Everyone knows the usual amazing music festivals people go to are either Coachella or Lollapalooza. Girls dressing up as hipsters or as ravers when guys usually go shirtless with shorts and sunglasses. Outside Lands is a whole different story, everyone dresses up with their own unique style, food trucks everywhere, and the music is absolutely amazing. I remember the first time I heard about Outside Lands was when Sam Smith came in 2015 and I was shocked to hear that San Francisco even did these festivals. Just imagining me dressed up with a group of friends and having a good time only increased my desire to go. This year I finally decided to go with my best friend, her boyfriend, and my boyfriend to have the best time of my life. Unfortunately, Outside Lands did not go as planned and my first experience turned out to be a rollercoaster.
When I arrived at the festival around 12:30 PM, I was running on an empty stomach and was completely dehydrated due to rushing out of the house in the morning. When I met up with my friends I asked if we can go eat and I ended up buying three tamales for my boyfriend and me. At around 2:10 PM we all decided to go to the Twin Peaks stage and watch a performance before Daniel Cesar. The plan was to move up after the performance in order to have a good view, but as the hot blazing sun was burning my neck and the thousands of people suffocating the only space I had around me, something weird started happening to my body. It started in the tightness of my chest which moved up to the clogging my throat where I believed what was indigestion it was actually lack of breath. Quickly, my vision becomes blurry and the only thing I can see is half of the people's faces and the other half was purple. My ears clogged up as my vision became worse and that is when I knew I was about to pass out.
The crowd around me was asking if I was okay, three seconds later I start to fall and the security guard carries me out of the crowd. A living nightmare. My boyfriend climbed over the fence and followed me backstage where the medic was supposed to meet me. At this point, my vision and hearing improve but I start to shake and all blood circulation in my hands decrease and they go completely white. See, the first thought any sane person would have is "am I going to be okay?", but no my crazy in shocked-self worried more about Daniel Caesar's performance. Of course, other thoughts were going through my head, but I was in the biggest shock of my life that I was not in sync with my emotions. Medics mentioned it was dehydration mixed with anxiety and crowd syndrome. This was a huge mess. Yet somehow the situation turns around and takes all of my symptoms away.
I saw Daniel Caesar behind the stage.
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Let's recap what had just happened to me: I lost my vision and sight, I almost passed out, and lost all blood circulation to my hands and as a result, I see my all time favorite celebrity? My day went from a nightmare to a dream. Even though I was scared for my life and still felt lightheaded, something inside me gave me the strength to move on and enjoy the rest of my day. Do not be like me. I listened to your typical Bay Area music and tried to treasure every moment possible. My boyfriend was mainly my hero the entire day as he was taking care of me and constantly asking if I was okay to continue. Honestly, I knew I should have gone home to rest and improve, but my immature-self wanted the "fun experience." Never again.
I was really happy in this very moment.
As my day continued, I was happy to see everyone having a good time because I wanted to end my day on a good note. I was lucky enough to see Illenium, Future, SOBxRBE, and more artists. Outside Lands had its ups and downs (literally), but I am glad that I had wonderful people around me and the opportunity to have the best time of my life.
