The Red Carpet

A lot of this week has been a blur due to a major lack of sleep. After arriving home from Dublin, I had to unpack my bags and then pack and get ready for an overnight stay in Leicester Square. My friend Kelly and I waited over 24 hours to see the Breaking Dawn Part 2 premiere in London. 

Kelly and I finally in our place at the premiere

When we first arrived, we joined a short queue next to the Raddison Hotel. We just missed the 500 cut-off point, so we didn't get wristbands or tickets. We still had a pretty good spot in line. After a couple of hours though they had us move behind designated barriers. Everyone rushed to get in front of one another so our 'spots' and ticktet numbers were useless at that point. Kelly and I still got really great places in line though. And this is where we had to camp out overnight. We were given about five feet of space to spread out. There was a short stone wall we could sit on, but it was uneven, cold, and really uncomfortable. The only thing I brought with me besides many, many layers was a thin blanket. That night, I did not sleep. Even with all of the layers that I was wearing, the night became so cold, I was begging for morning. At 5am McDonalds opened, so I had some hot cocoa and felt much better. Soon after we all got moved into one of two different 'pens.' Yes, we were put in pens. The put over 100 of us in each pen. Once we got settled in our spot. I went and sat in McDonalds for about four hours. When I came back to the pen, we were all standing again and we remained standing for the rest of the night, so about another eight hours. 

The waiting bit was pretty unpleasant, but it wasn't horrible either. Some of the people I met were incredibly nice, and I may even see some of them again. Some of the people I was waiting with were less friendly. A lot of bickering took place and even people chanting to kick someone else out of the pen. At least I had Kelly with me!

Once the event finally started it was about 5:30pm the next day. The red carpet was laid out and I got pretty excited. Working at a cinema has actually made me very curious about movie premieres. I've only seen one before and it was a very small scale red carpet event. The Breaking Dawn premiere was MUCH larger than the first premiere I've seen. I was a bit overwhelmed by the enormous crowd and the number of media present. They soon announced that Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner were on the red carpet and a few girls around me started crying with excitement. Kelly and I had a really good spot, second row at about the middle of the red carpet. I sat on a railing and took photos for my friend, and Kelly was able to get all of the actor's autographs. 

At the end of the event, I was beyond exhausted and ready to go home. It had been over 48 hours since I slept, and it had been even longer since I'd been in my own bed. I'm really happy that I got to witness a major movie premiere. It was definitely an experience I will remember, but it's also an experience I don't think I will ever do again. I certainly wouldn't camp out to see a premiere, but I'm still happy that I saw a real red carpet event in a major city.