Atmosphere, Jhene Aiko, Fitz and the Tantrums, The Weeknd, and Chance the Rapper — the perfect line-up for my first music festival. As an east-coaster coming from the world of Connecticut suburbs and slow summers, I was expecting Bumbershoot 2015 in Seattle to be an event bouncing with energy, filled with hipsters and hippies, Starbucks and weed. My little was my experienced tour guide, and I couldn't be more excited to join the club of 20-somethings who attends concerts outside of the "American Idol" tours and skipped the bluegrass festivals I was dragged to as a child for Lollapalooza, Outsidelands, EDC, and Coachella. I packed my two portable chargers, extra jacket, sunglasses, and a wad of cash expecting the ultimate music festival experience: frolicking from lawn to lawn, buying food from trendy food trucks, getting hoisted on someone's shoulders to see the stage, and coming home with loads of free swag and the numbers of new friends. Little did I know I fell victim to the festival stories on Snapchat and the wild selfie-stick crowd pictures on Tumblr that portrayed festivals as an insanely happy group of people partying together with no worries as long as a ferris wheel was present. After my experience this past weekend, I learned that your attitude and flexibility in an overwhelming situation determines the value of your festival bracelet, and that Instagram-worthy moments don't make you or your festival experience real. Little did I know the best memory I would walk away with was eating shitty pizza with my little in matching oversized/overpriced sweatshirts shielding us from the rain, dancing to Fitz and the Tantrums in the very back row. The following is an account of the thoughts I had before, during, and after my experience at Bumbershoot 2015.

Expectations

(yep, I thought this would be me...)

• lots of weed — free joints getting passed around, food stands selling pot brownies, and marijuana scented air
• coffee cups — in the city where Starbucks was born, I expected most people to be carrying a to-go cup or a portable mug from home. Who needs Red Bull, right?
• umbrellas — fun fact: bumbershoot is another word for "umbrella" in Great Britain, so I expected a whole festival filled with them; ones with frills, tassles, lace, perhaps a really big one, but not necessarily serving the function of shielding festival-goers from rain
• Birkenstocks — seriously, all my friends from the Pacific Northwest live in these shoes, but anyone back home would be seriously made fun of for having them
• vegan food trucks — I just get the sense that people in the PNW are so environmentally conscious that the thought of contributing to animal product food industries is backwards-thinking. Also, I imagine all vegan cuisine is served in food trucks
• hipsters everywhere — I'm talking about handlebar moustaches, tattoos of Charlie Chaplin riding an old-fashioned bicycle, piercings in all of the unconventional body parts, beanies, thick framed glasses, and wide-brimmed hats
  
• hippies everywhere — white women with dreads, hula hoop dancers, barefoot men in hemp clothing, children running around with long hair and flower necklaces, wrinkly men wearing Lennon sunglasses and vintage Bumbershoot festival shirts, etc.

• open, green layout — I was expecting being able to skip around a large, open expanse fenced in with the Space Needle and EMP building. I expected to be able to go from stage to stage without fences getting in my way and that each feature of the festival (laser dome, silent disco, comedy/theater tents etc.) would be visible and open to anyone with a wristband.

• space to dance — it's not fun for everyone if you're so tightly packed in front of the stage that you can't even move, right?
• simultaneous performances — I always had the impression that the headliners either played right after each other or played at the same time on different stages so that there was always music to listen to and performances to watch

First Impressions

No weed vendors or abundance of coffee cups, and no bumbershoots. What is this place? Erika was magically the only one wearing Birkenstocks, and you were in the minority if you were a hippie or hipster (did not expect that one). The food was far from healthy, the layout was confusing, and you could only dance freely in the back row (unless you were rolling and couldn't control your movements, or were one of the many gross couples who insisted on grinding on each other). There were long waits between performers, but hey, now you have time to explore the park!

• "Wow, it's really quiet here" — for some reason I thought the festival would be raging, full force, even at 3:30 p.m. I was surprised everyone's conversations were at a normal volume; everyone here is drunk or on drugs, right?
• "Oh my god, that jungle gym and those sculptures are pretty cool, I can't wait to go play on them and take artsy pictures" — seriously, there was an insane jungle gym that we wanted to climb SO badly, but for some reason we prioritized finding Erika's friends from high school so we could say hi. We never had the chance to go back and enjoy ourselves because...
• "F***! Just my luck it would start pouring once we found the perfect spot in this ginormous crowd...how do people prevent hypothermia?" — was I stupid to think it wouldn't rain in Seattle? The forecast predicted a sunny day in the 70s. I did not expect to be huddling in between random people's backpacks for warmth and watching streams of water drip down strands of my hair...for three hours.

• "Why are there so many fences? Where am I??" — the map seemed to portray an open layout, so what's the deal with all of the construction walls and steel fences winding through the park? Where are all of the green lawns? Why is everything so hard to find?
• "So there's the fried PB&J, garlic fries, and Subway...where are the quinoa bowls and gourmet hot dogs?" — yep, no food trucks. Just food tents with carnival food. But boy did that pizza tent smell good when we were burning calories from shivering and heard the festival was being delayed by an hour.

• "How is she not cold? I didn't know people in the PNW owned shorts..." — I know festival-wear usually includes crop tops and sunglasses, but it's 50 degrees and the Bumbershoot staff is yelling at you to take cover from the lightning storm going on...but wow do these people love flannel shirts.
• "I'm sober, why do I have cottonmouth right now?" — I swear, every third person had a vape and plumes of smoke could be seen every 10 feet. Weed is legal in Washington, and the crowd couldn't have been more happy about it.
  
• "WHY DOES THIS EIGHT-FOOT TALL MAN THINK IT'S OK TO STAND IN FRONT OF US?" — seriously dude, you suck for everyone. Erika and I noticed people flocking behind us in the crowd because COMMON SENSE. Let the short people go in the front, and you can see over us — everyone wins.

• "My parents would never let me go to this festival at their age" — I found myself thinking this many times. No role models here, that's for sure.

Takeaways

• Even if it's pouring down rain, the festival is delayed, and you're soaking wet and cold, it is VERY important to keep dancing. Not only will you stay warm, you'll keep the good vibes going and have fun no matter what happens next. You know you can't control the circumstances, so don't let unfortunate events determine whether or not you have a good day or a bad day, because chances are if you're miserable, so is the person you came with.
• When walking through a crowd, make sure you always say "excuse me" or "sorry". There was a significant difference between the responses people got when they were polite and when they shoved their way past you. Don't be a dick and pretend you're more important; we all have a wristband.
• You don't have to take millions of pictures of the performances on stage. One good shot will do the trick. Take more pictures of the scenery around you; the fountains, Space Needle, gardens, and sculptures are the things that give you the feeling you're in another world. Soak it in! Also try living in the moment. Don't watch the festivities through a phone screen. Dance to your favorite song and appreciate it being performed live, because that is a rare opportunity.
• Sometimes the back of the mob is the most fun. I loved having space to dance and the ability to see others jam out next to me. Not to mention it's much easier to see the stage when you're farther back, believe it or not.
• Eat before you go to the festival. You never know when you're going to have to splurge on buying more clothes for warmth or when it might come in handy to bribe the festival staff into letting you dance to Chance on the arena floor instead of in the arena seats. Was that fried shrimp really worth the $8?
• You don't have to be high or drunk to enjoy yourself! I'm sure the music sounds really good and you don't mind the rain as much, but don't stress about needing to feel 1,000 things at once. The only thing you need is a portable phone charger.