Dortmund before the south

Dortmund · spent, social, already halfway to the beach · Wind: Dortmund still short on sun and sea wind

Friday started early in the adesso Dortmund office, still very much in work mode and not yet in beach mode. Breakfast and coffee landed in the chill room with colleagues around the tables, croissants in reach, a blue mug in the foreground, and a morning presentation somewhere in the background.

Then the mailbox performed its little last-day trick. Tasks arrived as if the system knew this was the final working day before the trip. For once, though, the laptop did not win. I closed it early, tired enough that the desk looked like a small theatre piece: DONE on the screens, a rubber duck watching, and a dramatic pink office monster perfectly representing my energy level.

The evening moved into the adesso summer festival. Music, food, drinks, light in the hall, conversations inside and out in the garden. It was one of those company evenings where Europe suddenly feels less abstract, because colleagues from different sides of it are standing there with plates, glasses, jokes, and stories.

I left a little earlier to protect tomorrow. Dortmund still did not provide the missing sun, sand, shorts, waves, or warm wind, but my head was already there. Saturday is for seeing Dortmund with tourist eyes, then transferring to Köln, then finally letting the plan turn into takeoff.