18 December 2003
We met the lads 18th December in Haarlem, which was so cool! I won a competition which was held by a music channel. The price was to meet and to 'interview' Westlife. So on Tuesday I came home from school and my mum was like "You need to call a mobile number, it's urgent!" So I was like 'WTF?' So I called the number and the guy told me I'd won the competition and was going to meet Westlife 2 days later! I was screaming and walking up and down the living room of excitement! I was like "Oh my god, oh my god!" and totally shaking afterwards! I called Sandra, who couldn't believe it either and we were sooo excited and nervous! We had to think of several questions for the interview, which was so hard, cause we wanted to pick good ones. Well I know this isn't what you want to read, so I'll skip it.
THE day, we were nervous and I was like "Oh my god San, it's gonna happen today, am I dreaming?! Pinch me" The day passed and we couldn't eat much. I was dying of the nerves, I went to the toilet like 3 times in 10 minutes time. We went to the bus station at 5.40 PM and we were like half an hour early! But we didn't care! All these VIPs were running around. We saw the most arrogant Idols contestant - he's no.2 in the first Dutch Idols verion, Jim. Romeo (a Dutch R&B band), the presenter of the show which was recorded, some VJ's. While we were waiting we saw Bryan appear at a door, and we were like 'Oh my god, that's Bryan' We kept staring at him till he disappeared lol. Then like 5 mins. later all the boys walked passed us, we could have touched them, so close they were! I was like 'Oh my.. they look gorgeous!' And didn't dare to look up at them lol. When Shane and Bryan passed we heard Shane say: "That's excellent". God knows what that was about!
They went upstairs for an interview for RTL Boulevard, and after that it was our turn. We were waiting and all my nerves faded away! I was kind of calm and then the TMF people told us to go in, so so we did. And I was like: 'Oh my god, there they are!' They were all talking and they didn't even notice we came in, I think. Cause Bryan was smoking a cigarette and putting the ash on the carpet lol. Mark was waiting at the door to greet us! Then they were all like "Hi, how are ya, nice to meet ya" and we shook hands. I put down my bag and coat and we were like 'What's gonna happen now' They all sat on 2 sofas and then I heard Mark ask "Where are you from? Amsterdam?" But I didn't understand it clearly, because the others were all talking loud and the TMF crew was setting up the camera etc. So I was like "Huh? Sorry?" So he repeated it and I was like "No, we're from Haarlem. I live like 10-15 mins from here." And he looked at me in disbelieve "Haarlem?", so funny. Then he said, smiling: "Cool!"
So we were waiting for TMF to tell us what to do.. then they sat Sylvie between Bryan and Shane (how jealous was I) and I thought: 'Great, what about us?' Then they told us to sit down somewhere next to them on the sofas, so Mark was making this gesture - come and sit here. So I sat down next to him on the end of the sofa and San sat down between Mark and Nicky.
Then Mark began talking to me like "Have you seen the tour?"
Me: "Yeah"
Mark: "Cool - how many shows have you seen?"
Me: "3, we went each year" He seemed surprised lol. Then he asked which one we liked most, so I said this years.
Mark: "Oh that's cool!" And he was looking at Shane I think. I told Mark we got our tickets for next year and he was like "Really?!" then Shane asked when they would be in Holland: "Beginning of June ain't it? 4th June?", so I was like "Yeah 4th June" You saw him thinking hehe. Then he and Mark were talking to each other, about July, I think Mark thought it was in July, haha.
Then the crew was like "Are you ready? Sylvie, ready? Go!" Before the interview started Sylvie told me to ask them something about Holland, so I asked this boring question: "What do ya think of Holland?" So Nicky was dominating the conversation immediately, as usual. He was talking about how friendly Dutch people are and how they love to come back to Holland. Then Shane was like "Yeah we come back to Holland like 5-6 times a year" So I was thinking "Ehm… Filan you wish! It's only twice if we're lucky" And Bryan's weirdest dream was weirddddd lol. And Shane told us some exclusive things about the wedding, so sweet, you saw this huge smile on his face when he was talking about it! And we got some exclusives about the new video… which is gonna be so cool! And we know the truth about Kian proposing to Jodi. But as soon as it came as soon as it was over, so we had to say our goodbyes, we wished them all a Merry Christmas, they thanked us etc. I gave Shane a pic of me holding the banner I took with me with this years tour, and he said he recognized it!
But then the word photo popped into my mind, we didn't have a pic taken, so I asked the TMF guy and we could have a group pic taken. Which I was kinda disappointed about, cause he told us to take our camera with us to take pics etc, but at the end we had just 4 similar group pics! Anyway, can't complain now, can I? And we forgot to give the lads out website link, which they really wanted to have. But the record company would let them know, I called them the day after.
But that's it… these were the most interesting bits… but my conclusion is: Mark is such a sweetheart!