1. Start drinking water. Like, a month ago

Hydrate or die-drate. But seriously, you're going to want to drink a lot of water and Gatorade. You're going to want Powerade because it's $0.68 but it has a much higher sugar content and will actually dehydrate you faster. Alternating between room temperature water and room temperature Gatorade will keep you hydrated, relatively crampless, and ready to learn.

Also, don't drink cold water when you're active. It tastes and feels great but it will shock your system and cause a lot of problems.

2. Sunscreen. USE IT!!

This is self explanatory. Well, I guess it's really not because, every year for the past 6 years, there have been a metric ton of Southerners burnt to a crisp because they forgot to reapply (@me three times. oops). Neat tip that I learned this year in drum corps: the SPF if the number of minutes you should add to the time it takes you to start burning without the sunscreen, So, if it takes you 30 minutes to start burning without sunscreen and you use SPF 50, after 80 minutes in the sun, you need to reapply. Another neat tip: anything after SPF 50 is actually super useless and could potentially cause you to burn even worse than using nothing at all.

3. Be the pinnacle of high fashion and buy a fanny pack

There are so many options. With a fanny pack, you'll be able to hold so much stuff. You can have snacks for in case your blood sugar drops, a fan, tiny water bottles, and, most importantly, your drill sheets. I HATE wearing my drill sheets around my neck. It disintegrates after two hours and is rendered useless until some new drill is written so a fanny pack is a very very useful tool for protecting your drill sheets throughout the season, not just band camp.

4. Make good friends

Make friends that are going to keep you positive. You'll see in the first hot block who those people are. I'm sorry but my positivity is shown through my jokes about wanting to die and jokes about melting to death. If that isn't your cup of tea, I apologize.

5. Don't wear all black.

Use your better judgement on this. Yes, we can, and, for the most part, do take our shirts off. However, if you don't plan on losing a few articles of clothing, don't wear all black. It's a bad idea.

6. Participate in the hype

Play along! It's fun to see how far out people go. I painted my face like the American flag for Murica Day in 2013. Last year, my sister and I wore the same exact outfit, down to our socks, for Twinsday. It's a fun way to keep morale high when it's 110 degrees.

7. Most importantly, have fun

You're doing what you love. Have fun with it. Don't let anyone get you down or get under your skin because they're probably going to be your best friend by the end of the season. learn your show to the best of your ability because, in 20 years, when you think of 2018, you'll think of home.