Return from Eurofurence 14...
Sep. 2nd, 2008 07:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
enteirahAnd so comes to an end the longest holiday I've had in about 2 years, or 7 days away for Eurofurence (Okay, so I admit I actually wrote most of this post in a hostel in Frankfurt on Monday to kill some time, but that's a minor detail). I may be exhausted and suffering with all the usual coughs and sneezes that comes with a con, but that doesn't change the fact it was the best Wednesday - Sunday I've had in a looong time!
The trip out was quite a long one, though I suspect this was probably made to feel even longer due to the timezone change in the middle and the fact we were arriving late after flying. Still, despite coming in after 1am, it was a welcoming to see the number of fuzzies already milling about. I must admit I didn't really take much in on the first night as I pretty much flopped straight into bed, but ah well. Things really started the next morning (or later the same morning if you prefer), when it was possible to take in the fantastic scenery of the place. The Ringberg Hotel in Germany where they have held the last few conventions is basically sat quite a way up a mountain (crazy taxi driving round windy roads is fun!). When you combine this with a sixth floor window, the view is simply stunning. Indeed everything about the hotel, if expensive and remote, was very nice.
Still I wasn't there for the hotel, so I wont dwell on that too long. The main part of the convention, with all the furry stuff, was great. The schedule of events was mixed and nicely varied, and its just a shame I couldn't get to everything, as I did try to move around as much as possible (this is where being someone who doesn't come to just prop up the bar comes in handy :P). The combination of the fursuiters, and general talented people present undoubtedly helped make a lot of the events onstage even more fun, and I take my hat off to them (if I had a hat). There was also the Pawpet show. Whilst this was terribly oversubscribed so barely possible to see much, what could be seen was wonderful, and when they brought the puppets out for the BBF dance later the same evening the amount of detail that had gone into the production was all too obvious.
Yes, I did mention the dance. For all it may be completely out of character for me, I was out and on the dance floor covered in glowsticks until 5am on the Saturday night. Of course, the main reason for this was that I was hanging round with a very good friend at the time. In one of the big highlights of the con, I did finally get to meet![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hawthorn both in and out of suit. He sits in the small group of 2 or 3 furries I've known even longer than I've actually officially been a furry (around 6 years now). Over those years I've known him to always be a really nice guy, if sometimes a bit scarce, and to finally meet up with him was great (*insert something about Newcas...*). ^^ I also got to know his friend colifox a little better, a very nice and friendly guy from the UK who I've seen popping about online over the years, but who I've not actually gotten to know at all. As Hawthorn has only recently finished working on a lovely suit for him, I did end up spending a good bit of time with both of them over the weekend. (I can also heartily recommend taking a look at the video from the fursuit stage performance too)
There were quite a few other furries from the UK I got time to chat with whilst there actually (including a few folks I've not seen since Chester, which was nice ^^), something which was quite handy as it meant whenever one group was completely drunk, it was quite easy to just drift over to another sober one to continue intelligible discussion, something you may recall me mentioning was a bit of a worry a few weeks back. :P It's also strange how there's a lot of folks who for various reasons we've not really spoken much to one another, and probably won't subsequently... yet for these few days we all seemed able to socialise and chat on completely neutral ground. You certainly don't get that with your common or garden furmeet! :P
There's so much more I could really say, but it would just take up pages and pages of space which would just end up being too long to keep interest (indeed, if I know furry attention span, it will have already waned after paragraph 1 for most). It was a great time, a huge amount of fun, and in my own mind (amazingly I did find a lot of time for quiet reflection, mainly whilst waiting to go home after the con XD) helped me learn a great deal about how I get along and socialise with other furries, something which will help with my planning next year. And yes, I will be there next year if I can be; this is the start of something good. ^^
~ Entei-rah
...
Oh, and of course, the obligatory photo album of mine is online at:-
http://www.lapine.org.uk/furry/thumbnails.php?album=29
The trip out was quite a long one, though I suspect this was probably made to feel even longer due to the timezone change in the middle and the fact we were arriving late after flying. Still, despite coming in after 1am, it was a welcoming to see the number of fuzzies already milling about. I must admit I didn't really take much in on the first night as I pretty much flopped straight into bed, but ah well. Things really started the next morning (or later the same morning if you prefer), when it was possible to take in the fantastic scenery of the place. The Ringberg Hotel in Germany where they have held the last few conventions is basically sat quite a way up a mountain (crazy taxi driving round windy roads is fun!). When you combine this with a sixth floor window, the view is simply stunning. Indeed everything about the hotel, if expensive and remote, was very nice.
Still I wasn't there for the hotel, so I wont dwell on that too long. The main part of the convention, with all the furry stuff, was great. The schedule of events was mixed and nicely varied, and its just a shame I couldn't get to everything, as I did try to move around as much as possible (this is where being someone who doesn't come to just prop up the bar comes in handy :P). The combination of the fursuiters, and general talented people present undoubtedly helped make a lot of the events onstage even more fun, and I take my hat off to them (if I had a hat). There was also the Pawpet show. Whilst this was terribly oversubscribed so barely possible to see much, what could be seen was wonderful, and when they brought the puppets out for the BBF dance later the same evening the amount of detail that had gone into the production was all too obvious.
Yes, I did mention the dance. For all it may be completely out of character for me, I was out and on the dance floor covered in glowsticks until 5am on the Saturday night. Of course, the main reason for this was that I was hanging round with a very good friend at the time. In one of the big highlights of the con, I did finally get to meet
hawthorn both in and out of suit. He sits in the small group of 2 or 3 furries I've known even longer than I've actually officially been a furry (around 6 years now). Over those years I've known him to always be a really nice guy, if sometimes a bit scarce, and to finally meet up with him was great (*insert something about Newcas...*). ^^ I also got to know his friend colifox a little better, a very nice and friendly guy from the UK who I've seen popping about online over the years, but who I've not actually gotten to know at all. As Hawthorn has only recently finished working on a lovely suit for him, I did end up spending a good bit of time with both of them over the weekend. (I can also heartily recommend taking a look at the video from the fursuit stage performance too)There were quite a few other furries from the UK I got time to chat with whilst there actually (including a few folks I've not seen since Chester, which was nice ^^), something which was quite handy as it meant whenever one group was completely drunk, it was quite easy to just drift over to another sober one to continue intelligible discussion, something you may recall me mentioning was a bit of a worry a few weeks back. :P It's also strange how there's a lot of folks who for various reasons we've not really spoken much to one another, and probably won't subsequently... yet for these few days we all seemed able to socialise and chat on completely neutral ground. You certainly don't get that with your common or garden furmeet! :P
There's so much more I could really say, but it would just take up pages and pages of space which would just end up being too long to keep interest (indeed, if I know furry attention span, it will have already waned after paragraph 1 for most). It was a great time, a huge amount of fun, and in my own mind (amazingly I did find a lot of time for quiet reflection, mainly whilst waiting to go home after the con XD) helped me learn a great deal about how I get along and socialise with other furries, something which will help with my planning next year. And yes, I will be there next year if I can be; this is the start of something good. ^^
~ Entei-rah
...
Oh, and of course, the obligatory photo album of mine is online at:-
http://www.lapine.org.uk/furry/thumbnails.php?album=29
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-09-02 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-02 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-02 08:55 pm (UTC)The pictures are great. Thüringen has some beautiful countryside, especially the Harz, with is a bit further up north from Suhl I think.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-02 07:32 pm (UTC)Glad to hear you had a great time. One day I hope to attend that con, sounds like a lot of fun and surprisingly a lot more people I know than I'd have guessed attended.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-02 08:21 pm (UTC)As for me, alas I'm not in there (it's the usual curse of my own gallery that I never show as I'm behind it). I presume I'll turn up on someone else's though, so I'm watching out. =:P
no subject
Date: 2008-09-02 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-02 10:32 pm (UTC)http://www.lapine.org.uk/junk/dancey.jpg
no subject
Date: 2008-09-04 09:43 am (UTC)