[kde-community] Your Akademy take-away?

[Thomas Pfeiffer]

On Friday 12 September 2014 14:02:39 Lydia Pintscher wrote:
> Hey folks :)
> 
> What are the most important things you took away from this year's Akademy?
> 
> Mine are:
> * We are an amazing community that really pulls together when needed.
> Carrying someone up all the way to the castle because they can't walk
> there? Done deal. Big <3 for that. Let's never lose that!

Being the guy who was carried up to the castle, this was of course my most 
memorable experience there, too.

It really exemplified KDE for me:
Originally, I had thought I'd stay at the hostel during the day trip because I 
couldn't even get to the reservoir (where it happened) without walking too 
much (for those who were not at Akademy: I had an infection in my right foot 
so I could barely walk) and Jan Grulich, who had spent two half days taking me 
to the hospital and waiting there with me, was not available to drive me there 
on Wednesday.
When asking on the mailing list whether it was possible to get there without 
much walking, I got two replies from people willing to give me a ride (Martin 
Klapetek and Teo Mrnjavac).
In the end, it was Martin who took me to the reservoir (and also to the tram 
station the next morning).
I was happy that I could take part in the day trip and take the ferry together 
with the group, but I had already accepted that I wouldn't be able to get up 
to the castle (castles are not exactly known for being easy to reach, right?).

When the ferry landed and I said I'd wait there for the group to return from 
the castle, Frederik Gladhorn said something along the lines of "No, we won't 
leave you behind, we can get you there!". I couldn't really imagine how, until 
I found myself first on Frederik and Martin's arms, then on Friedrich 
Kossebau's and then Frederik's shoulders.
There are some KDE members which, due to their compact size, might be 
relatively easy to carry. At about 1,85m in height, though, I'm not exactly 
one of them, so it must have looked really funny when a fully grown man sat on 
another's shoulders.

They were not the only ones who helped me when I couldn't really walk, of 
course. A number of other people helped and supported me during the last few 
days, too (Àlex Fiestas also carried my on his arms through the venue on 
Monday, for example). I never had to walk alone if anyone from KDE was around.

This was an example of what KDE means: We always help each other out, and even 
if something seems impossible, together we find ways to make it happen.

Thank you all for showing this in such a vivid way,
Thomas