[Updated with staff fanaccount -ferrerorocher9]

SNSD had their first US fan signing event at Best Buy in Union Square, New York City on February 2nd!

Many fans lined up with enthusiasm to meet the girls up close and personal for the first time on US soil.  And, of course, they brought all sorts of souvenirs with them to be signed, including CDs, posters, photo books and more!

The fan sign was a big success with 8 of the 9 girls in attendance.  No Jessica though :(.  Sorry Gorjess Spazzers, maybe next time :).  Our own ferrerorocher9 and FrozenArctic were in attendance at the fan sign!  So jelly of you two right now and the merchandise you guys got signed!  OMG!!  Let’s hope they have another fan sign soon here on the West Coast so us West Coasters can make you East Coasters jelly this time :P.  Below are the official SMTOWN pictures from the event!  SNSD daebak!

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ferrerorocher9:

To be honest, I didn’t think I would be able to go. Last week, when I found out the girls were coming to New York again, I was reading it on Twitter and I was jumping in joy in my apartment, squealing. Because I’m from Massachusetts and New York’s a 4-hour drive away, I thought I could go, but my roommates and boyfriend, who were in the same room at the time, reminded me that I couldn’t go when I had an Orgo exam on Monday that week, a physics exam on Wednesday, and a Statistics exam on Thursday.

But when the week came and their fansign event was announced to be on Thursdays at 7pm, I booked my bus round-trip in a heartbeat. I could make it if it’s at 7pm. I would take my Stats exam on Thursday morning, take the 10:30am bus, and arrive at 2:45pm in New York.

However, Tuesday afternoon, I found out about the whole wristband thing. Best Buy announced that they’ll be handing out wristbands with the purchase of the girls’ US CD, but there’ll be only 300 wristbands. One wristband per person. Having a wristband guaranteed that you’ll get to attend their fansign and get their autographs. Best Buy will start selling their CDs with the wristbands at 8am on Thursday morning. People could start lining up at 6am, but any lines formed before 6am was said to not count. When I heard this, my heart dropped because there was no way I could be in New York to line up for the wristband when I had my Stats exam Thursday at 8am.

My boyfriend (Eric) found out and he was willing to go to New York first and wait in line for a wristband for me. At 11:59pm on Wednesday night, his bus departed and he arrived in New York at 4am. He took a cab to Best Buy and told me that there were already at least 200 people lining up by the time he got there. Even though Best Buy originally said any lines formed before 6am was considered unofficial, it became the official line for the wristbands.

When I woke up at 7am on Thursday morning, Eric texted me that the Best Buy people had told him they ran out of wristbands. I called him and he told me they actually miscounted and he made it within the 300. He was #297 (I couldn’t believe how lucky he was). He was lining up inside of Best Buy for the wristband at the time.

So after my Stats exam, I ran to catch my bus. As planned, I arrived in New York  at around 2:45pm. I met up with Eric and we went to go eat lunch at Bubba Gump in Time Square. By the time we finished eating, it was already 4:50pm. We quickly paid the bill and grabbed a taxi to Best Buy because it was almost 5pm–the time they said we could start lining up for the event. When we arrived, it was 5:03pm and it was almost unbelievable how many people were already there. I would say there were at least 200 people crowded around just the front of Best Buy.

The Best Buy staff soon came out and attempted to have everyone form an orderly line. Those with wristbands stayed in the front and those who didn’t, had to go to the back of the line. Because Eric didn’t have one, we had to separate. He told me that he was going to be around Union Square and he would come pick me up when the event was over.

So I stayed and waited in line. While waiting, I got a chance to talk to SONEs. Eventually, the doors opened and they were letting only those with wristbands come in through the entrance. After showing them the wristband, they told me I can go in. (I wish I took a picture of it earlier. I didn’t know they were going to cut it off, but it basically looks like the one in the picture above. It was yellow and somewhere on it, it says ‘Interscope’). I entered Best Buy, followed the line, and went up the escalators.

At the time, it was only 5:20pm ish. I stood in line and talked to other SONEs around me. We talked about our favorite members and a bunch of random stuff. From time to time, we would look out the glass windows and watched the crowd outside. I decided to take pictures of my surroundings. Across the room, we could see a bit of the event setup.

The Best Buy staffs came to the line a couple of times to check our wristbands since they’ve been letting regular customers in and they didn’t want any one without a wristband standing in line. We were told that we could only take pictures while standing in line, but when we’re at the front, cameras were to be put away. The only thing we could have signed was the booklet from the girls’ ‘The Boys’ US CD so they told us to take the booklet out. I was bummed out because I had their “Into The New World” single, “Girls’ Generation” album, Japanese “Gee” Japanese album, and Japanese “Genie” album with me in my backpack and I was hoping to get one of them signed instead of the cheaper-looking US CD. They also told us that we were to put our booklet on the table, say hi, pass it along, say hi, pass it along, say hi, etc. We couldn’t make any conversations with them. (Ugh…they were so strict).

When it was finally 7pm, the girls came out and we could hear fans near the front of the line screaming. The line started moving and I felt my heart suddenly racing. The SONEs in front of me were aware that I was silent and asked if I was nervous and if I was going to freak out in front of them. I told them, “I’m nervous. I don’t know if I’m going to stay calm or not” because honestly, at that moment, I really felt like I might just stay speechless. They told me, “I don’t think you will. Everyone says they’ll stay calm, but they end up freaking out.”

The line started moving again and this time, we could kinda see the girls sitting at the table from where we were. I didn’t have my glasses on and I’m short as Sunny so I couldn’t see anything. I just started snapping pictures in the air hoping to get something (sorry if they’re blurry).

Then the line moved up again and I could get a glimpse of the table, but it was still blurry for me. I was about to take a picture, but the staff told me to put away my camera. By the time I put my camera away, they have let the people in front of me walk to the table and I was stopped by this dude (I don’t know if he was a Best Buy staff, but he looked like a security guard to me with his suit–he’s the one in the above picture). I looked in front of me and it was the first time I could see Tiffany sitting there clearly. I couldn’t help but start squealing, “Oh my god ooooooh my god.” (If you don’t know me, I have a squeaky hi-pitch voice). The security guard standing with me heard me and copied me fangirling…just to mock me. Then he asked, “excited huh?” and I was like “YEAA!”. He then told me I could go now so I walked up a few inches before the girls’ manager stopped me again for a bit and then signaled me to go ahead. Another staff/security guard standing near the table told me to put my booklet down so I did. I couldn’t believe when I looked up, Tiffany’s face was a few inches away from me. SHE IS SOOOOOOOO PRETTY. She said “Hii!” and I said “Hi” back to her.

We were supposed to put the booklet faced up, but I thought the front was too busy with all the details. I didn’t want them to sign over their faces so I put my booklet faced down, which had more space to sign. Tiffany saw and asked, “Do you want me to sign the back?” and I stayed speechless for a few seconds before I replied, “Yes please.” She started signing my booklet. I wanted to say something to her, but I couldn’t get myself to do it because I didn’t want to get in trouble. When she finished signing, she looked up, smiled, and said “thank you for coming” before she passed the booklet down the table. I thanked her and moved down and realized I was now standing in front of Hyoyeon. She was smiling and it looked like an “eye smile”. She said, “Hai” (Her ‘Hi’ was very unique and choding-like). I said “Hi” back. She signed my booklet and said “thank you for coming” before passing my booklet down. I thanked her and moved down again and this time, I was standing in front of Sooyoung. She said “Hi”. I said “Hi” back. She signed and said, “thank you for coming.” I thanked her and looked over to a bit to the left at the next person who was leaning toward Sooyoung’s side with her elbow. I realized that it was Yoona and because she was leaning toward Sooyoung’s side, she was really close from where I was. I don’t know how it happened, but I let out a squeal. I squealed, “OOOH MY GOD. You’re so pretty.” She heard me and chuckled while she signed my booklet. I looked at the female staff behind her and she was smiling at me so I smiled back. I looked down and Yoona had already finished signing. She said, “thank you for coming” and I said, “Thank you”. I moved down again and I was looking for Taeyeon (my bias) down the table because I wanted to see how far I was from her and prepare myself. I saw that Taeyeon had her hair tied up. She was glowing. When I turned back, the member in front of me had just finished signing my booklet and she was looking up at the time I was turning back to her. I saw her face for the first time and in my head, I thought, “She looks like a human doll.” It took me a bit to realize that it was maknae. I stepped back a few inches and covered my mouth and looked left to right at the girls sitting at the table. I squealed to myself because it was so surreal. I stepped forward again and Seohyun smiled. She said, “thank you for coming.” I thanked her and moved down. I was now facing Sunny. Sunny said “Hii” to me and she gave me an eye smile with her nose a little scrunched up (if you don’t know what I mean, her smile looked like this). I said “Hi” back. She signed and thanked me for coming. I knew who was next. It was Taeng. She looked at me and said, “Haii.” I said “Hiii” back nervously. She really looked like a goddess in real life especially with her blonde hair. She faced down and started signing my booklet and while she was signing, I was contemplating whether to ask her for a handshake or not. I decided to muster up all my courage and ask because I might not get this chance ever again. When she was still signing, I asked, “Can….can I shake your hand?” and I was surprised because she answered “Suree” almost immediately. (HER ENGLISH IS SOOOOO CUTE). I watched her finish signing. She then put her sharpie down and put her hand out for a handshake. I quickly brought my hand out and shook her hand. When I let go, I couldn’t help but spazz in front of her. I squealed, “Ooh my god. You’re soo pretty Oh my god.” She saw me spazz  and she let out a short ahjumma laugh. I almost died on the spot. She said, “thank you for coming” and I said “thank you” and moved down again. Now I was in front of Yuri and she was the last member at the table (Jessica wasn’t there. She flew back to Korea already). She said “Hi” while smiling. I said “Hi” back. I watched her sign my booklet. When she finished, she smiled again and said “thank you for coming.” I thanked her and walked out of the signing area. I followed the SONEs in front of me toward the escalators, but I stopped a bit to look back at the girls. I wanted to take my camera out and take a quick picture, but the staff told us we had to keep walking toward the exit.

When I got outside, there was a crowd both on the left and right side of the entrance. I saw Eric and came to him. I showed him my autograph and told him that I got to shake Taeyeon’s hand and he was happy for me. We were going to head back, but I asked him if we could line up again because there was a ‘maybe’ line for people who didn’t have wristbands, but could get a chance to see the girls if time permitted. I wanted him to get the chance to see the girls. I felt bad that I was the only one who got to see them when he was the one who got the wristband. So we walked to the back of the line and waited. After 8 minutes, the Best Buy staffs came and said the event was over. There was no point in waiting.

Eric and I decided to head home then. We were walking towards the back side where it wasn’t busy to catch a taxi but as we were walking, we saw the girls’ giant bus parked on the side of the street. Fans were taking pictures in front of the bus and I wanted to take one, but before I knew it, everyone started crowding around the bus.

We followed the crowd towards the front of the bus because we knew the girls were going to come out and get on the bus to leave soon. As time went on, more people started coming to the bus and we were blocking up the street. The NYPD came and pushed everyone on the street toward the sidewalk that was already crowded. It was crazy. People around me pushing me back and forth and stepping on my Uggs :[ but it was ok if I got to see them again. After a while, the girls finally came out. They stepped onto the bus. They came on the bus in this order–Yuri (she made a heart to us), Taeyeon (she blew a kiss and waved), Tiffany, Sooyoung (she blew kisses and made a heart), Sunny, Hyoyeon, Yoona, and Seohyun.

We saw that Hyoyeon and Tiffany came back to the front of the bus to take pictures of fans crowded in front of the bus with their phones. I was able to get a fancam, but it’s REALLY SHAKY because people around me were pushing a lot. Then the bus took off.

The fansign is a memory I’ll never forget. I can’t I got to see them face to face and get their autographs. I can’t believe I got to shake Taeyeon’s hand and hear her ahjumma laugh in person either. I’m excited for their US debut. I never thought a day like this would come. I hope they’ll be back in the US again soon.

P.S. I want to thank my boyfriend for the BEST ANNIVERSARY GIFT ever ❤ If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be able to attend the fansign.

Credits: as tagged, smtown@facebook, ferrerorocher9@SNSDKorean.com