Learn French: C'est ce à quoi s'attend le fan de science-fiction à la convention. - That is what the science fiction fan expects at the convention.

The verb here is s'attendre à (to expect). Because the verb requires the preposition à, you cannot use ce que. Instead, you must combine ce (that) with à quoi (to which), literally meaning "that to which."

I learned that attendre means "to wait." Why is it translated as "expects"?

While attendre means "to wait for," adding the reflexive pronoun and the preposition à changes the meaning entirely. S'attendre à means "to expect" something to happen.

Why is the subject (le fan de science-fiction) placed after the verb (s'attend)?

This is a common French structure called stylistic inversion. In relative clauses (like those starting with ce que or ce à quoi), if the subject is a noun rather than a pronoun, French speakers often put the verb before the subject to make the sentence flow better.

Would it be wrong to use normal word order and say ...ce à quoi le fan s'attend?

Not at all! You can absolutely say C'est ce à quoi le fan de science-fiction s'attend. Both versions are correct, but flipping the verb and a long noun subject makes the rhythm smoother, which is why it is often preferred.