Dallas Fan Days has come and gone; it was my first Comic-con-related event, and the experience of a lifetime.

I attended Fan Days on Sunday at the Irving Convention Center. I definitely plan to attend a future Comic-con event, and next time I will be much better prepared.

The ratio of money you have to spend on stuff versus money you wish you could spend on stuff is insane. I brought $40 in hopes of getting new comic books and artworks signed by artists and it took two measly hours for it to disappear. After I bought everything, I kept running up to booths and looking at more great artwork and Funko POP! figurines thinking to myself, “Should I spend the rest of my savings on this?” But when you have to pay for your college education that is not an option.

The artwork is unreal. So many artists are there and creating or selling incredible artworks of all types of things. One group of artists created framed artwork of comic book characters with the frame designed to look like that same character or group of characters. Even though each artist recreated similar characters, each artist’s depiction was so different and interesting that it was hard to decide which artist you wanted to buy from. The artists that interested me the most were ones that had characters that weren’t constantly recreated, like characters from the video game Bioshock or characters from old Tim Burton or Guillermo Del Toro films.

Even though I didn’t attend a lot of Q&As done by famous actors, I was able to head to the fourth floor of the convention center to sneak a quick glimpse of all the famous actors. Mick Foley, a WWE superstar and current general manager of its RAW division, and Matthew Lewis, who plays Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter movie franchise, were the two stars I wanted to see or meet the most. I never got to see Lewis, but I did see Mick Foley. And let me tell you, it was the hardest thing ever to tackle him in a giant bear hug. Since I couldn’t afford a meet and greet, I kinda stood to the side and basked in his presence.

The worst part of my experience was how crowded the place was. With more than 20,000 fans in attendance, you can feel a little lost in the crowd at times. Just trying to trudge through that crowd made me feel like I was black Friday shopping and having to throw elbows. It’s a good thing no one played random heavy metal, because that would be a killer mosh pit. Even though at times you felt like you had to push through the crowd, most people were super polite and apologetic if you ran into them.

I was exhausted from working the night before and had very little food in me, so I felt a little out of it. But all in all, I had a great time and I am extremely well prepared for my next Comic-con event.