GUADEC 2018 has come and gone, and with this being my first FOSS event I have a number of thoughts about what I was expecting and what I'm coming away feeling. This is part 1 of a multiple episode recount of my GUADEC 2018 experience. Before GUADEC How exactly did I get here? The lead up to GUADEC was fast-paced enough to give someone whiplash. Up until a few short weeks prior to GUADEC's commencement I was just a simple GNOME user. A month or so before GUADEC, the timing being totally coincidental, I tweeted Nuritzi, a person whose name I had just learned after seeing the GitLab + GNOME announcement video, asking her if she would be willing to speak on her perspectives in tech at my University. Being the President of the GNOME Foundation board of directors, I wasn't really expecting an answer to be honest. However, not only did she answer my tweet, she and I had a short phone call later the next day, and the next thing I knew I was on the GNOME Engagement Telegram t