Re:Live Like Seventeen

This week, I have been pondering on the thought that there is only a few months left before I graduate, and after that I would be searching for a job - and I would be sustaining my own and will repaying my parents in the process. The process made me reminisce the time I went to my first ever fanmeet in Manila. A fanmeet is just like a concert however it differs from the number of fans and there are interactions with the fans and other activities, if I am not mistaken

August 14, 2016 - K-pop group Seventeen will be holding their first ever fanmeet in Manila at the Theatre, Solaire. There were exactly nine months before the said date, and I have saved some amount beforehand, and I was still oblivious to the possibilities they would be visiting back then.

I had the guts to go because my friends and fellow fans were going, and at the back of my head, I thought said that I need something new in my life and I need to learn to travel on my own.

It was the first semester of my third year enrollment, I bought my plane tickets - yes, I bought my plane tickets before the actual concert tickets, not putting into consideration what would happen in the months in between; I still bought my round-trip tickets.

It was ticket selling month and I was only aiming for a General Admission ticket which costed around 3,000 pesos back then, my friend would buy mine for me but unfortunately, as ticket sales opened by 12 noon, tickets sold like hot cakes, by a single click, all GA tickets were sold out. My friend broke down the news to me, and it broke my heart because I have been waiting for months to only get heart broken? I cried in my room. However, a phone call made all the difference, fortunately, my friend is also friends with a fellow fan from Tacloban and has a credit card, so we purchased our ticket using her card and we would just pay her personally. The 3,000 GA ticket quickly evolved into a 5,000 VIP seating ticket - it was a burden and a blessing at the same time.

The biggest challenge in my life was about to come - telling my parents why and how? Breaking it to my mom, was kind of easy because I was already giving hints months before but my father? You would need a hundred page essay, find the lost city of Atlantis, measure the depth of Dora's backpack, and the unsheathe the sword of Arthur to make him say yes, he is that stern. So here is what I did: 1) I said the ticket was only 500 pesos 2) I already bought and booked everything 3) it would be put up on a journal article for school. Saying these shenanigans, they said yes with blank expressions, but I was the happiest during that time.

Months went by, by August 12, I was able to bag the award for being the Most Promising Feature Writer by the Philippine Information Agency, knowing the good news, this boosted the morale of my parents allowing me to go because I am not slacking off with my studies and my interests.

This experience was plenty of firsts for me, the first of them is my experience from my boarding house to Iloilo International Airport to Manila.

There I learned that there is no direct transportation from the city to the airport, so I took a cab via Grab just to make sure. It was around a 45 minute to an hour of driving from my boarding house to the airport. I must say, the road to the airport and the airport itself is nice, I really like the airport here - spacious and clean. I sat down and waited for my flight which got delayed because of the torrentious rains that day. My initial boarding time was supposed to be somewhere 6 P.M. but I was able to board and land in Manila at 9:45 P.M. - but I was still optimistic by that time because getting there is half the journey like the saying goes.

My noonas (older sisters) fetched me at the airport. They were from Bacolod, Cebu, and Tacloban and I was our first time meeting each other, and I only know their faces because of their Facebook profiles - it was awkward at first being the only boy in the group but I know I have conversed with them online so shyness should not be an issue,

We decided to go to the venue early to familiarize ourselves. The photo above is us, to the left are the friends of my friends, they are from Manila and the girl to my left wearing red is from Japan who flew all the way here just to watch, the people to the right are the people I have been talking about earlier. The even was scheduled to start at 6 PM but we were at the venue like 10 AM in the morning, so we decided to burn time by strolling around the Mall of Asia.

While queuing in line, we decided to buy merchandise to make the experience worthwhile, we bought lightsticks so we can something to wave during the event.

We were able to enter the venue, at last. I took this photo secretly as security was tight. Recording was not allowed, if you violate the rules - you would get ejected out. It was only a few moments left from seeing my idols in the flesh.

I was not able to capture and video and photos during the event as I want to experience every second of it. It was nostalgic being surrounded by people who share the same interest as you - supporting a group. I was still in awe seeing them personally and live because you know that they came from a small agency yet the house was full, they are growing artist, and they are becoming more famous until today. All the hard work as a fan has paid off, from late night streaming, voting, and trending hashtags - a lot of fans (including me) felt teary eyed. Seeing your idols work hard for you, you can only repay them with love and support.

The show ran for almost 2 hours. We sent off Seventeen with gratitude and undying love and support. Seventeen's leader Seungcheol promised they would return, and they did last October 21, 2017 but I was not able to participate at their concert at the Arena due to the impending title proposal for our thesis class, it made me really really sad but I promised to myself, I would be part of their next concert here this 2018.

After the fanmeet, these are all the hauls I brought home and I have added to my collection. These banners and photocards will come along the memories from the fanmeet and will be treasured for a lifetime.

I flew back to Iloilo city, then I calculated all of my expenses in order to prepare me for other possible concerts or music events and my total expenses summed up to somewhere around 10,000 pesos.

I promised to myself that this won't be the last but the first to many more. Here is to me and my future concert experiences, fighting!

#2018 #kpop #Seventeen #music #personal #concert #solaire #svt #travel #fanmeet