By JONAS MILLER
Features Editor
It is every teenager’s dream to meet their idol, and for Saint Rose sophomore Alanna Anuszewski, that dream recently turned into reality.
Earlier this month at a concert in Toronto, Anuszewski was given the opportunity to meet the one and only Taylor Swift.
It started out as a normal night for Anuszewski and her two friends, as they arrived to the concert dressed head-to-toe in white string lights and Swift-inspired outfits. They took their spots in the ever-coveted pit area directly in front of the stage.
“We stayed toward the back because we wanted more room to dance,” Anuszewski said.
As the concert rolled along, Swift rocked out, and so did the trio of friends who had traveled more than seven hours to see their favorite artist. Although they were aware that the area directly behind them was where Taylor’s mom, often referred to as “Mama Swift,” and other celebrities often reside, Anuszewski and her friends tried their best to ignore the possible stardom.
“We saw her, but we tried to stay calm,” Anuszewski said. “We didn’t want to get our hopes up.”
Mama Swift is often the one at concerts who pulls people from the crowd and invite them to Swift’s 1989 Loft, a backstage, after-show meet and greet.
“During “We are never Ever Getting Back Together” I turned around and she was looking at us,” Anuszewski said. “She smiled at us; I was going absolutely crazy.”
Towards the end of the song, Anuszewski felt a hand on her shoulder; it was Mama Swift.
“Have you guys ever met Taylor?” she asked.
The group of friends replied with a no.
The next words out of Mama Swift’s mouth brought immediate tears to Anuszewski’s eyes, as she asked the trio if they would like to meet Taylor after the show.
“I’ve never cried or hugged my friends that much,” Anuszewski said.
She recalls everyone in the surrounding section being overjoyed for her and her friends. A stranger even handed her a guitar pick he had previously received from Swift.
Anuszewski and her friends patiently waited for the rest of the show to end, the proceeded to go to the section in which they were told to meet in at the end of the performance.
Instructions were given by the people in charge, and the group was given personal information forms to fill out. No phones were to be used and no pictures were allowed as they traveled through the back stage area.
After 15 minutes, Swift arrived, and the fans were once again told to put their phones away.
“It was like hanging out with an old friend,” Anuszewski said of her time with Swift. “You could tell she really wanted to be meeting everyone there.”
“She gave us all hugs, and we talked for about eight minutes. The she signed all of our stuff; she was so nice about everything.”
Anuszewski and her best friend Sarah had come prepared with a pen and paper, so that Swift could write out something for them to get tattooed onto their bodies.
“I only wanted it if she wrote it out for me,” Anuszewski said of her soon-to-be fifth tattoo.
While her friend got the word “Enchanted,” a popular Swift throwback, on her shoulder, the friends both got a heart on their ankles, and Anuszewski got a short lyric from one of Swift’s songs on her rib cage.
She remembers Swift being worried about her handwriting.
“She said, ‘Does it have to be neat?’” Anuszewski recalls. “I don’t think she heard a word we said while she was writing because she was concentrating so hard.”
Little did the best friends know the story of the pop star writing out tattoos for them would go as viral as they could have ever dreamed.
The two were written about in their home town newspaper, the Glens Falls Chronicle, along with the Times Union in Albany. Those alone would be a big deal if the two hadn’t also been written about on the Seventeen Magazine website, and on Perez Hilton’s personal website, by Hilton himself.
Hilton also tweeted a photo of the trio of friends with Swift on his personal twitter, a tweet that was eventually favorited by Swift herself.
“It’s just so cool that she saw our photo and favorited it,” Anuszewski said.
That night in Toronto was Anuszewski’s fourth visit to the 1989 World tour, with her fifth coming the very next night, although she attended that concert alone, and it did not end as magically as the previous night had.
During her five Swift shows, Anuszewski saw special guests such as Keith Urban, Nick Jonas, Olivia Benson, and Charlie XCX.
Anuszewski is trying not to let everything go to her head, but still can’t believe she got to live out one of her “Wildest Dreams.”
When asked if she felt famous, Anuszewski joked, “I’m basically a member of Taylor Swift’s squad now, let’s be honest.”
