This time it was just going to be me and my friend. We were taking the train down on our own, which was over 4 hours of travel with a change over, and again the furthest I'd ever gone on a train alone was to Aberdeen and I'd certainly never had to change trains on that journey. Then we'd have to navigate the city to our hotel, and I'd never stayed in a hotel without an adult either, and then to the venue which for someone who has only ever been in the city once before was a daunting thought. The next day we were also planning to go shopping, which is an unsettling experience to me even at home. I was terrified.
But we did it. We coped. In fact we more than coped, I had the best two days of my entire life. The concert was amazing and without a doubt the best experience of I have ever had. Jenna Mcdougall, the lead singer, is my inspiration in life. She is the woman that I look up to and aspire to be like, and to actually see her and the rest of the band that mean so much to me perform live was an incredible feeling. It was like nothing I have ever experienced before.
The concert re-enforced a lot of ideas. It reminded me of a lot of things, made me take a step back and actually have a good think about where my life headed; not to live my life on autopilot, not to accept anything less than the best, and not to do something if I don't want to do it, but most of all not to care about what other people think so long as I am happy.
I've been to my fair share of concerts, but the whole event means so much more when you have a deep emotional connection to the band, and this is the first concert I have been to where the artists performing truly mean a lot to me. I now understand the appeal of concerts, the screaming lyrics that have helped you through difficult times back to those who wrote them and hearing thousands of people do the same, knowing that you are surrounded by this giant community who at least share one interest with you, and having the knowledge that everyone around you is at this time feeling exactly the same emotions that you are. It was amazing, and right now I would give anything to relive it.
After the concert we headed back to our hotel, enthused over the brilliance of it, put on our pajamas and lounged around on our beds talking until we fell asleep, knowing that there was absolutely nobody there to put on a front for, no parents to tell us off and nobody else there to force their opinions on us. We didn't have to edit ourselves, we could just BE.
The next morning we got up and lounged around for a while before heading out shopping, feeling slightly grey and exhausted from the night before but in that brilliant way that assures you that last night was in fact not just a good dream. Now, Glasgow is where I want to be living this time next year, it is the only city where I have applied to University so there is a pretty good chance that it's where I'll end up. Before we left to head down I was actually quite worried at the prospect of not liking it there. Of it all being a little to much for the girl who has lived in a town with only about 20,000 other people her whole life, going somewhere with over 2.3 million.
At first I felt a little bit overwhelmed by everything, there was just so much going on, but it didn't take much to get into the swing of things. There was one particular moment, when we were walking down Buchanan Street when there were a few singers busking, people of all different backgrounds walking around in harmony and high-rise buildings as far as I could see when I stopped and thought to myself, 'This is it. This is where I want to be.'
While shopping the we stumbled upon Christmas markets, hidden gems of shops and countless quirky little cafes that I can't wait to explore further next year. I'm excited to live in a buzzing, lively city as opposed to a sleepy little town in the middle of nowhere. I look forward to there being a concert on somewhere close every night as opposed to there being one every few months over two hours away. And I can't wait to have the freedom to do what all the time instead of just for two days while I'm away with a friend.
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