9 Things I Wish I'd Known Before Attending My First Music Festival

When you're competing with hundreds, if not thousands, of other people for a spot in the front row, getting close to the stage becomes a true testament of wills. Unless you are a lucky VIP ticket holder and have access to the special, roped-off area where you can watch performers, you're likely going to have to squat in your desired location hours in advance of their set. If you're a die-hard fan of the act and seeing them up close and personal is important to you, then that long wait will probably be worth it. If you're more of a casual fan, don't sweat being in the back. The screens are big enough so you'll be able to see the musicians just fine, and the energy will still be just as electric.

Thanks to a nationwide obsession with flower crowns, having the right "festival lewk" can come with a lot of pressure, and walking around the grounds can sometimes seem like an endless parade of ridiculously attractive humans who look like they ripped their outfits straight out of the pages of a magazine (seriously, it's beautiful). At the end of the day, though, it's more important to be comfortable than to look like a Forever 21 mannequin. You're there for the experience of seeing some hella cool bands perform, and walking around in the dust and the mud in delicate gladiator sandals just isn't going to cut it. A few months from now, wouldn't you rather remember a lead singer's insane vocals than the feeling of plastic flower petals digging into your forehead?

It becomes obvious pretty soon after stepping through the dusty gates of a music festival that the lineup of food vendors is just as important as the list of musical acts. Risotto balls? Check. Off-the-wall ice cream flavors? Check. Pizza so good it'll make you cry? You betcha. Check the rules of a festival beforehand to see if they allow any food to be brought in, and if not, then be prepared to watch the cash in your wallet disappear faster than your patience in a smelly porta-potty. It's a bummer to be paying almost $15 for an ice cream cone, but for me, it was also really cool to be able to try some amazing local NYC restaurants that I normally wouldn't be able to thanks to months-long reservations.

You know those little portable, cordless chargers that you can buy? Invest in one of those, because although there might be charging stations located throughout the festival grounds, every outlet will be occupied.

I get it: they look super cute. But unless you're down with the idea of being naked in a porta-potty, you'll regret it.

Not just hand-holding PDA, either. Full-on making out. Tongues. Saliva. Rolling around on top of each other in a patch of dirt that you saw someone else spit on not 30 seconds earlier. Just embrace it.

"Wow, it looks like someone peed on your shoes," my friend said to me at one point on Sunday, after glancing down at my pair of once-white, now-yellow-brown Chucks. It was my own fault for wearing white shoes, and I fully acknowledge my mistake. In an effort to keep you from making a similar mistake, my advice is to 1.) wear shoes in a darker color, or 2.) wear shoes you don't care about staining. They'll inevitably get dirty, no matter how hard you try. Also, if it looks like it's going to rain, just suck it up and wear some rubber boots. Sweaty feet are better than mud-covered ones.

"What did I just trip over?" is something I thought over and over again throughout my three-day experience at Panorama, and the answer was almost always "another human being." Since the festival area was mostly grass, people could sit down and stretch out basically anywhere they pleased. Definitely bring some kind of lightweight blanket that you can easily roll up in your bag if you think you might want to pop a squat at some point.

I know that probably seems like a no-brainer, but I was surprised by a few rules because I only gave the site a cursory glance before showing up. For instance, I couldn't bring in my giant bottle of sunscreen because aerosol cans weren't allowed in, so I would've saved myself the hassle (and a sunburn) if I'd just given the rules a closer look.