I've always wanted to attend Eurofurence at some point, and the feeling was especially strong after last year, where I wasn't able to attend, but my friends were. They were able to meet many people that I also wanted to meet. But hey– At least I attended Furvester last year. However, only for one day, as I got sick, and thus I missed most of the convention. This being said, I am happy to say that I attended Eurofurence. (...for two days, whoops.)

This blog post will go into detail about what I did on these two days, why I left so early, and what I would do better for next year.

Why I became a Super Sponsor

At first, I was a regular attendee, however Eurofurence announced at the end of August, that Super Sponsors would get a special Cyber LED Badge.

I had to get one, and thus I upgraded to Super Sponsor.

Day 1: Wednesday

As I had to work on Monday and Tuesday, I was only able to travel to Hamburg on Wednesday. I've already seen in the Fediverse group chat and on Mastodon, that the registration lines were super long, so I was already mentally prepared to stand in line for multiple hours.

Registration

When I arrived at 15:20, I saw multiple big waiting lines. Before waiting for multiple hours, I decided I had to go to the bathroom first, so I had to search for one. Apparently there was one, but that one was in a "registered attendees only"-space. Great. As I haven't gotten my badge yet (because I wanted to go to the bathroom first), I couldn't have gone there.

After standing in the middle of the foyer (there were many people, AAAAA), I saw Keenora - and I talked to him! Yay. I somehow always manage to miss him, so I finally was able to talk to him, and he was able to calm me down a bit. (Also, he bonked his snout against my nose, lol.) I told him that I wanted to take a picture with him, when I'm in my fursuit, but - spoiler - I never saw him again after that. 😭

But hey, after talking to Keenora, I was finally able to walk slowly to the place where the bathroom should've been. And... then I saw Kianga. I definitely had to go to him and say hello - and maybe he knows more about the bathroom situation at the CCH - and he did. Apparently, there was another toilet right next to the registration, for which you didn't even need a registration badge. As we went to the direction of the other bathroom, we saw: The super sponsor registration line was... empty. No one was there. So I quickly registered, and asked where the bathrooms were. Kianga was right, there was a bathroom right next to the registration. The only issue was: It was closed. But as I had just registered, I was now able to go to the other bathroom, yay!

After that, I waited a few minutes in the waiting line for the Super Sponsor bag (with the Cyber LED Badge!!) and then went to the Fursuit Badge waiting line. Apparently, there were two lines. One for people who still need to pay, and one for those that got it for free. And guess what - the line for the latter one was almost empty, and I got mine after a few minutes. So the last badge I had to get was the Web Video Creator Badge. A few weeks before the convention, I got an email stating that I should go to the ConOps Info Desk, located in Foyer X on the first floor. There was an Info Desk, but it was empty, so I went to the other one, that was directly besides the Fursuit Badge stand. And there I got my Web Video Creator Badge.

Meetup with the German Furry YouTubers

As I missed the Opening Ceremony, I've put on my Fursuit to at least do something. While I fursuited, I randomly met some German Furry YouTubers. We were going to meet each other anyway, but the fact that we've all been in front of the CCH was more than just lucky.

After a bit of talking, we've made a nice group picture:

Neurodivergent Surviving to Thriving

My first and last panel I attended on Wednesday was the "Neurodivergent Surviving to Thriving" talk, where someone talked about how to survive at big conventions like Eurofurence as a neurodivergent. It was an okay talk - even though the speaker was Australian and spoke quite fast - meaning I sometimes had a hard time understanding what he said.

The end of the day

If you have noticed, I haven't written anything about me eating or drinking something yet. That's because... well... uhm... I haven't eaten and drunk anything yet (besides breakfast). And I won't have until the next day, oops.

Since I was sharing my hotel room with someone who was volunteering at Eurofurence, I had to wait until he was finished with his shift. So, when we arrived at our hotel at around 23:45, it was awesome to hear that our hotel room was not empty yet. 😐 But hey, we got a room at a different hotel, and the taxi drive was paid by the hotel too. The taxi drive wasn't great, though. One window was open the whole time, so the air hurt a bit in the ears, and the taxi driver was completely silent. At least, in the other hotel, breakfast was included, so I was able to eat something in the morning, yay. While trying to make myself ready for bed, I noticed something: I had forgotten something I needed. Great.

All in all, the end of the day wasn't really great, and I was at the end of my nerves.

Day 2: Thursday

After only 4 hours of sleep, I had to wake up again because my roommate had to be at the CCH at 7:30, and we had to put our suitcases back to the original hotel. At breakfast, I thought, What if I left early? The thought persisted until the end of the day. There were many pros and cons. More on this at the end of the post.

We ordered an Uber to drive to the other hotel, and then to the CCH. That was actually a good idea, as the Uber driver was really nice. Since I was still thinking about leaving Thursday evening, I didn't leave my stuff at the other hotel, I took it with me to the CCH, so I could put it into the car.

So there I was... It's 7:30, and I sat in front of the entry of the CCH.

Fursuiting 101

The first panel I attended on Thursday was Fursuiting 101. It was... okay, I think. Unfortunately, I had some headaches while I was there, so I couldn't understand everything. I also couldn't see much because I was in the back of the room, so it was difficult to follow. It was fun, though, and there were also a few things like "Don't steal magnetic fursuit parts without asking" where I had to think of this blog post after hearing that. Who could have known that you shouldn't do that? 🤔

Drinking and Eating

Yes! I did it! I ate and drunk something!! 🎉 Okay, it was just a small pretzel and a small bottle of water, but... eh, at least something! (Something that costs around 8,50 €...)

Your First Furry Convention

After eating and drinking something, I went to the 'Your First Furry Convention' panel, as it was 4 minutes before the panel started. Even though this was not my first Furry Convention, it was my first bigger Furry Convention - oh, and I wanted to listen to Uncle Kage. He's funny. It was cold in the panel room, but I guess that's for fursuiters so they don't get too hot.

It was really funny, and I'm happy I got in there.

The EF28 LED Badge

As I specifically upgraded to Super Sponsor to get the Cyber LED Badge, I definitely was interested in listening to how the badge was created. A great panel, with a lot of humor and nice insights.

Sadly, my 4 hours of sleep got me there, and I was yawning a lot. I know that can look like I'm bored, but that's not how I meant it. Also, headaches and a bit of nausea suck.

Food and Water

After the LED Badge panel, I've met a friend of a friend of mine. And that person told me I could get free water in the Fursuit Lounge. And... well... I could have thought of that. I have a fursuit, I am a fursuiter, I have a fursuit badge. That means I can go into the Fursuit Lounge.

Guess what: After drinking a bit in the Fursuit Lounge, I was feeling better. Who would have known? I'm not sure why, but I was afraid to go into the Fursuit Lounge, which is why I never went inside there.

After I got better, I've met with someone, and we ate at the CCH. There was really nice food: Pasta, mushroom sauce & meatballs.

I liked that food and would have been happy to buy another one.

Sidenote - Dealers' Den

As a small side note: I wanted to buy stuff in the Dealers' Den. At least a few shirts. But even though there was a special "Sponsors-only" time, there was still a large waiting line at this time. Had I known that as a Super Sponsor, I could skip the line and go into the area directly, I would've gone. This means I've missed the Dealers' Den. 😞

Also, apparently there was a fluffy dragon in the art show. And guess what: I missed that one too...

Furry Fediverse Meet-Up

The last panel I attended was the Furry Fediverse Meet-Up. It's the panel that I was super excited to attend! I've met so many great people, many of whom I already know from the Fediverse. The room got surprisingly full - but I think that's nice. It proves that the Fediverse isn't just some small thing that maybe 5 people use.

I bought special Fediverse stickers for this panel and gave away most of them. I literally only have 6 stickers left. And guess what: I won't restock them. The next time I'll go to a Fediverse Meetup, I'll commission a new Fediverse sticker design.

The Fediverse Meet-Up was a great time and I wish I could have been there longer, but I had to go, as my only option to leave Eurofurence early was about to depart.

Why did I leave so early?

Knowing that I have paid 350 € to go to the Eurofurence (as being a Super Sponsor), and that I wanted to attend some panels that I now wasn't able to attend... Why did I leave so early?

I couldn't sleep enough, I didn't have enough vacation days to calm down after the con ended and before my regular work continues, my planning was bad, I didn't drink and eat enough, and there were so many other reasons for this. At least I managed to attend most of the panels I wanted to attend, I only missed two or three that could've interested me.

What can I do better next year?

As I now know what I did wrong this year, I've got the following list of things that I (and maybe you, dear reader) can do next year to have a better time:

• Take a few days off before and after the convention to mentally prepare and calm down afterward.
• Make sure you really got everything in your suitcase. (Make a checklist!)
• Make a better plan (e.g. in your calendar), without having multiple panels at the same time.
• Plan your eating-times. You'll need to eat anyway.
  • Make multiple backup plans for when the normal caterer doesn't have food you like.
• Drink! If you have a fursuit, use the water in the Fursuit Lounge to drink (if there's no other place where that's free and as easily accessible), or just use a water bucket and fill it up in the sink. The water quality in Germany is good!
• If you share a hotel room with someone else, make sure the other person doesn't have to be super early at the convention space.
• Arrive a day before the convention, and leave a day after the convention, to reduce stress.
• If you want to film or cool down while you're in Fursuit: Prepare something, so you don't have to ask strangers to open your backpack.
• Find a room-/con-mate, who is roughly on your "wavelength" in terms of how you intend to experience the con. This way, you can eat together, have the same sleep schedule and, if you're a fursuiter, the other person can help you by being a spotter/handler/photographer/another fursuiter to interact with around you. (Idea thanks to Berkano and Kianga.)

*List may be updated sporadically, depending on whether I can think of anything else or not.