We all know the saying work hard play hard. After working hard especially this past year, we completed this year with one big bang of a Christmas party at Phoenix. For some of us, it would be the first company gathering, for others, it is a tradition. This year’s theme was ‘Award Night’ which means dressing up fancy and expecting many creatively named awards. When we heard this theme, we got super excited and curious. We let curiosity do its work. On the date of celebration, the Stuttgart office was packed. The early get together started around 2 PM. With snacks and Glühwein (Mulled Wine), we smoothly started the transition from our last day of work to all the fun activities awaiting us. Yet, one final task of the year was waiting to be completed: choose a drink and get a cardboard box, then designing a lamp! The lamp would, later on, guide us through the walk on our way to the party location.
As the clock showed 5 PM, we filled our thermo bottles with drinks to start our walk to the restaurant. No matter how cold it was, the walk was great where we warmed up by the conversations. That is something we all learned at Phoenix: ‘Great people bring great vibes anywhere’. No matter where you are and what you are doing, if you have great people around you, life gets more fun. When arriving at the restaurant, the crowd got bigger. Most people were with their partners, which was awesome that we had the chance to get to know everyone. While drink trays were flying around us, the night was passing by without even realizing it. We took our seats to listen to the incredible speeches given by our managing partners. Finally, it was time for the award night. In a short presentation everyone voted for their favourite Phoenix in specific categories like “Nick Name”, “Mission Impossible” or “Fashionista”. One sure thing, the show was great. Another sure thing, the Phoenix community created its own language. A language that only the community can make sense of it. That was really fun and I - as a new Phoenix member - was especially proud to become part of it. After the awards, another amazing, yet hilarious part on the agenda was watching the yearly summary video of Phoenix. Good music, great collage and clever humor. Following that, it was the time for Santa to distribute presents. The theme for presents was charity. So, everyone did something good for others and gifted anonymously. All in all, we drank, talked, laughed, and more importantly, had a lot of fun. Work hard play hard to be continued.
