ESA2018

ESA2018 was so good!!!!

Firstly the location and the venue were great. We were one short train ride from Copenhagen airport in a lovely hotel called 'Quality View Hotel'. The staff were really friendly and actually really enjoyed hosting us which was a nice change from the previous year's hotels. They also provided free ice-cream, coffee, popcorn, etc. And it's gonna be in the same place as last year which is great!

The organisers took some risks this year. Firstly there was no mass housing - Which in some ways is a shame because ESA is no longer a super cheap holiday. But I think in general it makes quality of life at the event much better. Secondly CRTs were discouraged which I think is potentially a controversial move however after chatting to some of the tech crew, it's clear that with the right setup (which ESA provides) we can use digital screens with almost no delay and good quality. I think in the longrun this choice will be the right one.

I spent most of the event hanging out with Cerberus, Kristina, VPP, Ama, eNt, Marvelgirl and zas (who attended this year for the first time). We watched runs together, went to room 'parties', went swimming and played pokemon together. I couldn't have asked for a better group of friends :)

I also spent some of my days hanging out with George, Joe, Elgu and Abby (who I'm so glad was able to make it after not originally planning on going). We went to Malmo, did some sightseeing and tried out an escape room which was really hard but really fun. I'd never really spoken to Elgu before this event and I wish I had done it earlier. Abby is somebody who I'd describe as one of my best friends on twitter and after a day of being around her I really felt like I was starting to come out of my shell when I was around her (which is rare for me to do) - but then sadly the event was over. I'm looking forward to developing more friendships throughout the next few years with these lovely people.

Also a few shoutouts to people who I've known for a while but didn't get to hang out with enough - I was gonna go eat korean food with Kinnin and PinkBunny but we never got around to it. Also got to hang out with TurothKing, Remi, thiefbug and tompa for a short time but I wish I did it more. And Shrimp who I only saw on a couple of occasions. It's hard to hang out with everyone at these events though!

Also spoke to Linkus for the first time in a while and I think I'm interested in TWWHD again (damn, even more zeldas to play).
There are so many names to mention and I can't mention them all, but thanks for hanging out and saying hi to me, people!

Huge shoutouts to Cerberus for letting me stay at his house a couple of nights before the event, and ParadoxKarl for giving my a lift home at the end!!!!!

My goal for next year is to talk to more people at ESA and my goal for the meantime is to play many more games!

If anyone, European or not, is thinking of coming to ESA2019 you should come! I can't recommend it enough!