Sensation White

I took a night train out of Amsterdam into Copenhagen. I wonderful 15 hour journey snuggled up tightly with 5 random strangers in a 6 person cabin, with a broken air condition unit and a sweaty guy that looked like an ugly Spock from Star Trek next to me. Luckily, by 6 am most had made their destinations and I got a few hours of sleep sprawled out across the three seats on my side of the cabin. For those that don't know, most night trains have sleeper and couchette cabins, where you can get a pretty good nights sleep for a little bit more of a cost that is always worth it. I had learned this lesson after my first night train and had since made sure to choose the better nights sleep over the cheaper choice for accommodation, but for some reason every sleeper and couchette that weekend was booked...

That reason - people were flocking to Copenhagen for Sensation White.

The "Sensation" parties originally started in 2000 in Amsterdam, but have since spread to almost 20 countries mostly around Europe, hosted primarily in huge arenas in large cities. There are two types of parties - Sensation White, and Black. This one, hosted in Copenhagen this year, was white - and therefore everyone attending had to wear at least 90 percent white clothing .

The idea of the party is great - in a way. So everyone dresses in white, goes to a huge arena where they have great lighting effects and professional DJs from around the world, and everyone has a great time.

But...something about a couple thousand sweaty strangers grinding up against me, dancing around like they're probably on some sort of substance, bouncing along to the same beat over and over again...just doesn't do it for me. I know, I'm so weird.

Still had a great time - slightly tarnished by the annoying crowd of human beings and horrible music, as well as cutting my thumb open trying to slide down a level of stairs without using my feet at the pre game - but yeah, still a great time. Good experience, though I wouldn't go very much out of my way to go again.

The following morning - flight to Florence.


- Matt

Location:Copenhagen, Denmark