Maybe I Should Get an Agent

Last Tuesday, I had to participate in a Scavenger Hunt around Berlin with two of my other classmates. The purpose was for us to feel comfortable with transportation, be able to find our way around the city, and be able to explore on our own. One of our tasks was to visit the "best Doner stand" in Berlin. It was quite the trek getting there, but once we arrived we noticed that there was a camera crew filming the stand. Cameron chatted them up asking them what kind of food they had, and once we had finally gotten our Doner (It was AMAZING by the way) we noticed the film crew filming us taking the first bites into our food.

A couple of minutes later they asked us to crowd together so they could do a quick interview with us. We happily obliged and told them where we were from, how long we waited, and why we would choose to wait in line for a Doner when we could be experiencing the rest of Berlin. "This is Berlin!" I exclaimed. They told us that the segment would air on RTL N-Extra after 10 p.m. on Monday night.

Meanwhile....on Thursday

(This part can get confusing if you don't know what E-Sports is, so bear with me.)

I play a game called League of Legends. It's what is called a MOBA (Massive Online Battlefiend Arena) and basically it's 5 people on one side fighting with 5 people on another side using champions to kill the others and ultimately destroy the other teams base.

Games like League have been around for awhile now, and the professional scene in these games has also been around for about 5 years. Games like Dota, Halo and Starcraft have been holding tournaments with prize pool money allowing players to become professional athletes in their game. League of Legends has been no exception. Once a year a "Worlds" is held, with the best teams from all around the world coming to compete against one another for a $1,000,000 prize pool. It's basically like the Olympics, but it happens every year. To determine what teams will make it to Worlds, there are games that are played weekly. In the NA (North America) and EU (European) regions these are called the LCS. So each week all 10 teams from there respective regions battle it out against one another and at the end of each split (these are like seasons in baseball or football) the top two teams go to Worlds.

Anyway! You can actually attend the LCS and watch the games in the Live Studio setting. The NA LCS is held in Los Angeles, and I have never been able to attend. On a whim I decided to look up where the EU LCS is held since, hey I'm in the EU, maybe it's close. Imagine my surprise when I learn the EU LCS is held right here in Berlin. I bought tickets for the next day immediately and could not wait to attend.

I made my way all the way out to Adlershof where the studio is and had the time of my life. Not only did I get to meet one of the teams (with the cutest players I might add) I was also able to meet two of the casters! One of them was by complete happenstance as I nearly literally ran into her on my way back to my seat. The other, a player turned caster that I've been a fan of since I started playing three years ago, was doing a fan meet and greet so it wasn't quite as lucky. Meeting the players would have been enough, but I actually won a game that I volunteered for in between games and won a card signed by all of the casters there. Again. I would have been totally fulfilled by this experience.

But it gets better. See, these games are live streamed on Twitch and Youtube so people who can't go to the studio can still watch the games. They will often show clips of the live studio audience reacting to big plays and exciting kills that happen in the game. I was part of the audience. Not only did I get on stream once... but twice. ( First Stream and Second Stream )

Fast Forward to today Monday....

We've waited nearly a week to see if our interview would make it on RTL or if they would cut us silly Americans out of there programming. They told us the wrong time that it would be airing but listening to German television was entertaining enough so I kept the T.V. on for a bit. I noticed they began doing segments on food trucks and local restaurants. This must be the part! I anxiously stood in front of the T.V. my phone at the ready, waiting to record the segment in case we made it.
The Mustafa Kebaps was the last segment to air. I had taken a short break from the standing and was sitting on my bed when I recognized the long line that was being shown. I jumped up and ran over to the T.V. phone at the ready! The segment began. A couple seconds in, OH! THERE'S ME! Oh gosh. I look so stupid.

They began doing interviews of people. Unfortunately, our interview didn't seem to be the material they needed and the three of us squished together didn't make it.

But wait. The last shot of the segment. It's a close-up of me again! And... I'm pulling bits of Doner and hair out of my mouth. Well. It could have been better but hey! I made it, twice! ( Clip )

So, I've been in Berlin for one week and one day and have already made four appearances on media here. Maybe I should get an agent.