"I wanted a summer in a different country, to have an adventure after falling out with a boyfriend!

Being in the middle of the lake at night on a boat & going swimming was by far my greatest memories, seeing lots of shooting stars, hanging out with Australians in New Orleans!

Camp taught me not to take life too seriously. It gave me a love of travelling, the confidence & independence to start my own business which I’ve been doing for 13 years now. It’s such an all-round amazing experience, that stays with you. So, I’d say just do it. Don’t worry about getting home sick, you’ll be having too much fun!

Occasionally I keep in touch with one or two camp friends via Facebook. In the 90s you had to write letters (long distance phone calls were too expensive) to stay in touch. Took much more effort than today.

Both years I travelled after camp. I’ve seen more of the USA than I have of England!

My first camp was a private all girls camp & the second was a Jewish co-ed camp, much larger & I enjoyed the second more, learning a different culture, bigger range of people & activities.

I did consider going into teaching on returning my second year. I was an interviewer for CA for a couple of years after this though. I still consider teaching sometimes & I try to mentor the young people working for me as much as I can."