Sensation White- Belgium in 24 Hours

Knowing my mother somewhat well, I know that she tends to stress about little things. There is nothing wrong with that, but since I do not want to cause her any more stress or anxiety, I have a tendency to do something somewhat dodgy and inform her about it afterwards. For Example? Going skydiving for my 19^th birthday and not telling her until after I had already jumped out of the plane. This, my friends, is one of those stories, so mom- buckle up and enjoy the ride.

The story starts back in January when I get a skype call from my friend Scarlett. Scarlett goes to school with me back at Haverford and is studying this semester in Milan, Italy. In this skype call, she educated me on this concert that was taking place in Belgium in March, This was not any concert- this was Sensation White- a concert that was from 10 PM to 6 AM and consisted of pure house music. In a fit spontaneity, I told her to book my ticket for the concert and got a flight that day to Belgium. In my mindset of “I’m abroad, let’s do everything,” this seemed like a fantastic idea until the day for my departure started to creep up on me.

Mom, remember when I said I was really stressed the last time we skyped? Here are a few reasons:

1.   I booked my ticket to Brussels at 6:50 AM, thinking ‘I’ll have a whole day to spend in Brussels! Perfect!’ and totally forgot that the tube opens at 5:30 AM and that there would be no lick of transportation to the airport.

2.   I have never pulled an all nighter…I am 20-years-old and I have always gone to bed at a decent time. Maybe that is a sign that I need to live a little or a sign that I love sleep too much to give it up.

3.   Not only was I going to be pulling an all-nighter, I will be doing so after waking up at 4 AM to catch a flight, meaning that I will be riding on approximately 4 hours of sleep from the previous night.

4.   I did not book a hostel (this will make sense in the next point), so if I begin to feel sleepy I will have to resort to sleeping on a floor or in a park.

5.   The real kicker is that I booked my returning flight home on Sunday March 18^th at 9:40 AM. The concert ended at 6 AM and was approximately 1.5 hours away from the airport. With the masses of people there, the chances that I did not get on the train and my chances of missing my flight were high.

Let me make this clear: I was flying out March 17^th at 6:50 AM, touring Brussels in the morning, going straight to the concert to dance the night away, and then was booking it back to the airport for my 9:40 AM flight on the 18^th. I booked zero hostels and was only going to be in the country of Belgium for 24 hours.

Note to myself: Try not to be spontaneous next time.

As the day arrived, I had to figure out how I was getting to the airport for my 6:50 AM flight. I knew the tube was out of the question, so I had to explore elsewhere. At first I looked at night buses, but all buses are really unreliable especially since everything is on diversion. In order to be money conscience, I convinced myself I was going to go to the airport via tube the night before my flight and just sleep in the terminal. I ran it by my parents and they thought it sounded fine. Little did they know I would not be sleeping at all the following night. I got anxious about not getting any sleep in the terminal (as I am a light sleeper) and feared my upcoming death at this concert. Tired of my stress ulcers in my mouth, I finally just looked around to taxi services and got a taxi to Heathrow at the cheapest fixed rate possible. I actually found a pretty cheap deal and at 4:30 AM on March 17^th, I left for the mini journey of a lifetime.

In order to ease my stress a little further, I tried to check into my plane for the 18^th, so I did not need to wait in line at the airport and worry about time as much. Well since you can only check in 24 hours before the flight time, I had zero luck. I could not check in online and the sassy blond woman behind the desk at Brussel Airlines could not help me out on the 17^th. I was forced to find some type of wifi in the city and check in there.

I am pretty much OCD about being late, so I forced myself to get to the airport way too early for my flight. The way it works in European airports I’ve found is that after security you sit in a huge waiting room until your terminal pops up on the screen 45 minutes before the flight takes off. So when I got to the airport at 5 AM for my 6:50 AM flight, I had a lot of time to waste.

Something I have learned about traveling alone is that in no way can you fall asleep, as there is no one who will wake you up. I kept on going in and out of sleep while waiting for my terminal assignment. In fear of missing my flight, I forced myself to walk around or read in order to remain awake. This ‘no sleep in fear of missing something’ will be a theme throughout this trip.

My flight to Brussels was literally no more than 45 minutes. I mean…the country is right across the channel. I do not remember much about the flight other than I fell asleep before the flight took off and I woke up when the plane was landed. I did wake up to a nice Belgian waffle waiting for me, which is always a nice touch.

At the airport, I got through customs easily. A fun story is that the American sorority girl at the booth next to me asked the customs guard, ‘What language do you speak here?!’ Did you NOT hear the flight attendants on the plane speak in French?! Fine, I did not expect her to know that the other language was Flemmish, but c’mon…French is French. Also, did she not read up at all on the country?! To finish my rant, she was wearing her sorority letters. I know no one who brought their sorority letters while abroad and if they did, they definitely do not wear them. It just screams- AMERICAN!

I met up with my friend Scarlett and 9 other people from her program. From there, we began the journey into the city of Brussels. The differences between London and Brussels became immediate. The major ones I noted were:

1. Nothing was in English. 
2. Their subway system is literally the most confusing. 

The tube in London is probably the easiest form of transportation any city can provide. There are free maps everywhere, signs plastering the walls with information, and at least 9 ticket booths with people who speak like 4 languages. Well, at the subway stop in Brussels, there was nothing to help us out. We just knew we were taking the subway to Brussels Centraal Station, but knew nothing about actually getting there. After scrambling for 10 minutes on how to actually buy tickets, we finally got in line and made our way onto a train. Thank the lord I had already converted my pounds to Euros, as it just made my life that much easier.

When we got Brussels, we made our way to the Grand Place, which is the center of touristy things. Before, I left for Brussels I made a list of things to see in the city and let me just tell you….there isn’t much. No wonder my grandparents (who have been to the moon and back) have never been to Brussels because it really isn’t worth it. [Sorry to the country and its members] but Brussels is a day trip and no more really. This became clear as the day progressed.

Since our plane arrived early in the morning, the group of us wandered to a somewhat touristy restaurant for breakfast and there I got my Belgian waffle. It was scrumptious and everything I had hoped for. From there, we then found the tourist information and tried to find directions to things. Well, we had to pay for the map and then found out that everything we really wanted to see was like a 40-minute subway ride out of the outskirts of the city. First off, who pays for a map? Secondly, this just proves further that Brussels is the least tourist-friendly city. Paris and London have maps everywhere on the street helping you out to all the sites. Brussels had nothing of the sort and even with the map things were hard to find. For a city that has very little, they do very little to assist the visitor.

Breakfast

Belgian Waffles

Granted, the Grand Place was beautiful and the old part of the city was nice. The first thing we set off to see was the Manneken Pis Statue (which in English means "little man piss"). It was underwhelming, as the statue is only 2 feet tall. He was in a cute outfit though and we learned that he changes it quite often. Later in the day he was going to be changed into a leprechaun outfit in honor of St. Patty’s day. From there, we went to the St. Michael Cathedral. Its exterior reminded me of the Westminster Abbey, but its interior was nowhere near its caliber.

Grand Place

Town Hall in Grand Place

Grand Place

Looks may be deceiving.... 

...since he is only 2 feet tall!

St. Michael's Cathedral with the Waffle Truck. Classic. 

A newer part of Brussels.

After walking around a bit in a park, we went back to Centraal Station to pick up my friend Zach, who had taken the train into Brussels from London a little after me. He was accompanying us to the concert on a last moment impulse. With him, we made our way to probably the best part of the day- Delirium Café. Delirium is actually a type of Belgian beer that is expensive and rare in the states. The café itself was really cool inside and prided itself on serving ‘2000 Beers on tap.’ I chose to get a cup of Delirium Nocturnum and it was absolutely fabulous. It was a dark ale, almost like Guinness, but less bitter. I tried some of a friend’s beer, Delirium Tremens, and once again was blown away. This beer was a light ale and was full of taste. I also tried a Belgian lager called Campus, which once again lived up to expectations. I stole the glass from the bar (oops) since it was actually adorable. The symbol of Delirium is pink elephants and the glass was covered in them! When people say Belgian beer is the best- they are 1,000% correct.

The park we wandered through. 

Potential nap spot for 4 AM? 

Delirium Cafe

Delirium Nocturnem

Never ending beer on tap! 

After beer tasting, we got a cheap lunch at nearby restaurant. Afterwards, we went chocolate tasting, which was a delicious adventure.

I was informed that the mussels were quite good.

Neuhaus chocolate.

One may ask- why did we not see the Atomium statue or go to the EU parliament? The answer is simple- no one could give us a clear directions on getting there and it wasn’t worth the cost. Let’s say we did end up going to parliament. We would spend the 14-euro on the roundtrip ticket, snap 3 pictures, and then head back. Maybe not worth it, especially when traveling in a large pack of Americans, all with different ideas of what they wanted to do. Now…if my parents’ were there with me and paying- that would have been a different story.

I found the city of Brussels….underwhelming. Not to say I did not have fun or that it wasn’t pretty, but like I said- it is a day trip (unless you want to go to all of 50 museums). I would not have wanted to spend more time there. Half the city was old and interesting, while the other half seemed really new and built up. Moreover, it was just hard to get around.

Finishing up the chocolate tasting, we made our way to the train station to catch the train to Haslett. Haslett is a city about 1.2 hours out of Brussels, where the concert was going to take place. People had to wear only white to the concert, so our train was overfilled with half drunk Americans dressed in white going to the same place as us. We tried to get some sleep on the train, but of course it was the loudest thing possible.

White everywhere!

Since we had zero hostels booked, we bummed around in someone else’s hotel room. Most people booked a hotel room for the night to leave their stuff in and sleep in after the concert finished at 6AM. In order to save money, we did not book anything. We found a cheap shawarma place in Haslett, changed into our all white clothing, and hung out until the concert rolled around.

All changed and ready to go...

I began feeling nervous around 9:30 PM since I was literally passing out. Now, how am I supposed to remain awake until 9:40 AM for my flight if I cannot even keep my head up? Well, I banged back a huge red bull and the rest is history…

At 10 PM, we decided it was time to wander over to the concert. Now mom- cover your eyes for this part. The actual concert venue was a 30-minute walk from the Haslett train station. As we began walking there, an unlicensed taxi rolled by with an American guy driving. He offered to drive all 10 of us to the concert for 10 euro. We figured he could not kill all 10 of us if he was truly a serial killer, but instead someone just trying to pick up some extra cash. We filled in like a clown car and people sat in the trunk. OBVIOUSLY a stupid idea and exactly what your parents tell you never to do. Oops.

We safely got to the concert venue and made our way to the deluxe ticket entrance. Oh, forgot to mention…we bought deluxe tickets. While they were more expensive, they were 100% worth it. This is what they include:

1. Free & guarded lockers. Since we did not have a hostel, we put all of our belongings in the lockers. (No worries mom, I kept my money and passport in my 'oh so sexy' money belt the whole time)
2. Finger food throughout the concert, so when 3 AM rolled around we did not need to worry about finding food to feed our hunger.
3. A bottle of 60-euro champagne.
4. Our own sitting area fitted with couches (thank the lord), which came in much use to rest. It was also somewhat quieter there, so you could actually think.
5. Our own dancing balcony that overlooked the venue.



The Concert Venue

Concert Venue 

My deluxe ticket!

The deluxe entrance. 

The strange costumes.

This is the view when you first walked into the concert:

It took our breaths away. There were 20,000 people, all in white, at this rave with amazing lights and sound. The concert proved to be borderline an American study abroad conference, as everyone had done the same thing we did. The most ridiculous thing was in the concert of 20,000 people, I ran into TWO GUYS FROM MY HIGH SCHOOL. They were studying abroad in Spain and I haven’t seen them in three years. Granted, we are not like best friends, but we had classes together back in the day. That was REDICULOUS. We also ran into each other at least 4 times throughout the concert. How does that happen? We also ran into a lot of other study abroad kids from Kings London and other guys from the Haverford soccer team.

The concert itself was an out of body experience. In the middle of the venue, there was this artichoke looking structure where the DJs played. The structure changed colors and the stand where the DJ played spun slowly in a circle, so everyone in the room got to see them perform. Moreover, there were cameras placed on the DJs as they played, so their faces were shown on huge screens throughout the room. You could see them dripping sweat, as they played their 1.5-2 hour sets. The DJs that played were Mr. White, Daniel and Juan Sanchez, Mark Knight, Afrojack, Sander van Doorn, and Dada Life. The music was house and techno. The music did not stop ONCE for 8 hours.

The artichoke-looking DJ booth

DJ Mr. White

Above the DJ booth was a hanging fountain structure, that had water come down in shapes. The water would fall in the shape of a heart, arrow, stars, or words. Also, fireworks came out of it.

Water coming down in a spiral

The ceiling of the venue had ball-like structures hanging that would move up and down to the music. They would either move in a wave-like motion or in unison. The balls changed colors too. There were the light works with lasers and strobes. I am pretty sure I am blind now. Moreover, there were fountain structures all over that people would fly out of throughout the concert and dance in the air- Cirque du Soleil style. Confetti and streamers would come out of the sky randomly throughout the night.

Glowing Balls

Flying Woman + Confetti

Ridiculous Lighting

Ridiculous Lighting

Moving Ceiling

EVERYWHERE WHITE!

Since everyone was wearing white, we all changed colors with the colors of the room. Moreover, the neon and black lighting was amazing. Everyone was outfitted with neon glowing jewelry, gloves, or hats. Speaking of clothing, the outfits were REDICULOUS. People came in white bikinis, white bathrobes, white boxers, as white bunnies, as white-robed popes, and wore white masks. Half the fun was seeing what people were wearing. To top up the ridiculous outfits is the abundance of drugs. Yes I saw ecstasy drug deals on the dance floor and yes I did see people smoking blunts (even the DJs were).  I am proud to say that I not only danced for more than 7 hours, but I also did so drug free. (Am I not the perfect child?)

America! 

Scarlett, Zach, and I with our streamers. 

Out of this world lighting.

Enjoying the concert.

DJ Afrojack

DJ Dada Life

Just a quick example of some of the....
interesting outfits.

Neon gloves!

It is hard to describe, but since the concert venue was always moving and changing color- it was almost alive with the music. Just as the music would change flavor, so did the room. It made the whole experience that much better because you felt like you were in the music.

The group of us made it all the way to the very front. Up to the speakers…to the area where there are signs saying, “careful- hearing loss may occur.” I FELT the music. The bass was hitting me so hard I felt like I was having heart palpitations. The dance floor was electric. The rave went on for all 8 hours with people jumping to the music and throwing their bodies around (ecstasy will do that to you…). It was crowded and I did find myself right next to a fight (that Zach saved me from), but when you just close your eyes and start dancing, you don’t really care who you are hitting and where you are. There were girls on shoulders, men riding the crowd, and just overall mayhem. Thank the lord my whole white outfit was under 10 pounds from Primark because the place was just dirty everywhere. I ended up throwing out the shoes because they were covered in dirt and were cheap.

Our fancy champagne 

On the dance floor you could not really see the big picture of the venue, but if you took a break you could watch the whole scene. It was almost like a movie. Half the fun was watching the ceiling move, the lights go crazy, and the people dancing. The DJs were on their game and it was a total moment when 20,000 people from all over the world would begin to sign along to the remixed songs. Zach pointed out to me, which I agreed with, I have never seen so many happy people in one room together (once again…ecstasy will do that to people…). I could not have wanted to be anywhere else at the moment in time.

Remember when I said that I was tired? Well, I don’t know what happened, but as soon as I got there it felt as if I had just woken up from a 10-hour sleep refreshed and ready to go. I danced from 10:30 AM to 3 AM. Took a break to have the champagne that came with our tickets and rest my feet and then danced from 3:30 AM to 5 AM. I never tired, never got bored of the music, and for someone who does not dance- I danced real hard (and probably badly).

While the concert ended technically at 6 AM, I left around 5 AM for my flight. I had been anxious all week about the chance of missing my flight home, so I made it a point to catch the first train from Haslett to the airport. Haslett was about 1.5 hours from the airport, so I could not make any mistakes in catching the train. We left early in order to beat the crowd and ensure our seat on that train. It was nice and cold at 5 AM, but I was alive and ready to go. At this point I had been up for more than 24 hours, but wasn’t feeling it. We got on the first train and made it safely to the airport with little hassle. Even though I had left the concert with some girls, one of us had to stay awake and make sure we did not miss our stop. I became that designated person. To stay awake I wrote in my journal, but I also had the privilege to see the sunrise over Belgium. The Belgian countryside was beautiful and the small towns we went through were nice. Seeing the sunrise though was definitely an experience. It had all felt like one long day since I had not slept at all.

I had actually found wifi in the city, so I had checked in and gotten my ticket on my iPhone. I made it through security and found a bathroom ASAP. I changed out of my clothing (for the sake of the others around me), washed my feet, changed my shoes, and brushed my teeth (so necessary). I forced myself once again to walk around to keep myself up. As soon as I did get on that plane though, I passed out. I sat next to girls who also came from sensation and all three of us fell asleep before the plane took off and woke up after it had landed. I made it through British customs onto the tube back to my dorm. I must have fell asleep on the tube because a woman woke me up making sure I did not miss my stop. Thank you lady. I had to keep myself awake since it was (1) embarrassing to fall asleep on the busy tube and (2) I did not want to miss my stop.

I finally made it back to my dorm, e-mailed my mom saying I was alive, and fell asleep. I took a nap from 1 PM to 7:30 PM. Oops….Now I am writing this.

On a side note- My friend Zach took a train back from Belgium to London. Unlike me who booked my flight directly after the concert, so I could sleep at home rather than a hotel, he booked his ticket for 4 PM in the afternoon. I got a call from him in Brussels and he said, “Sydney…what am I supposed to do? I just got yelled at twice by police officers for falling asleep at the train station.” He was hoping to tour a little more on Sunday, but I guess he was just too tired.

Overall, this was one of the best decisions of my life. I will admit- it was not fully thought out at the time, but this concert was definitely a highlight of my study abroad experience so far. It will be something to tell the kids! I have now pulled a successful all-nighter and more. I have survived traveling by myself in a foreign country. I may not have ‘seen’ all the sights in Brussels, but I did the necessary things- eat their famous food and drank their famous drinks. Isn’t that enough? Sensation White was a mind-blowing experience and I don’t know if anything will ever live up to it again.

So now that you know all of this mom, aren’t you happy I didn’t tell you about it beforehand?!