Seminar Swag

Our winter seminar is finally over. Similar in style to our first one in September, this time we traveled between Dresden, Warsaw, and back to Berlin for two packed weeks of meetings with other interesting events tucked in along the way. Also like the first seminar, I brought back not only some valuable insights from our meetings. I also brought back a hefty bag o’ swag* to commemorate our travels.

This pile of stuff is just a glimpse of the memorable items I’ve received after two two seminars. From the first seminar there’s a nice CD with classical music and a picture book from Stuttgart and a pocket-size copy of the Grundgesetz (or the Basic Law, Germany’s constitution) from the supreme court in Karlsruhe. From this seminar, SolarWorld outside of Dresden gave us a ball cap, bumper sticker, and even a real solarcell. The green dragon keychain hails from the Saxon State Criminal Office, the Bundesrat (the upper house of parliament) provided us with Bundesrat-shaped cookies, and the CDU gave us a small organizer that they distributed to their volunteers during the election campaign. Our days at the Bundestag yielded a blue canvas shopping bag stuffed with commemorative gear, including several history books about the Bundestag. (I’m a nerd so I’ll probably read them.) You can also see our growing collection of buttons and pins, including Germany’s most famous mouse and the popular Green Party campaign button against nuclear energy.

Other final thoughts on the trip:

1) Dresden was surprisingly beautiful. Like much of the former East, it’s certainly in a rebuilding transition mode (with the help of taxes from the less thrilled western German states) but the progress is really remarkable. Like Rick Steves, I predict another few years and Dresden and the rest of Saxony will be a serious destination for American tourists who until now have overlooked it.

2) If you ever find yourself in Dresden sitting in a fairy tale castle vineyard being served a lavish feast by a German prince, just remember that it may not end happily ever after. It didn’t for the twelve or so fellows that got violently ill afterwards.

3) Warsaw was also a pleasant surprise, having rebuilt 90 percent of the city since it was destroyed in World War II. I would only suggest that you wait to visit in the summer and not the heart of winter. An Old Town walking tour in -15ºC (5ºF) was slightly too cold for my Texas-bred comfort.

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* Is it “swag” or “schwag”? In case you’re curious, I looked it up and both are probably right since there doesn’t seem to be any clear etymology. As Michael Scott on The Office claims, swag is just a slang acronym for “Stuff We All Get.” It might also be related to a Scandinavian source suggesting “bulky bag” of perhaps treasures and loot or “to move heavily or unsteadily.” There’s also an Australian connection with the word relating to a “a traveler's bundle containing personal belongings, cooking utensils, food, etc.” In all senses of this word, it perfectly describes my experience collecting materials on these seminars.