Before I came to the house I had a picture of how it would be. That picture changed a lot. I expected a smaller and dirtier place haha. I also expected to be home sick. We only booked the trip there so that I could choose how long to stay after I got there. I turned out to stay as long as I could at that point. And I wasn’t home sick at all. I’m the kind of person who likes to be alone but I had my own room and it kinda felt like home so it was all good!
I made a post introducing the house two days ago, it can be found here:
http://maddelisk.blogspot.se/2013/07/the-millenium-house.html. If you have any questions feel free to ask them and I'll try to answer!
A typical day at the house
On a typical day I woke up around 9, made breakfast (usually toast and some eggs, ham and cheese) and relaxed a little bit. Then it was time to play. I played A LOT when I was in the house. Usually 30-50 games per day, depending on if we had clan wars or something else. I laddered a lot but we also played some together, we watched games together and talked about them. During clan wars and important matches we were supporting and helping each other. I talked a lot with Diestar and Dayshi about the game and especially zvt. Too bad Goswser came to the house at my last day there. I would have loved to talk more to him. Out of the SC2 players me and Diestar played the most (ForGG wasn’t there, or I’m sure he would have been on that list too!). Adel played a lot too, but not only SC2 so it doesn’t count :D
Anyway, usually we went to the store to buy nutella and other stuff almost every day. We went out to eat maybe every second day, usually a few of us together. The other days we made food ourselves or heated up some ready-cooked food. Sometimes people working in the house made food for us. If I got to change one thing about the house I’d want someone to make food every day!
We had a person who bought food for us and we had the chance to tell if we wanted something special so it was still pretty good. The kitchen was big and everything needed to make a nice meal was there. We were just a bit too lazy and I wanted to spend more time on playing. We also had the roof where we had bbq a few times. I knew French people loved baguettes but they really do eat it with everything! And a lot of it! Some days the kitchen was a mess tho, we had a cleaning lady but she was not there every day. Luckily I had the nutella!
Usually I stopped playing around 10-11 pm. Almost every night some people in the house went out to party. I joined one time but I didn’t really like it. I stayed in a lot but we had a lot of fun in the house too. We drank wine and talked or played dancing games or watched streams. Wow the dancing games were pretty crazy. Some recordings were made, I’ll see if I can get hold of it! I usually don’t drink a lot of alcohol. I actually didn’t drink any alcohol this year before my trip to France :D
Workout
When I came to the house the workout part went well. We even went for a run which is something I don’t do too often. Our video maker made a video about a training session, if you didn’t see it already you can find it here
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11gm1t_entrainement-intensif-chez-millenium_videogames#.UfAZ543Iatb. We ran quite far and the funny thing is that me and Spit (an employee of Millenium) made it back about half an hour before the others. They decided to start walking instead of running… guys…
But already after a few days I started slacking. It’s so easy to just keep playing and forget about everything else :)
Nutella
So how much nutella did I actually eat during the stay in the house? It was about 4 kg (that is about 0.2 kg per day). People keep asking why I prefer the small jars when the big ones are more cost efficient. The answer is simple. Who wants a dirty spoon? Actually they didn’t have any long spoons in the house so eating the last of the one big jar I bought was a mess!
I wasn't the only one in the house eating nutella. If you count a spoon a day as eating that is. One of the LoL guys even had his own jar! And I fed Diestar and Dayshi some :)
PXL Lan
I came to the house right after a conference in Paris, that is I didn’t play for a week. The day after I arrived we went to a lan event to play. Honestly the timing was really bad BUT I think playing at offline evets is really important to me. I need the experience to get rid of my nervousness. Anyways, it was a nice road trip and we had a nice time. I wish I did better tho, but that is the way I always feel :)
BOB
Bob needs his own section. Some of you might have seen the video I uploaded from one of the nights Bob was streaming. If not you can find it here
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151432520436841&set=vb.248149008586666&type=2&theater. If you don't speak french you might not know who Bob is but he is a famous streamer on Millenium TV. Bob is a bit loud to say the least. He is a really nice guy tho but sometimes the yelling is a bit annoying. He was working from the player area, just below where we were sleeping. But a few days after I came to the house he was moved to his own room! And after that we barely heard him. Funny thing tho; one night when he was streaming really late and with the window open Dayshi woke up. Not because he heard Bob but because he heard people outside yelling at Bob to shut up. Poor them :D
Being a girl in a gaming house
To be honest there is not a big difference between being a girl and a guy in a gaming house. It's all about playing anyway and we spend most of the time in front of the computers practicing.
Due to the cultural differences I felt like a princess tho. With the guys carrying my bags, opening doors etc. Like really, in France it was impossible to hold a door for a guy. They just refuse to walk before you anyway.
However I think as a girl you get a bit more attention and people might act a bit more… sweet. I don’t think Diestar braided any of the guys hair for example but what do I know?
Some people also seemed to be scared of me. Not sure if it was because I am a girl or because of my muscles, maybe a combination. I do hate smoke and to prevent the smoke from entering the house I put up a note on the door to the roof telling people to close it while smoking. And sometimes someone forgot and I obviously got crazy mad and they scared as little girls.
I wasn’t the only girl in a house, which was nice. A few others were there working with the webpage and marketing or visiting their boyfriends.
What else?
The Millenium house is different from many other team houses since there are so many people working there too. To me that was a really good thing. It makes communication easier and there are always people around you that can help if you have any issues, want to make a video, want some graphics, new t-shirts, ye basically anything.
When I played from the house I used two monitors but had some issues with one of them and right the second I told them they came with a brand new one. Or when I tried Diestars mouse mat and fell in love with it I asked to get one of my own and they made it happen right away. It was the Corsair MM600. And since I’m not obligated to use sponsor gear you can trust me on this one, it’s really good!
Like I stated earlier I stayed in a lot but we were out a few times. Taking walks, running, eating at nice places... But I came there to play, and that’s what I did.
I'd say Millenium is like a family. And I'm really happy to be a part of it. I wish I knew french tho, I'll try to learn some!
And last but not least I want to thank Millenium for giving me the opportunity to practice from the house. I hope I can come back soon! And thanks to everyone in the house for making my stay such a pleasure!
