The ELC Community Blog

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RailsConf day 1, the Swedish perspective...

by dpalm on September 17, 2007

First visit to Berlin ever, first RailsConf ever, first few days with my new colleagues face-to-face... These are busy days and head is spawning multiple threads continuously:

• german I know swedish and english and by mixing the two some kind of interpolation often seem possible and I can't stop trying to get some kind of sense out of conversations, signs, magazines and papers. I'm a language geek and love to expose myself to that special kind of thrill when you open your mouth and actually try to say something and the person in front of you lights up and UNDERSTAND. The basic and fundamental joy of communicating with other people.
• ...speaking of wich: Berlin. It's an awesome city. I didn't expect this. I've kind of snobbed Germany for all kinds of stupid reasons in the past, but I think that's going to change. People smile here. They move fast and keep out of your way, but whenever you interact with them they seem to smile and do their best to help you out. The city is very varied. From the high-rise flashy skyscrapers of Potsdamer Platz to the cosy bars and courts of Hackescher Markt, and in between parks, historical palaces and museums, a whole bunch of rivers or water stretches ... and construction sites. They build all over the place here. Saturday morning I too the subway to the southern parts of Berlin where I was told there was a good photography store selling used lenses. I didn't find any Nikon stuff, but had a long and very interesting discussion with the owner on soviet made optics and a demonstration of a few vinage Kiew models. It is pretty clear to me that Germany has relations with the eastern parts of europe that no other country has.
• the conference. Ok, this is the difficult part. They're all here. I'm trying to do my best to suppress fan-boy tendencies I didn't even knew I still had in me. There are a LOT of VERY smart people here and I AM intimidated. Dave Thomas keynote is on in just a few minutes and that is going to be the first real event of the conference. I attended a tutorial session earlier today (BDD) and as there was a another session canceled the room was (over-)crowded and the wi-fi network became useless more or less instantly. Not so hot. But still, the speakers were good and all the informal stuff going on during coffee breaks, lunch hour, in the elevator, grabbing a beer at the bar in the evening, playing werewolves&villagers with at night are VERY cool and also very nice. Once I get back to down to earth I'll comment further, hopefully in less over enthusiastic tones...