People dream about one day meeting an actor from their favorite TV show. Would they be anything like their character? Is the actor nice? Do they look different in person? All of these questions were answered for senior Victoria Aragno when she met cast members from The Walking Dead at a Comic Con in New Jersey.

Tide Lines Editor-in-Chief Abbey Kostyal sat down with Aragno to discuss all the details of this monumental encounter.

AK: Why did you go to Comic Con?

Aragno: ”Well, actually, it was for my birthday present. It happened to be the week before my birthday, and I was in New Jersey at the time. It was one of the last days during the weekend, so my dad took me.”

AK: Did you go specifically to meet the cast of The Walking Dead?

Aragno: ”It was mostly because my favorite actors were there. My favorite one of all was Norman Reedus who plays Daryl Dixon, and I actually got a picture with him with my dad. I got a pair of shoes there that had the characters on it.”

AK: What was it like to meet Norman Reedus?

Aragno: ”It was pretty cool. I was all flustered. Originally, I was going to get in line for an autograph from him, but he had to go to get pictures taken.”

AK: Are you planning on going to Comic Con next year?

Aragno: ”I’m hoping so, yes.”

AK: Is there anyone specifically that you want to meet next year?

Aragno: ”Chandler Riggs, who plays Carl on The Walking Dead. He is Rick Grimes’s son. So I want to try to meet him.”

AK: Was there anyone else you met that day?

Victoria Aragno: ”I met Hershel from The Walking Dead. He walked past my dad and I and said hi to us.”

AK: Did anything else exciting happen while you were there?

Aragno: ”I actually saw someone there dressed up as Deadpool with a cowboy hat on. I saw handcrafted swords there; they had fake ones and real ones from certain animes, certain shows, or certain games as well. I got two shirts there. It was pretty neat; there was a little section where you can go in and feel like you’re in [the world of] The Walking Dead. It was a dark room with zombies – people with makeup on – hiding to scare you.”

AK: What was your overall favorite part of your whole Comic Con experience?

Aragno: ”My favorite part has to be when I was waiting in line to get a picture with Norman Reedus. It was the first time I not only met one of my favorite actors, but it was the first time I went and got a picture with an actual celebrity. It was definitely on my bucket list for awhile.”