Bavaria, GermanyAs I didn't run at the event, I can't tell much about the tech stuff and everything.
- Experience as an attendee (arriving, checking in, venue, cleanliness, etc) Arriving in Växjö was difficult as expected, due to the fact that I live in bumfuck South Bavaria and had to get to get to Düsseldorf, then Düsseldorf Weeze in order to catch a flight to Växjö. The overall time I spent getting to Växjö was 28 hours, the same on my way home.
Spent one night at the Royal Corner before moving to mass housing because we arrived one day earlier. The hotel was nice, but nothing spectacular. On the next day, my companions and I arrived at the venue after another bus ride and a small walk. I don't care much about the bus schedule being so bad, especially after dark. I live in bumfuck South Bavaria, after all, and I always managed.
The check-in was over quickly, although we got our lanyards later during the middle of the event. After that, we explored the venue, which was way bigger than I expected, so it felt kinda impersonal to me, but I saw the plus side of having such a big arena for an event such as ours, so that was okay, too.
I only regret that the venue is so far away from everything. A supermarket is a ten minute walk away, so we could get everything we needed there. And with the fridges and the microwave we could even have real food, because the only near places with food were a MAXI burger place and a pizzeria down the street. The kiosk wasn't open the whole time, and during the night the hotdogs at the front reception were the only option. Still a BIG shoutout to Pizza Guy™ for having us bunch of nerd for the whole week!
Unfortunately, I need to critise all the nasty people who didn't clean up after themselves. It can't be that difficult throwing away your own stuff into the nearby trash bins, and cleaning the surfaces after you spilled something. That's so dirty and unhygenic I couldn't even. I cringed every time I came to the dining area to have a small meal (only after I cleaned most of the kitchen in order to use it!). Also, a massive shoutout to Tompa who was a DARLING during the whole event, trying to keep the venure clean and everything.
- Experience volunteering at tech or hosting This year, I volunteered as a mod for the ESA chat. I totally missed the fact that CBenni, our head mod, decided that whoever was on site couldn't be mod at the same time, for reasons I don't understand completely. I kinda slipped this rule because I didn't know, so I was the only mod who was on site.
On the first evening of the event, when things didn't work as planned, I quickly became a liaison between tech crew, chat and the mod squad that was sitting at home, trying to subdue the chat when it was really bad. I could give updates on what the tech crew was doing, thus giving my fellow mods information in real time. This way they were able to manage the twitter account and give regualar updates in chat when the set up took forever. The other way round, my fellow mods would tell if the audio wasn't good, or if anything had to be adjusted by the tech crew. Especially during the first hours of the marathon, there would have been no way of sufficiently communicating with the tech crew as they were busy with their things. Thanks to CBenni for not removing me from the mod list! <3
- Experience of accomodation (be it your hotel or mass housing). The mass housing was okay, I managed to get enough sleep in order to work properly, although the AC was REALLY loud, and there was a lot of snoring. At least there were toilets, but the showers were all the way back at the venue. Planks and Edenal talked about how the original mass housing area, the Hall B in the Fortnox Arena, became to small to house everyone, but I talked to a few people and we agree that Hall B would have been sufficient in housing everyone! I'd like to see the hall being the mass housing area next year.
I want to thank all the great people I met at ESA, and the tech crew for doing such an amazing job although everything didn't go quite as planned in the beginning. See yall next year!
