So 2024 has begun, and as mentioned earlier, WordCamps are becoming more and more present worldwide. To kick off this year, for the first time ever, GreenGeeks decided to sponsor a WordCamp in Europe! And why not start is Zaragoza, Spain?
It was a WordCamp of firsts, without a doubt, and it was simply fantastic. Read together!
Arriving in Space
The place is located in the center of Zaragoza, right outside the train station (Las Delicias Train Station) in a building called Etopia (not to be confused with Ethiopia like many of us).
Etopia is a center for arts, technology, science and modern society. Once again, I love how organizers choose their venues, and this was beyond perfect. Centric, easy to get, has a big space for sponsors and good vibes in general.
Getting to Zaragoza was a little difficult because Zaragoza is right on the border of what could be the beginning of the northeastern region of Spain. So it was either Madrid or Barcelona the natural choice to get in and then take a train/car into the venue.
Needless to say, it was difficult to get there, but Europe itself is quite easy.
Zaragoza is the former royal city of the Kingdom of Aragon, which was the first European ruler of the city after the Moorish rule of Spain for centuries. It is located on the river Ebro which is a very important river in Spain and the city is beautiful to walk, eat and hang out.
The place, like I said, was a perfect distance from everything and we were ready to go.
As usual, I arrived a few days before to find the venue to see the logistics of setting things up. As this was the first WordCamp we held in Europe, it was important for me to know the place in advance to avoid any surprises.
Party of speakers
Me and Selena Salustri, who came to Italy for her first WordCamp in Spain and a dear friend of mine who was just a wonderful person, met at the train station to go to the venue when something I hadn’t seen in 20 years appeared.
Snow.
I mean, I didn’t expect that – nobody did. Organizers later said it had not snowed in Zaragoza for many, many years. At first it was magical, but then I remembered how much Canadians disliked it. I was not prepared for this, I had left my winter coat at the hotel. I couldn’t take it and my shoes were obviously not winter shoes.
Well, there I was, cold, with wet feet. Did I mention it was cold?
Needless to say we got to the venue and then went to the speakers/sponsors party which was at this restaurant called Aura which overlooked the river Evros.
The view was fantastic because you could see in the distance the Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar, which is one of Zaragoza’s landmarks.
The party was great, I was glad to see many of the friends I have met from the Spanish community that I have met at WordCamp Europe, such as Viperwhich unfortunately didn’t make it last year at WordCamp Europe.
We caught up, had some food and drinks, and things were about to heat up, as they sometimes do at these parties. Finally, it was time to go home because tomorrow was a big day.
The camp
The next day, it was time to get things started. I had my swag ready and the first thing I noticed was that it was still cold. It wasn’t as bad as the day before, but still cold, and I soon realized that it was also cold in the venue.
Turns out the heating system was broken, and the company couldn’t fix it the day before since it snowed and the machine fixing it couldn’t be exposed to water, etc. etc.
So this wasn’t the coldest WordCamp I’ve had to attend.
They did not take off their jackets during the entire Camp. It was ok, I mean I’m pretty cold hardy (I wore a shirt and hoodie when it snowed) so I was able to handle it. The attendees were not successful and you could see they were cold.
The organizers were upset with the situation, but I guess these things happen. They are out of reach and you have to make the best of it.
Our swag, as usual, amazing, great and for the first time in a long time, we were done. All these!! It was such a great feeling.
It was also great to have people asking about us, because well, being in Europe, not many people in attendance knew us or had never seen us before. So, it was a refreshing thing, the organizers were excited about the addition of new sponsors.
Some of the things I’ve noticed from the Spanish community is that one, they do by far the most camps of ANY country in the world right now (maybe the US beats them?). And two, it’s a very, very, very tight community in the sense of unity and good spirit.
The conversations? I went to one, and it was a workshop by Carlos Diaz, who I believe is from Madrid. The workshop was about Google Tag Manager.
Great guy, great talk. I was interested in this because I work a lot with programmatic ads and it is very useful to know Google-talk as a developer.
The Afterparty
Last day of Camp, and the next day is Sunday. No waking up early, no rush to WordCamp, you think it’s time to party hard, right? Of course you are.
Although it may not seem like it at first, WordCamps and its parties can be unpredictable. One minute you’re in a museum eating fruit and 5 hours later you end up at karaoke.
This was no exception.
The afterparty was on site, with free, unlimited beer (note the organizers!!) until 9:30pm. when we were kicked out. People scattered and went who knows where.
Me and Selena though, we made friends with the organizers from WordCamp Torrelodones, and they told us they were going to eat at a bar. I said, okay, let’s go.
When I got there, what a surprise. They were ALL there, plus other organizers from other parts of Spain, and we were in this authentic Spanish bar where they served real, home-cooked Spanish food.
The place was small but the food was out of this world. So we ate, drank and went wild. Next thing I know, I was having a blast with the crew from Torrelodones, Jaime Garmar and Ana Cirujano.
I had a great time as it was a great party. And man, what a great WordCamp that was. One of the first – snow, trains, Spain, new people, but the same atmosphere of community, friendship, knowledge and good old WordPress.
Until next time!
