ECSC 2026, Day 1: Getting to Bochum

The travel

The trip from Groningen to Bochum took four hours by train and bus. I left early, and somewhere in Germany the bus drove into a sunrise over fog-covered fields. It was a nice way to start a long travel day.

I made the trip alone. My teammates were supposed to fly in from Iceland, but bad weather there delayed their flight by 12 hours. It felt strange arriving at the European Cybersecurity Challenge without the people I'd be competing with. I was a little timid walking up to the registration desk by myself, but everything worked out, and I registered the team for the competition.

Meeting Fabian

The best surprise of the day was meeting Fabian (LiveOverflow), a security researcher and YouTuber. I've learned a lot from his videos over the years, so it was a real treat to stand in a hallway and chat with him in person. We took a selfie, and I'm still a bit starstruck.

Opening ceremony and dinner

For the opening ceremony and dinner I sat with the Norwegian team. Being the lone Icelander at a table of Norwegians turned out to be an easy way to meet people, and we talked about the team introduction videos and Cloudflare pricing 😂.

The team introduction videos from the ceremony:

By the end of the evening I had stopped feeling like I was missing a team. Being alone made me more approachable and gave me an excuse to talk to more people.

My teammates are due to arrive soon, and the real competition starts tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it.

P.S. Please forgive the tired face. It was a long day.