Hey guys! - this is a question for everyone but mainly those returners!!!

Since I have lately been finding my self on this fourm every day whilst sitting in my boring office job it would be cool to hear from the returners!

Can people please post what their experience at camp was like, their best memories, what they did on july 4th, things to take which arent listed but you found yourself needing, what not to take, how you dealt with the 'rebel' children, what their travels were like, where they went etc etc.

keep it long, or short, either way i just want to hear peoples experiences

87 days till camp xxx

Well hello there!
I supose i will go first then My names caireen (kay-reen) to americans they think i say katie so i used all of camp my long n still standing nickname = Caz

Last year was my first year of camp and i was placed as the assistant tribe cheif (assistant devision head) at Camp Mendocino, California. I was 22.
So like everyone else i was nervous at first but then met some really cool guys on facebook who were going to the same camp as me and we started a staff page to help returners answer our daily silly sounding questions lol.

So on the day i left i flew from GLA to LHR after picking up a girl who lived near the airport and took her with me and we met our 3rd jock at checkin. At LHR we waited arounf for 5 hours lol for our BA flight to San Francisco, everyone else going to camp left on the virgin flight an hour before us gutted. lol this ment they then got to know each other without us which was a pain.

The first week of camp was basicly staff training, settling in and climatizing<< this is a main thing. I mean guys it gets hot over there, imagine an amazing brittish summers day (obv gets alot hotter anywhere else than west coast scotland lol) but its like that everyday! Our kids were a mix of Military kids on the first session, local kids (not many of) and mostly the inner city kids of San Fran. Most were from broken and hard lifes in the misson and technically the Ghetto of the city. Yes it made them a little tempramental but they wanted to be away from it as much as everyone else and it ment that they were great to hang around with and had amazing personalities, along with some heart breaking stories that came out around the camp fire. Many a teary eye when the older girls opend up.

The first few weeks are hard, trust me! you have to get into your head that you aint going home for a long while and most of the time when your down and gloomy its not a reaction to say you want to go home. Its an I NEED A DAY OFF lol. For the first 3 weeks of camp the food was a big system shocker! all camps are different but i eat quite healthy at home and alot of camps have to cook for the hundreds so you arnt going to get a nice meal all the time. The amount of mozzys where my camp was situated looked almost Bible like! seriously by 5 or 6 pm its like a plaque of mossys go mental lol (tip! start taking garlic tabs before camp once a day and they wont bite) yeah something you learn a little too late lol

I was always worrying about money, although we wernt close to town we also wernt close to anything lol which ment during our 2 days off a week (this is great lol dnt expect that at your camp) we found our closest american with a car an escaped out of the redwood trees. Somewhere that had signal on cell phones lol. Yeah lets start calling them cell phones lol

About 4 weeks in i just wanted to exchange my broad central lowland scottish accent (that means i sound a bit like billy connolly and kevin bridges) for a Californian one as i would shout Girrls (rolling my R's) and they would be like "oh my gawdd!! did she just say Ghetto?" lol try and imagine the american accent. I was always correcting what i was saying and s...p..e..a..k..i..n..g d..e..a..d s..l..o..w lol. So all you guys with broad accents out there try and slow it down and make it clearer. Saves you saying it over and over again lol.

I found these head lamps (torch on your head) was soo much easyer than a hand held on. Ok you blind everyone you come in contact with but it means you have hands free to eather write, make friendship bracelets lol or chase after children lol. TAKE BATTERIES! lol I was at a camp with hardly any electrical sockets so i took my old trusty MP3 Player and I had a small travel alarm clock, For the days you forget about charging things.

After about 4 weeks you will be able to lower your SPF sun tan to a lower one. (dnt wanna go home the same colour you left now do ya lol) but still be carefull, the suns not like ours at home, treat it like a spannish holiday sun. Start off at 25 at the least, no matter what skin type you have and then slowly go down. dont want to meet the kids looking like you fell in the red paint at arts n crafts lol. Aint gonna be a crowd pleaser!

Take stuff from home! kids love to learn new things and listen to your accent and see pictures of you when your not all sweating in the sun and have camp hair do's lol

Try and plan for something after camp for half way through, by then you kinda know who you hang around with and who you wont want to travel with. Get it booked as well! so that even if things go all pear shaped you will have somewhere to stay the day after camp finishes.

Try not kill the kids! and try not swear either lol isnt going to please the boss! lol Reason with them lol Be strict when you have to be (this means to the staff as well if your in charge) but have a laugh, dont let the staff who arnt in charge take over. Trust me this doesnt look good, i know what its like to be in charge 2 days a week for the other staff to just look at you like yeah whatever and be disrespectful.
For those who may be in charge of other staff. No1. Dont be a first year lol thats my only rule lol. It is sooo hard to try and fit into a camp you barely know never mind be in charge or returners because you will always bee looking to them for confirmation, No camp should let someone totaly new be a devision head or devision head assistant.

Other than that just have fun! i will leave you a little bible to follow by lol.

For people going west coast - In and Out burger rules! lol

Trash can - Bin, Rubbish
Flash Light - Torch
Trunk - Boot
hood - Bonnet
Chips - Crisps
Fries - Chips (not nessesarily french fries)
Sweats - Joggies, Fat pants lol, trackies
Sweatshirt - Jumper, cardigan
Pants - Trousers, jeans, shorts
Underware, Panties - Pants lol
THE TIME IS NOT IN 24 HOUR lol well for most
No 20 to 5 or quarter past or half past just 10:45 or 6:15 (Pain i know)
Banned Word - Angry (not drunk)
Cigerette - NOT A Banned Word! lol
Eraser - Rubber
Rubber - Johnny
John - Toilet (lol you keeping up here?)
Biscuit - is like a savory scone
Cookie - Biscuit (even if it isnt a cookie)
Bum - Homless person
Fanny - Bum lol
Restrooms - Toilets


I hope most of this will do for now lol
Kepp you busy reading it anyway lol

caz xxxx

sorry the banned words are a little inapropriate there! THEY DONT NEED BANNED LOL

Angry - Pi ss ed (not drunk)
Cigerette - Not Fa g, lol as you can imagine the look on someones face when you ask for a pack of them lol

ok i'm scared :s i'm a first year and a unit head at a samll camp :S am i gonna be ok?

Just an addition to this

bathroom - also Toilet, Americans think it's not nice to say toilet so ask where the bathroom is!!

If its a small camp then you should be ok lol just get in touch with the other devision heads who have been before and find out what the score is and what the camp rules and stuff like that.

By like the 4th week i was asked if the kids could wair open toes shoes to the disco (they wernt aloud to day to day) i was like ermmm.... i duno lol

I mean i did fine! but its stressfull lol especially for a first time doing a camp.
Just find out as much as you can about the camp and talk to all the returners about everything you can think of. And go prepared.... with stuff to do on down time and rainy days and ideas on games and stuff like that.

I LOVE this thread. This thread is awesome and exactly what I don't need right now when I'm on Teaching Practise and super busy, but WHATEVER!

Its also making me even more impatient to be placed.

Thanks for the stories guys, please keep 'em coming!

thank you! that was such a good read!

keep the stories coming guys!

I've spent four summers at camp. I'm a little bit of a camp addict. I can't go this year as I'm writing an MA dissertation and while I enjoy my MA I very much wish I could be at camp too!

I've worked at two GS camps - one in Rhode Island, the other near Santa Cruz in California. Rhode Island was very hot and humid. Now I absolutely love the East coast (I studied in NH for a year) for 3 out of 4 seasons, but the summer is just ridiculous there. I'd be in shorts and t-shirts and still be too hot! The Santa Cruz on the other hand (and this will surprise you) is pretty chilly! It was a lovely spring day in Lancaster - sunny and I was fine in jeans and a hoody. This is what I typically wear hanging out in Santa Cruz. Up the mountain at camp, in the shade of the Redwoods it can be even cooler. No joke, one time I wore about 7 layers! But I prefer the cooler climate to RI's weather!

I've got so many experiences/memories it's hard to write them down without prompting - I probably could but we'd be here for days! If you want to know anything specific feel free to ask and I'll do my best.

Most of the time kids at camp are fine. Sometimes you get attitude, homesickness etc (I had both in a 16 year old once and that was difficult). I think you just have to talk to them, let them know that you understand and help them find a way to cope etc. If you have older campers with attitude etc, you need to set boundaries and expectations, you may need to reiterate this. I've had some brilliant sets of teenagers, and love working with them, but they have a tendency to forget that not everything a 14-17 might talk about (or some of the language they use) is appropriate when they're around younger camps. Younger campers can really look up to older campers, so we just made sure they knew this.

You're never on your own at camp so you can talk to your co-counselors or supervisors etc if you're in a difficult situation.

I've been a unit counsellor and a unit leader (so leading 2-4 unit counsellors) - both take some adjusting to - whether it's your first summer at camp, in the role, or your first session after a year away. My first session as UL was challenging this year because even though I'd been at the same camp the previous two years, I was facing new challenges in a new role. If you do feel like you need help, your supervisors will prefer you asking for it, than waiting until you're about to burst into tears from frustration.

As camp is challenging and tiring, it's important that you use the little time off that you get wisely. We had nights off from 5pm-1pm the next day once a session - we'd usually take a camp car (someone 21+ that had been okayed by camp to drive) into the nearest town, get food, and stock up on various things at CVS (a 'pharmacy' that sells a lot more than your average Boots!) and Safeway (a supermarket). Then we'd head back to camp - maybe watch a DVD/video, have a lie in and watch more TV before going back to work.

July 4th - I've done something different every year - I've managed to be on session break every time! In 08 I went to a parade in Bristol, RI. This involved getting up even earlier than we would at camp and waiting for ages, but so much fun! 09 I was placed on RSG and flew to camp on the 4th! 2010 an American friend, drove 4 of us internationals down to Disneyland. So much fun - but so much time in a car! We were back in San Jose on the 3rd though. We meet up with others for fireworks and food etc. This year I was in San Francisco for the couple of days before it, but then was in San Jose with friends and we met up and went for dinner.

My travels have also been varied. This year was best as I had more money. Flew to Vegas and went to the Grand Canyon, Greyhounded it to LA and stayed in Hollywood a couple of nights, flew to Chicago for a few days, then split up with my friend from camp and I went up to New England (Boston and a couple days in Maine) to catch up with friends from NH.

I strongly recommend taking a pair of flip flops for the shower - a lot of the time you're sharing showers with loads of other people so...yeah, flip flops! Take some chocolate as Hershey's does not compare! I know a few of my friends like to take tea...

Sorry about the essay, but after 4 years there's a lot I could say!

Wow, Laura, four times at camp?! Very envious! Thanks for sharing your wisdom. Do you mind if ask you a question - if you could just pick one thing about camp, what is the best thing and the worst thing?

Thanks!

Hol

Yeah four! I wish it could be more - I've got a few friends who have been even more times.

That's such a hard question! I'm not sure if I can choose!

There's a lot I really like about the camp environment but I think one of the best things is probably the people that you meet and the relationships you build with them. This goes for other staff and campers.

I don't think there's anything that's particularly bad. But there are some things that can be pretty challenging. For example, it can be quite challenging having time off scheduled (at my camp we got 2 hours per day that we scheduled 7-10 days in advance) if you're having one of those days where things just aren't going your way though. You sort of have to learn to disguise your emotions until you're on your own, which can be hard, as there are always people around you at camp.

Ill answer that one too if you want.

Best thing about camp like laura says will always be the connection and relationships that you build with the people and the campers there. I also loved days off when i got to just sit and appreciate the californian sunshine, let the west coast breeze blow and just chill! lol

Bad point were the days when you just wanted to curl into a ball and cry lol
Just through tierdness sometimes. Try get as much sleep as you can, only so long you can go with little sleep without getting a little cranky

Thanks guys!

Hay anymore questions then just gimmie a shout,

Got a blog i think ive spoke alot about camp and travelling in.
www.caireensworldblog.piczo.com Also have a CA blog that i used last year