Hi guys !

Here’s the English translation of what I wrote in French, so that anyone in Team Hoomans can read it.

Last week, I was talking about how I met Arjun Gupta & Olivia Talyor Dudley (should I translate that too?) and I laughed about the fact that I also met Felicia Day back in 2014. This week, she joined The Magicians so I figured it was time for me to write a bit more about Felicia Day, even though I talk about her a lot.

Let’s go back in 2014, in June – four years ago, yes. I was following Felicia Day on Youtube for at least two years on a day-to-day basis, and I knew about her for like six years. That was just enough to have talk about her & her jobs to literamly everyone I knew, including my best friend of the time. He decided to write down « Meet Felicia Day » as one of the thing I should do before my death (a list he offered me at my 21st birthday, February 2014). It was supposed to be one of the hardest thing to do. Ironically, this was one of the first I did!

When I discovered on Facebook that Felicia Day was coming in Paris, I just stopped everything I was doing that day and almost immediately figured out I’d have to find money somehow because meeting her would cost me way too much.

Furthermore, she was going to be in Le Dernier bar avant la fin du monde (yup, the last bar before the end of the world – it opened in 2012) and I had never been there yet (well, things changed. A lot.). I wanted to go since a lot of my friends told me about it: a geek bar in Paris. Inviting my favorite actress. Of course, I wanted to go. She came to Paris at the end of June, which was perfect: I was a student and it was the beginning of my summer holidays. My only problem was that the meeting was on the day I was supposed to move from Versailles (where my school was) to my parents’ house. That wasn’t really a problem for long – I just changed my whole schedule because that’s what you do, right?

On the D-Day, I took my train tickets and went to Châtelet (it’s in the center of Paris and I wasn’t used to go there – again, things changed a lot). Even if I was kind of lost, I managed to get to the Dernier Bar an hour before the meeting. Happy to be there, I held the door for two girls I didn’t know, and they took… the last two tickets for the meet & greet. What? What do you mean the last two? We need tickets? I DON’T HAVE ONE BECAUSE THAT WAS THE LAST ONE? COME AND FIGHT ME…

Just kidding, I just ordered a Coke (I was so pure and innocent back then – or I just wanted to be sober to understand her) and decided to wait for the book club two hours later. Because yes, she was also doing a public book club that day. Still, I understood all the shit they said about karma was totally wrong – the lesson was clear: never hold the door again to anyone.

As I was silently drinking my Coke (well, to be fair, Le Dernier bar had the amazing idea to put the soundtrack from Buffy’s « Once more with feeling »), a girl I barely knew from a party I had a week before recognized me and talked to me. Yes, Le Dernier Bar is a good place to come across friendly people.

She wasn’t here alone but before joining her friends to play some video games in the underground room (again, best bar in Paris), she told me she didn’t know Felicia Day but hey, she talked to her a bit the day before because Felicia was there and talking to everyone, spending some time in the bar (BEST. BAR. IN. PARIS.). Yes, go ahead girl, just dig my grave, I won’t say anything.

Luckily for me, someone working at the Dernier Bar knowing about my sad, sad situation came to me (and some others waiting for the book club because, just like me, they didn’t think there was obviously going to be tickets) and told me Felicia was OK to do some extra signatures. So, I was one of the last to have the opportunity to meet her, but I was going to meet her (aka just listen to the karma bullshit and hold the door).

Downstairs, I had the chance to spot her and the moment I saw her, I felt stressed. Quite a lot to be honest. Of course I have something for her to sign, but it is also the moment I realise I have never spoken to any English native in my whole damn life (it was about time, right?). Furthermore, the only famous person I talked to in my life was a French actress – Valérie Bonneton that I met by pure chance in a station. My point is : what was I going to say? Don’t get me wrong, I really like Valérie Bonneton, but she’s no Felicia Day – I just admire Felicia Day. Here I was, fearing the moment I was expecting for. I didn’t want to stutter – especially since I was (and still am) painfully self-conscious about my French accent. By chance it didn’t happen that day (I can’t say the same for the day I met Eric Balfour in Comic Con Paris, poor him).

It’s finally my turn to talk to Felicia Day. Someone working for Le Dernier Bar grab my phone to take a looooot of pictures (thank you very much) and… all went well. To be honest, Felicia Day is as charismatic and full of goodwill as in her videos (I miss the Flog, by the way).  She’s the best at small talk – something I wasn’t confortable with yet at the time since we don’t do that a lot with strangers in France, and it’s quite a shame actually -, she asked me where I was coming from, told me she’d love to visit Versailes some day (just come back to France please – we also love babies) and asked me what was the notebook I was carrying about (the one with my bestfriend’s list).

I then showed her her name in the notebook, explaining the best I could the story behind it (I remember now that some in the queue were envious I had something cool to tell her – but I was way too stressed to see it that way then). She was really surprised to see her name in that kind of list, and her cheerfullness was sincere when she hugged me and showed it to the staff. The meeting was quick, but so spontaneous and nice – I had some pictures, her signature on the list and a moment that felt like a looong time even though it was probably just a minute or two. She just knew how to make the moment special with everyone, and that is so cool.

You often hear meeting someone your idols is a bad idea because you realised they’re not that wonderful and not good people. I say people saying that don’t know how to choose their idols: if you’re careful about who you admire, then everything is great.

Felicia Day is a positive and warm actress, she totally ignored how tired & jetlagged she was to talk to more fans, to do an hour long bookclub and then to take some pictures again. And to be clear, I knew she was tired when I asked her for one last group picture with a fan who didn’t have the chance to meet her before the book club and she still accepted to do it.

I know I was a bit pushy asking the last picture (and I feel so sorry now), but she was still happy to do it, she smiled and talked to us a bit before leaving for her nearby hotel. She is so cool ! I can’t wait to see her again in The Magicians !

That’s it, you know everything there is to know about the day I met Felicia Day (even if I didn’t give all of the details). If you have an occasion to meet her, don’t hesitate and go ahead. I’m very happy she was the first « famous » actress  I met (I just love how she described herself in her book regarding her fame). She is really kind. She is really human. Team Hoomans.

Have a wonderful day !

See also: The day I met Chyler Leigh