Before I get into this, I should make one thing clear right off the bat:

I'm a very real, very proud nerd when it comes to books of almost any kind. This article will make that very clear.

Almost a year ago, my mom sent me a link to an upcoming event called NerdCon: Stories. I was intrigued by the name alone and started scrolling through the website. The event was being hosted in Minneapolis (a.k.a. my current living location) and it sounded amazing. The two-day event, put together by John and Hank Green, was full with full lineups of author panels and discussions, signings and special activities. Among the huge list of authors attending were a few of my favorites, and I immediately decided I would go. I needed to go. On a college student budget, the tickets were a bit pricey, but my mom, being a wonderful fellow book nerd, offered to pay half the cost of the tickets for my roommate and I. So we went to NerdCon. And oh goodness, it was heaven on Earth.

Here's how my NerdCon: Stories weekend went down:

Day 1

On Friday, the first day of the conference dawned, and I was jazzed for it all to start. I had to go alone on the first day because my roommate had classes to go to. Still, I was hyped and ran through the schedule the night before to see what I might want to go to. Throughout the day, there were several events running at once. Authors would do Q & As or discussion panels on certain topics, give lectures on aspects of writing, and do signings in the lower level...all at the same time! It was overwhelming.

I signed in, received a tote bag with a schedule in it and went into the main auditorium to watch the morning main stage. If you've never silently fangirled while watching five authors that you love talk about books and play word games, then I highly recommend it. This entire weekend, I could feel the creative genius all around me, and it was amazing. Later that morning, I went to my first author signing and met Stephanie Perkins (she was the nicest, OMG).

Afterward, I went to a Nerdfighter Q & A with John and Hank Green, which was actually even funnier than I expected. They talked about all sorts of random stuff and Hank spent the first ten minutes of the panel sitting backward so he could watch himself on the screen.

Following this, I found some overpriced food and sat down alone at a table to pore over the schedule only to be joined by a huge group of people who worked upstairs and who all grilled me with questions about what this "strange event" going on was.

Later on, I went to another author signing and met Maggie Stiefvater and freaked out for awhile longer. This was a common trend of mine all weekend: go to events, freak out, breathe for a moment, repeat.

My last activity of Day 1 was an extremely fascinating and impactful panel about the benefits of diverse stories. After this, I left a bit early because the loneliness was starting to get to me.

Still, Day 1 was a total success. I was psyched for Day 2.

Day 2

Hooray for Day 2! If Day 1 killed it, Day 2 killed Day 1. And if that analogy didn't make sense, just realize that both days were awesome.

On Day 2 I had a companion! My lovely roommate Ellis joined me so we could freak out together! We went to the Saturday main stage and watched more awesome authors talking about more awesome stuff.

Then, it was time for yet another signing! I met Holly Black, who was super rad and, you guessed it, I freaked out some more. Throughout Saturday, Ellis and I wandered around, shopping in the magical vendor room full of nerdy souvenirs and books, and stopped in at a few different panels as well. We listened to a discussion with the cast of the podcast "Welcome to Night Vale" and another about serial storytelling in the series, graphic novel, or podcast format. It was all super interesting, random and great.

And then, finally, it was the moment I had been waiting for all weekend. I was about to meet one of my all-time favorite authors. Rainbow Rowell was one of the most popular authors at the convention (and for good reason); so, of course her signing was insanely popular. Security (fun-ruining) officers were keeping people herded in one section of a hallway, saying that they'd be starting the line from a random location, so no one knew exactly where to sprint and line up. Then, in a complete miracle, they started the line quite close to us. In an orderly fashion, we charged over and got a spot right at the front of Rainbow's line. I began to panic, because the moment was approaching.

For those of you who don't know, Rainbow Rowell is the incredible author of five books, all of which are amazing. Most peoples' favorites are "Eleanor & Park" and "Fangirl" (do you know who I'm talking about now?). And, of course, since I tend to go against the grain, my favorite of her books, and the one I had to get signed, was "Attachments" (it's amazing, please read it).

When the moment came and I met this gifted wizard, I freaked out more than all the other times combined. I rambled on and on about how obsessed I was with "Attachments," took a picture and wandered off like a dazed, love-struck zombie.

And that was our NerdCon: Stories. We didn't get to do everything or even a fraction of the things, but it was a dream come true nonetheless. To all the other book nerds out there...this is the place to be. You can freak out for 48 straight hours, meet authors and get inspired.

This one goes out to all the other nerds I chatted with that weekend. And Rainbow, if you're reading this, hit me up for some lunch, girl. I'll pull myself together this time.