Getting an invitation to go somewhere is always nice. It makes you feel special and it’s a real way to know that you have contributed or done something for which you are now being somehow recognized. But sometimes you get an invitation because the people organizing a European-wide event needed to have representatives from your country, and your name somehow came up on Google.
At least, that’s how I think I got invited to a technology festival called “Campus Party – Millenio”– which is sponsored by the Department of Culture, Tourism and Commerce of Spain in and brings together about 600 participants from some 22 European countries in Granada, Spain.
Personally, I could not say no to the invitation as I thought it was a great chance to participate in something I don’t get to go to everyday. Moreover, I’ve always considered myself an internet enthusiast and early adopter of technologies and gadgets, so this event is a great opportunity to emerge myself in just that type of an environment with other likeminded people.
This is an excerpt from the official invitation:
In order to celebrate the Millenary event created by the Kingdom of Granada Foundation, the Committee in charge of the event preparation, in collaboration with the Department of Culture, Tourism and Commerce of Spain, will celebrate a special event dedicated to new technologies and Internet from the 12th to 16th of October 2011 in Granada, Spain.
During five days, more than 500 participants coming from the 22 Mediterranean countries will enjoy more than 100 hours of conferences, activities and forums related to new technologies, sciences, digital creativity and Internet, among others.
This showcase will present new projects and talents, and is an international and unique experience that will show up Granada as a bridge of innovation between the Orient and the Occident. This is also a great opportunity to promote relationships between the participants of each invited country, emphasizing the role of the Information Technologies (IT) in the economical, environmental development and the international cooperation.
Technology picnic
The organizes of the event have called this a technology festival, which it is, but as I was packing my sleeping bag and getting my things ready for a one week stay in Spain, I was rather inclined to think of the event as a “technology picnic” for the simple fact that during our stay we will be camping out in tents and sleeping in sleeping-bags at the venue.
I am in Spain as I post this article here. I’ll probably write some more once I get some time to settle.
