Made it back from Lowlands in one piece!
Yesterday we came back from Lowlands. I was too tired to provide a whole report on the trip, so here I am today, a little bit more rested and willing to let the whole world know how it all went. ;)
Thursday: Day One
We woke up around 8 in the morning more or less. We had packed mostly everything since the previous night, so we had all the time in the world to shower, have breakfast, and go buy some things we still needed, like beer, beer, beer and beer. Oh, beer too.
Unfortunately, I woke up with a terrible cold, so I was feeling under the weather all the time, with a terribly runny nose and a sore throat. Camping like that is NEVER good, all my previous visits to Lowlands have been like that, I am always sick or something. So I wasn't looking forward to spending the weekend like that, but fortunately a few aspirins helped me feel slightly better, though it didn't stop my runny nose and I had to carry about 1000 tissues everywhere.
Anyway. Patrick came to pick us up in his car around 11. We drove to what was our old appartment, to meet the other peeps there, and sometime between 11.30 and 12.00 the whole gang was making their way to SomethingOrOtherhuizen which is the place where the Lowlands festival is held (right next to Sixflags Holland)
We reached the parking lot... let's say around one, more or less. Surprise, the doors were still closed hahha, so little by little, all those who arrived extra early just started forming a huge queue of cars behind us. Sometime after 2, they finally opened the doors to the parking lot, although the gates into the camping terrain opened until 6. That means we had more than enough time to walk towards the entrance and secure a safe spot somewhat closer to to the gates than in previous last years.
Yup, we were all fine and happy, the weather stayed dry, there was sunshine, so we just lied down on the grass, had a beer, chilled, slept a bit... so on, until 6 o clock when the gates finally opened.
Now here comes the annoying part. Even though we were SO close to the doors, really, we mean CLOSE, it took us 2 friggin hours to get in!! Why? Cause they were checking each and every backpack. I don't mind, it's all for our safety, sure, but WHY THE HECK didn't they put more than one person per gate or something?? *grunt* I complain about having to wait for 2 hours, but a friend of us arrived there at 5 (meaning his place in the queue was waaay much further back than us) and didn't get in until sometime after 11 in the evening.
Another friend made it inside way after 3 am... So it was really bad. Imagine 50,000 people trying to get in through, like, 8 or so gates with only ONE person per gate checking the bags for dangerous stuff?
After that frustrating moment (for everyone, not only for me) we went to set the tent. *drumroll* Me and Jeroen forgot the stupid herrings at home. (last year we couldn't find them cause someone set a tent on top of our herrings) So we had to walk all the way back to the camp store and get new ones there...
Finally, around 10.00 or so, the tent was finally standing up, and I went to sleep not long after that.
Day Two: Friday
I couldn't sleep too well, and around 7 o clock I was awaken by the loud sound of rain falling on our tent. It was a damn long shower that lasted until 12, more or less. Finally we could leave the tent and go to the festival terrain. The amazing thing is that there was no mud whatsoever. The earth was so parched that it basically drank all the water and left the ground dry, literally, for us to sit down comfortably without staining our clothes with mud! ( Men's pee-stalls didn't overflow either which made me most happy. ;P )
We checked a few bands, we walked here and there, chilled some more, I kept blowing my friggin nose, and checking out the yummy people there. Mm mm mmmm, so many goths and punks and mmm. *bliss*
We went to check out a band called Calexico, quite good!! And right after that, it was Nightwish time.
*sigh* Nightwish... It was beautiful... she sang so well I was in tears... and I was so close to the stage, and actually there was NO tall dutchie in front of me! (I think there _is_ a God out there ;) ) I could see mostly everything and enjoyed it immensely. It was a wonderful thing to see.
After that, Jeroen and I split, I stayed in out tent and he went to check out some more bands and DJ's. Little by little all our friends returned to the camping site, and we lit a lampie and sat down to chill and talk. The only problem was that it was SO COLD out there hehehe... we were all wearing jackets and whatnot but still it was not really pleasant to be outside.
Later on Robert pulled out the Space Cake. I had already tried it once and I didn't feel much, except for the silly impulse to gaze upwards and look for the stars... (while being under a tent, of course, and wondering why I couldn't see the stars... *snort*)
So I decided to join in, and I got this big yummy chunk of homemade spacecake. Big, BIG mistake.
Whether the dosing was too much, or the piece was too big, or I hadn't eaten well throughout the day, or the chicken we were eating was off... whatever the reason, I got very, very ill. I was scared shitless, and totally paniqued about normal things going on around me that I could not explain. I noticed my vision being "slower" giving everything an odd "slow motion effect". That was still groovy, until I noticed I was loosing track of where I was. At some point, I felt vertigo just to stand next to the shade (which seemed like a botomless pit to me at that moment...)
So, I called it a night and went to lie down. That was not good. My hearing intensified so much that every tiny noise around me startled me bigtime, to the point of trying to hide under anything at my reach. The scariest part was when I noticed I "forgot" to breathe. I kept reminding myself to breathe but sometimes I would just stare into nothingness without actually breathing. That's when the panic kicked in...
Fortunately Jeroen came into the tent and comforted me, and stayed with me all the night. He also noticed I had trouble breathing and was worried about it. he says I was sweating like a pinhead, but I don't remember that. I just remember being VERY cold, thirsty as hell, shivering violently and making no sense whatsoever when I spoke. My whole body was SO HEAVY (now I know the meaning of the word "stoned") I could not feel my head or face, and my legs were like lead. Jeroen kept reassuring me and feeding me water when I needed it, that helped a lot. I cuddled next to him and then just fell asleep eventually
Lesson learned: Drugs are bad, m'kay? It really turned me off completely of trying anything else, including mushrooms which I was so curious about. Yes, I was a stupid Niche, but then again, I was always the person who had to learn things the hardway. Feel free to curse at me for being dumb. Holly already did. ;)
Day 3: Saturday
The weather was slightly better, with a bit of sunshine too, so it was nice to walk around and sit on the grass to admire the bypassers. Mm mm mmmmm again. We checked out more bands, unfortunately I can't recall all the names at the moment. The one I remember the most was Autumn, a cool metal band on the lines of Within Temptation, but way heavier.
Late in the evening we kept walking from tent to tent to see what music they were playing, and we danced a lot, mainly to drum & bass. Around 1 am, I was totally tired, and my throat was hurting a lot so I called it a night, but the others kept on dancing until 4 in the morning or something.
I didn't get drunk, I didn't eat any leftover cake, and I was a very well behaved Nichie.
Day 4: Sunday
Before packing up our tent we still had some time to go to the festival terrain and check out a band called "Ojos de brujo", quite good! We also saw some Manga movie called Sakura or something, interesting animation but don't ask me about the dialogues cause all those Dutch-heads were covering the subtitles area so I mainly listened to the japanese voices and tried to guess what was going on ;)
We walked some more, checked out a few things, ate a bit... and finally headed back to pack our tent.
Once we were all set, we headed to the car and Patrick gave us a ride back home.
We took a nice and NECESSARY shower, and then relaxed while checking our emails back in the comfort of our house.
And now I gotta pack again cause we're off to Mexico this Saturday!!! *wheeeee*
Nicherssss