1: The anticipation. The most sleep you’ll be getting the night before Floralia is an hour, tops. The excitement is too much for your brain to handle!
2: The wake-up. You just finally fell asleep and your alarm rings at 3:30 am and you enter a state of confusion…until realizing it’s the dawn of the best day ever. You’re too tired to be excited yet though and the thought of lugging a tent to the green is hard to fathom.
3: The tent struggles. You managed to rally your friends in the dark and now you are looking for a spot to set up the tent. Why is half of the green already filled? HOW? You settle for a spot and tackle the tent. Literally. Why are they so difficult to maneuver? You finally find some boys to help you out. Mission accomplished. BACK TO BED.
4: The first drink! After waking up from a post-tent-set-up nap, you are ready to go. You throw on your fun outfit that you’ve been waiting to wear, grab some carbs in the dorm common room, and pop the first bottle! It’s time for a mimosa (or two).
5: The arrival. Ah, Tent City. Good luck finding/remembering where you set up earlier this morning! As you walk through the maze of tents, so much excitement fills you up and you just can’t wait to start the party.
6: The realization. An hour into the festivities you realize your mimosas and fruity drinks are kicking in. Yay!
7: The dancing. Now that everyone is intoxicated, it’s time to DANCE. You might dance by the stage to the electrifying sounds of the student DJ, or stumble upon a dance party tent where you jump around a lot. Like, a lot. Either way, you will be dancing in a sea of pure happiness.
8: The search. You’ve been dancing so hard that you somehow lost a friend, or even all of them. You start a mission to find your friend and drunkenly wander through all of the tents until you spot one. You embrace them like you haven’t seen them in years and complain to each other how hungry you are because you haven’t eaten since 7 AM.
9: The feast. You remember that there is food in the 1962 room. THERE IS A GOD. While stuffing your face you don’t care that the chicken nuggets are actually rubber because you might boot if you don’t eat SOMETHING.
10: The nap. You have been partying since the early morning and your body is starting to feel it. You just want to close your eyes for a little bit, because this day doesn’t last forever. But instead you fall asleep on a futon outside and your friends take pictures of you sleeping. Or you are brave enough to trek back to your bed and take a solid nap.
11: The revival. You wake up in a cloud of confusion, make-up smudged and vision slightly blurred. Why am I here? How long was I asleep for?! You quickly get up and start drinking again because you’ve sobered up a little bit and need to catch up. The actual concert has yet to happen!
12: The MUSIC. It starts with a kick-ass DJ that you’ve never heard of. You all give him a lot of love and dance around like maniacs. The next artist might be another DJ, but even better. The sun is going down and you are becoming enveloped by the springtime beats and the growing crowd of students.
13: The last hoorah. As for the headliner, it’s a hit or miss– but really, whether it’s your fave artist or something you’ve never heard before, you’re in pure bliss. Either way you will end up on someone’s shoulders at one point or another, trying to soak up the last bit of energy that surrounds you.
14: The selfies. You almost forget to capture this moment of ecstasy, but then quickly snap an epic selfie on top of the world (or the crowd—however you see it).
15: The sadness. It’s over already?! You try holding back a tear as you realize the day has come to an end. Everyone is lingering, unsure what to do.
16: The after party. You hear word of an after party somewhere and you either do one of two things: Say whaaat because you’re drained from the longest day ever and can’t contemplate staying up longer; or you say LEGGO, refill your drink, and follow the crowd to end the night with a (blurry) bang.
17: DEATH. After stumbling back to your bed, you need food and water stat. You reach for the nearest box of Cheez-Its and thank the cheese God for blessing you with such a gift. Then you pass out and wake up the next morning feeling pretty horrible.
18: The recap. You feel like you had an amazing dream. But NO! It was real! You scroll through your pictures, laugh, share your remembered stories, and cringe when you get the infamous Facebook notification: name added a billion photos of you.