My story about Paris, 2nd of April 2011

I know it’s already more than a week ago, but needed some time to calm down after my 3 concerts and a Vip experience in one week! Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh it was such an amazing week, not only because of Enrique himself but also because I have met soooo many friends from the forum again and also because of all the nice Enrique crew/band people......I really didn’t want to be at home knowing that the Euphoria tour would go on without us.....:( But luckily we have Luxemburg to look forward too, without that I would really fall in a black hole and die from Post Enrique Depression for sure....

Ahoy Rotterdam concert and VIP 28-03-'11
I’ve decided not to bore you guys with another story about the Ahoy concert in Rotterdam, Holland and the VIP experience we had there..... you have heard the story from other Dutch Fans. I just wanna say that we were soooooo lucky with how our VIP turned out: we had at least 40 minutes in total to spend with Enrique, who was sooo sweet to every one of us, talking, laughing, asking questions, posing and taking all our presents. To top it all off, we had so much fun before Enrique arrived with Hugo, our VIP host, Fernando, Emmet, Gilmar and Yasha ( who interviewed and filmed us before and during the VIP). Especially the singing with Gilmar as a group, with Enrique there clapping and laughing with us, was such a great moment. I just wanted to say thanks to all of them for making this such a fantastic night and also the girls (and boy) who were there with me : Amany, Irene, Priscilla, Hildeke, Danielle, Carine, Leila, Saskia and William....I wouldn’t have shared it with anyone other than you !! Mwuah!

Traveling to Paris 01-04-'11
Ok, ok, Paris now....:)
I left on Friday in my car from my mom’s house in the south of Holland. Its about a 4 hour drive from there to Paris and I was going by myself.... I was meeting up with other forumfriends in Paris: Iona and Megha, Hildeke, Danielle and Carine, Isabel, Alena, and Ketty.

The trip went fine and as soon as I was checked in my hotel I contacted Iona and Megha to meet up with them at their hotel. We walked to the park where the Zenith is to check out where we had to go for the concert the next day and we sat down to chat. We had met in the row in Rotterdam on Monday but hadn’t had much time to talk because they were further behind in the row, so it was really nice to meet them again and we had the chance to talk some more.....They had a present for me: the cutest keychain toy...aaaaawwwhhh thanks again girls! ;) They told me about their concert in Nice and I told them about the VIP in Rotterdam. We didn’t want to go back to the hotel too late because we had been traveling a lot and needed some sleep for another big day...We decided to meet up the next morning around about noon to queue for the concert....

Day of the concert, Zénith Paris 02-04-'11
The next morning I woke up quit early, it must have been nerves, and I decided to make myself ready and go to the venue to see how many people were there already....I was quit shocked that at 10 am there were about 70 people already..... There were about 6 gates with a queue of 15 people and I choose my spot....I called Iona and told them it was busy already but they hadn’t even woke up (LOL) and told me they would take it easy.... They arrived a few hours later and took a spot in the row next to me, about 30 spots down....They other fans, Isabel, Hildeke, Danielle and Carine also arrived and they were all lining up together....

Meeting all my forum friends
I also met Nikki who bought one of my spare tickets through the forum. We decided to try and meet up in the row and we did. It was so nice to meet you, even thought for only a few minutes! And Alena whom I met in Koln last year, at Xfactor, was brought by her husband and kids, came up to me in the row too. Sooo good to see you again Alena! I brought the red t-shirt Amany made for the forumfriends. I was glad I could give them to Isabel and Alena, and changed into mine too. The French fans were like: wow, you are from Holland but know a lot of people here! LOL

Queing with the French fans
I was happy with my spot, in between some lovely French fans. One of them, Matthieu had been so lucky to be called on stage when Enrique performed at the Zénith in 2009 and he spoke a little bit of English, so through him I was able to communicate a little with the French fans....The weather was lovely all day, and we were all able to sit down in the sun, relax, go to the bathroom or get something to eat. Everyone kept eachother’s space and was very nice....I had the opportunity to go to my friends in the other row and say hi and chat some with them....Then the French fans discovered my skin on my Blackberry ( Enrique ofcourse) and they all wanted to see it lol! They heared I would go to the Hasselt concert the next day and already had been to Rotterdam earlier that week and even had VIP, and suddenly they all asked questions like I was the expert LOL. Thanks all for making me feel welcome allthough my French isn’t that good! It was lovely meeting you!

VIP desires and flashbacks
At one point I saw Carine (who had VIP in Rotterdam with us and then she got to go VIP in Paris again) walk into the vipentrance with Hugo, the VIPhost and I thought: oooowwwhhh I wanna go with you soooooo bad!! If you had VIP once, it sooo tempting to do it again!

Run for your life and a good spot! ;)
I decided to stay at my spot and not give it up to stand with my friends....I traveled a long way to get there and was waiting from 10 am onwards so decided I would go for my own chances! And Im sooo glad I did that....because allthough the last hour waiting untill we could go in was nervewrecking( am I gonna get a good spot?) when it finally was time to get in, I ran and ran and ended up at the barrier on the right side of the stage, right in front of Alex, Gilmar and Laura Jane. I even ended up next to the French fans I met in the row....and told them the boxes in front of the stage and right in front of us would be a place Enrique could not possibly resist to jump on and I turned out to be right!!

Concert itself....
The concert was amazing, allthough it was very very hot from the start. I already knew the setlist from Rotterdam so I knew which songs were gonna come next. It was nice to see that Nadya was there to do the French version of TOBS. The girl on stage during Stand by Me was so cute...she cried because she couldnt believe her luck!! Aaaawwhhh and Enrique was sooo sweet!! The people behind me were pushing quit a lot and some lady was annoyed because I was jumping and waving and clapping to much for her taste....I was like: Im not gonna NOT jump and sing and wave because you are standing so close to me....I came all the way from Holland, waited here all day for this spot: im gonna enjoy myself for the fullest! Security was so nice to give us water from large bottles, because of the heath, lots of fans passed out even before the show started...pffff The crowd was amazing, and so was Enrique! When he was at the far end of the catwalk, I could hardly turn to see him, but I enjoyed myself with Laura Jane, Gilmar and Alex, who was smiling all night long! He’s such a nice guy, and seemed to enjoy the crowd as much as we enjoyed the show! I was jumping singing and waving my ass off and Gilmar noticed me and recognized me from the meet and greet on Monday! He was waving and pointing and smiling at me too! Enrique tried some Spanish at this concert, which is always nice to hear, and even sang the first lines of Hero in Spanish.....too bad he went back to the English version very quickly....Because I was standing at the front barrier, I also met Yasha there again....I told him I was glad he made it anyway and he filmed this crazy Dutch fan a few times jumping and singing like crazy....hahahahahah I hope it doesn’t show on the documentary lol!

Stuffed doggy mission LOL
I even got to take my stuffed dog toy with me, which was quite big, and caused me some nerves, because I didn’t know if security would allow me to take it inside....but they did with no trouble what so ever.... I tied a card around its neck which said ”I absolutely, totally, passionately,insanely adore you!” And at the back I wrote a thank you to Enrique for that great VIP in Rotterdam message on it. I decided I wouldn’t just throw it at the stage, but would first attempt to give it to Enrique personally....I was sooo happy that my great spot upfront would at least give me a chance to do that. I could always throw it at him when he waves his final goodbyes to the public and dissapears offstage at the right side.... In the vid I made of I like it, you can see the dog, I was holding it out with one hand, filming with another hand and looking over my camera straigt into those beautiful eyes.....aaaahhhhhhhhh he touched it but decide not to take it from me, probably because he just started I like it....but im sooo happy I caught that moment on camera without the Amany effect( which is shaking and turning the camera away the moment Enrique looks at you! LOL)....In the encore Tonight, Enrique comes straight to us to say goodbye after the last song and I decided to then throw the dog at his feet....and YES, he picked it up, waved his final goodbyes to the public and went off stage! Mission accomplished!

Cooling down and saying goodbye :(
After the concert, I met my forumfriends again and we had some time to cool down, have a drink, take some pictures and get some merchandise...and an illegal poster LOL!! Isabel had to go quickly so sadly had to say goodbye to her.  It was sooo nice meeting you, I hope we get a chance to meet up again some day soon..... Not long after that Hildeke Danielle and me decided to go too because we had to travel to Belgium for the concert in Hasselt the next day. Hildeke and Danielle were going straight back to Hasselt and I went back to my hotel, to wake up at 7 the next morning and drive to Belgium for the next concert.....It was very sad to have to say goodbye to Iona and Megha, and Ketty and Alena because we had soo little time, it was way to short and they all live soo far away.....Especially Iona had a hard time saying goodbye.....She and Madre were crying.....for me it dawned on me later how special it was meeting all of you girls and that it felt we knew eachother allready when we met......It so weird to know that we are so far away and yet feel soo connected.....Miss you all allready!

Ok, this story is wayyyy too long .....Im sorry but had to write something down, if only not to forget all the details of this amazing adventure! Thanks again for everyone who played a role in it!

Not in Love

Escape

Bailamos

I like it

Tonight (encore)

Ring my bells

Taking Back My Love