Ok guys, let me start with this: Steemfest was amazing, and unbelievably exhausting at the same time. I am sure a bunch of people will give you a super detailed report, with many pictures, I'll just randomly tell you what was important to me.
But before I do so, I want to say something about the Meet the Steemians Contest. The results are not yet out, so it's not yet sure who the special attendees are and if I got any, but as of right now, the results look like this:
That ranks me at spot 3, which would be a good chunk of prize money. And even if I'm pushed below spot 4 due to adjusted points, I'll receive some Steem, as will everyone who participated.
I don't want to keep that Steem, I want to donate it to a cool project. Currently, I'm considering @cleanplanet, to which I already delegated 500 SP. But if you guys have a better idea, let me know!
And now, let's recap - day by day.
Wednesday, 7/11
@reggaemuffin and I started our trip early in the morning, before the clock even had the chance to strike 6. We were accordingly tired.
A long train ride and much shorter flight, we landed in Kraków, dropped off our luggage at the airbnb, changed from travel clothes to slightly fancier stuff and headed for Qubus hotel, to receive our name badges and goodie bags.
I didn't expect to meet that many people on that day. But I did, and among the first people I encountered were @blocktrades, @aggroed, @firepower, and SO MANY GERMANS! I'd like to see some statistics on that, it felt like every 5th person spoke German.
I also started passing out my "Suesa" pins, of which exactly 100 pieces were created. The leftover ones (8 pins) were trashed after Steemfest, so whoever owns one now has something rare! :D
From 3 pm to 6 pm we stayed there and socialized, before we headed back to our apartment, took a quick nap, and returned to the opening drinks at 8. More talking and meeting people, until we went home around midnight and collapsed into our bed.
Thursday, 8/11
There was only coffee announced at the venue for day 1, so @reggaemuffin found a perfect little breakfast place, where we were able to get a breakfast buffet for roughly 5€ per person, including drinks. Look how cute it looked:
Right after that, we headed over to the venue, to be there on time for the opening, just to see @roelandp in his ... uh .... interesting fire suit outfit.
Immediately after the interview with @ned ended, I prepared to pass out the @utopian-io T-shirts, as the presentation by @techslut and @elear followed soon. We slightly miscalculated and got too many larger sizes, while not having enough M and S at hand. Will do better next time!
Just as the day before (and, spoiler, the day after), I spent most of my time chatting with people I knew, or didn't know yet. And when people started indulging on the buffet served for lunch, muffin and me headed out to meet with @soundworks, who wasn't able to buy himself a Steemfest ticket, but still came all the way to Kraków, just to meet us again.
<3
After that, right back. More talk (Me:"Hey, your name seems familiar, I think I've seen you in my upvotes!" - @hr1 : "Oh, yes, my voting bot does that. I didn't actually read your posts." - Me: "Aww.."), and the only "real" presentation I saw that day: Steempress.
For me, the day ended with first a short movie (where everyone involved was paid with Steem), dinner, and then hunting down @mammasitta who had previously successfully avoided my attempts of finding her.
While most others went out for bowling, I headed towards my bed to soothe my increasing headache ...
Friday, 9/11
This time, there was breakfast at the venue. And what a breakfast!
As you can see, I was there early enough to take a picture before the Steemfest attendees descended onto it like a hungry swarm of hungover locusts.
The cookies were great!
An ever increasing headache accompanied me through the day, during which I - again - only managed to see two things. The @ddaily sketch at the opening (which was awesome)
And the speech on "1 year around the world on 1 bitcoin" by remyhauxley, who I had already met and befriended on Wednesday.
Interspaced with time spent making a certain baby laugh (she's the most adorable 5-month-old I've seen in my life, and my mom used to work with babies), the day flew by and before I knew, it was dinner time, I ate (apparently, I was one of the few who actually liked the mushroom soup) and returned to the apartment.
I promised myself to go to the Night of Steem after that. I promised myself I'd just take a short nap to fight my headache. But when I tried to stand up from the bed, the headache hit me in the face like a truck. @reggaemuffin had to go alone.
Saturday, 10/11
We chose to participate in the trip to Auschwitz. I didn't take any pictures there and I won't write much about it, as that feels like it's something touristic, not a reminder of what horrible things people are capable of.
It's something you must have experienced to fully grasp, the horror of what went down there.
@reggaemuffin, @fukako, @techslut, @mrlightning, and me went out for pierogi in the evening, which ended the day on a better note than it had been most of the time.
Sunday, 11/11
Regretfully, our plane already left at noon, so we weren't able to attend the closing dinner. It would have been so much fun! But you can't have everything. We're both looking forward to the next Steemfest!
My recap might seem a bit short, which is due to the fact that there was just TOO MUCH, and if I went into detail, I'd need to split this post into several parts. And you know what? I just don't have the patience for that.
I loved meeting everyone, I loved talking to people, hugging people, laughing with people. There are so many that I probably already forgot again, because I apparently spoke to more than 1/3 of all attendees. Which is a good bit over 100 people.
Below, you will find a short shoutout to everyone who appeared on my "scanned" list in the Steemfest app - which is by far not everyone I talked to, because I did not scan everyone.
If you are not in that list, but remember talking to me, you're more than welcome to say hi again. I'm just horrible with names.
@reggaemuffin is the first on my list, which comes to no surprise, as we flew to Krakow together. Without him, I wouldn't be on Steem, wouldn't know all these great people, and would have never attended Steemfest. So, a big shout out to him!
@louis88 one of the Germans. We talked a lot, and he was one of the top 4 in the scanning competition for a long time, before he was overtaken.
@reiseamateur is another one of the Germans. So many Germans! I met him on Wednesday already.
@sjennon was part of the Steemfest crew, and dutifully passing out badges + goodie bags. She still took the time to scan + chat with me.
@varunpinto Another one of the crew, and one of the first people to get a Utopian shirt.
@things cheery personality and I kept seeing her around!
@aishwarya have you seen her art? NO?! Go check it out!
@wandereronwheels I can't tie a face to this name anymore ... please leave a comment so you can get an upvote as an apology ^^'
@mrlightning What can I say ... if there had been an award for the greatest hugs, you would have won it. For the greatest person, you'd be tied with several people, but nobody can take those hugs from you. I will miss this.
@firepower Mr. Organizer! It was awesome finally meeting you in person, even though you often seemed a bit anxious (especially on Saturday), to make sure things go right. But it worked out!
@rivalzzz My ultimate rival. All Thursday long, we battled for the 1st place, and I loved it. I hope you enjoyed our friendly competition just as much as I did. Looking forward to the next time, when I'll destroy you... :D
@rOOsj3 I was so, so, SO looking forward to meeting you! And I did! Each day! And you're just as enjoyable in person as you are online.
@teamsteem "Heeey suesa!" I heard, one of the first people to call me by my "name" was teamsteem. You recognized me immediately, I took a moment longer do decipher the name on the badge. People should really have tattooed those names on their foreheads!
@elmerlin Another person I sadly can't place anymore, and your profile appears empty. Leave me a comment and let's reconnect!
@roxane Congratulations on overtaking me in points, despite not even playing the scanning game. I hope you do something meaningful with your share of the money! :)
@celestal "I know you!" Thanks for the dried fruit, thanks for the talks, thanks for being as awesome as in chat, you Finnish freak! <3
@gregory.latinier I knew you of course already, as we're both with Utopian, there was no way around that. But meeting you in person was great, once we got past the "Hug? That French cheek kiss thing? Handshake?!" problem. That orange T-shirt really suited you!
@lichtcatchtoby my favorite Austrian (sorry everyone else)! I didn't expect to see you so shortly after staying at your place, but our fates seem intertwined. Something like that. Now that I've written it, it sounds a bit over the top, but who cares. Who actually reads this anyway? (You I hope)
@espoem had an even greater assortment of pins than I did. Thank you for sharing them, thank you for the positive atmosphere that surrounded you, every time we encountered each other.
@sorin.cristescu You too are one of the people I've known on Steem for a pretty long time, so seeing each other was super cool.
@jaki01 One more familiar name, of the German-speaking variety. Awesome meeting you, dude!
@kobold-djawa You were one of the people who had their kid with them, right? Absolute cutie.
@techslut I have no words for this pink lady, except for maybe "I love you to bits" <3
@howo punches you softly in the shoulder
@fredrikaa I am surprised that I didn't see you asleep at any of the presentations :P Good job on the steempress speech (@howo too, ofc).
@redrica Funny having you after fredrikaa, because @reggaemuffin always struggled to keep the names of you two apart, when someone said them. Also, you're an absolute sweetheart.
@steevc I think I signed your ukulele. We also ran into each other like, all the time.
@fukako You stalker. You know too much. Love you anyway.
@danea I hope you even see this, as I don't know if you're even active with this account. Then again, you might be reading from the other one. I just wanted to say "thank you" again, for always supporting and loving my stories. I looked so forward to chatting with you in person, and it was just as great as I expected.
@neopch I love that piercing, and the fact that you're super energetic. And I think you're with ddaily? Never heard of that before Steemfest, I must admit. But cool stuff.
@buttcoins I always loved that nickname. I loved your performance on Friday even more. Please always stay like this!
@camuel Checking your blog, I certainly remember your face, but not what we talked about, which is a shame. Usually, it's the other way around. I am still happy we met!
@jeffjagoe Something something food related ... we apparently didn't talk long enough.
@escapist One of my favorite Finnish women, and I was SO happy to see her/you again! Can't wait for the next time!
@eveuncovered basically the same as for @escapist, plus the fact that I love the business card I got from you ;)
@asgarth The name alone is epic. I remember that we met in a group setting with...
@kevinli (who also had a great performance on Friday) ...
@daniel.errey ...
... and @teodora ! I liked just hanging out with you people for a while, sitting outside, giving you some of my pins. You supporting me against @rivalzzz. Good times.
@sndbox There were actually two people with that name tag, and I forgot both faces. Nevertheless, we stood around a bit and talked, which was awesome. You're awesome. Your project is awesome. Keep doing that.
@kevinwong was standing there too while I was chatting with the @sndbox guys, although that was neither the first nor the last time I saw him walking around. But we didn't really talk much after that.
@ethwarrior I think you told me you're not signed up on Steem yet ... or I might just think so because your profile doesn't exist. I will be waiting for your arrival on the blockchain.
@remyhauxley First we talked about Terry Pratchett, then about touring the world (in your case) and Europe (in my case), while
leeching offvisiting crypto enthusiasts and friends. Your "One Year on One Bitcoin" story was intriguing, and not just that: You're super cool to be around. I think I spent a significantly longer time talking to you than to most people. Also, your beard is awesome.@tarazkp "We talk sometimes." "Oh, do we?" Thanks for making meeting you for the first time slightly awkward. Still glad to have finally met :P
@meno I walked past you so many times before I finally got around to chat you up. And it was a good decision to finally do it.
@yidneth I am so, so sorry for not being able to come to the Night of Steem to hear you sing! I've heard recordings (thanks, @reggaemuffin) and you were so great! And I loved your outfits (yes, all of them)! And your personality, and you! You're so freaking talented, keep that up. It's a true gift to the world.
@hedac You were mostly with yidneth, but I think us two didn't talk much. We should have!
@surfermarly Chill, lovable, and always looking good. Please teach me?
@theaustrianguy You know what? Both, on Wednesday, and then again after deleting my whole list of "scanned" people, I had someone ask you if I met you (today). Both times, I said no. Both times, I shortly after realized that I scanned you that day. What's up with that? Admit it, you somehow tampered with my brain to make me forget your face the moment you leave.
@guchtere You were another one of the people constantly crossing my path. I don't complain about that, because being around you was always nice.
@jeanpi1908 So, I've been told people have been confusing you and @reggaemuffin? I don't get that. You two are pretty different. You're still a neat person tho.
@goodwithtravels You're (ba-dum-tss) good with travels! Jokes aside, I usually saw you around other travel-oriented people. Which is not that surprising I guess.
@for91days "Your name seems familiar ..." "Yea, I'm suesa on Sola too. We met there." I never thought I'd meet people I interacted with on Sola. But here we go. And you even speak German. Although that part shouldn't surprise me, because ffs, there were so many German-speakers at Steemfest.
@yrtphoto The chocolate. THE CHOCOLATE! Oh people, have you tasted HIS CHOCOLATE?! NO?! Oh, your loss. He was passing it out at Steemfest. And it was sooo goooood.
@jaybird I am sorry I missed your performance on Friday, but you failed to make an appearance in my dream, as you promised! How rude!
@dan-atstarlite Always running around with jaybird, and a musician too. Actually, the first time I ran into you guys was at the airport, where we were joking about the guy who taped a baseball bat to his suitcase. Who does that? And why?
@abh12345 You have like, the laziest name ever. But I already knew that because I already knew you. Glad to finally put a face to that na....wait your profile picture is your face. That was anti-climatic.
@shanibeer Unable to put a face to this name again ... damn it. Leave me a comment please to reconnect!
@amalinavia You shyly showed me your sketchbook and I was in love! I had to show my friend immediately! You also hosted a drawing workshop which I would have attended, had I realized you were leading it. Don't apologize for your English, you are wonderful and talented.
@honeydue We ran into each other on Wednesday and never stopped, every encounter was a delight. Although I somehow always got a craving for melons ...
@coruscate I just realized I met you twice, once during the official Steemfest activities, and once when you were trying to organize the karaoke. Sorry for being grumpy about the overfilled pub, I was tired and German.
@cryptogee You're so freaking tall O.o Sorry, that was one of the first things I noticed about you, and I somehow didn't expect that. Your voice is amazing to listen to (I hope that doesn't sound too creepy). Talking to you about science and all that other stuff was super cool.
@cryptoctopus I wish I could say something meaningful about you, but your daughter stole the show. She's the most adorable baby and my best friend now. You gotta live with that.
@kryptokessler It's so German of you to not want to talk about business, and then proceed to invite me to a conference ;) I'll see if I can attend.
@apshamilton You're super cool, the whole suing facebook&Co. for banning crypto ads? I didn't even hear about that before I met you.
@datristan We met briefly at the end of dinner, together with ...
@future24 ...
... and @lex030 . We sadly didn't chat much, as I was trying to find
@mammasitta ! Who climbed up the leaderboard of the scanning game out of nowhere, and didn't even realize. Loved meeting and hugging you.
@soyrosa She's NOT Spanish, even though I assumed that the first time I read her name. You gotta show me a picture of that fancy finger jewelry!
@jasch Another faceless name, and almost empty account. I'm looking forward to a comment, so we can connect!
@detlev I kept hearing your name from @reggaemuffin, and at Steemfest, I could finally meet you! Another German ... what a surprise.
@twinner We didn't talk that much, but you gracefully allowed me to scan you anyway. But most importantly, you gave me a PEN. An AWESOME pen!
@adetorrent Our first encounter was awkward ... for you. Which amused me greatly, and I was happy to see you each time after that, although I am not sure how much you actually remember. You told me on Friday, that you were running on 3 hours of sleep (it was 9 am). That is not healthy. Absolutely not.
@guyfawkes4-20 You're lying about your age, admit it! You're also pretty amusing when drunk.
@vcelier "Story of my life" taken a bit more literally. I think it's super epic that you're blogging your memoirs on Steem!
@yann0975 Is the one who told me everything I wanted to know about @cleanplanet , which made me decide to delegate 500 SP to the project. Check it out yourself!
@traveller7761 What's better in the morning than chatting up unknown people (in German) and them bringing them to someone else to network? After a brief chat&scan, I introduced traveller7761 to yann0975, as I felt their interests aligned. I hope they got along :)
@captainbob Checking your blog, I recognize your face, but don't remember our conversation ... Shame on me.
@jongolson SteemSavvy! I still have your business card! Had to come back to talk to you, because our conversation was interrupted by the opening presentation for the day. So rude of roeland.
@bimjer Following the time line of the day, I guess I met you when I was talking to captainbob and jongolson. I shouldn't have talked to groups that much, it obviously made me forget too much about the people.
@sekhmet Always busy, busy, busy .... just as...
...@jm90mm ! I am still a bit sad that I didn't get a busy.org T-Shirt.
@slobberchops How much did you spend on "Magic the Gathering" cards again? I wonder of anyone has invested that much into SteemMonsters yet!
@gmuxx and
@rhondak, you two are just so great! I've known you for a while, although we never talked that much. But I'm looking forward to how your project will evolve, and I want to be involved in it!
@arcange Thanks for the app, even though it didn't always work as it should have (you should have been my 87th point when in reality, you were somewhere in my 60s). I never spent much thought on what the person behind steemitboard might be like, but even then I probably wouldn't have guessed right. I like how chill and at the same time excited you are and am glad we met.
@fervi If I remember correctly, you didn't scan people at first, but then we met again during the "One Year on One Bitcoin" presentation. Correct me if I'm wrong!
@polygnom , your hair is awesome. Nothing more to say. (Ok, the pins in your backpack are cool too. And your business cards. I mean... UNICORNS?!)
@chickencaam Another group situation, if I remember correctly. Fleeting moments and faces, passing by ...
@marco An empty profile ... and I can't remember your face. Please reconnect!
@gillianpearce Although I hadn't heard of you or seen your name before Steemfest, I am glad we met. Our short chat was super nice :)
@rea I remember thinking "woah, her name is super short, she must have been on Steem for a pretty long time!" We talked a while, and then you introduced me to
@ezzy , because he's a writer too. Talking to you both at the back of the corridor, where the noise wasn't as harsh as further inside, I had a good time.
@felix.herrmann Aaaaand another German-speaking attendee. Will it ever stop? Probably not. Poor Poland.
@steemmatt Go on, call me out on my inability to recall your face.
@bugavi and her mom
@olga.maslievich were an absolute pleasure to meet. They took pictures of me and @reggaemuffin (I guess they loved his hair, almost everyone did) the first time we really talked. You two were always cheerful, and talking to everyone. I am glad you attended this Steemfest, and would be happy to see you on the next!
@peixeboi We only chatted very briefly, I sadly can't recall what we talked about.
@yabapmatt Hmmmmmm who was that guy again.... I he's involved in ... a card game? What a nerd. Also my number 100 and a super cool person! :D
@artakush Never have I seen anyone die so gracefully because of bean soup.
@greencross We didn't talk in detail, damn group situations. But we met! And we said hi!
@jestemkioskem Utopians unite! Italy, Poland, doesn't matter.
@vikonomics I think you need to explain @1Ramp to me again.
@joythewanderer You're super cute, do you know that?
@stoodkev I am writing the draft for this post on steempeak. And while doing that, I am enjoying using "ctrl+backspace" several times. Thanks for this application, really. Also, thanks for your business card. It's pretty.
@aggroed I'm sorry I almost knocked over your laptop, it will not happen again ^^'
@race-redmedia At first, I didn't know who I was talking to. Some random couple, sharing a username? Hm. Then I learned that the female half was @michelle.gent! We had some topics to bond over ;)
@fundition Cool project, keep that up.
@crimsonclad I love you? You're super cool in person too? And thank you for reassuring me that I don't necessarily want to have kids in 10 years ...
@roelandp Some weird guy walking around in a fire suit. Somehow seemed important. Idk. He tried to steal SBD from me by making me scan a QR code. (Thanks for organizing Steemfest!)
@aaronleang, ...
... @joannewong, ...
... and @elizacheng were the three ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL HUMAN BEINGS from #TeamMalaysia, who gave me one of their pins and a space to relax in. You three are awesome and I'm incredibly happy to have bonded with you!
@ersanduran Sorry for not remembering you :(
@birdinc I was amused each time I met someone I didn't know, who then turned out to be with some important project. With you, it was Steemit Inc., oops. Now I know! :D I enjoyed our chat.
@gandalf He's the one who convinced me to come to Steemfest. You were right, it was so worth it. And seeing you again was one of the best things! __ Will see you again when I come back to visit the salt mines.
@ultranihilist "A Russian and a German meet in Poland ..." Looking forward to trying out your project!
@nastyaromanova I think you were there when I talked to ultranihilist, correct me if I'm wrong. You're cool, I like you.
@sambillingham We scanned more than once, but it never really worked ... but it gave us several chances to talk! And together, we found water.
@rmt Don't be embarrassed by your dad, he's cool. You're cool too!
@velimir We couldn't meet in Zagreb, so we met in Poland instead. And it was absolutely worth it, I am looking forward to the next time we encounter each other!
@karinxxl We met right before dinner on Friday, and if I remember correctly, you had arrived not too long ago. But we still met! Which is cool.
@el-cr I think we had a "Hold my beer" moment. I held your beer. You poured another one.
@nanzo-scoop You were sitting next to me during the dinner on Friday, and we talked and talked and talked! It helped me ignore my headache a little bit better. Thank you for the wonderful evening!
@revisesociology We caught each other early Saturday morning, on our way to the buses to Auschwitz, and then lost each other again ... would have liked to talk some more!
@curlysue "My username actually comes from 'Susan'" "Oh really? My name is Susan!" When one Sue meets the other :D I love your hair.
@therealwolf How come I scanned you that late? We ran into each other before we even reached Qubus hotel!
@jayna and
@jarvie let me scan them on Saturday evening, and they were the last new people I scanned. I was already too tired to hold a proper conversation, but I still remember your faces.
There were a bunch of people I didn't scan, but still talked to (@anomadsoul for example, or @blewitt who was the only person who gave me an accetable amount of hugs), but my brain is as leaky as a rusty bucket, so I can't really come up with the list anymore. But you can be sure that if we talked, I was happy about it.
So long
~Suesa
Signature by @atopy