I’ve been sleeping an average of four hours a night, my shoulder is aching from carrying around my laptop every day, and the buses and metro stop running to the part of town where my apartment is way too early, so I have to spend about 25 Euros whenever I want to get back from the Euroclub.  And yet, I can’t remember when I’ve been this happy!

I’m part of a great team here at ESCKaz.  We’re a pretty unique site, with two generally autonomous subunits: English and Russian.  On the English side, we’ve got Drew and Tam (who I haven’t actually met yet, but they should be joining us soon), Mike, Daniel, and little ol’ me.  The Russians generally keep to themselves, with the exception of our Fearless Leader, Editor-in-Chief Andy, who bridges the gap and often acts as a translator for the Russian-speaking delegations that we interview.  My day is generally spent running between my computer, press conferences, and artist interviews, with occasional jaunts to the Arena itself, the cafeteria, or my “pigeonhole”, where I pick up promotional material like CDs or postcards from the delegations. 

Business cards are flying out of my hands so quickly, I almost feel like Gambit. 

Here in the MPC (Main Press Center), the atmosphere is universally welcoming.  Watching the interactions between people here reminds me almost of the first few days of summer camp (only without the wedgies and bug juice).  Everyone here has war stories: how bad the food was in Moscow, how cheap the beer was in Tallinn, how tiny the venue in Jerusalem was…I’m wondering what they’ll say about Düsseldorf in five years’ time…I know I’ll be wishing that my apartment had been closer to civilization.

So far, I’ve been really impressed with the acts I’ve had the chance to speak to personally.  Everyone’s been sweet and accommodating (but, then again, the ones who wouldn’t be sweet and accommodating probably aren’t doing many one-on-one interviews!).  It’s always a bit surreal to meet these artists and find out that they’re completely humble, normal people.  Getting to have decent, human conversations with these guys kind of gives you a whole new perspective on the idea of “celebrity”.  Someone hugely popular in Country X might be completely overshadowed in Eurovision.  Someone completely huge in Eurovision circles might be unknown outside of Europe.  And little ol’ me gets to hang out with all of them!

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Had the chance to chat with Aurela from Albania, the Bulgarian delegation, Axel (aka Paradise Oskar) from Finland, and Armenia’s Emmy, and saw Malta’s Glen Vella and Alexey Vorobyov from Russia (dancing on the bar!).  Drinks were plentiful (gotta love Altbier!), the music was great (ESC from then and now…any surprise there?), and everyone was having a fantastic time.  Can’t wait to go back!

I’ve been interviewing a few of the artists (as you’ve already seen), but I’m also slated to work with a number of other artists over the course of the next week.  I’ve got a lot of questions at the ready, but I thought I’d open up the floodgates for suggestions from you guys, my lovable readers!

Today, I’ve got Croatia (Daria Kinzer – Celebrate), Lithuania (Evelina Sasenko – C’est Ma Vie), and Greece (Loukas Yiorkas and Stereo Mike – Watch my Dance) on my roster.  Tomorrow, I’ve got Ukraine (Mika Newton – Angels) and Cyprus (Christos Mylordos – San aggelos s’agapisa).  Wednesday, I have Bulgaria (Poli Genova – Na Inat), Romania (Hotel FM – Change), Belarus (Anastasiya Vinnikova – I Love Belarus), and Latvia (Musiqq – Angel in Disguise).  Thursday’s Switzerland (Anna Rossinelli – In Love for a While), Saturday might be Serbia (Nina – Caroban), and Sunday I’ve got Spain (Lucía Pérez – Que Me Quiten lo Bailao) and Italy (Raphael Gualazzi – Madness of Love).

Any burning questions you’d like me to pass along? 🙂

And, again, thanks for following me on this journey!

You can see more details on my experiences here in Germany at http://www.esckaz.com/new/en , but I’ve been thrilled to do a handful of interviews today! 

I can’t even tell what day it is anymore, all I know is that it’s been a beautiful one…

I woke up at about 4am Minnesota time to watch the Royal Wedding, lusted after the Duchess of Cambridge’s dress for a few hours while I finished my packing, and shuffled off to MSP airport for my long journey to Düsseldorf.  After thanking my lucky stars that I missed the tornadoes that have been plaguing the Southeastern part of the United States, I took off for Atlanta, and, eventually, Düsseldorf. 

I normally sleep peacefully on flights (possibly because I have pilots in my family, so I’ve been airborne since I’ve been in utero), but I was way too wired to rest.  I’ve been dreaming of attending a Eurovision for a few years now, and I’ve had my passage booked for months, but taking the approach into Düsseldorf, flying right over the arena where everything was actually going to be happening in two weeks’ time…it all became so very real.

I found my way to the airport’s Eurovision Welcome Stand and waited for my fellow OGAE Rest of the World members Roy and Juanita, as their flight from South Africa via Paris was scheduled to arrive only about 45 minutes after mine.  About five minutes before they arrived, I was thrilled to come face to face with Anastasiya Vinnikova, this year’s Belarussian representative.  Even at such an early hour, and having just endured an interminable line at Customs, she was incredibly sweet and cordial.

Roy, Juanita and I ran over to the Press Center (just in the shadow of the Düsseldorf Arena), where we picked up our press accreditation, and Roy and I got our “pigeonholes” (2023 and 2024!), and were promptly loaded up with bagfuls of promotional material ranging from maps and programs to hairspray and chocolate.  Considering that we were already lugging our baggage around, we had to waddle to the U-Bahn and bus before we made it to our lovely little apartment in the residential Wittlaer district north of the city.  Roy went out to meet a friend downtown, and Juanita and I explored the neighborhood, which was almost eerily quiet for a Saturday afternoon.  After picking up some groceries for the apartment, the two of us made a quick bite to eat, had a nice chat, and promptly conked out at 5pm with the TV still on.  A well deserved bit of shuteye…

More to come, of course!