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I arrived two days ago in Vikingskipet to attend a computer party as a crew, and up until now, it’s been really busy with lots and lots to do. Of course, organizing such a party of this size, with well over 5000 people attending there are a lot of tasks to be done.

Not only do we need to set up well over 400 Ethernet switches to make the network, but there’s also the issue of attendee security, attendee well-being and information flow and organizing of event competitions. Everything is well underway, and as I write this I sit up on the tribunes looking out over the hall. It’s quite the sight, with over 5000 computer screens lighting up the horizon.

You just gotta be here to fully understand and appreciate the atmosphere and ambience that construct the feeling of being here. But you can get a sneak peek of how it is, from directly to the left of where I am sitting currently. There’s an expression that goes along the lines of; “a picture is worth a thousand words”, but in this case, it really doesn’t.

Seeing as this hall is historic, even though just recently being used as an Olympic hall under the Winter Olympics in 1994, it kinda adds to make the experience even grander. There’s something special with the sound that 5000 people, 5000 computers and almost just as many sound systems make. You just gotta be here to experience it for yourself.

As for the people attending, it’s all types of personalities. We’ve got people of all ages, both sexes and people from all around Norway as well as the rest of Scandinavia. But we even get more exotic attendees, as we have people from the rest of Europe and even visitors coming from all the way from the United States.

The Gathering might not be the largest computer party in the world, but I can bet you that it is the one with the most atmosphere. I will try my best to keep you up to date. I wish you all the best for the rest of the Easter holidays.

By Jostein Elvaker Haande

"A free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular" - Adlai Stevenson

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