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9th June 2011
My friends and I arrived at St Pancras in the morning at 11 by eurostar. The first thing we did was sort the transportation out and find the location of our hotel. We stayed at Aida Opera Hotel, which was quite close to the metro station situated right in between the centre of Paris and Le Zenith. After waiting for another friend to arrive (he was flying over) we set out to collect our packages because we were afraid of collecting them on the 10th, as “according to Le Zenith light sticks are banned and you get searched”. So off we went to Etap Hotel to collect our ssf packages. After collecting them we decided to walk over to Le Zenith to catch a glimpse of the arena and see what it was like. We walked along the back of La Zenith where the canal was located and as we approached we heard Shinee doing soundcheck. I think they were practising replay or Hello hello. Either way we kept walking until we reached the back gates of Zenith. There were at least 20-30 fans there waiting, many of them were Elves. When we approached the gates was still opened as many artists was arriving. Taeyeon, Sunny and Yoona arrived and it was bizarre and totally unexpected. Sunny and Yoona just smiled at us and Taeyeon actually turned back and waved at us before walking in. My heart nearly stopped at the sight, so bizarre and dreamlike. A fleeting moment which felt like everything you did was worth it, just for that mere few seconds. Next to arrive were f(x) Luna I think, I didn’t see krystal, Sulli, Amber or Victoria arrive with her. Then Super junior arrived with Victoria, and I think it was Lee Teuk, Eunhyuk and Ryeowook. Victoria and LeeTeuk actually waved at us. And as we can all imagine Suju arriving drived the Elves crazy, too many blistering screams everywhere lol. They closed Le Zeniths Back gate shortly after and I happened to see MBC interviewing people, so off I went holding ssf’s foam heart hoping to get interviewed, but when I got there they left. The group of us then decided to camp outside the road and wait for them to leave. There’s a steep ramp which leads from La Zenith to the main road outside. We saw SNSD leave Taeyeon in particular was eating something while waving at us lol, she looked so cute doing that, reminds me of what Yuri said about Taeyeon being an Ajuuma. "She stuffs snacks in her bag to satisfy her hunger after Paris". Sooyoung, Yoona, Yuri and Jessica also waved at us when they left. There was no sight of Tiffany though. We waited at the top of the main road. When SNSD got ready to leave after soundcheck, the group of us stood right on top of the ramp's entrance which connects to the main road to wait for SNSD. All of us were holding ssf foam hearts and we waved like crazy at them. A black van came by first and we couldn’t see inside but we saw 2 Iphones glowing (SMTown App) waving at us. It must have been Yuri and Hyoyeon. Then the car that was following had clear windows and we saw Taeyeon, Yoona and Sunny again. Sunny had the warmest smile ever on her face and Yoona waved at us smiling. But my friend, she shouted Taeyeon louder than all of us and Taeyeon turned around and pointed at her cap. My friend and I was wearing Taeyeon’s spao cap. We walked further up the main road as we had a better view of La Zenith and can see when SNSD were leaving. I saw someone shout Tiffany. I looked and saw a car coming up the ramp. Without a second thought I ran like crazy as if my life depended on it to the ramp’s entrance. I managed to reach Tiffany’s car just before it got ready to turn onto the main road. I waved like crazy and I imagined that she must have seen me one way or the other. Seohyun left an alternate way( bet it was the manager seeing there were too many of us ).
10th June
This was the big day, hardly slept much the night before as we were super excited and worried. Worried because there was 200 fans camping outside La Zenith. We left the hotel at about 11ish to try and get a decent spot in the queue. Luckily when we arrived we could see less than 200 people, and most of them were for soundcheck which was relieving. It was quite comfortable at first because it was sunny and we could sit down and relax. A few hours later it was literally pissing down and we had to stand huddled under a umbrella. We also went to buy the official merchandise. The prices were really expensive, 6 euros for a fan, 10 for a poster and 15 for some photos….expensive but fans still buy it anyway. The organisation for the whole concert was bad, people who brought sound checks only had 30 mins instead of the intended original 2 hours, which started at 3:00 pm. All the other fans had to keep waiting in the rain till EXACTLY 6pm before they opened the gates. The security guards didn’t even look at our tickets properly and they didn’t scan the barcode as well. I was seriously thinking if someone just printed out 2 tickets they could have used both to get in. Management was poor, and there was no shelter or anything for the fans. Which meant we were cold, tired and thirsty when we walked into the arena. The concert was meant to start at 7pm and I think they didn’t start until 7:10 or 7:15 pm. I was in the pit on the left which was not good, because my feet were already killing from standing 6-8 hours to wait earlier and now I had another 3-4 hours to go. However I was quite close to the main stage and had an excellent view as I was in the 3rd or 4 th row from the front. It was obvious that the concert was centered mainly around Suju and Shinee for they had more performance time and gave more fan service to the fans e.g. Siwon ripping his shirt of and showing his toned body. In certain aspects SNSD didn’t performed as well as I had hoped, it just felt like something was lacking, but I still enjoyed their performance immensely. Sooyoung gave the best fanservice that night, she frequently came over to our side and kept blowing kisses and waving at us, included doing a Saranhae sign. Surely overkill to any Sone lol.Hyoyeon actually got a lot of cheers, more so than Yoona and I am actually happy for Hyoyeon as she usually gets the least cheers within SNSD. And you can tell Hyoyeon was happy that night. The cheering for SNSD was quite disappointing especially from the left pit. There were so little cheering and no pink ocean or foam hearts. Only a few of us from the first few rows actually cheered for them like we meant it. It was sad really and I was extremely disappointed because Suju and Shinee …and even F(x) got more cheers. I wonder if it was the cheering that affected their performance or their accumulated fatigue from the Japanese concert. At the ending of the concert I was waiting for Taeyeon to throw her towel to our side…..but she somehow just walked to the right pit and dropped it there without even looking. I died inside when I saw it. I also tried throwing the ssf foam heart at Taeyeon, but I was afraid I’ll throw too hard and it’ll hit her. Yeah I know what you guys are thinking “ It’s a foam heart so even if it hits her it won’t hurt”. But I thought if I hit her it would be rude, and I was aiming at the floor in front of her feet so I threw lamely and it hit the edge of the stage and bounced back down onto the floor...*facepalm*. Overall the concert was good but lacking in some certain ways which I can’t specify.
11th June
Originally I hadn’t planned on going to the 2nd concert but it all started at the metro on the way to Disneyland Paris. On the metro I got bumped into by this guy which pick pocketed me…I lost 200 euros literally. I lost the mood to go so I went back to the hotel to call my bank and get things sorted etc etc. That was when one of my friends got a call from another friend that they saw SNSD’s at their hotel. So we flagged a taxi and sped towards the hotel. (Not revealing where they’re staying) We waited for them at the Hotel entrance because we weren’t allowed in the lobby area. I saw Taeyeon returning to the hotel with her managers. She was carrying some cereal and milk I think. She looked so…forlorn and depressed. I didn’t have the heart to take any photos of her nor ask her for an autograph. She kept her head stooped the whole way looking at the floor. My heart literally broke when I saw her like this. We saw Yoona, Seohyun, Hyoyen , Sunny and Sooyoung next. Again we didn’t take any photos because we wanted to leave them a good impression. I couldn’t resist and blurted out Sooyoung. She turned around and gave me a smile……so Happy and ever since the first concert Sooyoung has been my second favourite. Jessica arrived with her mum and she was in a hurry because she was running the last few steps to the hotel entrance. Jessica is one of the nicest people which beats me as to how the nickname Ice princess began. We also happened to saw Shinee as well. The left through the hotel’s backdoor and I spotted one of their managers in the lobby. Guess she must have been a lookout. After they left I went to La Zenith again to try and get a ticket to watch the concert a second time. I managed to get a Cat 1 seat which was quite good and I had a pretty good view, although I couldn't see the artists up close because its quite a distance away from the stage. The second concert was 10 times better in my opinion. SNSD gave a much better performance and much more fan service to the fans. There were a lot more cheering for them too. I shouted so much that my voice broke. It’s still quite hoarse now lol. Taeyeon looked so much better than earlier and it made me happy. All of them attempted to give fan service, and Sooyoung was brilliant again as always. Yuri waved a lot and did her heart sign during Oh. At the end of the concert someone from ssf managed to give their foam hearts to Tiffany and Yuri. I felt so proud to be a sone and part of soshified, especially seeing it on the big screen. Hyoyeon kept waving the foam heart… and man I just keeping finding reasons to love her more and more. Jessica and Tiffany both held the foam hearts and waved to the left pit in particular(where the ssf sones were). At the end everyone in the arena were shouting Saranghae and it made them tear up a little. They must have truly appreciated the support we gave them. All in all I’m glad I went to the 2nd concert and me loosing 200 euros must have been a sign for me to see them again.
12th June
The last day Paris, and our original plan was to go touring around Paris. We were about 5 mins from the Eiffel Tower when Nichole called and said SNSD are eating at XXXXX restaurant. So we took a taxi again to the restaurant. We sound like stalkers right lol? Don’t worry we’re not that creepy and I hope we didn’t give of that vibe. We arrived at the restaurant but I didn’t go in because I was afraid that the managers would kick us out or we would be disturbing them. The feeling of being so close but yet so far….arrrr that feeling was so unbearable. When they left I went round the other side to see them. All of SNSD was there apart from Jessica. Yuri was there but somehow I didn't see her? They all waved at us *Dies* and Tiffany in particular said “Thank you so much guys for the support”. We kept our distance and they boarded onto a black Mercedes van. The door was however still opened. Sooyoung was applying lipstick on, I shouted Sooyoung and waved and despite occupied she still looked back at me, smiled and waved back. Yuri also smiled and said anyohaseyo to us. We asked the manager whether it was possible for him to pass some objects to SNSD so they could sign it for us. He refused and said no straight away although he didn’t ask us to leave because we were behaving really well. Again no photos. Before the door to the fan closed Tiffany apologised to is “so sorry we can’t sign for you” Hearing that made me feel so much better and Tiffany must have felt really bad because she couldn’t sign. Looking at her past fancams she always gives autographs when she’s alone. We had to leave shortly after to catch out Eurostar, as we left we passed by maknae’s car which the car door was still opened. She was busy writing something, we all said bye to her, and she looked up and waved at us. So all in all I saw SNSD 4 days in a row, I didn’t receive any autograph, but at least I got to see them so many times. These memories I will forever hold dear and cherish. I had a great sense of fulfilment just from seeing them. After reaching Paris Du Nord we received a text from Nichole....she got an autograph from Jessica and even a photo with her. Makes me wonder if we would be so lucky if we had stayed for another day lol...o well I need to appreciate the fact I've seen them already and stop with the wishful thinking lol
This is the only photo I took of the girls after the concert, outside their hotel. As you can see Taengoo looks really sad here
Photo of Luna arriving, her blonder hair is quite distinguishable
The girls leaving after soundcheck, wished I had a DSLR now so I can have more zoom
Taeyeon, Sooyoung and the others waving at us when they were leaving
I wonder what Taengoo's eating
