By Staff Writer: Alexis Klask

After waiting for an accumulative 53 hours, student Shannon Lopez and I met Sam Claflin (Finnick), Jena Malone (Johanna), Bruno Gunn (Brutus), and Meta Golding (Enobaria) at the Mall of America, located in Minnesota.

This year, cast members of Catching Fire traveled to four different locations including Philadelphia, Miami, Minneapolis, and Houston over the course of four days. Each visit has a question and answer session in which fans were able to write down questions in hopes that they would be answered, as well as a meet and greet for a certain amount of people which depended on each location.

Lopez and I have done this before when we met six members of the cast from the first installment, The Hunger Games, at the same place, on March 8, 2012. Both times we had to wait outside until 5 a.m. on the day of the event in order to receive a wristband to meet the cast.

This event that we just so recently attended took place on November 5th, at 5:30 pm beginning with the question and answer portion.

I was fortunate enough to have my question picked that it was meant for Malone saying, “When you auditioned, did you originally want to play the role of Johanna?”

When the questioner asked Malone, he said the name Johanna wrong by saying “YoHanna,”

“First and foremost it’s not ‘YoHanna’, it’s Johanna! Jo-han-na Mason. I know there’s been a lot of speculation on how to pronounce it, but it’s Johanna,” Malone said.

Other questions for the cast included some for Claflin. For instance, “Is it weird to see your face on items other than T-shirts?” Another was a question for the whole cast: “Out of all you four, who do you think would win the hunger games?”

Shannon and I were second and fourth in line which is an accomplishment in my eyes. We have gotten the remark that we have an obsession with the books, and when that is said we simply reply, “It’s not an obsession. It’s a lifestyle.”

If I were to be asked why I love the books so much I would say, “I just really enjoy how well written they are. On top of that, the actors are absolutely perfect which is why if I have an opportunity to meet them, of course, I’m going to do it.”

“Meeting them meant the world to me. I look up to all of these wonderful people so much, and meeting them is such an honor,” Lopez says.