When I set off for my J1 in June, I did not know the impact it would have on me. I expected to return home much more cultured, with a love of travel and an addiction to McDonald’s.
Instead, I returned with so much more.
Primarily, a love for camp and for all the amazing, crazy, wonderful people I met there.
I was right about the McDonald’s though.
I decided to go to the U.S. on my own because I found it hard to get a group of people to commit to going somewhere for the summer. Then, I heard about Camp Leaders and how they help you to find a job in an American Summer Camp and with all the steps to getting there.
I applied just after Christmas and in March I was offered a job teaching dance at a summer camp in Maine.
Despite knowing nothing about Maine, I jumped at the opportunity.
In June, I took off on my own to a place where I knew no one and to a country to which I had never been.
For 7 weeks, I lived in a tent in the woods with a group of 13-year olds and minimal access to technology.
I expected to struggle not having my phone in my hand at all times but I was so busy I barely noticed. Living with minimal internet access meant that we got to enjoy living in a little bubble where the problems of the outside world didn’t exist. Counsellors and campers both needed that more than we realised.
Instead of looking at a screen, we spent our days by the lake and our nights by the campfire.
Don’t get me wrong, being a camp counsellor is hard. Looking after kids 24/7 for the whole summer is hard. There were moments when I was so exhausted that I didn’t know if I could get out of the bed. But it is so worth it.
When your campers confide in you or are excited to tell you about their day or tell you they love you, you realise that this is what you got out of bed for.
In between those moments, you are surrounded by some pretty amazing people. It sometimes seems like some crazy social experiment but they quickly become your summer family when you share every up and down of a whirlwind 2 months with them.
It’s impossible to put into words how much fun camp is, how much EVERYTHING camp is. Unless you’ve lived it, it is hard to understand.
All I can say is that if you’re willing to work hard and you want an idyllic summer abroad, being a camp counsellor comes pretty close.
Photo by Rick Forgo on Unsplash