[KCON18NY] Day-1: Greeting Golden Child at JFK

Saturday June 23rd is the official start of KCON NY 2018, with check-in beginning at 7AM and the convention officially opening at 10AM. At this point I should warn you that the remainder of my KCON blog posts will be more from a Goldenness' perspective and I won't be explaining everything that KCON has to offer as I didn't partake in everything. Despite being in town for KCON, I had a different agenda in mind for today: greeting Golden Child as they arrive in NY! Here is my outfit for going to the airport - I'm so happy that I packed a blazer to match Bomin's airport fashion^^ Also my outfit is complete with my Golden Day tote!

I walked past the convention check-in area at 8:45AM and the line was fairly short, but with lots of trading going on. Now the security was a lot tighter - every nook and cranny had a security guard ready to wand you and check your bag. At times this was frustrating because to get from the subway station to my hotel, I had to walk through a common area of the convention, meaning waiting in line to go through security just to exit the premise.

While on the 3 subway rides from Prudential Center to JFK, my friend suggested that I write a fan letter to give. My heart dropped just thinking about the idea of being so close to an idol! Ever since meeting Sungyeol at his restaurant almost 4 years ago, I had been weary of seeing idols outside of their schedules or interacting with idols even during their official schedules. However I started writing a letter to all of Golden Child expressing how proud I am of them and how happy they've made my life. I was proud of myself for writing over half of the letter in Korean, then ended up finishing it in English. I kept getting so nervous thinking about handing my letter to them!

At the airport, we met another Goldenness who was handing out fanart her friend had made. There were also about just 5 other fans who came to see all 3 groups arriving today (EXID, Fromis_9, and Golden Child). I heard there were a lot more fans at the airport yesterday, however the timing worked out so that few fans would greet the artists arriving today since many KCONers are at the convention.

Woollim's CEO Lee Jungyeop came out first! My heart was beating so fast staring at Papa Woollim. He walked out and began walking the wrong way, then changed direction.

Next LE of EXID came out. In the middle of leaving, she turned around and started talking to a random guy.

Then Junghwa of EXID walked out. She was so nice and had such a friendly aura while waving to us.

Then staff wheeled out Golden Child's luggage. My heart dropped again seeing their luggage...the moment was coming up soon! And then Jungyeop continued walking around the terminal, from the outside back to where the staff and luggage were.

Next the girls of Fromis_9 entered and walked right in front of us. They were all very sweet and smiling despite having such a long plane ride.

And now the moment I had been waiting for, my first time ever seeing Golden Child, has arrived! I was not ready but here they were coming out! I had my Golden Child slogan towel from their Season's Greetings out and put out a huge smile to greet the boys on their first trip to the US. While my heart was racing during Jungyeop's and Golden Child's luggage appearances, my heart just stopped with Golden Child came out. It felt so surreal.

Manager Joosung led the boys out, followed by Daeyeol and Jibeom in the front. My Goldenness friends called out "지범아 (Jibeom-ah~)" and "지범 안녕 (Jibeom hi~)", and he cutely waved at us with his hand holding his passport. Then I handed Daeyeol my fan letter and he graciously took it while smiling behind his mask. I awkwardly said "감사합니다 (thank you)" in a really out-of-this-world high pitch voice that I hope no one heard.

I completely blanked out as Jaehyun, Jangjun, and Sungyoon walked by (my phone started filming their feet...) and finally recovered in time to tell Joochan "주찬 안녕 (Joochan hi~)" again in that high pitch voice. He was so friendly, smiling the whole time, and positively acknowledged me (my phone was still filming their feet so I forget how he acknowledged me).

I blanked out yet again as Donghyun, Seungmin, and Youngtaek passed by but at least was able to film properly again. Bomin was last, and I managed to say "보민 안녕 (Bomin hi~)" in an almost normal voice. He stared at me for a brief second with his powerful eye contact.

At this point the other fans were outside, waiting to take more pictures. I tried to get back to the front of the entourage. I caught up to Sungyoon, Joochan, Donghyun, Seungmin, and Youngtaek. The Goldenness handing out fanart had 3 fan letters she wanted to pass out, but eventually had to run back up to the front and hand them to Daeyeol. In her famcam I was able to see that Daeyeol was still holding my letter!

My Goldenness friend had been trying to hand out 2 gifts to members, and at first had succeeded with one gift, but Joosung came back to her and politely handed the gift back, saying in Korean that he's sorry that they can't receive gifts.

We walked with them until they boarded their van, and waved until they drove off. Throughout, one security guard was speaking really politely to us in Korean, but I didn't understand. Overall during my 6 hour adventure visiting the airport, we saw Golden Child for under 3 minutes. I'm so thankful that my friend invited me to come with her AND that she pushed me to write a fan letter. Because of this, my fear of meeting idols completely changed. Even better, Daeyeol single-handedly ended the fear that his brother had inflicted into me. I now have such a special attachment to Daeyeol and am so thankful to have experienced his heartfelt gestures. Today marks the beginning of the most eventful weekend of my life.