Omaze/How I Met Your Mother Experience/Los Angeles Trip (Part 1)
Everyone knows that I'm a big HIMYM fan. I discovered the show when my cousin Avinash couldn't stop talking about it after watching the first season and I ended up checking it out. Boom. I was done. The friendship between Ted, Robin, Barney, Lily and Marshall, the flashbacks/flashforwards, the continuity, the laugh-out-loud moments, the different codes/laws, and as the show achieved success, the chemistry between the main cast, the behind the scenes tidbits, the ridiculously funny bloopers of seasons 1-3, the guest stars (BRITNEY FREAKING SPEARS, ENRIQUE IGLESIAS), etc all quickly made HIMYM my favourite TV show along with House MD and Lost.
It's a good thing everyone knows that I love HIMYM. I woke up on 19th October to a tweet from my friend Gretchen @gretchtenebro, "Hey did you see Cobie's tweet?"
Wanna hang with me & the rest of the #HIMYM gang? Check out this opportunity to visit set & support the arts: bit.ly/HIMYM4Arts
- Cobie Smulders (@CobieSmulders) October 19, 2012
I usually donate about $10 every month to some international charity, so I didn't think twice and just went ahead and donated.
The possibility of even winning didn't occur to me. I mean, middle-class girl from Mauritius winning a trip to LA? Riiiight. So imagine my surprise when I got an email on Wednesday 7th November from Matt Pohlson, co-creator of Omaze, saying "Hello Roubeena - Congratulations! You've been drawn as one of 10 finalists for Omaze's "How I Met Your Mother" experience. Would you be available tomorrow from 9am - 12pm PST for a 10 minute phone or skype call to confirm eligibility?"
I said that I was happy and looking forward to talking to them. Then the next night (Thursday 8th November) at 10 pm, Matt Pohlson and Ryan Cummins from Omaze skyped with me. They asked me about myself, Mauritius, how I had found out about this competition/donation thing, what I like about HIMYM, etc.. We talked for about 15 minutes and then they asked me standard questions like, "Do you have a passport? Have you travelled abroad before? Are you of legal age in your country?" And I said yes. Then, there was a moment of silence and I thought they were gonna say, you know, "nice talking to you and we'll let you know later if you've won..........."
Matt and Ryan actually said "Okay Roubeena. It was really nice talking to you. So we're very happy to tell you..YOU'VE WON! Congratulations!" I couldn't believe it. Then they asked if I would be available in January to come to LA (OF COURSE YES) and they said they would follow up with an email with all the details in a few days. And then we logged out and I couldn't believe it!!!
There were a lot of flailing and squeeing with my friends on Twitter (Anita and Gretchen) and my irl friends (Anisha and Yeshma) the following morning despite the fact that nothing was confirmed. (Sorry Anita and Gretchen for having gone to bed and leaving you to wonder if I had indeed won. Your hilarious tweets telling me to freaking wake up still crack me up XD). It might as well been a scam, a prank. So I tried not to get too excited in case nothing materialised, writing up my thesis and just eyeing the emails I would get from Ali from Omaze with cautious excitement.
The day I first started to dream of LA was when Ali sent me the confirmation of the booking for the flights on the 5th of December. And when I went to the US Embassy for my Visa interview and I got my Visa on the 12th of December, that's when I knew. I was going to LA!!!!!
End note: $10 i.e. Rs 321.94 got me to Hollywood, ppl. I still can't believe it.
P.S. I'll never be able to thank you enough, Gretch. <3
It's a good thing everyone knows that I love HIMYM. I woke up on 19th October to a tweet from my friend Gretchen @gretchtenebro, "Hey did you see Cobie's tweet?"
Wanna hang with me & the rest of the #HIMYM gang? Check out this opportunity to visit set & support the arts: bit.ly/HIMYM4Arts
- Cobie Smulders (@CobieSmulders) October 19, 2012
I usually donate about $10 every month to some international charity, so I didn't think twice and just went ahead and donated.
The possibility of even winning didn't occur to me. I mean, middle-class girl from Mauritius winning a trip to LA? Riiiight. So imagine my surprise when I got an email on Wednesday 7th November from Matt Pohlson, co-creator of Omaze, saying "Hello Roubeena - Congratulations! You've been drawn as one of 10 finalists for Omaze's "How I Met Your Mother" experience. Would you be available tomorrow from 9am - 12pm PST for a 10 minute phone or skype call to confirm eligibility?"
I said that I was happy and looking forward to talking to them. Then the next night (Thursday 8th November) at 10 pm, Matt Pohlson and Ryan Cummins from Omaze skyped with me. They asked me about myself, Mauritius, how I had found out about this competition/donation thing, what I like about HIMYM, etc.. We talked for about 15 minutes and then they asked me standard questions like, "Do you have a passport? Have you travelled abroad before? Are you of legal age in your country?" And I said yes. Then, there was a moment of silence and I thought they were gonna say, you know, "nice talking to you and we'll let you know later if you've won..........."
Matt and Ryan actually said "Okay Roubeena. It was really nice talking to you. So we're very happy to tell you..YOU'VE WON! Congratulations!" I couldn't believe it. Then they asked if I would be available in January to come to LA (OF COURSE YES) and they said they would follow up with an email with all the details in a few days. And then we logged out and I couldn't believe it!!!
There were a lot of flailing and squeeing with my friends on Twitter (Anita and Gretchen) and my irl friends (Anisha and Yeshma) the following morning despite the fact that nothing was confirmed. (Sorry Anita and Gretchen for having gone to bed and leaving you to wonder if I had indeed won. Your hilarious tweets telling me to freaking wake up still crack me up XD). It might as well been a scam, a prank. So I tried not to get too excited in case nothing materialised, writing up my thesis and just eyeing the emails I would get from Ali from Omaze with cautious excitement.
The day I first started to dream of LA was when Ali sent me the confirmation of the booking for the flights on the 5th of December. And when I went to the US Embassy for my Visa interview and I got my Visa on the 12th of December, that's when I knew. I was going to LA!!!!!
End note: $10 i.e. Rs 321.94 got me to Hollywood, ppl. I still can't believe it.
P.S. I'll never be able to thank you enough, Gretch. <3