For our first night out in Utrecht, we decided to go to Club Basis. After pregaming with wine and whiskey (weird combination, I know), we took the bus to the club.
Once we got to Basis, we faced our first challenge. Although the Netherlands is permissive, the bouncers at the club still asked everyone at the door for their IDs. All of us brought our IDs, but our gals Jackie and Elsa forgot theirs. However, at the door, we begged the bouncers to be cool with it -- after all, they were of age...We were just the typical silly, oblivious Americans, who thought there would be no chance of getting carded in a very tolerant country.
Anyways, after we got in the club, we entered a dark room, where only bursts of light would turn on every couple of seconds. It was quite an experience because we could barely see anything. During one moment, I thought I was actually losing my eyesight because I could not find my way around the dance floor.
Furthermore, the interesting thing about this specific club was that the music was strictly techno. I was not surprised by this, since Europeans do mostly listen to techno and other electronic music. The funniest thing to me was that at this club (and every club we have been to so far), people do not dance together. In fact, everyone just stands in a line and dances in their own personal space. Our large group separated -- one group was in a circle, and the rest of us did what the Dutchies did. We stood in a line and just vibed with the DJ. We found this to be the best because it made us feel like locals. Plus, when you dance in your own zone, it is easier to get lost in the music, as opposed to worrying about how you look while dancing. Europeans have a different style of dancing, as opposed to Americans, so it took me a couple of songs to get accustomed to dance to the beat. The people around us made up their own dance movements and incorporated a lot of hand movements, which I found very cute because they were truly doing their thing without impressing anyone, but themselves.
I loved this club, but the rest of our group heavily disliked it. I enjoyed it because I admired how people expressed their individuality through dancing to the music, which I found very liberating. The phrase, “you do you, boo” fits this place and country perfectly!
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