A month ago, “competitive programming” was a term I barely recognized—Today, I participated in the Northwestern European Regional Competition (NWERC) 2025 in Karlsruhe, Germany!
Together with another CS- and one math student, we formed team UmU (get it? we’re from Umeå University). My teammates had both qualified through the Nordic Collegiate Programming Contest (NCPC), while I was recruited in lack of a third eligible contestant, unable to decline a free holiday. Before the competition, we actually got interviewed by the university, archived here.
With the small amount of practice we managed to squeeze into the month before, we were very happy to complete 6 out of 12 problems during the competition! My teammates are much to thank for cracking some tough ones.
I am very pleased with the whole event and would like to extend my thanks to any organizers reading this for a wonderful weekend! As a nerd, it can be frightful to initiate contact with other nerds. Alas, I did have some most delightful encounters:) (Even though I must admit I fled the board games room on Saturday)
Looking very much forward to next year when I hope to actually qualify, and get further acquainted with the competitive programming community!