One of the most well known festivals on the West Coast is Coachella–this year I was able to go. I drove down to Indio, Calif., close to Palm Springs. Coachella is a multi-weekend music and art festival held at the 600+ acre Empire Polo Grounds in the desert. The experience was amazing from the activities at the campgrounds, winning a VIP upgrade, going to all the brand activations, seeing the art installations, and of course the music.

I car camped which means once my car was parked on Thursday it didn’t leave until Monday morning. It was an experience in itself and totally worth it. I met up with a group of people and we all drove in together so we would all be parked together; this allowed us to have a bigger site. The eight of us became a family fast. The spots are only 10X30 feet and both my car and tent had to fit. There was also no water, power, nor lights. The walk to the outhouses meant an ocean of cars and tents and finding my way back was a little difficult. Thankfully there’s street signs. Showers are offered from a portable trailer, but some of the wait times for the showers could easily be an hour. Every modern convenience was available to campers. The downside was there were more campers than available amenities. The highlights at the camping hub were the games and competitions, with opportunities to win prizes, like upgrades to VIP. I competed in a sustainability challenge (I knew beforehand) where I upcycled an old Coachella shirt, a swim suit coverup, and the bead fringe from an old curtain to make a charger. I was eventually selected as a finalist because I happened to see an email.

This year had three separate vibes, one per day. Sabrina Carpenter fans on Friday, Justin Bieber fans on Saturday and Karol G fans on Sunday. Each day allowed fans to experience a new perspective in the same exact space with the same people, myself included. Part of the experience is the clothes so people watching was the best at all hours. I had a blast!

That being said, my school work did not. The camping hub offered wifi and power for free on a first come first serve basis. I only have photography and video classes so the software is very large. The WiFi wasn’t strong enough to run any of it, so my great plan to do my work in the morning had been relocated to a Starbucks. After a $50 Uber I was able to get in the groove, until my computer died. To finish off the trifecta of bad luck, the charging cable was at home. Needless to say, I had several late assignments.

With Coachella being in the middle of spring term I highly recommend getting all your work done before you leave. The trip was a success and I recommend attending at least once. I can tell you from experience that you won’t want to miss another one regardless of who is headlining.