If you follow me on twitter, you probably already knew I was in Italy last weekend. Milan to be exact. I think this was my first FUDcon where I didn’t give a talk – hacksession myself. Luckily there were enough other sessions happening so I wouldn’t get bored.
At the moment I’m in a plane flying to Zurich, where I have to take another plane to Brussels. The thing I love about swiss air is that you always get a chocolate during the flight. And yes, Swiss chocolate is known all over the world for it’s great taste.
I arrived in Milan on Friday. In Zurich someone came to me with the question if I was going to FUDcon too. It’s always nice to get to know new people and to talk to people with the samen interests. I was a bit confused because I thought there would already be something happening that day. Conference wise I mean. So we tried to figure out how to get in the hotel. After asking a couple of time the directions, and take a detour of some kilometers -*G*, Italians Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
– we finally found the hoteel where we found some people already worried. After getting refreshed we went to a coctailbar with quite a special – but succesful – business model. All drinks cost 10euro, even a cola, but the food was free. Of course most people bought more than one coctail, which made it an expensive meal. I guess you could say their business model is working Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
. I went back to the hotel with John and his daughter, and hit the hay around 11pm. I didn’t know it yet, but it would become a night without a lot of sleep.
On Saturday I went to the breakfast room around 8am, where I met up with some other early birds. After havind a nice meal -but nothing special- we went by group to the venue. I was really surprised about what buildings I saw. I almost got the impression that Italy is a former communistic country. Some italians told me that it was the fault of our good friend Berlusconi. They claimed progress stopped some 20years ago. not long after Berlusconi became the president. Still, I don’t think I have ever seen such buildings – not even old buildings – in other western countries I already visited. Anyway, I was in Milan to attend FUDcon, not for sight seing. When we arrived at the venue we were welcomed by a whole team of young people providing us with a nicely made flyer, a badge and a T shirt. My only remark is that we started an hour late. And there was no ‘state of the union’ talk either. Despite those 2 little things, I really had a good day filled with well prepared talks. And I resolved a problem with my Fedora install -which was already latent for some months- together with some of the Brno Red Hat guys.
In the evening FUDcon happened. The pizza place we went to was like Pizza Hut, but then with pizza. And with beer glasses of 1 liter. I thought the pizza was pretty good – although I already had better. The real Italians thought it was really bad. I guess it’s all about perception. What i did see was some weird toppings. I mean, french fries on a pizza? What were they thinking?
Sunday, the last day of FUDcon, and the last day I was in italy there was a day of hacking. I had the impression a lot of people didn’t show up this last day. I guess sight seeing is somewhat more interesting. I know Kanarip did some good things with BKchem, and we had a good discussion with the Ambassador people where we disussed some of the troubles were having, with the possible solutions. Just like the day before we got a free lunch which was pretty nice.
Around 3.30pm I went to the subway, on my way to the central station. From there I had to take make a train ride from about 40minutes to the airport. Luckily I already checked in via the internet, else I would have missed the plane I think. Now I’m flying over the Alps, enjoying the view and writing this blog post.
cheers!
[edit]
After I landed in Brussels, I was totally happy. I helped some people out. I wanted to be home. but then, oh, then.. I came in Brussels South station, and almost all trains were delayed.also, the people behind me are making noise. to much noise. arch..
