Third Times a Charm

I will admit it. I took my not first, not second, but third trip to Covington, Ga., in attempts to see any cast member of The Vampire Diaries. AND... it paid off!!! I cannot even begin to explain the experience that I had. In simpliest terms - it was a good one!

It was Thursday afternoon when I discovered that filming was scheduled for the Season 2 finale that day and the following day. Since I do not live in or near Covington, it was a waste to try and go on that day. I made plans to go the next day. A Friday. I knew the time schedule from my cousin and the Internet. I got there when they were scheduled to start, but they did not start until a few hours later. And I knew it was filming until the early morning hours of the Saturday. Because of my long drive, I could only stay so long. Trust me though, I stayed long enough to get the experience in! Basically everyone there watching lives in that town or beside it, so they did not have to worry about the lateness.

The first thing I saw was the town square decorated with equipment, a large screen and Hawaiian tables. I am assuming that it is going to be a Founder's Day event, because almost every episode involves some Founder's Day event. Anyway, I then got to watch my first scene being filmed! I have never seen a television show being filmed live before. It is fascinating to me! They were filming outside of the court house, which is home to Sheriff Forbes' office, and she is played by Marguerite MacIntyre. She was the first cast member that I saw that day. I saw her enter the court house and leave several hours later. From that moment on, I knew I was going to have a great day!

In between her appearances, I also got to see Carol Lockwood, and she is played by Susan Walters. Although her outfit called for heels, she opted for some slippers when walking outside. Smart. It was just a little bit later that I saw Elena Gilbert herself, played by Nina Dobrev. She came walking up on the sidewalk out of no where! All of the on-lookers were preoccupied with watching the filming that no one noticed her walking around until she was on the set. She actually looks exactly like she does on the show. Usually, to me anyway, people look different in person. She basically has perfect hair and is gorgeous! Her outfit was very casual with converse tennis shoes. Awesome!

I saw another girl in the same clothes and realized that it was her stunt double. They gave her a wig to wear so from far away, in the dark, I had no idea who was who. I do not want to give anything away because the show is still a few episodes from the finale, but there was a bit of stunt work that we got to watch them do, but it looked to me like Nina wound up doing it all and they did not use the double. Nina even bowed to all of us fans when she was over because we were all clapping. She is really a fun girl. I am bad at associating people with their characters, and Elena is sort of un-fun sometimes, but Nina is as energetic as the bunny! She was skipping around on set instead of walking and having a good time. I got to see her a ton throughout the day.

It was when the white van pulled by us on-lookers that the set went from "Quiet. Rolling" to "Ahhhhhhh!!!!!" Ian Somerhalder had just arrived. He was a good sport and was waving to all of us (and there were a few hundred of us fans at one point). He was joking around with us telling us to be quiet because they were trying to film, but he took some pictures with little kids who were allowed to approach him. I wish I was a "privlidged fan." I guess those fans knew the right people. He was so sweet with them giving them hugs. And honestly, I could have sworn that we made eye contact for a few seconds. Maybe that was because I am three feet taller than all of the little girls that were around me. Yep, I am that girl. He really is flawless. Well, I wish he was taller. There, I said it. His one flaw. But he really is gorgeous!! And he was dressed in all black. Typical Damon. Cough cough, Team Damon, cough cough.

As the day was turning into night/early morning, I saw several extras come and film with them. When they film scenes, they have to do it several times in a row. It is amazing how two minutes on screen takes about two hours to film. Oh, and one of my favorite parts of the night... Ian Somerhalder waved at me specifically! Seriously! The crew and security was having to move all of the fans to a new spot and no one was paying attention. Ian stepped out of his tent and at this point, it was pitch black and he was in all black, but I saw him. Thank you to my eyes and my ability to see in the dark! I was in front of everyone, so I took that opportunity to wave (probably a little bit more enthusiastically than I intended) and he waved back and smiled. It was a good wave, too. Not a puny little wrist turn. I turned around to see if anyone was watching or waving, and no one was! Yay me! I mostly stuck with some new friends that I met that day for the whole day and one of the girls saw the wave and then joined in also. So thank you Ian! We interpreted that wave as a whole lot more than what it actually was. We serve as each other's wave witnesses!

There are several details that I want to share, but I do not want to spoil anything for anybody that watches the show. My camera did not take the best of pictures either. We could not have our flashes on, so I knew that my camera had no hope. But I will always have this memory in my mind. I cannot wait to see the finale play and recognize which scenes I was there to witness. I am so happy that my third try worked!