I had been invited by Mozilla for the Mozilla Summit 2013 at Santa Clara, CA. My happiness knew no bounds at the sight of the invitation e-mail in my inbox...and who knew that there was a lot more in store for me at the Summit...! :)

It was my first international travel and I would like to thank Mozilla for making it a memorable one. After a total travel time of about 18 hours during which I met lots of other Mozillians heading for the same venue, I reached San Francisco. At the airport, there were people waiting for us already, holding signs of Mozilla Summit 2013, smiling warmly, as I, along with other Mozillians, walked towards them. There was also a Summit Site Host in a blue Mozilla hoodie there to welcome us. He greeted us and informed us that the shuttle to the Hotel will be arriving shortly. In no time, we found ourselves heading for the Hotel in the shuttle.


The first sight of the Hotel made us all Mozillians gasp in surprise and awe. It was the Santa Clara Marriot, a luxurious hotel in Santa Clara which was venue for the Summit. We all made our way out of the shuttle, to arrive at the Hotel Reception, where people greeted us warmly. We, then checked in at the hotel reception and collected the keys to our respective hotel rooms. The key was indeed a herald of something awesome ! :)



We all then collected the awesome Summit Welcome Pack. Very much impressed and happy by the welcome pack swag, we headed for our rooms to rest.


The day 0 included some exploration of the hotel, meeting some awesome Mozillians whom I had I talked to on the IRC, but never seen their faces. It was like I knew a lot about those people, having chatted with them often, only exception being, had never seen their faces :P The Summit facilitated me to tag faces to the many IRC nicks, whom I used to chat with.


The excitement in the air during the Summit was at its peak. Every one was radiating enthusiasm, participating and being a part of the Summit. There was the World Fair on Day 1, where Mozilla Communities from different countries had exhibited themselves in stalls, showcasing their cultural diversities. Visiting the stalls from the different countries, interacting with the presenters, made me realize the extent to which Mozilla had reached out to the World.

All the 3 days included sessions from the technical stalwarts at Mozilla, which were in themselves knowledge enriching experiences. The demos showed at these sessions made me and all the Mozillian audience there, wonder in surprise at the technical advances Mozilla had made in these years.

I had known about only some of Mozilla's work in the world of open source (it was like I had only known the tip of an ice-berg), but the Summit made me have a clear perception of Mozilla's work, vision and also the cultural values that Mozilla nurtures. I met and interacted with many Mozillians from all over the world, each having made diverse sets of contributions to the Mozilla project. I feel great pride in saying, "I am a Mozillian !", having seen Mozilla's efforts to keep the Open Web free and safe. The luxurious hotel rooms, the grand Firefox OS Dinner Party, the Karaoke night , the DJ after the Dinner at the Closing simply added to the fun at the Summit. I also got an opportunity to take a snap with Firefox ! :)


The Summit has also encouraged and inspired me to contribute to Mozilla projects with a fresh zeal and vigor. It was indeed a great fun-filled learning experience for me! I, thus conclude this post with the famous Mozillian quote "KEEP ROCKING THE FREE WEB !".