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My name is Emma, and I am 23 years old. My first Bieber Experience happened on October 19th, 2012 in Minneapolis, MN. I’ve been a fan of Justin’s for a few years now, but it wasn’t until the past 2 years or so that I became really active on Twitter to show my love and support. Everyone has their story as to how or why they became a fan. All I will say, without detail, is that the past few years of my life had been really rough. I had been going through several personal experiences in my life that had left me pretty emotionally damaged, including the recent death of my father. I gave in researched Justin in early 2010, and instantly fell in love with everything about him, his music, and what he stood for. Since that day he’s been my guiding light I guess you could say. He’s given me the hope, laughter, and love I needed to get me through. I could never thank him enough for that. Ever. On October 19th, a day before the show, my sister and I had arrived in Minneapolis and checked into our hotel. We had heard via Twitter that Justin was at the Mall of America. We hopped in the car and headed there, only to find out he had already left. Deep down, I never expected to see him at all…so I kept my expectations low to avoid feeling disappointed. Later on that night, with the help of some lovely Twitter ladies, I heard his grandparents had been spotted at the Grand Hotel earlier on that day. I decided to google the hotel out of curiosity, and it just so happened that his hotel was a short walking distance from ours! Again, I had no expectations but we had nothing to lose. We walked over to the hotel and sure enough there were probably about 30 girls or so waiting outside. They said they knew for a fact this was Justin’s hotel, and that he should be returning sometime soon. My sister and I stood off to the side, just enjoying the simple fact that he was actually here, in this city. But I never expected it to happen. A friend I knew from twitter, Meg, was inside the hotel waiting. She decided to come out to talk to us. Out of nowhere, Dan and Josh casually walked outside the hotel doors and turned the corner to walk down the street. (I assumed they were heading out for some fun. Haha.) Dan and I made eye contact, but I got nervous and just said “Hi Dan” really casually, lol. For some reason no one else had recognized them at the moment. So they continued walking. My friend Meg, who had previously met them inside, asked me why I didn’t talk to them or ask for a picture. I really don’t know what came over me at that point, but I turned around and starting walking down the sidewalk to catch up to them. At the time I was in pure adrenaline mode, so I was acting instead of thinking. Now I look back and laugh because I realize I had locked arms with Dan after catching up to him. We continue to walk down the sidewalk as I told him how much I respect him as a musician and person, and I reminded him of the time he direct messaged me after I told him how we share the same love for the same types of music. He told me to continue walking with him until we got around the corner so we could talk/take a picture without making a scene. When we got there we continued to talk a bit about random things. He told me I had really good taste in music and then he gave me a guitar pick. He asked where I would be sitting at the show the next day, among a few other questions, then we took our picture. My sister came around the corner at this point so she briefly talked to him as well. (I need to express how true and genuine Dan is though. And he truly, TRULY loves and cares for Justin.) He wished us a great show, we wished him the same, and went back to the front of the hotel. It was probably only ten minutes or so later when the group of girls started screaming as a black SUV drove by. It continued to turn into the alleyway along the side of the hotel, but then it stopped. We were in complete shock, and weren’t really sure if this was real or not. In a panic, we ran into the hotel thinking that we’d have a better chance of talking to him when he came in the front doors. After a minute or so we realized he probably wouldn’t come in the front doors though, so we hurried back outside, and sure enough, there he was. I honestly think I just stood there for a good minute or two just staring in awe. I couldn’t believe this ONE guy who meant everything to me, who doesn’t even know me, was standing right before my eyes. Security wasn’t playing around though. They kept warning everyone to stand back and wait their turn. At this time, Fredo was talking the pictures as Justin greeted fans. There weren’t many of us, but for some reason security was anxious to get him back in the car. I could tell Justin was a little flustered because they kept saying, “We gotta go,” but you could tell he wanted to get to us all. There were probably 3 girls ahead of my sister and I when security pretty much pulled Justin away and said its time to go. He said “I gotta go guys, sorry!!” or something along those line, and walked back over to the car. He stood outside the car discussing something with two of the security guys. Like I said, he seemed a little puzzled, not sure why. I really don’t know what came over me at that point, but I decided I wasn’t going to let this moment pass me by. I wiggled past everyone in front of me and walked straight up him (calmly of course, as I didn’t want the security to be alarmed.) I never planned on getting a picture. All I wanted was to tell him how much I appreciate what he does, and to hug him. Again, I was not thinking and acting out of pure adrenaline so I don’t know what I said word for word. But I know I just kept telling him how much I love and respect him, and the whole time I was standing in front of him, trying to get out my words , I realized I had my hands placed on his hips as I looked into his beautiful brown eyes and jabbered. Security started nudging towards him again, distracting him. But he quickly looked down at me, met my eyes, and said, “That means a lot, thank you.” At that point I could only hear my heart beating. Then he pulled me into him, we briefly hugged, and he said, “Wanna get a picture?” I don’t know where Fredo was at that point, and my phone had just died. Once the other girls saw he was taking pictures again so they ran over and started taking pictures of us. I’m really thankful my sister happened to be in front of the pack, because she managed to get the pictures. Right after my picture though security said, “We REALLY have to go guys.” Justin thanked us and said goodbye. I really wanted to show him my Believe tattoo, but I was already so thankful for what had just happened that I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I still can’t fully believe it happened. The show the following day was beyond incredible. I couldn’t believe how much he’s grown as a TRUE artist and performer. And then it happened again…. My sister, another friend, and I had tickets to the Kansas City show on the 26th, the following weekend. After feeling totally complete and blessed with my experience, I had 100% forgot about the fact that I had entered the bieberfever.com contest a few weeks previously. It was the night before the show when I got the email saying I had won M&G’s for the next day. I can’t even begin to describe to you what I was feeling or thinking. Pure thankfulness, mixed with nervousness and excitement. It’s honestly still a dream to me. I was so overjoyed that I was not only getting a second chance to show him my tattoo and to tell him what he means to me, but that my sister would get her chance too. The first time we saw him she was just so happy for me that she put herself aside, and never got to properly meet him. When we walked into the meet and greet, there he stood, again, looking as incredible as I had remembered. He smiled at us as my sister got on one side and I got on the other. I looked over and noticed he was rubbing her back, and then I felt him doing it to me too. The other 2 people in our group had walked in, and for some reason Mike (photographer) wanted me to move to the other side of my sister. I didn’t really mind, but I was flustered and trying to find a different spot to put my purse (as I had nervously set it in front of Justin’s FEET when we had first walked in!) While I was finding somewhere to put my purse, I guess Justin was wondering why two more people hadn’t come in with us. It was suppose to be groups of 6, but only 4 of us came in. So after the brief confusion, I moved next to my sister, and we took the picture. I turned to him right after Mike snapped the picture and gave him a big hug. I told him how much I love him as I started to pull up my sleeve to show him my Believe tattoo. Right as I held out my arm to show him, one of the security guards said something to him/me/afan…not really sure. But it had distracted Justin’s attention away. I really wasn’t sure what to do, so I kind of just stepped back a little. Almost instantly he looked back over at me and said, “Wait, come here..I wanna see that.” I smiled, moved closer and pulled my sleeve back up for him. He carefully looked at it in curiosity then looked down at his own arm. He held out his arm for me to see and said, ”It looks just like mine.” I smiled. He looked back up at my tattoo, smiled, and said “Swag Town…” LOL. I gave him another tight hug, as if I would never see him again and I wished him a great show. He smiled, I smiled and we left. When I say good things rarely happen to me, at least to this magnitude, I really mean that. I feel really blessed that I was not only given one moment with him, but two. I never in a million years would have thought it would happen to me. It’s really confirmed my beliefs that good things DO happen. And as cheesy as it sounds…NEVER SAY NEVER and BELIEVE. Justin is a class act. He truly loves his fans more than nearly anything! I have never met, or heard of anyone else who is as REAL, compassionate, and down to earth as he is. Inside, he’s as normal as it gets, fame aside. And as fans, I hope we all continue to do our best to give him the love, support, and understanding that he DESERVES as he continues to grow as an artist…and as a person . I am beyond grateful for what he’s given me. For what he’s given US. Please don’t ever take him, or his kindness, for granted. I will always be here to support him in anyway I possibly can…voting, requesting songs to radio stations, buying his music, gifting his music, anything. But most importantly, just to be here. If he could meet every single one of you, I know he would. Your day WILL come if you strive for it. I promise. Expect the unexpected. – @Belieb_Love (Emma) Continued here: My name is Emma, and I am 23 years old. My first Bieber…
