Attend a pride event

20th of May. That's when the Pride in Brussels happens. I've never been to it but it had always been on my to-do list.

I just see it as a happy day. A day where everybody can be themselves and where the happiness radiates from people. Also, I'm a sucker for outfits and people that go all out so I also just want to look around and enjoy how people express themselves.

So I went with my friend Lana. As soon as we arrived in Brussel-Central we were a little surprised at how many people were there. I mean, I knew that it was a big event, but this was just crazy. It was like we were at a giant-scale festival. Everybody was wearing what they wanted to wear. This went from bright colors, the pride flag, gothic clothes, and all the way to no clothes.

We follow the crowd and arrived at the parade itself which still stood. The music was loud and sometimes DJ-booths were standing next to one another which resulted in a chaos of music sometimes, but you could just feel the party vibe that was hanging in the air.

At the very end of the parade, there was a little train filled with drag queens. and damn, did they look fabulous. I swear some of them looked like they could be on the cover of Vogue magazine. They were al wearing high heels and I felt ashamed that I was already complaining of my sneakers not fitting well.

As soon as we had seen most of the parade we went to 'Pride Village'. This was an adventure in itself as we had to find a way through the crowd that just kept growing. But still, it was fun. Because every time you looked to a side you would see somebody in a pretty outfit or a weird one. Everybody really did their best. So we made it to the village and here was a big stage and some stalls for drinks. Since the sun was burning and shining bright we went for a cocktail. The mojito was very welcoming and went down very fast.

I have to give credits to the first DJ we heard playing. The songs that she played were songs you would normally not hear on a DJ set but they were fun songs and kept me singing along. I think her name was Inezz, so look her up, she's good! Since we had a good drink it had to be followed by some good food so we went for a hotdog. As we were sitting on the side of the street, enjoying out food some interesting and kind people passed. You could see a smile on everybody's face and the diversity was so big that I really believe that this kind of event is needed. Just to see everybody without looking at age, gender or religion, enjoying themselves and feeling accepted was heart-warming.

After the food, we went back to the stage and danced a little bit. Just before we went home I met up with a colleague of mine who had hyped me up the most about pride. We had been talking for a few weeks in advance about the outfits we were going to wear, so I was very curious about theirs! As soon as I met him and his friends I felt even more welcome. The group of people he was with was so warm and welcoming. I wished we could stay a little bit longer with them, but sadly we had to go home since Sunday was going to be a busy day as well. So Yannick, next time I'll make it up to you and we'll dance until the sun goes down!