Getting started

27 January 2009

After a hearty breakfast with fellow WSFers in the breakfast room in our hotel, we headed out to the university to register. Along the way we saw several large WSF billboards welcoming participants in various languages, as well as others that declared "The rich can pay for their crisis" which although not an official theme of the forum was nevertheless a reoccurring slogan. When we arrived at the site we understood right away how fortunate were we to have had pre-paid: we spent less than five minutes in a cool gymnasium picking up our passes and programs rather than up to five hours in a queue in a hot tent.

The mood is festive and full of anticipation, as people from around Brazil and the rest of the world, of all ages and cultural backgrounds, are mingling in groups, buying snacks and trying to find their way around. This really seems like a place where serious issues and ideas can be discussed in a celebratory setting and we are getting quite excited - but it's also quite hot!