great time talking, laughing, and enjoying being together. My colleague Eddie started what would become a 4 day schnitzel bender. I have to say, schnitzel is good. Also, it is apparently white asparagus season and I for one do celebrate this now that I know about it. I asked everyone what the difference was between white and green and no one knew but I am here with the scoop having eaten the famed white asparagus now. There are 2 things - 1)apparently you have to peel white asparagus but more importantly 2) it doesn’t make your pee stink. Who else wants to celebrate this terrific vegetable? 

 I started hitting the wall after the second round of shots of grappa came by and was like - yo, who else is ready to walk back cause I’m outta here. We walked again as a herd on the way back after very loudly singing happy birthday to my colleague John who was a terrific sport about it despite the horror of the singing.

We had another 7 am lobby situation set for the next day and this time we knew we needed to call the car earlier. NOTED!

I was SO SO SO tired when I laid down. Whew!