EuroTrip Part 1: Eurofurence!
So I'm sitting here on the 9 hour flight back to the US after my 2 week vacation in Europe. This is going to be really difficult to recap because so much amazing stuff happened on my trip.... so many eye opening experiences, so many events, feelings, and just undescribeable emotions that I really will never forget. There is absolutely no way I'm going to be able to do the trip justice with an LJ post.
I'm going to separate this into three posts.. one about the convention, one regarding the rest of the trip, and one regarding my thank yous to all those who made it amazing. They feel like really separate vacations, and both were amazing, but one was a rather familiar experience, and one was rather different.. after that I will be posting my fancy little thank you post.
I arrived in Frankfurt about 12 days ago, ready for my convention and trip. I didn't have a whole lot of expectations as to what I was about to experience, having never been in a foreign country before (except Canada, but that doesn't really count). My biggest worry at the time was meeting up with nerfcoyote and crocodile in the airport. I was really nervous because I was without a phone, and not being able to find them in the airport would have been really difficult. Luckily that wasn't a problem. To my surprise, my fellow members of the Chin Entourage, kwik and kokoes12 also met us at the airport.
We arrived at EF after about a 3ish hour drive to Suhl. It was pretty enjoyable being a part of the Guest of Honor's "posse"... he had a car with cute fursuits hanging out of the windows and flashing lights waiting for him to pull into the hotel area. When we got out of the car BBF had a million cameras on him and a large crowd of people (staff I assume!). I couldn't help but smile and laugh, it was like a celebrity getting out of his vehicle and entering the red carpet. Quite awesome :)
I'm not going to talk much about the con activities themselves... but moreso the experiences that separate EF from a normal US convention.
The main thing that really hit me immediately was how I knew absolutely no one at this convention. I think I knew of about 10 americans that would be attending, and I knew a few europeans from brief online interactions. But holy crap, as KP put it... small fish in a big pond. It was really interesting and at first, I kind of thought it would be a bit difficult. I'm so used to having a million people to hang out with all the time, it's a real shock when you look around and don't recognize anyone.
But, I quickly learned that the attendees of Eurofurence are incredibly awesome. I honestly don't think I met a single bad person the entire time I was in Europe, and that goes for everyone attending the convention as well. I met a huge amount of new friends and had a really really "fresh" experience. I always have a great time at US conventions, but largely, you've been to one convention you've been to them all and it ultimately ends up being about the people. Well EF was the same experience, it WAS about the people.. but all the people were brand new. I did of course have a great time with the traditional furry con stuff (drinking, suiting, etc)... but I can't say enough about how amazing everyone was.
So the con was great... the staff was incredible at making us feel at home, and everything was just remarkable. I could not believe the treatment we got from everyone, Thank you to all the con staff and attendees of EF for the remarkable time. I don't think there is any convention that can match such hospitality.
And thank you to Jimmy Chin, Guest of Honor himself, for allowing me to room in his awesome fancy suite and for all of the other things that I was included in. It's definitely nothing I will ever forget. *hugs!*
I'm going to separate this into three posts.. one about the convention, one regarding the rest of the trip, and one regarding my thank yous to all those who made it amazing. They feel like really separate vacations, and both were amazing, but one was a rather familiar experience, and one was rather different.. after that I will be posting my fancy little thank you post.
I arrived in Frankfurt about 12 days ago, ready for my convention and trip. I didn't have a whole lot of expectations as to what I was about to experience, having never been in a foreign country before (except Canada, but that doesn't really count). My biggest worry at the time was meeting up with nerfcoyote and crocodile in the airport. I was really nervous because I was without a phone, and not being able to find them in the airport would have been really difficult. Luckily that wasn't a problem. To my surprise, my fellow members of the Chin Entourage, kwik and kokoes12 also met us at the airport.
We arrived at EF after about a 3ish hour drive to Suhl. It was pretty enjoyable being a part of the Guest of Honor's "posse"... he had a car with cute fursuits hanging out of the windows and flashing lights waiting for him to pull into the hotel area. When we got out of the car BBF had a million cameras on him and a large crowd of people (staff I assume!). I couldn't help but smile and laugh, it was like a celebrity getting out of his vehicle and entering the red carpet. Quite awesome :)
I'm not going to talk much about the con activities themselves... but moreso the experiences that separate EF from a normal US convention.
The main thing that really hit me immediately was how I knew absolutely no one at this convention. I think I knew of about 10 americans that would be attending, and I knew a few europeans from brief online interactions. But holy crap, as KP put it... small fish in a big pond. It was really interesting and at first, I kind of thought it would be a bit difficult. I'm so used to having a million people to hang out with all the time, it's a real shock when you look around and don't recognize anyone.
But, I quickly learned that the attendees of Eurofurence are incredibly awesome. I honestly don't think I met a single bad person the entire time I was in Europe, and that goes for everyone attending the convention as well. I met a huge amount of new friends and had a really really "fresh" experience. I always have a great time at US conventions, but largely, you've been to one convention you've been to them all and it ultimately ends up being about the people. Well EF was the same experience, it WAS about the people.. but all the people were brand new. I did of course have a great time with the traditional furry con stuff (drinking, suiting, etc)... but I can't say enough about how amazing everyone was.
So the con was great... the staff was incredible at making us feel at home, and everything was just remarkable. I could not believe the treatment we got from everyone, Thank you to all the con staff and attendees of EF for the remarkable time. I don't think there is any convention that can match such hospitality.
And thank you to Jimmy Chin, Guest of Honor himself, for allowing me to room in his awesome fancy suite and for all of the other things that I was included in. It's definitely nothing I will ever forget. *hugs!*