Ever wondered what’ve we been up to lately? Well… we’ve just come back from a teambuilding of firsts, to call it so, which was so amazing and intense that we barely had any time to write down a few things, do live updates or take more photos. It was indeed a journey to remember, from which we came back a little bit richer, happier and quite adventurous.
Friday
Last Friday we took off to Bulgaria, having the Veliko Tarnovo region as a final destination, where we found one of those Airbnb treasures that sometimes just pop up and leave you speechless. Keeping the image of this dreamy place in mind, we embarked in our cars and left directly from the office, not before doing some shopping and lots of plans.
We have a lot of chemistry at work and we naturally make a great team. Our after-work experiences have proved us that we can have a lot of fun together, too. But almost three days with nothing to code or design would be some quite challenging.
Back to Friday afternoon, we were preparing to leave when we actually found out the first story of this trip. Somehow, the discussion got into details such as Radu’s car registration mark. Then he told us that it was a reinterpretation of a day he treasures a lot – the wedding with his wife, Alina.
Soon after that we left, quite surprised that Adrian, one of our coders, was not going to come, but he had changed his mind in the meantime, under one condition: his laptop had to come, too. So just a few minutes after we took off, Radu – who was driving – gets out of the car while we were waiting at the traffic lights and takes the laptop of the car trunk. He would sure be going to have a lot of fun on this trip… but you know coders, so focused all the time!
As we were approaching the villa, the road got a bit more difficult than we thought in the beginning, so we had a little trouble finding our sweet retreat. But sometime after 10 pm, we finally found it and the landlord had helped us install the barbeque right away. What is there to do when a bunch of hungry geeks knock at your door?
Saturday
The first night there was all about partying. The next day, we had a great breakfast prepared by the landlord’s wife: oven bread with cheese, strawberry jam, all so delightful. Saturday was our lazy day. We enjoyed the pool and each other’s company.
At some point, we got hungry and a few of us formed a posse to go into the city and come back with some pizza. It would’ve been quite an easy task, “hunting” for pizza, but it was so hot outside that we actually came back earlier than expected, to feed our people. After everyone ate, the conversations got more intense. We approached mathematics, physics, the meaning of life and so on. And as were chatting around the table… we hear something. We start looking at each other, as confusion mounts.
That was clearly a call for a new “mission.”
So we went out, following the sounds, which turned out to be music. All the way there we got to admire the nature, saw some snakes and lizards. Finally, we found the place where the music came from. It was a restaurant where a wedding took place. Since we weren’t invited, we decided to come back to the villa and let the newly-weds party with no crashing involved.
Time for the second barbeque!
And board games and very deep discussions. In the meantime Radu, who promised his son that he would bring him fireflies from Bulgaria, tried and succeeded catching a few.
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- Splash! Our eJump boys @ the pool.
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- eJumper is impressed.
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- A bit tired from all the climbing, eJumpers?
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- Didn’t know you’re all “fun-sized”!
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- What a trip! eJumpers reunited for one final photo before coming back home.
Sunday
Just like Saturday, we had a delicious breakfast first, home made by our wonderful hosts. We had to head back home, but not before saying goodbye to the landlord. After we left the villa, which you can find here, Cristi suggested we should go to a waterfall nearby and take some beautiful photos. Well, actually the last part wasn’t his suggestion, it all came naturally. We climbed the mountain and searched for the source of the waterfall. It was amazing.
Actually, the whole experience was amazing. For some of us, it was the first time leaving Romania. We had a lot of fun, bonded and got to think what makes us a great team. Would it be the fact that we get along so well, both at the office and outside of it? Would it be the adventurous side that we all share? The love for barbeques and nature? We might never figure it out, but somehow we became a very strong team that grows every day into something even greater.
So much for this summer’s teambuilding. Most of us are now preparing for their own summer trips all over Europe. And we can’t wait to hear everything about it!
Our amazing villa, a true Airbnb treasure. We definitely recommend it!
