Ten years ago Toudi convinced me to visit Nordcon. At first I had somehow mixed feelings, yet now, after ten years I can say that I enjoy this convention very much! This year, although being a bit specific to me, was also very good and I am glad that I attended.
The Beginnings
As stated, back in 2014 I had mixed feelings at the con. I didn’t know too many of the regulars and it was my first ever relaxacon. It was not the best con I visited as I was not always able to find myself a place. Because of that I was not sure whether I should go again. Yet thanks to a few people I met I decided to give it another chance. And year later I have fallen in love with the con. Still even in 2014 I found something to love about Nordcon – the sea.
Baltic sea in winter is absolutely fantastic. It is a “must have” part of Nordcon every year and it was not different a week ago. I had two walks by the beach. The first one with my friends while the other one was a solitary one. On Thursday morning I was very, very tired and I told Seji to go without me. Yet when he was preparing I realized the sun was about to rise. I thought that it may make spectacular view on the beach so I went… Because of the weather the sunrise was nothing more than giving us a bit more of light. Still the views were magnificent even without the reddish hues in the sky.
Sunrise over the winter sea during Nordcon XXXVII.
For my second walk I went alone and I did it in the afternoon. Somehow it was the first time that I visited the northernmost point in Poland. It took me 10 years to get there and it is located less than 300 metres from the shop where I was shopping every year… Better late than never I guess.
Programme
Programme may not be the central part of Nordcons but I try to visit some items every year. This year however it was probably less than usual – or at least so it seemed to me. I did my usual thing and attended Opening and Closing ceremonies, as well as the Council of Fandom and Fandom Forum. Apart from those I managed to listen only to one talk. It treated about the changes in the RPG market in Poland after 1995. Tomasz, who made the presentation, did a splendid job. The talk was factual, fascinating, and engaging. In fact some of us stayed after the presentation to continue the conversation.
Tomasz talking about history of RPGs in Poland.
People
So what did I do when I was not listening to programme? Of course I slept. Mainly I talked with friends. (Well I did some sleeping as well). Probably you experienced the situation when the best part of the party takes place in the kitchen. Here we didn’t have the option to visit the kitchen but on one day I spent four or five hours sitting in the dining room and talking with Julian. And later on I went to the bar where, obviously, I had to talk to many other people.
In fact in the bar area I had a small celebration. Earlier this year I promised to my friends to celebrate the Śląkfa Award at Nordcon XXXVII. One should always keep ones promises so I made sure to remember about that one. It was a nice evening – even though I went to bed earlier than most (if not all) of my friends.
A trip to the seal sanctuary was quite awesome.
Surprisingly I spent one of the days outside of the convention but with Nordcon at heart. Together with a group of friends we travelled to the nearby seal sanctuary. The weather was better than in 2022 and there were also more visitors. Still the seals were as amazing as I recalled. After the visit we decided to dine in the restaurant a few hundred meters away. It may have all been not at the convention but in such company it was definitely a part of the con. The distance of 42 km means only that the con venue was geographically spread.
Traditions and New Things
There are some Nordcon traditions that I enjoy very much. One of those is the lottery (every ticket wins!). Each year I wake up earlier thank I would normally want to in order to be able to participate in it. Usually most of the things to win are not superb but the pleasure of playing recompensates it. And some of the prizes are very valuable (even if not in a monetary sense). I won some nice fannish memorabilia that are enriching my collection now. For the second time in my history I won an hour of bowling which I used with the same group of friends (Justyna, Nelek, and Seji, but this year Vinga also joined us).
The Opening Ceremony of Nordcon XXXVII.
The new thing, which was a big surprise, was a clean-up of GKF’s library. GKF is a club that runs Nordcon and they had plenty of items in their possesion. I must admit I didn’t even check the books – I went straight for the fanzines. To my surprise they had a great collection of zines coming from different countries. I became an owner of 15 issues of Mimosa but I also got samples from Shards of Babel, Concatenation, Ansible and more. On top of that I extended my collection of convention souvenir books. Most of the items were in a very good shape and they were all given away for free. One was just encouraged for a voluntary donation for the club. Now I need to find the time to read everything I obtained.
Despite not browsing through free books I ended up having one of them at home. When Tel saw “Ethan of Athos” by Lois McMaster Bujold he decided that this needs to be given a new home on my shelf. He knows me well enough to know that I like the author very much. What he didn’t know is that I like this particular novel. Now it is one of a few books that I have in both Polish and English. It is also possible that my enthusiasms and the plot summary convinced both him and Julian to read the book.
All the Nice Things
A group of fans who publish Widok z Wysokiego Zamku fanzine announced that they would be celebrating the publication of 100th issue at Nordcon XXXVII. On one evening they had a party to commemorate this feat. I was not there for a long time but it was good to take a sneak peak. Please allow me to congratulate the publishers for their achievement!
Similarly to last year Seji prepared some stickers with “Alquohol” inscription. I was sure it was a one time (and lovely) joke from 2023, but he continued it this year what made me smile. Those were not copies of the ones used last year. They were completely redesigned and they had a new poem! This time it was referring to me becoming 40 years old. From Marta I even got a bottle of home-made raspberry nalewka with the “Alquohol” branding <3.
At the closing ceremony the recipient of this year’s Krzysztof “Papier” Papierkowski award was announced. I was very happy to learn that this time the award went to Historia Vita Foundation for their work on Imladris convention.
A moment before Krzysztof ‘Papier’ Papierkowski Award was announced.
There were many things that made this Nordcon a memorable experience. For issues completely unrelated to the convention my mood was rather bad. Yet for sure Nordcon XXXVII helped me and improved my state of mind. Now I only need to wait for almost full year for the next Nordcon.
You can find more pictures in my FB gallery.
My next post will appear before the end of the year.