SPNUK – My First Convention.

I’m writing this at 7:15am June 5th, and this time last month I was getting ready to meet some of the best people I’ve ever met for breakfast. Doesn’t sound like a big deal right? Of course not, apart from the fact that come 10am, you’ll be not only meeting, but hugging Jensen Ackles while the amazing Chris takes your picture and then running off to a meet & greet with Jared Padalecki. It was a totally normal Saturday. (Spoiler alert – Jensen is as amazing and welcoming as everyone says. I can also say that The Musk is 100% real. And it’s also one of my favourite photos from the whole weekend)

But I guess I should go back to the start. May 4th. When you’ve spent almost 7 month waiting for this one weekend, you can feel a little nervous. Which explains why I was stressing before I’d even got to the train station. I had been hyping this weekend up so much that I started to panic. What if it wasn’t that great? What if it’s just a waste of money? What if the people I’m sharing a room with don’t like me? What if the people I’ve spent the last 6 months speaking to, and who I’m finally going to meet today, don’t like me? Partner that with the fact I was having to make a train journey I’d never made before, and you could say that I was a little on edge.
But I can honestly say, there is not one thing about that weekend that went wrong, or that I would change. Getting to Birmingham was actually a breeze and there was no need to panic. I met the girls who I was staying with and both Danii and Katie were amazing. I hope there are more conventions to come with those two because honestly I couldn’t have asked for better people to stay with for my first convention. Getting my tickets and a few extra’s was easy as pie. (HA pie!) And then it was just a matter of waiting. Waiting for it to actually begin.
Every day of the convention starts with a Welcome from Rich and Rob, and by the time for the Friday Welcome, I was buzzing. And then I was on my way to meet the bunch of girls I’d been chatting to for the last however many months. The girls who I spoke to almost every day, who made me laugh, made me feel welcomed and excitedly counted down the days to this very weekend with me. I was nervous. I always have been meeting new people, the social anxiety just goes through the roof and I would rather be hiding in a corner somewhere. And that’s kind of how I felt. But the minute I saw them, it was gone. No anxiety, no stress, just happy. And I’m pleased to say it stayed like that for the rest of the weekend.
Meeting online friends, I think, can always be a bit tricky. But this wasn’t. These were the girls I’d spoken to almost everyday for months. So there were plenty of huge hugs and big smiles from everyone. We still chat, albeit, it isn’t daily but we check in, get excited about new episodes together and complain about how long we’ve got to wait until the next con! I can honestly say had I not met these girls, I don’t think my weekend would have been half as good! We were a support system to each other, we calmed each others nerves before photos and meet & greets, we ate together, encouraged each other to buy more photo’s that we couldn’t really afford. I can think of no better group of people I would rather have experienced this weekend with.

So we had panels, we had photos, meet & greets, autographs, karaoke and a concert. You really don’t get a much better weekend than that. I will be doing some posts that go more in depth about things like panels and photos, because I have too many words to say about them, but if you’re thinking about doing a Con, whether it’s a last minute one this year, or you’re planning in advance for next year, just do it. Seriously. I had the time of my life and you will too. It’s hard to explain what it is that’s so magical about the weekend, it’s truly something I think you have to experience for yourself!
It’s the people, it’s the actors, it’s Chris, it’s the vendors and the volunteers. It truly is everything. For one weekend you live in this little bubble, surrounded by the most amazing, and accepting people I’ve ever met. I harp on and on about it, but it’s like finding home.
You may not know, or you might considering how much I go on about it. But I’ll be doing VanCon in October and while I am still a little blue about the fact that SPNUK was a whole month ago, I’m very excited that in less to 135 days, I’ll be in Vancouver getting ready for the next Con on my list. So keep your eyes peeled for posts all about planning a Con, photo-ops, meet & greets, as well as keeping you up to date with all my planning for VanCon!
Did you go to SPNUK? Are you planning on going to VanCon? Or are you planning a trip to one next year? Let me know in the comments below!