I wanted to visit Opolcon for years. Yet every time something was standing in my way. More than once it was a concurrent convention in another place. This year the situation was similar but I decided that I need to finally attend Opolcon.
The Reason & The Place
There are a few reasons why I wanted to visit that convention. I heard a lot of good things about it from my friends. I was also very curious about what it looks like. For some years I was reading about Opolcon and I was able to see it growing. Sadly I never had the chance to see it, and this was something I wanted to change.
I was impressed by seeing Opolcon’s poster officially placed at the local train station.
The convention was not held in a single venue. It was spread between three schools located within a few minutes distance from each other. In fact two of them were just across the street from each other – around 50 metres door to door. And here I must admit to something – despite the proximity of the buildings I have visited only one of them. Taking them into consideration, I am not sure whether I am entitled to review Opolcon 2025. I have only seen a very small part of the con. One may argue that this is usually the case as (so far) we haven’t mastered the bilocation skills. (I am not even mentioning pentalocation or more…).
Please keep my above remarks in mind and treat my report with a large grain of salt. I will try to avoid general statements, and concentrate on details I have seen, yet I won’t be able to skip all of my general impressions.
Late Start
The convention started rather late for me. I didn’t take the day off, so together with Seji we arrived in Opole on Friday evening. After visiting our accommodation and leaving suitcases, we headed to meet with Seji’s non fannish friend at a dinner. Later we went to the con to register but it was already too late and we saw the registration being closed. The programme for Friday also finished so we were not too disappointed. Yet it was not the end of the day. We met with some friends from the con and headed towards the evening integration in the nearby pub.
The first programme I tem I attended. It concentrated mainly on the autumnal food in Japan.
The next day we started early, as I wanted to attend the first programme item (a talk about Japanese autumn). We went to a nearby bakery for the breakfast. They took me by surprise and I didn’t manage to eat everything that was on my plate. It was delicious, but gosh the portion was way too big!
After breakfast I had a whole day of programming. Maybe not whole but almost whole. Saturday was a bit similar to my breakfast – very good, but way too many things to see everything. And so I had to choose which of the programme items to attend, and which to skip. I also had to plan some time for socializing with friends and for lunch. Decisions were tough but I can say that most of the items I visited were good. Some were even hilarious. Of course there were a few that were not so amazing, but generally I was satisfied. From others I have heard that not all the items were as interesting, but I was lucky that I didn’t select anything bad.
One of the bestst items I saw. Łukasz gave us a talk about writing an indie RPG in a single evening.
Socializing
This is a bit of a tricky topic. Probably most of my readers know already that I am not the person who stays late into the night. There are exceptions but they are not common. Opolcon was rather “my standard”. On both evenings I attended social gatherings (both with almost the same set of people), and on both I left earlier than the others. I truly regret that I require so much sleep. It would be great should I be able to go on with just four or five hours of sleep….
I didn’t take a single picture during social gatherings. Instead I am showing crowds around the dealers’ booths.
On Saturday I also spent a few hours chatting during the day. I used it to meet a friend known so far only online and also to talk to some of my long time friends. I didn’t manage to meet too many people but at least all the chats I had were rather long and meaningful.
On Sunday I didn’t have too much time and I decided to skip the programme. Instead I used the opportunity for a few last talks and then I had to head home by train.
A talk called “Artificial intelligence, real stupidity.”
Interesting Escapade
Once the con finished I had a bit of mixed feelings. I was not sure to what extent the atmosphere suited me. Now – when some time has passed, I am way more positive about my experience. I am looking back at the programme I visited and at many items I had to skip. They all look interesting. I think that I would like to come back, and see more of Opolcon.
You can find more pictures in my FB gallery.
My next post should appear around middle of November.