You may ask yourself whether IB students have time for stuff not necessarily connected with schoolwork. The answer is as obvious as the fact that Clark Kent in glasses is still Superman – of course we do! The comparison was not random – I would like to tell you about a fantasy convention held in Poznan called Pyrkon, which I attended together with 5 friends, who are IB students as well.

The convention took place from 8th to 10th April. We decided to go there by train, as Poznan International Fair is not far from the railway station. We arrived later than we thought we would and the very first queue of the convention struck us with its length. Luckily, we booked accreditations long before the event, therefore we could stand in the shorter line and wait patiently for the guards to let us in and allow us to leave our stuff in the sleeping hall. Yes, we did sleep there - however, it regrettably was an unforgettable experience due to packed toilets and showers, clapping at 5 am and the smell.

As Pyrkon is considered to be a fantasy convention, there were lots of various attractions for fans of every possible kind of fiction. So you say you like Star Wars? There are countless lectures about both Movie and Expanded Universe. Polish Fleet of Mandalorians is waiting for you in the exhibition area together with two exhibitions of Star Wars starships. Oh, maybe you prefer playing board or card games? Not only can you buy them, you can also play any of them all night long in a spacious games room and leave people wondering “It’s 7 am… Are they still playing or have they just begun?”. Together, we attended about 20 different lectures, including Mental problems of Marvel’s characters, How to create an universe in a week, Cosplay in Europe and Polish Legends (a project focused on adjusting polish legends to futuristic standards led by allegro.pl and famous polish writers, such as Rafał Kosik and Jacek Dukaj) and played 7 different board and card games. However, one of the best parts of the convention was Maskarada – quite possibly the biggest cosplay contest in Poland. Cosplay is about dressing up as fictional characters and Maskarada gathers the best polish crafters – it was really hard to get in. Not as hard as watching Iron Man and Captain America fight in the Civil War, but equally horrible. Nevertheless, we managed to see many adaptations of well-known characters, such as Rey and Kylo Ren (Star Wars), humanised Aurelion Sol (League of Legends), Wonder Woman and Batman (DC Comics) or Lady Deadpool (Marvel Comics). Maskarada was led by a famous polish writer – Jakub Ćwiek, who tried hard to make the audience laugh at his lame jokes. However, we not only admired and took pictures of those marvelous costumes; we also prepared some by ourselves. In the end, my group consisted of Frisk from Undertale, a Neoshadow from Kingdom Hearts, 11th Doctor from Doctor Who and “Shame Nun” from Game of Thrones. Our efforts paid off; many people praised our costumes and even took pictures.

Overall, it was a pleasant distraction before the matura examination, which begins in May. We were able to recharge our batteries even though we slept for like 7 hours throughout the whole weekend – it was really nice to learn new things, spend money on cool stuff, meet new people and generally – have a good time. I recommend Pyrkon to everyone – not only fiction but also literature, science and popculture lovers. Everyone will find something interesting for themselves; after all, it’s neither sadness nor boredom that makes us clap at 5 am.