A Sensational Weekend!

So after a memorable week in Malta, I had to be dragged through the longest week of classes ever. Now, I know I have said that before so far this trip, but this was a long week not due to the amount of work but due to the incredible weekend I was looking forward to. Friday couldn't have come soon enough when I would fly out to Brussels, Belgium to reunite with all of my Clemson best friends! About 15 of some of my closest friends are studying abroad (majority of them in Belgium) so we all decided to have a Brussels reunion and go to one of the most famous European concerts, SENSATION WHITE! For those who aren't aware, Sensation is an epic concert tour here in Europe that is pretty much an all-night rave. A set list of DJs are brought in for the concert and take turns spinning throughout the night, from 10pm till 6am the next morning. The only requirement of people who buy tickets is to wear a completely white outfit. Crazy I know, but it seems to be all the rave here in Europe!

Anyways, after I made sure I packed my white outfit that I pieced together the previous weekend in Malta, my friend Ally and I were off to the airport with 5 other CIMBA guys also going to the concert. Unfortunately, our flight in Brussels didn't land until 11:45 at night so that presented a little challenge when we tried to make our way to our place. Also, when I say our place I mean the hotel where all of my friends are living and studying abroad. Unlike the dorms we have here in Paderno, the Clemson kids get to stay in an actual hotel and have a room shared between three people. The best part about that is that they have a kitchen! Needless to say I am extremely jealous!

Anyways, when we got out at the airport we had to take a 30 minute shuttle to the city center of Brussels and then catch a train to their stop. Unfortunately for the other guys we were with, they found out their hostel was only 5 minutes away from the airport...discovering this AFTER we were already on the bus. Already an adventure..and even more so when we discovered the metro stopped running for the night. So we were stranded and of course our phones wouldn't work to try and call our friends. We ended up having to take a taxi who knew exactly where to take us. It was such a cliche reunion-type moment when I found out their room number and simply knocked on their door saying, "Surprise!!".

They had just returned from a week long trip through Italy so we spent the rest of the late night sharing stories and experiences with each other. As much fun as I was having in Italy, it was so comforting and exciting to hear the stories they had been having and made me wish I had been with them during those crazy moments! It was also so weird to just sit back and think, "Wow we are all together in Europe right now! What are the odds? How did this happen? THIS IS AWESOME!". After our late night girl talk, I almost felt like we were right back in Clemson hanging out in our freshman dorm all over again. I couldn't have been happier!

The next morning, my friend Laura had to go to the airport to meet her brother, who was visiting her for a week or so. When they returned, we walked through the city to sight see and eat breakfast at their favorite Belgium waffle restaurant. I'm guessing it was due to the concert, but as we walked around the main square I couldn't help but notice how many kids my age were there, and in particular American kids. I felt as if I could just turn around and spot someone I know, kinda cool. On our walk, my friend Laura acted as our personal tour guide and gave us background into the different buildings: commentating on the architecture and their ancient history.

 

At breakfast after ordering our strawberry and chocolate waffles, we felt it was only necessary to indulge in the culture and order a local Belgium beer with it! No we didn't look like tourists or anything...haha. All of a sudden, I looked around the restaurant and happened to catch a glimpse of a familiar face. At first I wasn't sure if I saw things right and it literally took me five minutes to stare at this girl and realize that I went to high school with her! She was in the grade above me and now goes to Virginia Tech so we were both in such shock that we came across one another in the same city, same restaurant, and same time! What a small world sometimes... After breakfast, we continued in our love of Belgium and found ourselves at Chocopolis, a well known chocolate shop. I think I could have stayed in there all day admiring and taste testing all the various sweets.

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging around their hotel and putting the final touches to our Sensation outfits. See the tricky thing about this concert is the mandatory rule of wearing a completely white outfit from top to bottom. By the time we all started getting ready later that night it was pretty humorous to see the outfits the guys had put together. One of them even bought a linen outfit in Amsterdam, which reminded of nurse's scrubs haha, it was quite a sight! Thankfully for dinner, we went to the grocery store and bought food to cook with; such a nice change from the Paderno cafeteria food. Us girls kept saying that we ought to get used to cooking together considering we would all be living in the same apartment complex next year..looks like we already started the tradition of taco night! :)

Clemson girls!

We finished dinner and continued to get ready, waiting for the rest of the group to join. By the time we got the group rounded up, all 38 of us loaded onto the Greyhound bus that one of the guys had ordered to take us to and from the concert. Our huge mass of white definitely turned some heads of the other hotel guests, confused by out attire. The bus ride to the concert was full of people singing, yelling, taking pictures; it was just all-around excitement. I think we were all so happy to finally be together and knew we were going to have a memorable evening.

Part of the group!

When we got to the arena, I could not believe the amount of people there were waiting to get inside. White was everywhere!! There were definitely a lot of let's just say, interesting outfits and costumes. Neon bracelets, feathers, angel wings, you name it. We finally got inside were forced to lock arms and hold onto one another for dear life just so none of us escaped the group. Any pictures taken inside the concert are not nearly enough justice to the overall magical atmosphere once the music blared and neon lights fly across the room. The very beginning of the concert was such a buildup too, as the speakers counted down the start of the concert.

In the middle of the dance floor there was a huge and extravagant stage, in the shape of a pyramid, with stairs and multiple platforms, all leading to the very top where the DJs played. It was pretty cool though because once you got past security and were able to find a comfortable place on stage, you could look up at the DJs and just see a hand going back and forth in the air, since the height of the equipment actually blocked the view of the DJ. Also, at one point of the concert they released these massive inflatable balls, literally the size of a bus. They were extremely light though, so the crowd was able to punch them back up into the air, with the balls changing neon colors every time they were touched. At this point, I was on stage and words cannot describe the view of the crowd below, it felt like you were part of the band and everyone was screaming for you to dance and sing. At least that's what my friends and I pretended was happening..haha oops.

Another funny memory from the concert was our innovative method of finding one another if anyone ever got separated. Some of the guys in our group were visiting from Connecticut and had a flight home the following morning at about 8am, meaning they had to leave straight from the concert and go directly to the airport. I'm not exactly sure how, but they were able to bring in their large pieces of luggage and hold onto throughout the concert. About an hour into it, they decided it would be funny to hold the luggage in the air and throw it up and down above their heads. Let me tell you, it was the funniest thing to be on the other side of the dance floor and see this huge piece of luggage above everyone's heads and be able to say, "Oh, there's our friends!"

And of course, we invested in some glow sticks, and neon necklaces and bracelets! These perfectly complimented the neon gloves that were passed given to us when we first came inside the concert. However, right after we made our purchases, my friend and I ran into the other guys from CIMBA. I was so shocked that we actually found them in the endless sea of white so we ended up hanging out with them for a little part of the concert. Then, later on in the night these Styrofoam glow sticks were distributed to the dance floor. We were like little kids in a candy shop! We had so much fun waving these in the air and bopping each other on the head that I couldn't stop crying from laughing so hard. My friend would even joke around with other people by tapping them on the shoulder with a stick, forcing them to look around to see who it was. Meanwhile, she would tap the other shoulder making them even more confused. Immature? Probably. Extremely hilarious and one of my favorite memories from the concert? Absolutely.

As the night wound down to the end, or shall I say as the morning approached, we all gathered outside to wait for our bus. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to find everyone and I found myself falling asleep on the bus 20 minutes later. After getting back to their hotel, we all immediately went to bed, only knowing our flight left in a short 8 hours. Not only was it difficult to force myself out of bed and start getting ready, it was harder to say goodbye to my best friends. We had such a fun, yet short, weekend together that I was definitely not ready to leave. However, I sleepily said my goodbyes and then we were off back to the airport and back to reality of school. Ally and I found ran across our CIMBA guys at the airport and reminisced about the night while we waited for our plane. In fact, I noticed a lot of other college kids sitting around and waiting, even some with their Sensation outfits still on!

Needless to say, it felt like one of the longest Sundays on record. I barely had the energy to tell my roommate any stories because I was so tired. However, looking back the sleep deprivation was totally worth the time spent with my friends. This weekend to Brussels came at the perfect time and cured me of any homesickness I had been feeling while in Paderno. It only reminded me that much more of how unreal this whole experience studying abroad has been, for both the kids in Brussels and all of us here in Italy. We're making unforgettable memories every day, whether we realize it or not, and I am so thrilled I got to spend at least one weekend with those people and share in these moments. Now, bring on next semester back in Clemson!


Ok and future warning.. this is my last blog in Europe!! I am traveling a week through Greece then meeting my parents in Venice and traveling them throughout Italy! So next time I blog, I'll be back in America! Goodbye Europe, its been incredible.