The Absolute Worst Part Ever: Leaving

4 weeks, or 8 eight weeks flies by before you even know it, and soon you will be packing up to leave camp. At first thoughts of home flow through your mind, seeing your parents/ guardians, your siblings, sleeping in a real bed, showering without shoes, a long shower, sleeping all day, having your favorite foods again, and seeing some of your friends. 

You pack up, not really knowing how because your mom probably did it for you when you came to camp. So your counselors help you fold all your clothes,  as neatly as they can. You start counting down your lasts, last breakfast, last lunch and last dinner. The night before you leave is normally a ceremony reminiscing the summer. In many camps the ceremony is some kind of candle light thing. The people in charge of all girls and all boys pick a couple of campers that were exceptionally great during the summer. It is a huge honor to get. The chosen campers will light a candle, while sad songs play in the background. Everybody sits and cries and now thoughts about home leave, and all you want to do is stay forever. 

The next morning the entire camp wakes up early because pick up starts very early (well about 9 am but hey that is early!) The bunk sits together and over the loud speaker one by one each camper on camp is called. You hear your friends get called, you cry, then go back and spend your last minutes with your friends. Suddenly you hear your name over the loud speaker, and it is like you are going down the huge part of a roller coaster, your stomach drops and tears prickle in your eyes. All your friends come running up to you and hugging you from every single direction. Your counselors start bringing you over to your car, and putting your stuff in the trunk while you run and see your parents. You will be so excited to see them, but so sad you are leaving. You give your last hugs and your car starts driving away. Your parents drive pass everyone and your friends are on the side of the road frantically waving at you. In the car there are probably a lot of tears, yours, your parents (so excited to see you) and maybe even your siblings. You are so upset but here are some things to remember:

1. This bond you have with your new friends is unlike any other bond, you were with these people 24/7 and they are now probably your closet friends

2. There will be a reunion around Thanksgiving time so you can see your friends that live far away

3. You can talk to these friends whenever you want via, phone, email, Facebook etc.

4. Go back the next summer, and the summer after that, and soon you will be an expert like me on the most amazing place in the world, Camp. 

Roll Call

What is a Roll Call? If you asked me before I went to camp, I would never be able to tell you what it was. But now, I am an expert.
At the end of each session the counselors get a rectangular board, and the campers paint it, or design it any way they want. After it is dry, the counselors and campers come together and think about things that each camper said a lot. Each camper and counselor gets one. For example, when I was a camper, I would always ask what we were going to have for lunch so one year mine was: Missy "what's for lunch today?!?" Cohen.  **These are always appropriate and the camper who it is about ALWAYS has to agree with it, if not a new one is made**
After each person in the bunk gets one, the campers get to list all the great memories of the summer. After that the campers pick a bunk song, and a bunk motto.
After everything is done, the roll call board is placed in the bunk. It is always great to go back to all the bunks you have been in and see all the great memories. It gives you great flashbacks and is so fun to see things you used to say.

Job Chart

I know you might be thinking JOB CHART?!?! But I promise it is not as bad as it seems! Each bunk is like a little mini house. There are about 12 kids in each bunk, with three counselors. Sooo 15 people are living in this tiny space. So every day there are a couple of jobs that need to be done.

Every day the head counselor will change the people who do which jobs. Some of the jobs would include: sweep (2 people), dustpan (2 people) , garbage, clothes line (yes your wet stuff hang up on a clothes line), sinks/ toilets (2 people) , queen (makes sure everyone is doing their job), mail (gets the mail everyday), and sometimes others.

The reasons for this is since so many people are living in tiny areas, the counselors just want to make sure that the bunk is tidy and so things do not get lost. 

These "chores" are fun. The counselors, or campers play music and everyone dances along. Clean-up is normally directly after breakfast for about thirty minutes. Everyone has to make their bed, and make sure their things are clean before they can start doing their daily jobs.

At the end of the week, the head of all the girls, and all the boys, will go around each bunk and check the bunk for cleanliness. The best girl bunk, and the best boy bunk will get a prize! The prize could be a pizza party, ice cream party, or the bunk might get a special prize! 

There is always something to look forward fro when doing these jobs! So make sure you are clean, and make sure that your bunkmates are all cleaning because the prizes are always awesome!

Shower hour

At home, you can walk in your shower, barefoot, stay in the shower for however long as your heart desires. Unfortunately, that is not the case at camp. All day you run around from activity to activity, take a dip in the pool, maybe go in a lake, and by the end of the day, everyday, you are dirty! But, so is every other kid there. Shower time is normally right before dinner, and about an hour long. (Sometimes on weekends they make shower hour an hour and a half!)

Things needed to shower:

Shower Baskets

1. A shower basket (you can get these at Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Walmart etc.)
2. Shower shoes*** (since so many people are using the same showers BRING shower shoes. Old navy flip flops are just as good)
3. Shampoo and Conditioner (2-in-1 is great because its takes less time, but you can bring both and that is ok)
4. Body wash (I would recommend not to bring bar soap, because when it sits in the shower basket it gets a little gross)
5. Face Wash ( you are running around sweating all day, make sure that you wash your face)

You might be wondering where you shower. At some camps, they have a shower within each cabin. If that is the case, only your bunk will shower in that shower, but still bring those essential items listed above. But, at some camps there are shower houses. That means that all the girls shower in one shower house (which has about 16 showers) and all the boys would shower in their own shower house (also with about 16 showers)

What some shower houses look like

Now you might understand why it is important to take a quick shower. If all the boys and all the girls on camp have to shower in 1 hour every single kid needs to take a super fast shower! Super fast means about 5 minutes or less! I know, I know "How can I shower so quickly?" is the question always asked. What you have to do is get in the shower get your hair wet, use your shampoo wash it out. Get your conditioner (if needed) rinse it out. Body wash, and face wash can be done at the same time, and then you are ready to go!

** REMEMBER*** Always wear shoes in the shower, and always take a fast shower!

Things to bring (appliances version)

Okay, so I am sure many of you are wondering what kinds of things you should bring besides clothes. iPods and iPads are acceptable to bring. HOWEVER, if they got lost, stolen, broken I hate to say this but it is your fault. There is a high chance of these devices getting water damage. So a suggestion if you do bring these, do not bring them out of the bunk! You do not want these ruined! iPods are awesome to bring because if you cannot fall asleep, you can always listen to music, play a game or just relax. If you have an iPhone with music on it, the counselors will make sure that the phone and texting part is not working. Soooo to save everyone the struggle, just take out the SIM card before!

Other things that you should bring: flashlight, books ( I know it is summer and you don't want to do summer reading but it is better to do a little at night before you go to bed rather than waiting until you get home from camp and have a couple weeks before school starts, and you want to see other friends). Also you guys can bring gameboys, and portable play stations, but just remember that they are all your responsibility if anything happens to them. 

Hair dryers are good to bring, however for girls, when everyone is getting ready for dinner at night, there is always a struggle to fit everyone in the mirror so you will have to find space for that, or you could bring a little mirror which always comes in handy. I would advise not to bring hair straighteners. The weather is always humid, your hair will not stay straight and you will be sweating while trying to do your hair!

Lastly, bring a little bit of money (at most 20 dollars)! This is for any field trips. On field trips you normally will not get a lot of money to spend, so this is so you can buy some other things on the trips. HIDE THE MONEY SOMEWHERE SAFE AND THAT YOU WILL REMEMBER*** 

TEEN TOURS!!!!

A lot of summer camps have a huge program for their campers that are too old to be campers, and too young to be counselors. SOO they go on a teen tour!!

hotel with no electricity

Teen tours at summer camp are normally when the campers are about 15 years old. The tour lasts anywhere from two weeks to two months! When I went on mine, it was a little over three weeks. The tours can happen is so many places. For example, west coast trips (where you travel the states in the west coast of the USA), east coast trips (same as west coast, but east coast, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Europe and more. The trips are endless!

resort we stayed in

The director of your camp picks a place (or sometimes more than one) and sets up a program with a company wherever you go. However, it is not like a vacation that you would be going on. There are normally a lot of jokes, and a lot of community service that is done on these trips. Yes, there is a lot of fun things that are planned, but on a lot of these trips, the purpose is to give back.
I went on a teen tour in 2010 with my camp. We went to Costa Rica, and it was by far the most amazing experience of my life. We stayed four hotels, and did LOADS of community service, and hiked a lot. We went zip lining through the jungle, and white water rafting. We stayed at a beautiful resort, and also stayed at a hotel with no electricity. We got the best of both worlds and I would change one thing on my trip.

things we saw on hikes

I'm Homesick :(

There is always some points in the summer when you will get homesick. I just want to let you know that it is totally understandable! I am 18 and in college and I get homesick here at school, and at my sleep away camp. Sometimes I hear a song and think about my mom, or I see someone and miss my dad etc. When you are homesick, you are going to think that you NEED to go home and you cannot have fun at camp. But that is NOT true!! Having fun is the only way to get you out of your homesick funk.
This year, one of my campers was so homesick for the first week. She cried everyday, and when she wasn't crying, she was mopping around. She would come up to me and tell me that she wanted to go and she hates camp and this was not for her. My co counselor and I decided that for three days she had to give it her all. We told her to try at the activities and put in effort. So she decided she would try. My camper was signed up for one month and ended up staying the whole summer because she LOVED it. She actually cried because she did not want to leave.
Everybody gets homesick. (I know the boys out there are going to say they don't, but I have personally dealt with a lot of boy campers that were very homesick) It is apart of camp. BUT, it makes you so strong! You are always going to miss your family when you are not with them, but after going to camp and being homesick, you will now know how to deal with it, and not let it get you down!
The best things to do when you are homesick at camp  are to write a nice, long letter to your family telling them how much you love and miss them, and telling them that you love camp. A few tears might come out, but after they read this letter about you loving camp, they are going to know it was the right decision to send you there! They miss you just as much as you miss them, I promise!

Just remember: stay positive and have fun because that is what camp is all about!!