Hey guys, this Summer was an amazing experience for me, although it wasn’t my first time that I went to DreamHack. The experience started in Eindhoven where I stepped in the bus around 1 PM. I went with Intel Pack4DreamHack alone this time, while I was with a good friend last time.

Some people I had already seen on DreamHack Winter 2010 were there already as well. After meeting up with some people from the video team (awesome people), and of course not to forget Jan “Querex” Raeymaekers, the bus trip started. After being in the bus for almost one and a half hours we finally arrived in Nieuwegein (near Utrecht). There we had a little break as most packers from the second stop had to get their bags into the bus. We drove further to Enschede after that.

Once again we arrived an hour and a half later, and after that the bus was full and the 66 gamers continued their trip to Jönköping in Sweden. The trip was very long. It took us around 19 hours until we were finally there. We had some stops, like the boat that brought us from Germany to Denmark. The last stop was a tank station which was already in Sweden.

Finally around 7.30 AM we arrived at DreamHack. After collecting the bags from the bus we had to make sure we shouldn’t forget the group by making a nice group picture. And that it was time to start one of the biggest Lan Events I’ve been to in my whole life. O yeah I almost forgot: in the bus I really couldn’t sleep at all because of the rather annoying people in the back of the bus with their music boxes who were playing music all night. Much love to them though, even though it was annoying I won’t forget the bus trip.

Around 8 AM we finally could plug our computer in to start the event. In the meantime the video team was already busy with making edits for their YouTube videos, which was really nice to see, and the photographer was already busy with uploading his first pictures of DreamHack, which I really appreciated.

The day wasn’t nearly over and the screaming from the crowd with the words “HELLOOOOO” was already all over the place. That’s really something that only can happen on DreamHack! Around 4 PM the opening ceremony starting in the Main hall. Laser beams, loud music and an excited crowd was the official start of the event. Almost everyone was already in the building, most of them had settled up their pc’s and the boot stands were already busy promoting their things.

The first day wasn’t really something special; some people went out and instead of going out I was lazy and doing some poker tournaments. After hearing that they left to go out I couldn’t really be bothered to do anything on the pc so I went off the pc and looked some around. After pulling a night through I watched some random people watching around (obviously looking for something they could use). Unfortunately for them I was there to watch the pc’s that were left standing. I really wasn’t tired so I went through till around 11 AM in the morning. The first people came out of their bed/hotel/apartment and after being really tired I went to sleep until half past 5.
The day after I had quite a big day. The Call of Duty 4 tournament was that day and the competition kept on being delayed. It was supposed to start at 6 PM but it started at 9 PM, because of the Battlefield 3 competition that was still going on. After asking Luc Marc to shoot some pictures, the competition finally started. The qualification ended and I took the first place (which was actually a goal for me). Then the finals started and this time it was quite an exciting match. The score went from 3 kills behind in a 6 kills advantage which I held until the end and I took the first place in the tournament.

After walking back to the “Camp Holland” lines I showed them proudly my computer case and some other stuff I won. Finally I won something. The people were surprised that I won it and of course I’ve asked them to make some pictures of it which they did. The day ended and I wasn’t going to sleep yet. I thought I could pull the day through till we were leaving with the bus, and to sleep finally in the bus.

The last night “NoiseControllers” was live at the main stage, where most of us went to. It was a really nice performance and we had a good time dancing and “hak” around the main stage. Ricardo even went in like a terrorist with his T-shirt over his head, it looked hilarious. Even seeing Jerry hak was funny and all the people that were around were having a good time. Big thanks for all the people that made this event possible!

I’ve met some amazing people throughout the event. Really nice guys and also very talented guys like the photographer (Luc Marc) and the video team. I really hope they will come to the next event as well. Also the guys that kept me awake in the bus. And of course the organization (Rob, Jeroen and Stefan). I really wanted to stay there longer, unfortunately the bus left at Tuesday. We packed our stuff and went back with the bus to the Netherlands.
I want to thank Samantha as well, it was an honor to sit behind you. Also the family Nieuwkoop, I had a great time with you guys. The guys that sat next to me, playing StarCraft all the time, were enjoying to watch while they played their games. Last but not least I would like to thank Intel for sponsoring us the trip.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you guys next time @ DreamHack Winter 2012, I’ll be there for sure!

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