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Vlog: On the Road Again, Episode 2

Senior Software Architect, Michele Riva, shares a taste of life on the road at DevConf in Łódź

Welcome back to On the Road Again episode 2, from NearForm hosted by Michele Riva. Michele is a Senior Software Architect here at NearForm and has a prolific speaking schedule. On his excursions to various conferences around the world Michele meets all kinds of interesting people and has new experiences which he will be sharing with us here and on his YouTube channel .

Michele is a Google GDE and Microsoft MVP and the author of  Real World Next.js . You can learn more about Michele through  this blog post  or through his  own website .

On the Road Again, Episode 2

Episode 2 of On the Road Again is about Michele’s time in Łódź, Poland for DevConf in September 2022.

Below is a text transcript of the video with timestamps as well as links to some of the things he talks about in the video.

(00:01):

Hey, it's Michele here, senior software architect at NearForm. I'm in Łódź, Poland for DevConf 2022 .

(00:28):

This is the venue. It's the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel. There will be four different rooms, if I understood correctly. This is where we are going to have our talks tomorrow. I can't really wait.

(00:42):

I love Poland. I've always felt welcome in this country. And the food is really great, which is important to me as an Italian. I'm really happy to be here. And the venue's awesome. And there is this very nice park. That's really it. I just had a walk in the park. That feels like it's all for me for today.

(01:10):

I'll go to the speaker's dinner. We'll see if we have time for an update after that event. I don't think I will be able to have any recording at the speakers' dinner, but let's see.

(01:25):

In any case, tomorrow morning, I will have my talk in a cinema, my first time talking at a cinema. I'm really excited about that. Looking forward to tomorrow. See ya!

(01:41):

Hey! Day number one of DevConf in Łódź. Let's go.

(02:40):

I'm back in my room. I had my talk, it was beautiful. It was the first time for me to talk in a cinema. It's amazing. You have no idea how hot it is to have lights against you, while you are in front of the big screen. But it was amazing.

(02:55):

They also gave me a gadget bag. Let's see what we got. Here is the bag itself. Let's see what we got. T-shirt. Let me show you. This is the back and this is the front. It's my size. It's beautiful!

(03:17):

Listen up: if you are willing to have a conference and you want to give a great gift to your attendees or speakers, socks are always useful, especially if you're in Poland, which is not the warmest country in the world. This is a lifesaver. Let me tell you this, speakers traveling a lot, they all forget socks. This is beautiful.

(03:41):

Then we also have a nice hat. This is pretty strange. I have no idea what is it. Oh, my God. This is like a puzzle, I guess. Oh, okay. You have a set of instructions. I don't know how it works, but I will play on the plane so the time flies, on the plane. As well, not all the Italians say such stupid things.

(04:10):

This is a light bulb, then a block note. This is one of the sponsors again. We have candies. I'm on a diet, I can't eat this! This is for opening bottles, I guess, but also acts like a light, but it doesn't have the battery. No problem. I will get some at the airport, I guess. This is for blinding the webcam. And stickers, which are always appreciated, I would say. That was all. And I also have a nice bag.

(04:41):

Plan for me right now is to rest a bit, because I have one free hour right now for lunch. And then I go look at the other talks. I will see if I can make some videos because it's really crowded. It went sold out, so it's really, really beautiful to be there. See you around.

(05:03):

Day number two here in Łódź, Poland, at the DevConf. This morning, I had to work a bit. I had a couple of calls. I make some progress on Lyra , the full-text search engine that I'm building. It was all fine.

(05:18):

I got to say, the WiFi here, it's awesome. It's almost better than it is in my house, so I might be moving there, I guess. No, I'm kidding. I'll now go have lunch and then maybe have a little work in the afternoon and then attend the last sessions for the conference before going to dinner. See you around.

(06:09):

Having my lunch break right now. I'll take the opportunity to go have a walk through Łódź. Let's see how it is during lunch breaks. I will have an hour, then I go back to some other talks. Stay tuned. See you later.

(07:10):

I have learned that Łódź, it's particularly famous for street art, amongst incredible buildings, so we're going to see a bunch of very beautiful street paintings, and I love them!

(08:09):

Okay, guys. I'm sorry. Yesterday after my walk, during the lunch break, I came back for watching a couple of more sessions, but I didn't have much time to take pictures and videos. Here are some, but it's not just that. After it, I've been able to go eat dinner with a couple of friends that I met here in Łódź. It was very, very fine. And also, Łódź by night, it's amazing.

(08:39):

Right now I need to go... Having a walking tour organized by DevConf. I will have a walking tour. We'll see if I can take more pictures. And then I'll have to go to the airport for coming back home. It has been a wild journey. I love it.

(10:27):

Just got in my car. It took six total hours to get there, from Łódź. And now, one more hour to drive home. It's incredibly painful to come back home, but I can't really wait to meet my dog again. That was all for me. See you during the next blog.

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