As it is the eve of my return to college - and my final year eek! - I thought "what better way to start a new chapter than recapping on the last one?". My summer can be summarised in a couple of words; I survived. If you are a reader of my little blog here - hello! - you may remember I wrote a blog post on my impending trip to the US for the summer on a J1 (a working visa, for those of you not from Ireland) which you can view here.
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| Got to see this beauty on the daily ♥ |
I was bag of nerves but once I had set foot on American soil, the nerves faded and my excitement kicked in, going into overdrive when I got to spend my first full day in New York and doing all the typical things a tourists does in NY; marvelling at Times Square, walking at a snail's pace and stuffing my face with bagels. I was also fortunate that the first person I properly met was another camp counselor; a lovely English lad called James who was also in New York for the day and we clicked instantly. We were there to support each other from the beginning which was very lucky because camp was tough. Very, very tough.
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| The potato head made it to NY ♥ |
Before I begin ranting and raving, there were a lot of things I loved about working at a summer camp. It was such a change from my typical summers of working, maybe going on vacation for a couple of weeks and basically just hanging out and I would consider this summer to be my best summer yet. I met the most amazing people from so many countries who, over the span of 11 weeks, became very dear to me and I even got to travel with some of those wonderful people after camp. Doing a J1 also confirmed my love for travelling and has only given me a stronger need to see the rest of the world and to embrace the diversity of different cultures. And the biggest pro of travelling to the US? It was sunny 90% of the time which, to Irish people especially, is a huge bonus.
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| Happiness is good weather and good company ♥ |
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| How I didnt gain about 10st is beyond me! |
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| Henna done by a very talented camper ♥ |
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| "You can't sit with us!" |
However, for all the great friends and memories made with them, there were also some downsides to working at a summer camp. First and foremost, the work is really tiring and demanding. At my pre-camp orientation I was warned about the high levels of stress when working at a camp but until you've done 6 weeks of working 6 days a week from 7am to 10/11pm at night (with as little as 2 hours of off-time), you can't understand how true that is. In addition to that, you have to be attentive at all times because you can be watching over 10 kids; kids who love to run around and are full of curiosity and questions. Sometimes, it felt like I suddenly had 10 of my own children and my level of stress reached astronomical heights every time one of them was out of eye shot. Time off was also a huge problem. The camp I worked in was situated deep in a wooded area with the closest town about a 20/30 minute drive away. On my days off, I became dependent on the American staff who drove for a ride into town, because otherwise I was stuck at camp. And although the views around the camp were breathtaking, it seemed as though you were never truly away from work until you the dirt road turned to tarmac and you watched the Welcome To Camp sign disappear in the rearview mirror.
By weighing the pro's and con's it's pretty obvious that I won't work at a summer camp again but I would consider going back and volunteering for a few weeks. I think one of the biggest con's was that we were living and working on camp for the whole 11 weeks and by the end of it I just felt claustrophobic. Despite this, and this will sound hypocritical of me, but I would recommend everyone to do a summer camp at least once in their life. Camp teaches you a lot about yourself and your capabilities and it makes you step out of your comfort zone - mostly because of skits where you act like an absolute eejit in front of a crowd of people. It also removes you from the world of social media - you will literally not find any reception once you enter camp - which I used as a detox and I found myself less likely to waste time endlessly scrolling through Facebook on my off time. These are the reasons I would consider hauling my butt back to the US. And also, some of the kids were actually really cool - ya'll know who you are!
If you have any questions on the CCUSA hiring process or have a specific question on camp, catch me on any of my socials (ha, the irony) and I'll be happy to chat to you. I'll also be posting a "What You Should Actually Pack For Summer Camp" list because Lord knows I could have done with one of them. Tip 1#: Do not pack 16 pairs of shoes, smh!
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| Summer 17, over and out ♥ |
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| ohhheyitsaimee |
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| ohhheyitsaimee |
Until next time...
Aimee♥
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