Närcon Vinter 2014

Heyah there :3

Writing in English this time, since I'll be talking about a con outside Finland.

So yeah, Närcon Vinter, was my first con abroad, and well... It was kinda interesting experience. First thing that kinda shocked me was that Närcon ltd. is for-profit organization. That gave me a little bad expression, and well, it showed.

(C) Yumi Kim

First thing was 2 hours line, before you even got your ticket (the bracelets are really beautifull by the way xD) In Finland I have never been in line more than 20 minutes, and that was because I was there before the doors were open. Next thing, I didn't like, was the food. We had food tickets, but they were worth only 30 kronor, and there were no vegetarian food. I have been a vegetarian for 5 years now and this was the forst time I really had to eat meat, only because I was so hungry and there was no shops anywhere near. I feel really bad about it, and next time (If there is a next time) I know to take my own food with me.

The cosplay competition was so boring. There were 73 competitioners, and they just walked trought the stage. People competed with bought costumes, and the judging system sucked. Over all, the level of cosplay was really low. There were few really good cosplays, some hand made cosplays, and the rest was bought costumes. (like 70% of them, at least) I didn't expect that at all.. I have always been thinking that finnish level of cosplay is low, but this event opened my eyes. Maybe it was just this con, maybe not, but it wasn't what I've been expecting.

(C) Yumi Kim

The sleeping halls... Well, we slept in a Sport center and guess what? We couldn't sleep at all. Yeah, the people were silent and all, but it was cold as hell. I slept with my hoodie and socks on, and in a same sleeping bag as my sister, but still the both of us were shaking from cold and couldn't sleep at all. At the maxinum it was probably something like +14 C or something. So no wonder I slept like 13 hours last night and I am still super tired.

And the programmes. Well I attended five of them. APH panel, APH 2P panel, SNK panel, Reika's question and ask and reika's meet and greed. That Snk panel was hilarious. Truly hilarious xD I say Levi-fish, and nothing more, try to understand xDD

About Reika... the question and ask... well, the tranlator sucked. She didn't speak Japanese all that well, and couldn't understand english well enough either. My friend (who is japanese) actually had to help her out many times. But no matter, I got to ask a guestion, and I felt my heart beat so clearly. In the meet & greed I waited for two hours, and got my photobooks almost first. Just for you to know, I've been Reika's fan for four years now, and she's like a good to me, and one of the reasons, why I didn't just stay as a closet otaku, but started cosplaying. And there I was, shaking like hell 10 minutes before it started. I stood like two meters away from her. Then the line started moving and it was my turn. I had thought everything what I wanted to say to her in japanese, but everything that I gor out of my mouth was "Konichiwa, Reika-sama" and "Arigato gozaimasu". I got a hug from her and a picture with her, and after that I walked to my friend who had been in front of me in the line, literally collapsed to her arms and started crying. (Reika actually gave me a compassionate look because of that) Really, I got to hug my god, and almost fainted because of it... Well I was shaking like a half an hour afterwards xDD Yeah, it's silly to get so worked up about something like that, but I can't tell you how much I had been looking forward to that day.

Koska joku osaa olla söpö yli kolmekymppisenäkin xDD

I met one of my not-so-big cosplay idols. I mean Vändetta cosplay's Cim. Yeah, it would have been so nice if the whole Vändetta had been there, but my gosh, I got to hug Cim as well <3 My life is now perfect. (Or it will be perfect after Cosvision, cause Kaname-sama will be coming there)


After all I had really fun. It was because of the wonderfull people, thou. Friday we spent our time with a Denmark and America cosplayers (And one Finnish Fem!China cosplayer), and I want to thank them, because I really had fun with them, I they are amazing persons :3 And because of that Denmark I never want to hear the word "Precis" again. Really, every time me, my sister and the China cosplayer started to speak finnish about something, she suddenly shouted "Precis! Jag håller med!" or something like that. 
We met few finnish swedish persons, a Finland cosplayer, a Teutonic Knights/Prussia cosplayer, and a Soviet Union/Russia cosplayer. We had fun with you as well. 

(c) Yumi Kim

Met some finnish people as well. (Some of them I already knew) but got some new friends from here as well. I'm really happy, to get to know so many different people, in so little time =) 

I had a wonderfull trip, and I will think about going to summer Närcon, not this year, but maybe next.
A lot of people called me cute, or wanted a picture of me/us. It made me really happy, and kept my spirit high. Even thought the con wasn't that good at all, I had really fun, and I was left with a good (and tired) feelings. Now I'm just sitting in my chair and missing all the people, I just met yerterday. 
 I hope I will meet them again someday :3

We got some photoshoot with my sister on our way there, but you'll see those pics later (in a next post, I'll say)

But yes, that was how my five-day ttrip to Sweden was.

~Spitaalinen