Campus party begins - by Leia (Day 2)

Today was our second day in Berlin and our first day attending the Campus Party. It was the first day of the talks and we both wanted to check it out. We got up after some much needed sleep and started looking online for some places to have breakfast, preferably ones that have free wi fi.

We have found one and set out to locate it. Turns out it was closed, so we went to some bakery/cafe called Brot und Broetchen that is at the corner by the nearest U station. We ate some baked goods and drank tea. Afterwards we went to catch a bus to Platz der Luftbrucke, where the entrance to the old terminal of Tempelhof airport is located.

The Nazi architecture of the terminal is really evident, in the sense that every element of the building is made to make you feel that it's monumental. The space itself is quite cool, and gave us a strange feeling of being in an airport where no plane is landing and no one is flying anywhere.

We stood in line to pick up our participant badges for the event, and went to the campus grounds, which is basically a hangar that is blocked by shipping containers and is divided into smaller zones by the stages and screens. There are also places for workshops, and many tables for game tournaments and general computer use.

In between picking up our badges and attending talks we had a 3 hour lunch break in which we went to Alex to show Guy the world clock and the fountain and have some Japanese food.

We returned to Campus Party and listened to talks about generative design, the direction of design today and the commercial power of social media (me), and talks about IPv6 security, and "Terms of Service: Didn't Read! "(Guy).

After these talks we met to listen to Maddog's talk about the serious business of free software, which we both enjoyed. Before meeting my friend H' we picked up our free welcome packs from the event- which included a backpack, a towel, flipflops, a t shirt and a small hygiene kit.

We met H' on Nollendorfplatz to go eat with her at the Ethiopian place nearby. We did meet up with her, but not before I panicked a little when I realized the station was enormous, and I could easily not find her. Not having a phone did not add to my sense of security.

We did find her, and had dinner with her in the wonderful Ethiopian place. I was very happy to get a chance to go there, since last time I was there I was sick with fever and could not taste anything. We had a traditional Ethiopian dish of vegetarian foods, mostly grains and beans, cooked and served on sort of a pancake-like pita bread surface (not quite, but OK) along with a lamb dish. Each one of us was given a piece of flat bread to eat with. The flat bread is used to eat the different foods from the communal plate, much like eating Hummus, except it was yummy. We accompanied the meal with some great Ethiopian beer and then Jaegermeister (for me) and grappa (for Guy).

Guy had a bad stomach ache towards the evening so he went back to the hotel to rest, while me and H' continued our evening at a live show place called The A-Trane [sic] (this is not a mistake), where we listened to some live music by a Berlin based singer Celine Rudolph and had a good time. When we went back to the U station Savignyplatz we realized it was closed, and after walking to the station at Zoologischer Garten which was also closed, I took a cab to get back to the hotel and write the post about the first day, finally.

Back to you, Guy.

Guy: At first Leia wasn't sure we'd found the airport but I thought the big eagle statues were a dead giveaway. The talks I listened to were very interesting, especially the IPv6 one. We didn't really interact with any of the other "Campuseros", that is, participants. I fear the eel sushi I had for lunch did not agree with my belly so well though it tasted all right. The only thing I could add is that Leia's friend H' enjoys a long party evening; I excused myself to rest near midnight, but Leia came back to the hotel to begin writing our first day's blog post only at 0300 so we got little sleep. Be glad, faithful readers, that besides being so talented she is so dedicated to writing these!