Lost During Festival Evacuation

Date: 12/27/2016

I dreamt that I was at a festival at the university that is next to a river with chris and mom. There were lots of people and I even got to see some of my friends. There was a huge ride that had lots of huge glass orbs (like the London eye) where people would get in and then it would swing side to side (like the pharaoh's boat ride). On one side the orbs would actually go over the water of the river. I was in an orb on this side with chris, my friend Raines from high school, and some other random people. It was fun and the views were great. However, I started feeling like the ride was swaying and I looked out the orb and saw that a huge storm had rolled in. The strong winds were causing the ride to sway and the river to create strong waves. The festival organizers told everyone in the ride to stay in the orb and not get out. However, the ride was still operating and the orbs were starting to sway more and more out of control. Raines decided he was not going to stay in and jumped out of the ride when it was at its closest point to the ground. I told chris that we must stay in but the ride was only getting more and more out of control. Below us, everyone at the festival was evacuating due to the storm and the erratic ride which was in danger of toppling over. As things got worse and with the ride still in operation, I decided that chris and I must jump out. We did so just how Raines did and landed on the ground safely. It was lucky that we did because some of the other people in the other orbs were either thrown out of the ride or waiting desperately for help that would end up not coming. Once on the ground, chris and I meandered through the mass of people attempting to leave the area and ran into our mom. She was following a friend of hers to safety and asked us to go with her. We went through a building but with the huge crowd of people, I lost them. The last time I saw them they went up an elevator. Once The next elevator came by I went in and tried to go the first floor. I realized that I was in some sort of hospital at the university as I was unable to go directly to the first floor from that elevator. I had to exit at another floor and take another elevator that could take me down to the first floor. I got out of the elevator and I saw nothing but operating rooms and information desks. I was desperate to find my family and leave but I did not know where they were or how to get to them. I saw a doctor on the floor I was on and I asked him where I was and he said the 4th floor. I thanked him and found 3 different elevators in separate parts of the floor. I did not know which one would take me to the first floor so I just picked one and hoped for the best. I ended up on another floor that was not the first floor and once again I found several elevators for me to choose from. I picked one and ended up on another floor which was not the first floor. I repeated this process for what seemed like hours. It was like I was going to be trapped in the hospital forever. Eventually, I noticed there weren't any people in the building but me and the lights to most floors were shut off. The storm had calmed and most people had already left the festival. There remained only a few people to leave the festival. I was so frustrated and desperate to get back to my family. Surely they must have already evacuated and gone home by now. I continued my rounds around the never ending hospital; still trying to find a way to the first floor. Along the way I met a couple of people who tagged along, but never for long. Finally, after what seemed hours, I found the first floor with the help of this random guy (who reminded me of Mario from my freshman year in tamiu). He also helped me locate my car which just happened to be near the entrance of the hospital that I initially went into when trying to flee with my family and the rest of the festival evacuees. I was angry, frustrated, and tired, but at least I knew I could go home now. Mario gave me some blankets that were apparently mine and I decided to put them in the back seat of the car. As I put the blankets in, I noticed that one of them was covered in ants! There were not hundreds of ants in my car and presumably on me since I had covered myself with the blankets before placing them in the car. I quickly attempted to brush the ants off from myself and the car. I was able to get most of them out and was also able to escape getting bitten too many times. I said goodbye to Mario and heard my phone ringing from my car. I answered and it was a girl who worked in the hospital who I apparently had called for assistance earlier when trying to locate my car. She asked if I had found my car and I said yes. She then referred to me as "Tiff". I was confused but then I realized that all along, she thought I was one of her friends. She did not know I was a complete stranger who had asked her for help. She asked if I was leaving the grounds already and I said yes since I was tired and wanted to go home already. She asked me to stop by her office in the hospital before leaving since she had a gift for me (rather the "Tiff" she thought I was). I said okay and hung up the phone, but I was not planning on going to her office since I wasn't "Tiff" and I did not want to step another foot in that maze. Finally, I started my car and went home.