Lollapalooza. One of the biggest music festivals held for the past 25 years bringing in hundreds of thousands of people. This year, I was lucky enough to attend. I have been telling myself for years that I would make it to a music festival one year and I finally did. I figured that since I'm graduating in December, I might as well take a crazy trip for myself before I step out into the real world.

I wasn't sure what to expect really, all I knew was that it was going to drain my bank account completely. Let me tell you, it sure did. This year was the 25th anniversary so instead of the normal three-day festival, they added a fourth date. In my honest opinion, I think that three days would have been enough. Don't get me wrong, concerts are my happy place but four days in a row, all day, everyday outside? It was just a bit much.

I woke up on the first day with a feeling in my stomach that I could not distinguish. Nerves? Excitement? Probably a little bit of both. The minute I walked through those gates at Grant Park I felt like a was in a different world. I tend to be a frequent concert go-er but Lollapalooza was nothing that I have ever seen before. I saw many individuals from all over the world. I actually got to have a really cool conversation from a gentleman from Berlin, Germany who actually came alone just to come to Lollapalooza. To me that is insane! I could not imagine a festival being that popular that people travel that far just to come. One thing I noticed about the hundreds of thousands of individuals there was that no one cared what they looked like. They did not care what people thought. I saw some of the most bizarre outfits, some super flashy outfits, and then people in just plain every day clothes. It was cool to see how people decided to portray themselves for the weekend. All that mattered to everyone was coming together for the music. Yeah, you had many individuals that came there for the party, but for someone like me, I was focused on the music. Due to some unseen circumstances I missed a few of the acts that I would have liked to see. Am I bummed about it? Yeah, definitely. But at the same time I was so blessed to see so many great performers and just getting to be there in general. Heck, I met one of the drummers of my favorite bands and I don't think I would have ever been able to do that if it wasn't for Lollapalooza (or stepping out of the insane crowd because I was so hot).

I have only been home for not even two days and I have been asked multiple times "how was it?" "what was your favorite part?" etc. Honestly, it was a magical experience that I think everyone needs to take part in something similar at least once in their life. Music is an art form that brings so many people together and I am so glad I got to be apart of. I'm probably going to be exhausted forever and my bank account is going to take a while to recover, but it was definitely worth it.