Blog Camp Bloggers

You've heard about Blog Camp, you've seen the previews, many of the preparations and some of the details in the Blog Camp blog, as well as first impressions in the camper's blogs here, here, here, here and here. Julie has already started posting a series on what happened, so I'm not going to do the same, unless I discover that we have completely different versions!
Blog Camp 1 was the first time that I'd met any fellow bloggers in real life and I jumped at the chance from the beginning. But then, I got nervous, first about what they would think of me, and then, just a little bit, about what they'd be like.
Bee had told me that, in her experience, bloggers tend to be like their blogging voice. This was true... and, at the same time, it wasn't. Having the person in front of you instantly changes your idea of them, or at least it did for me. Suddenly, they weren't only words and photos on a screen. They were people, with their personal gestures, voices and mannerisms. I very quickly adjusted, we all did, and commented on how we all sounded very much like our blogs but later we wondered: Do we really sound like our blogs? Or have we changed our preconceptions of each other in light of the real us?
Were there any surprises? Only good ones. Ours was a eclectic blogger group. Some have been blogging for a long time, while others have just started. Some will post every day and will touch lots of different topics, others will post when they feel they have something to share about a particular book or film. Some talk about life, others about hobbies, pets, or relationships. Some are positive and others are sarcastic. Blogging shows many sides of you, but rarely the whole picture... You choose certain topics to blog about, and we of course all go through phases where we have less time or less energy for blogging.
So, yes, we discovered that Extranjera was "actually quite pleasant" (her words) and could crochet and knit, and that Polly is a model in the making, and much more funny in real life. Who knew that Seaside Girl would actually like to marry a Danish man and that Kristina would come sans Vigdis? Julocka? Actually, no big surprises there, she really is like her blog!
I'm not saying that you can't get to know someone through their blogging, because you certainly can, and we did before Blog Camp and we'll continue to do so. But you see many other sides of someone face to face. Which is, of course, why there is a Blog Camp UK in the making, and a Blog Camp 2 in Denmark to come!