Sensation White... and I Don't Mean the Tooth Paste

After our Brussels extravaganza, we traveled to Hasselt, Belgium to Sensation White. This party goes from 9 pm to 6 am and everyone is required to wear white, hence the name. The only way I can really describe this to you is by saying it's a rave. There are multiple DJs throughout the night playing techno music. You could only imagine the people I came in contact with. There were 55,000 people in one arena, but everyone could surprisingly keep their privacy bubble... if they wanted to. Words can't explain so I will just post videos and let you see for yourself.

Since I had already been traveling the entire weekend, I was pretty tired. I managed to soldier through until about 4 am. I decided I needed a nap so I took a break from the stage I had deemed mine and went up into the nosebleed seats with my friend Kurt who said he'd lookout while I snoozed. Fifteen minutes later, I woke up feeling energized and ready to go. My second wind carried me through another two-and a-half hours of stage raving and the ride home. I figured when I got home I would collapse in my bed, but the actual opposite happened. I didn't get to bed until 9 pm that night. 

Sensation was a great time. The music was great and the special effects were insane and I didn't end up in jail... like another American in Maastricht. I'll keep her name confidential to preserve what little dignity she has left. I wish I could do it all over again, but maybe during the day because my sleep patterns are seriously off now. 

Mussels in Brussels

Brussels is such a great city to travel through. We ended up having to stay in two different hostels. The first was most definitely better than the second. The first hostel we stayed at had internet, a kitchen, and was really impressive for the price we paid. The second hostel was actually called a hotel, but was anything, but that. Online it said that there was a continental breakfast. The real breakfast consisted of bread and cheese... not exactly my idea of continental breakfast. However, we did manage to find a restaurant that had GREAT food. I think the food may have been one of my favorite parts of Belgium. I am so used to eating only sandwiches in Maastricht so I look forward to the food when I travel. 

I could blog forever about Brussels, but I will try to keep it short by telling you the best stories and loading this blog with pictures.

The last night out in Brussels, Morgan and I ventured near the City Center. A random guy came up to me and asked to take a picture with me because it was his birthday. Of course, I told him it was mine too. The old man across the alley invited us in to his restaurant to have a free birthday beer. Well, one beer turned into four beers and a cheese plate. We were also offered mussels. He said we have to have mussels in Brussels. The owner's cousin grabbed my hand at one point and said he loved my hands. I wish I could document how ugly my hands were at that point. I will try to describe. I haven't put on lotion in weeks and my Fiercely Fiona, yellow nail polish is chipping to the max. He also asked me to meet him back at the restaurant when they closed and he would take me out.... I was in bed watching television, at the hotel, by 12:30 AM. 

The next day we went exploring in Brussels. There was a lot to see, but we managed to power through everything by early afternoon. There is a church on a hill that you can see from almost any point in Brussels and we were determined to find it. We didn't exactly realize how far this church was or what we had to pass through to get to it. First of all, this church was far. I'm talking an hour and a half walk just from the other end of the hill. On the way there, we passed through an area of Brussels that no tourist should go through. 

First of all, I witnessed at leasstttt three drug deals. I was so terrified of this area I shoved my purse down my pants, zipped my coat all the way up, and held Morgan's hand. There was no way I was getting pick-pocketed or ending up in a real-life version of the movie, Taken.

Secondly, we managed to walk through a massive street sale. I'm not talking vintage jewelry and teapots.  I'm talking mutilated baby dolls without heads that were thrown in the trash and televisions with smashed screens; not your run of the mill street sale. This continued for at least seven blocks, which seemed like fifty.

After we made it through that mess I found a really neat church that was painted black. Being the tourist I am and feeling a bit more safe, I took out my camera really quick to snap a picture. After I did, I felt people watching. I turned around to find at least twenty pairs of eyes mean-mugging me. At this point I wanted to run, but I was afraid this Middle-Eastern mob-looking crew was going to chase after me. I hid my camera and quickly walked past with my head down. 

.... But we made it and it was so worth it. We even got to go inside and take pictures.

My final story involves our departure from Brussels. We left our bags at the hostel and planned to pick them up on the way to the train station. We asked the man at the front desk to call us a cab. Since we were in a hurry, we thought it would be faster than lugging our bags on foot. Apparently this man was too infatuated with the Indian spin-off of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" that he couldn't find time. He told us a short-cut to take and we would be there in five minutes. Okay, fair enough. Well, fifteen minutes later, after we managed to make our way through the crowds of people on a street that smelled like kabobs and body odor, we found a street where the train station was actually visible. Phew.... until I turned my a head to the left. I see a significantly overweight woman, in a bikini, smoking a cigarette in the window. Ahhh. Look away, look away. I couldn't help, but laugh in disgust. Until the next store front and the one after that and so on. I even saw an old woman, overly tan with white hair, in one window. This strip of store fronts was like watching any reality show on MTV; you know it's terrible when you're watching it, but you can't look away. The worst part wasn't even the women in the fronts, it was the creepy men drooling over them. So, if you are ever in Brussels, do NOT take any shortcuts. Go all the way around, even if it takes forty-five minutes to walk. 

Katy Perry, I Love You

Thursday night I trained it to Brussels, Belgium for the Katy Perry concert. Yes, this experience deserves a blog all it's own. I expected a lot from this concert and it delivered... and some. No words can express the appreciation I have for Katy Perry after this concert. It is obvious that a lot of effort goes into this performance and that she truly loves her fans. A fellow concert-goer threw a teddy bear on stage that said, "Can I get a meet and greet?". She poked fun at the guy for a minute, but then told security he was allowed backstage to meet her. She also pulled about 10 people out of the crowd to get on stage and dance. My only thoughts as this was happening was... If customs didn't still have that tutu my mom sent me and if I would've worn my Birthday shirt... I would have danced with Katy Perry. Regardless, where I was standing was an ideal spot. I was so close I could see her sweat. Gross to most people, but to me I thought it was amazing. It also helped that I was surrounded by 12 year-olds and I was about 4 inches taller than them.. except one amazon that managed to get in front of me. What are they feeding these kids?

I also learned that it's hard to take videos at a Katy Perry concert because dancing and filming just don't go hand in hand. It doesn't matter how are you try, you have to dance to her music. It is contagious. I'm sure I embarrassed myself on multiple occasions by mimicking the dance moves in her music videos and heinously singing all of her songs. Sorry to the people around me, but I was having a great time.

On a more disturbing note. The theater was VERY hot. I turned around to a girl bumping into me, which turned into her falling into me. She was overheating and I managed to catch her before she hit the ground, but dead weight is so heavy that I ended up on the ground holding her. My friends Morgan and Helen saw this happened and immediately started calling for help. Meanwhile, this girl starts convulsing in my arms. I worked in a doctor's office for 3 years and completely blanked. What really frustrated me was that there were three grown men standing nearby watching everything happen and didn't bother to help us get her out of there. Finally, Helen threw water on the girl's face and she completely snapped out of everything. She got up and just ran off before any of us could help her. We found her later with the paramedics.. along with about seven other pre-teen Katy lovers.

"We Don't Care It's Your Birthday, It's Carnival."

I am still lagging from the three days of Carnival. It is a non-stop party all over town and everyone gets really into it. My favorite part was seeing all of the outrageous costumes and celebrating my birthday, obviously.

Carnival really helped me understand the Dutch culture a bit better. I would walk into the bars and the children would be standing in the window while their parents were at the bar getting drunk. This was confusing for me. In America, I'm pretty sure that would constitute as neglect/child endangerment. Am I right? Needless to say, after a few beers I was loving the fact that there were kids to hang out with everywhere... After the parents' few beers, I'm sure they were loving the fact that their kids had someone to entertain them.

The first day was a lot of fun. There was a huge parade that we even managed to stumble into. We were trying to cross the street and before we knew it we were marching with the floats. When we tried to get out of the parade the police yelled at us. Apparently we looked like we belonged. We all went back around dinner time for a nap and all conveniently woke up at the same time... which was lucky considering we never set alarms.

The second day we got off to a later start since the night before ended around 6 am. We went to a house party near the main square which was a nice change of scenery. We always seem to hang out with the group here so the party gave me a chance to meet some new exchange students and even some of the Dutch people that are leading the Exchange Student program. I met two guys who said they traveled across the United States last year and got stuck in some really, and I quote, "shit" town in Ohio. I asked them which one and they responded, Toledo. Well, in my opinion, I like Toledo and I'm pretty sure it classifies as a city, not a town. All I responded with was, "Well, you should have gone to the zoo."

The  third day, more importantly my birthday, couldn't have gone any better. I woke up to a pounding sound, which at first I thought was my head. Turned out, Morgan woke up at 8:30 to get champagne, orange juice, and a birthday cake. I hope I can be as productive on her birthday. Nick, the Australian across the hall made the most delicious crepes. They were so good I ate them plain. It was good I had a group of friends willing to celebrate my birthday because the Dutch people could not have cared less... and they told me that when they saw my birthday shirt.

Since my wonderful package didn't come,  I had been in the same costume the last two days which was beyond rank. I think if I held a match close to it, it would burst into flames. My friend, Annabel, lent me her clown/scarecrow costume for the day so I wouldn't be forced to smell myself all day.

 The day was full of games and meeting very interesting people, one of which I think I'm forced to tell you about. There was a guy who built his own DJ booth out of cardboard. He had speakers attached so basically he was spinning cardboard circles around all day, boring if you ask me. My friends thought it would be funny if they spun around the booth, since it was on wheels. The guys said they could spin him, just not too fast because it would mess up his line of cocaine. He started dipping his fingers into this powdery white stuff and rubbing it all around in his mouth. This was about too much for me. All of these old people started doing the same thing. Finally I thought, if this was really cocaine, I don't think this guy would be so gracious as to let half the Vritjof have some of his stash. We then realized, we had been punked. I found a bag of powdered donuts on the side of the booth.

That night, as I was taking a break from dancing and sitting on the speakers I noticed a very young-looking boy dressed as a farm animal. I went ahead and asked how old he was. This is how our conversation went:

Me: "Um, how old are you?"

Dutch Cow: "Fourteen, but my fake I.D. says I'm sixteen."

Me: "Oh, you should really meet my brother."

Yes, I realize this conversation was wrong on so many different levels. I didn't realize just how wrong until I walked away... feeling a little uncomfortable partying with someone my brother's age. The more I look at this picture the more I see similar facial features so I did a side-by-side comparison. Grant, do you have a brother?

My friend Annabel during the closing events of Carnival.