Zoe Sugg's Book Signing in Bristol
Ever since I learned of Zoe, I've been in love with her videos and later both of her novels. When I saw that she was coming to a book signing in Bristol I swiftly booked a ticket and actually got to meet her. It was so much fun.
As I took the train to Bristol, I felt like a bit of a pro. It had just been a couple of days since I had did the same thing for Dan and Phil's book signing and I felt much more at ease this time. I still opted to walk the whole way from the train station to the venue, as getting on a bus and potentially missing my stop still terrified me. It wasn't so bad though because I knew the way now and I just walked at my own pace while listening to Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig.
When I got the the venue I actually had to queue much further back than before. The whole queue swung around the corner of one of the neighbouring buildings. It was mostly young girls and again I felt very old being nearly twenty-one. I didn't let that stop me though because I really wanted to meet Zoe even for just a couple of seconds.
The queueing took ages as could be suspected but I became privy to a lot of conversations. I wasn't eavesdropping but when you're standing right next to people talking rather loudly it's difficult not to pick up what they were saying. The two girls right in front of me were talking about anxiety and still being unsure of my own I listened in.
The one who had it explained how much seeing Zoe's videos about it and reading about Penny, the protagonist in the Girl Online series, had helped her, especially when she didn't feel like her friends understood. It's amazing how much a couple of videos and a book can help so many people and I have no doubt that's why Zoe is so loved.
Half-way through the queue we got to pick up our books, and I pretended that I didn't have two signed at home already. (I preordered them signed from Waterstones in a special edition and accidentally got two because the computer was acting up when I booked them - probably from overload of Zoe's followers trying to order them.)
Zoe took her 30 minutes break while I was still in the queue and though it was annoying having to wait, I still respect her for remembering to take time for herself. She's meeting so, so many people in the span of just a few hours and she'd be insane to do it without a break.
When she came back, screams erupted throughout the crowd. I'm still not sure why people scream at things like this? It makes me feel on edge but I fought against it. I'm sure people just get so excited that they can't contain themselves which is to be expected when they meet someone who means that much to them.
Finally, I got close enough to Zoe to actually hear the music that was playing next to her. I felt my heart squeeze when I recognised as Troye Sivan's EP WILD. I'm a sucker when Team Internet personalities stick together and enjoy each other's content.
And I was also close enough to take in the reactions of people coming out after having seen Zoe. My favourite was a dad who had been looking very disinterested throughout the whole queuing process.
"Yes, we made it!" he had shouted while swinging his arms over his head. The crowd laughed and cheered him on while his daughter, who trailed after him, looked throughly embarrassed. I think anyone would be in that situation but it was so funny and just want you needed to cheer up after having been standing in a queue for so long.
My first thought when I saw Zoe was that she was smaller than I imagined. Of course, I knew she wasn't very tall or broad but she looked very tiny sat at her big table. She looked so lovely though and they way she poured all of her attention into the one person at her table was amazing. She made eye contact and listened to every single person.
I was only allowed to take photos just before I got to meet her and I snapped away.
"Hi Zoe," I said nervously and approached her table.
"Hello. How are you?" she asked sweetly.
"I'm good. I'm from Denmark, so I'm here on exchange."
"Amazing," she said and offered me a bright smile.
"So I'm really excited to be here to see you. I love your books," I said, still time determined to remember to mention how much I appreciated what we were actually here for.
"Oh, are you enjoying it?" she asked nicely.
"Yeah, I love it here," I told her.
"Brilliant. I hope you are..." she began to say and finished off the signature. It was slightly bigger than the pre-signed ones I had bought and she put a big heart after Zoella.
"... I'm in Bath," I said, interrupting her though I hadn't meant to. I just knew my clock was ticking.
"I love Bath," Zoe said with an actual eye roll. Like she loved it so much and I was so happy to get that reaction from her.
"It's a lovely city," I agreed and accepted the book she handed back to me.
"Yeah, lovely to meet you," she said and she really sounded like she meant it.
"Thank you very much. I love your videos and your books," I said on the way out, half turned so I was facing her and walking backwards.
"Thank you," she called after me.
Thereafter I got handed a bracelet and a Girl Online: On Tour poster. I was still buzzing from the interaction and it had been a wonderful seventeen seconds. Looking back at my photos I noticed she's touching her shoulder in a lot of them, probably getting pains because she's doing so many signatures.
I really appreciated Zoe coming out to see us and I'm so happy I got to meet her while I'm here in the UK. She was just as sweet and lovely as I imagined and though I was just a face amongst hundreds, I can look back on our brief conversation and be satisfied that I got to tell her I enjoyed her content.
Zoe tweeted the above later that evening and though it was clearly so much trouble for her, both with an aching shoulder and a long drive, I just hope she knows how thankful we were that she went through the trouble to meet us. Thank you, Zoe.
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