VanCity Mishaps, Ellie, and the Moonshine Jungle

One of the most incredible nights, ever, was this past Saturday night. My best friend Melissa and I packed my van with too much luggage, and headed to the big city. VanCity. What should have been only a 5 or so hour drive turned into almost an 8 hour drive. With the help of street signs and parents who were reading google maps back at home, we managed to get lost a total of 6 times throughout the one afternoon/evening. For those people who know Vancouver, we were trying to get to Shaughnessy, and instead ended up all the way at MetroTown in Burnaby, and Chinatown, before finally finding our destination. 

But..all the mishaps, wrong turns, and funny stories were worth it, to make it to the gorgeous home I call Canuck Place. 

After hurriedly getting ready for our big night out, we headed to Rogers Arena for the Moonshine Jungle Tour, with Bruno Mars and Ellie Goulding! This was Melissa's grad present, and she was so sweet to include me on the road trip and incredible concert experience. We tried our best not to get lost on the way there, going as far as printing out "trustworthy" google map directions. However, they dropped us off at an overpass, which took us on a nice tour in rush hour traffic above the top windows of the Arena. 

Upon arrival at the parking lot, we thought we could finally relax. Instead, the machine to purchase your parking tickets would not take cash. Only MasterCards, which smart 18 year old girls do not readily apply for, and coins. So, we went on the hunt inside the Arena for $30 in toonies. Upon finally finding these, the machine wasn't accepting that many coins. By this point, you laugh, or you hysterically cry. We chose the first, and I burst out laughing in front of the security team who must have thought I was missing a bit of my sanity by that point..

After that, we finally got to relax, party, and act like carefree teenagers. 

Ellie Goulding started the concert. ELLIE GOULDING! We are both her biggest fans. She performed a lot of her biggest hits for the first 45 mins. At the beginning of the intermission a lady who worked at Rogers came up to us, almost as excited as we were, to take us under the stage, to meet Ellie Goulding! She took us in a private elevator to the level no one else usually sees. Then we went into a small backstage room, and waited.. Longest few minutes ever. We were giggling and shaking so badly. Then, the incredible Ellie, her manager, and her friend came in. We were surprisingly calm, cool and collected. Never once did we mention being her biggest fans, loving her show, or any fan girl stuff. She was the most down to earth person. We got talking about the kind of stuff we would talk about to any other friends. She brought small posters to sign, and joked about how much better she likes her blonde hair now without the extensions and it bleached white. She liked how long ours was, since hers was now permanently shorter. She seemed so in awe that there were people at this concert, apparently the first ever, who had actual "Ellie" signs held up. Then we told her we had travelled 8 hours to see her, and her manager mentioned people actually bought seats behind the stage. She couldn't wrap her head around the fact people like her so much, which is crazy since she's so amazing! Talking to her was incredible; it was so much better than a normal meet and greet with one picture and the typical "I love your music so much." She genuinely wanted to be in that room with us, and that meant so much to us! 

It was Ellie's idea to do funny face pictures too! 

We also gave her a little gift. Melissa gave her a handmade in Enderby that she was excited to hang in her tour bus to get rid of the bad dreams she has according to her manager. I gave her a Muscular Dystrophy Canada bracelet. Part of my email to her manager, along with the explanation that this was our grad present, and Melissa chose to take me and sit in the wheelchair section instead of somewhere else because she went with me, was about SMA and MD. It was so cool that she took the bracelet and put it on before even asking what it was about, and then I explained. Hopefully it'll remind her of us, and her last night in Canada! 

Bruno's part of the concert was incredible too! He's such an amazing performer. There were parts, many of them, where he was absolutely mesmerizing. You couldn't look away. His old school style, dance moves, and charisma are completely unrivalled. A great part of it was his teaching guys "how to pick up chicks when you have a band." Yes, it does work..when you're Bruno Mars! So great. The concert, the night as a whole, was amazing! I couldn't have asked for a better friend to go with either. She doesn't hesitate to help when needed, and knows that I more often than not don't need any. Simply a friend, to be just that. Her friendship is so valuable to me. We had such an amazing time, and I would do this trip together again in a heartbeat! 

Pretty safe to say... 

                      "Everybody's starry eyed, and everybody glows."