Last week, I had the privilege of volunteering at Bonnaroo, a music festival in Manchester, TN. Although I'd already had experience volunteering at a music festival last fall, I knew Bonnaroo was going to be a whole different ball game. After seeing the benefits that tagged along (free admission, food, showers, camping), my friends and I signed up through a company, CleanVibes, to help keep the festival clean and trash organized. I didn't really know what to expect, but man oh man, did my week at Bonnaroo leave me with ample words to say about it. So I'll try my best to keep it simple and not write a novel; I will focus on why, although it may be hard and tiring and long and hot and dirty, volunteering at a festival so worth it.

First of all, if you see a festival that you are interested in, make sure you look into volunteer positions plenty ahead of the time of the festival. Many of them fill up quickly. I looked into Bonnaroo about four months before the actual festival.

The organization we volunteered through, CleanVibes, had an online application and deposit that we had to submit before being accepted as a volunteer. Nevertheless, the amount of organizations and companies that you can volunteer with are abundant, especially at larger festivals. Do your research, decide which job would fit you best and has the best schedule for you. If you can't seem to find anything about volunteering on the festival's website, shoot someone an email...people are always looking for help!

Fast forward a few months, and I had arrived at Bonnaroo; tent in my hand and volunteer wristband on my wrist. Of course not all festivals have a camping element, but I think this part provided a new, unique aspect to my experience.

Through volunteering, we had free admission to the entire four days of the festival, free meal tokens, free showers, and free camping. Admission normally costs around $300, and food, showers and camping are not cheap amenities either.

Knowing all this, we were psyched about volunteering...DUH it would be worth it. But don't get me wrong, during the course of volunteering, I often questioned if it really was.

Through CleanVibes, my friends and I had to wake up from our hot tents at 6:45, walk a mile and a half to the show-cite (which was open 24-7) and embark in our volunteering morning. This included three, 6 hour shifts of putting on gloves, grabbing a trash bag, and moving as a group across the entire vendor, food, and stage areas. One by one, all of the volunteers would move in a line, picking up every piece of trash we saw on the way. The sun beat down and our legs, exhausted from dancing the night before got weak.

There seemed to be an abundance of cigarette butts and pieces of confetti; the aftermath of the thousands of people in the audiences the night before. The shift seemed to go on and on, and only got worse as the days passes by. This is because sometimes, the shows we wanted to see would not end until 3 am, thus we got a mere 4 hours of sleep in a sweaty tent.

I'll be honest; my experience volunteering was exhausting. But the thing is, there are SO many different volunteering opportunities. You don't necessarily have to choose one early in the morning or in the sun. It's all up to you.

So, if my experience was so miserable, why would any of this be worth it?

After our shift, we'd discover the food of the festival with our meal token, then find a place to doze off (or at least attempt to) until there was a show we wanted to go to.

But when the sun came down, the music started coming a little louder, and the reality of getting to see some of my favorite artists ever hit me: the morning was so worth it.

My friends and I would plan our nights with which shows we wanted to see. We'd arrive early at the ones we were dying to see, stand a distance for those we knew but didn't care too much about, and be drawn in to the talent and charm of other artists we'd never heard of (Charlotte Cardin, EDEN, and more).

We took turns waiting in line for the pit for the artists we would have died to not see. Thus only one or two people would have to wait in line for hours and the rest of us could join in (as long as the crowd/rest of the line allowed it - beware, that's not always the case).

So although waiting in those pit lines for huge artists was long, hot, and sometimes didn't seem worth it. To me, being 10 feet from Chance The Rapper, Flume, and The Weeknd was worth every bit of hardship. Every bead of sweat, cigarette butt, bug bite and lack of sleep was forgotten about. I was high of adrenaline and danced my heart out. And as cheesy as it may be, I truly think those will be some of my favorite moments in life, in the jumbled mess of a crowd at my favorite artists.

We got to experience these artists from a place that would normally cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars. With The Weeknd, for example, my favorite artist of all time who I've never gotten the chance to see live, I was just struck by how surreal it was to hear him singing.

I think, by the end of the weekend, I'd seen a little less than 30 artists. Another huge perk of festivals are the people you meet. Whether it was from camping or just waiting in line, everyone at Bonnaroo just seemed eager to make friends. It's no wonder their tagline is "Radiate positivity".

I don't mean to say all this to brag, but instead, to pass this amazing experience I had on and encourage others to do the same. Bonnaroo was an experience of a lifetime and it could not have been possible without giving back and volunteering.