Eurofurence 16 Report
Sep. 8th, 2010 12:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slycatEurofurence 16 was my third time in Germany for the convention and again I absolutely loved it. Going every other year seems to be working out for me as it means I get to attend other cons and so far every EF I've attended (my first being EF12) has been at a different location. This time round, it was in Magdeburg, located between Hannover and Berlin and the hotel itself was less than 5 mins walk from the train station. Whereas Suhl was a bit of a nightmare to get to with many confusing trains and connections combined with a compulsory taxi journey to the hotel, the new location was an absolute breeze to get to.
I was able to fly from my local airport, Southampton (only 10 mins drive from me) and then take two simple trains (airport to Hannover central station and then another direct to Magdeberg) to get to the location. It was so much nicer to be able to fly from Southampton rather than have to find a way to Stansted or one of the London airports. Our flight was piloted by no other than Captain Jeff Sparrow (we had to check with the crew after his name was announced as we all swore they said Captain Jack Sparrow!). Lots of other furs took the same flight as well so it felt like the convention started for me at the airport with Andy Squirrel, Arakin, Blue, Bungle Bear, Calgor, Flintyfox, Redmoor, Sierus, Temejn & Xavier Wolf. Also, thanks to the swift collection of luggage at Hannover, we were able to get a train scheduled an hour earlier (bumping into Dark Natasha on the first one and Gaz_a on the second) than the one we had planned for so we finally arrived at the hotel an hour sooner than expected at 7pm on the Wednesday.
I had fears of massive registration lines from the tweets people had been posting but there was no queue at all when we arrived. It was all a rather quick pickup of badges, over to hotel registration to activate them (rather ingeniously, the convention badge doubled as a room key so you generally never lost your badge) and then drop bags off in the room. However in this short time, I somehow lost my convention bag o' stuff (probably in the lift). I don't remember much about what I did on the Wednesday other than having some bratwurst from the BBQ, drinking beer and taking loads of photos. There wasn't a dance going on though the "Piano Bar" was making up it by playing loud music. Due to the rather unique layout of the hotel, any sound made on the lower floor just got amplified throughout the central atrium and so you could hear the noise from below in all the rooms that were in the central area regardless of floor. This made me glad that I brought ear plugs as I ended up using them every day to be able to get to sleep.
As I didn't have my fursuit with me, I ended up spending much of my time at the convention taking photos and video. As I knew many of the fursuiters, I found it relatively easy to organise them and ended up with a lot of great shots. Stand out moments include when Nbowa was in his adorable lion fursuit, but was also unbelievably sweaty and so people would want a hug due to his cuteness and then immediately regret it when they realised quite how sweaty he was!
I didn't really attend many of the scheduled events, nor did I even view the art show once. I did buy a con badge from the dealer's den (this time from Korrok) as I had somehow lost my badge on the Wednesday evening and it was never handed in but that was it. The events I did attend were pretty much just the main stage ones (possibly due to not really knowing where other stuff was nor anyone else who was going to them) such as the Banner Brawl which was an entertaining art challenge presented by Fairlight and Twll. I also attended the fursuit theatre which I felt rather guilty for falling asleep a number of times during the show effectively missing the bulk of the story. The problem was the lighting was too dull and clearly I was tired so the combination had me dozing off. A similar thing happened during the Pawpet show which literally everyone was watching as is tradition of EF now, but I felt it wasn't as compelling a story as the one I saw at EF14.
Other than that, I spent a lot of time socialising, getting to know people I already knew better and meeting people I knew from the internet for the first time. I had a bit of fun exploring the local area, shopping at the supermarket, eating at the local restaurants and drinking plenty of beer and other unusual drinks. One highlight was having the opportunity to visit a schnitzel restaurant with around 35 other furs as part of a trip organised by Fairlight Lion. I had never had schnitzel before and so this was the perfect opportunity to do so. The meals came in various sizes ranging from 150g to 1kg. I opted for the 500g serving but was only able to finish it, however German fur named Doco had the 1kg schnitzel and was able to finish it off! This meant that he had the privilege of joining the other people who had also accomplished this feat by having his photo taken and put on the wall.
The journey home was pretty pain free other than a few problems with reserved seats on the train and lengthy waits at the airport (as well as having the flight delayed 30mins). On the return journey was pretty much everyone we flew out with but substituting Redmoor and Sierus with Shaman :) In hindsight, I was happy to have left on the last day of the con as previously I had stayed the extra day and it's no fun watching other people leaving when you're staying behind, even if you do get the Dead Dog Party. However, I would have liked to have got there a day earlier to extend the convention which I would probably do should I visit again. I most likely will visit again tho, but probably not next year to keep things interesting. Next time, I really really must learn the basics of German better as simple things were proving very difficult to accomplish. I often ended up just pointing things and saying "Ein" which must have looked rather stupid to the locals... I'm sure more Germans knew English in Nuremberg!
Anyway, for those who skipped to the end, my photos can be found in my gallery and I'm sure over the coming weeks I will get myself a video put together from all the clips I recorded :) Thanks to everyone I met at the convention and all the people who helped make it happen. I look forward to doing it all again sometime!
I was able to fly from my local airport, Southampton (only 10 mins drive from me) and then take two simple trains (airport to Hannover central station and then another direct to Magdeberg) to get to the location. It was so much nicer to be able to fly from Southampton rather than have to find a way to Stansted or one of the London airports. Our flight was piloted by no other than Captain Jeff Sparrow (we had to check with the crew after his name was announced as we all swore they said Captain Jack Sparrow!). Lots of other furs took the same flight as well so it felt like the convention started for me at the airport with Andy Squirrel, Arakin, Blue, Bungle Bear, Calgor, Flintyfox, Redmoor, Sierus, Temejn & Xavier Wolf. Also, thanks to the swift collection of luggage at Hannover, we were able to get a train scheduled an hour earlier (bumping into Dark Natasha on the first one and Gaz_a on the second) than the one we had planned for so we finally arrived at the hotel an hour sooner than expected at 7pm on the Wednesday.
I had fears of massive registration lines from the tweets people had been posting but there was no queue at all when we arrived. It was all a rather quick pickup of badges, over to hotel registration to activate them (rather ingeniously, the convention badge doubled as a room key so you generally never lost your badge) and then drop bags off in the room. However in this short time, I somehow lost my convention bag o' stuff (probably in the lift). I don't remember much about what I did on the Wednesday other than having some bratwurst from the BBQ, drinking beer and taking loads of photos. There wasn't a dance going on though the "Piano Bar" was making up it by playing loud music. Due to the rather unique layout of the hotel, any sound made on the lower floor just got amplified throughout the central atrium and so you could hear the noise from below in all the rooms that were in the central area regardless of floor. This made me glad that I brought ear plugs as I ended up using them every day to be able to get to sleep.
As I didn't have my fursuit with me, I ended up spending much of my time at the convention taking photos and video. As I knew many of the fursuiters, I found it relatively easy to organise them and ended up with a lot of great shots. Stand out moments include when Nbowa was in his adorable lion fursuit, but was also unbelievably sweaty and so people would want a hug due to his cuteness and then immediately regret it when they realised quite how sweaty he was!
I didn't really attend many of the scheduled events, nor did I even view the art show once. I did buy a con badge from the dealer's den (this time from Korrok) as I had somehow lost my badge on the Wednesday evening and it was never handed in but that was it. The events I did attend were pretty much just the main stage ones (possibly due to not really knowing where other stuff was nor anyone else who was going to them) such as the Banner Brawl which was an entertaining art challenge presented by Fairlight and Twll. I also attended the fursuit theatre which I felt rather guilty for falling asleep a number of times during the show effectively missing the bulk of the story. The problem was the lighting was too dull and clearly I was tired so the combination had me dozing off. A similar thing happened during the Pawpet show which literally everyone was watching as is tradition of EF now, but I felt it wasn't as compelling a story as the one I saw at EF14.
Other than that, I spent a lot of time socialising, getting to know people I already knew better and meeting people I knew from the internet for the first time. I had a bit of fun exploring the local area, shopping at the supermarket, eating at the local restaurants and drinking plenty of beer and other unusual drinks. One highlight was having the opportunity to visit a schnitzel restaurant with around 35 other furs as part of a trip organised by Fairlight Lion. I had never had schnitzel before and so this was the perfect opportunity to do so. The meals came in various sizes ranging from 150g to 1kg. I opted for the 500g serving but was only able to finish it, however German fur named Doco had the 1kg schnitzel and was able to finish it off! This meant that he had the privilege of joining the other people who had also accomplished this feat by having his photo taken and put on the wall.
The journey home was pretty pain free other than a few problems with reserved seats on the train and lengthy waits at the airport (as well as having the flight delayed 30mins). On the return journey was pretty much everyone we flew out with but substituting Redmoor and Sierus with Shaman :) In hindsight, I was happy to have left on the last day of the con as previously I had stayed the extra day and it's no fun watching other people leaving when you're staying behind, even if you do get the Dead Dog Party. However, I would have liked to have got there a day earlier to extend the convention which I would probably do should I visit again. I most likely will visit again tho, but probably not next year to keep things interesting. Next time, I really really must learn the basics of German better as simple things were proving very difficult to accomplish. I often ended up just pointing things and saying "Ein" which must have looked rather stupid to the locals... I'm sure more Germans knew English in Nuremberg!
Anyway, for those who skipped to the end, my photos can be found in my gallery and I'm sure over the coming weeks I will get myself a video put together from all the clips I recorded :) Thanks to everyone I met at the convention and all the people who helped make it happen. I look forward to doing it all again sometime!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 11:43 pm (UTC)Man 500g shit that is HUGE. 1kg is just nuts.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 11:56 pm (UTC)Have you considered ConFuzzled? ;)
no subject
Date: 2010-09-08 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-08 06:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-08 06:23 am (UTC)It was great to see you there :)
no subject
Date: 2010-09-08 06:36 am (UTC)I look forward to seeing your photos :)
no subject
Date: 2010-09-09 09:53 am (UTC)