This is the first article in a series of three detailing my adventures at Otakon 2016.

If you were in Baltimore, Maryland the past weekend (August 12 - 14) you may have seen some strange characters walking around the Baltimore Convention Center and Inner Harbor. I mean “characters” quite literally. From the popular to the obscure, countless characters were roaming around. From anime to video games to comics, tens of thousands of characters could be seen. This may have left you with one question: “What the hell is going on here?” The answer to that question is simple: Otakon.

Otakon is an annual convention that started as a small convention in State College Pennsylvania and grew one of the largest anime conventions in America. Although the attendance statistics for 2016 aren’t up on the official site, I can personally attest to the sheer amount of people that were in the convention center last weekend. It was crazy, it was hectic, but above all else, it was super fun.

My Otakon experience actually started Tuesday night of that week. I went out to BJ’s with most of the group to stock up on food for the weekend. Nothing says group bonding like shopping for food together! We loaded up the cart with various goodies, from mac and cheese in a cup that you could make in the microwave to a giant meat log. We got the meat log because we were under the impression that we’d have a kitchenette in the room. This detail comes into play later. After we paid, confusing the poor cashier by splitting up the order between cash and two cards, we all decided to hop over to the Greene Turtle for some dinner. The Olympics were on so, of course, we all became critics during the gymnastics portion. It was a good time with good(ish) food. With food in our cars and stomachs, we bid each other farewell. We would meet again on Thursday.

Wednesday was a difficult day to get through. I had to work, as I do nearly every Wednesday, but all I could think about—and by think I mean worry—was Otakon. Would people like my costumes? Would they even recognize me? What if someone talked bad about my costumes to my face? What if I didn’t have fun? I tossed and turned that night, the excitement and worry made a deadly combination against my ability to sleep. But, eventually, I nodded off.

On Thursday, I drove over to my best friend, Kaitlin-AKA-Kait’s house, who lives in Hampstead, because her mother would be driving us both to Baltimore. Bless her. The rest of our group went down ahead of us to check in to the hotel we were staying at. Around 4:30 p.m. our friend who booked the hotel called with some bad news. We didn’t have a kitchenette in the room. There were communal microwaves by the ide machine and a mini fridge in the room, which was actually two conjoining rooms, but that was it. So Kait ran out to grab some lunch meat for sandwiches while I finished painting my pride and joy, my giant Tome of Koslun from “Dragon Age II” to go with my Isabela costume.

Pillow for reference of size.

Now, mind you, the Isabela costume was actually the one I worried the most over, mostly due to the fact that I’ve never played a Dragon Age game in my life. Kait thought that I’d be a good fit for an Isabela, although I am pale and Isabela is not at all pale, and once she explained the character to me (a rogue-class pirate who doesn’t need a man or a woman to complete her) I was on board. That was before the convention. I was worried that my costume—completely thrifted from Goodwill—wouldn’t be good enough. I was worried that fans of the game would be able to tell that I wasn’t as invested as them, or that I had little to no clue what they were talking about. Thankfully, I was only wearing the Isabela costume for some of Friday. I batted away the worry and continued to paint. I could (and would) stress about it on Friday instead.

Kait’s mom left with us and our bags in tow around 5:30 p.m. The drive was fine once I switched over to sit in the middle seat in the back. It had been so long since I’d ridden in the backseat of a car that I forgot that not seeing the road make me queasy and dizzy. Funny how the inner ear works. We didn’t really hit any traffic until we were in the city. Not only were a lot of people going down into Baltimore for Otakon, there was also a Raven’s game—pre-season I think (please don’t quote me on this, I’m not a football person).

Kait (left) and me (right) on the way to Otakon!

We arrived at the hotel around 6:20ish. We dumped our stuff from the car onto the sidewalk by the hotel and I watched it while Kait went and grabbed a luggage cart. So, there I was, on the sidewalk by this hotel, in Baltimore, standing watch over my suitcase and backpack, Kait’s duffle bag and backpack, two sleeping bags, and a staff for one of Kait’s costumes. Not awkward at all. Soon enough though, a friendly guy with a luggage cart and Kait appeared. After confirming what floor (17) and room (1715) we all were staying in, we were on our way to the room.

Kait and I met up with our friend who booked the hotel—Kaitlyn aka Other Kait—in the common area of the 17th floor. She walked Kait, the luggage cart guy, and me to the room. She didn’t have a keycard so she had to knock on the door.An exchange ensued that went a little something like this:

“What’s the password?” one of our other friends asked.

“Open up, Austin, Lee and Kait are here,” Other Kait responded with a sigh.

“That works!”

The door opened to reveal the room in all of its glory. It’s small, small glory. We dumped our stuff on the floor and I thanked the luggage cart guy before he closed the door.

“Um, should I have tipped him?” I asked the room at large.

“You can, but you don’t have to,” Other Kait informed me.

“Cool. Cause he kinda left before I could do anything.” I shrugged it off.

A part of me couldn’t actually believe that I was in a hotel in Baltimore, about to go to a convention that I hadn’t been to in three years. But a larger part of me was ready for whatever fun and insanity the weekend would bring.