People from all around the world have been waiting for October for a specific reason. They’ve been anxiously creating elaborate costumes, painting their faces and storing up food, energy and water for the long weekend. If you think I’m talking about Halloween, you are wrong. I am talking about New York Comic Con.

This year I was lucky enough to be able to attend New York Comic Con on Friday and Saturday. Both days provided different experiences for myself, but both were wonderful. Since I am a senior this year, this will probably be my last Comic Con for a while, so on Friday I decided to dress up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast! It wasn’t elaborate or anything. I bought her blue dress from Hot Topic and tied my hair half up, half down. Yes, I know. Not very exciting, but still I loved it!

Personally, I thought this year was a little bland, but I tried to make the most of it. There weren’t a lot of people attending that I liked attending, but there was enough. The Punisher panel, which was the panel I was looking forward to the most for the weekend, was sadly canceled due to the Las Vegas incident and I was crushed. I knew the reason for the cancellation but still, I was so sad that they couldn’t attend.

But what they lacked in panels, they thrived in with costumes. All the cosplay this year was off the hook! People really went all out in their ideas. Each cosplay I saw was more intricate than the last. Between all the variations of Harley Quinn, the cast of Peter Pan and Giselle from Enchanted, I was in awe of everyone. I just couldn’t believe how much time and money people spend on their costumes to make them incredible for just a day.

I think my favorite part of Friday though was walking the floor. When my aunt and I first arrived at Comic Con, we decided to split up. She wanted to go to a panel that she needed to wait on line for and I wanted to meet one of my favorite upcoming authors at a booth. So as I was by myself, I got to walk the floor alone. I loved being able to wander and explore by my lonesome. I felt like I had so much freedom to geek out as much as I wanted (and I did). I wandered into the book section of the floor and immediately I felt like I was in heaven. Comic Con is known for handing out free things at their booths and the publishing booths were handing out free books! I took about three and so many other things they were handing out. When I got home that day there were sores on my arms from all the stuff I didn’t pay for in my backpack.

Eventually I did meet my favorite author. Her name is Sasha Alsberg and it was one of the coolest experiences that I have experienced. She was so nice and very helpful. She gave me advice about young writers and how to get started at my age. We even talked about college for a little. She’s only twenty years old and already has a book coming up to be published. She attended one of the colleges I’m applying to and she sold me on making it one of my top choices!

Saturday, my aunt and I literally spent the entire day inside Hammerstein Ballroom. We wanted to go see The Magicians panel but we wanted a spot up front so we arrived three hours early (I’m not kidding). And let me say, the panels that we were forced to watch were absolutely horrible. The panels we had to sit through we boring, uninteresting, and cringeworthy. I won’t name what they were in case I offend anyone but I was very disappointed with the four panels I had to see.

I will say though it was definitely worth it. The Magicians is a bizarre, crazy, unbelievable sci-fi show on the Syfy channel that is weirdly amazing. The cast was so incredibly funny and raw and so entertaining that I am so glad that I stayed for as long as I did. And I highly recommend The Magicians! Watch it!

Sadly, I didn’t buy a ticket for Sunday but I think Friday and Saturday made up for that day. I seriously had an unexpected wonderful time at New York Comic Con this year and I’m sad that this might be my last one. For the past four years it was a place where I could geek out without being judged by the people around me. It was a place where I could geek out along with people that could geek out with me. I’m sad that it’s over but I’m so happy and grateful that I had this opportunity to explore a whole other world of superheroes, comic books, and whole-hearted geeks.