The flight and Boston!
Flying to America and Arriving in Boston was one of the most unforgettable experiences! Having only met some of the people I’d be spending the summer with (who would soon be lifelong friends), there is always the fear that you are going to arrive and realise ‘oh no what have I done’ and believe me there were a few of those moments but the positives far outweigh the nerves. Arriving at our accommodation in Boston and meeting other people who would be attending the same camp and other camps was incredible. Meeting people from the rest of Ireland, Mexico, Spain, England, Greece meant you really didn’t have time to get overwhelmed!
Top Tip: Arriving in a new country with people you’ve only just met can be daunting and overwhelming but the best thing to do is push yourself to talk to everyone. It made things so much easier, and those same people will stick with you for the entire summer and beyond. It’s easier than you think as it can be exhilarating arriving in America and this exhilaration helps with talking to new people!
Arriving at camp!
After taking the bus from Boston to New Hampshire we arrived at camp! After a welcome talk in the dining Hall we were assigned our cabins. As we arrived in the evening it had gotten dark earlier than it does here, and one of my vivid memories was walking through the forest to our cabin in the pitch black, narrowly avoiding frogs and rocks. The cabin was brilliant but very rustic. No locked doors or glass in the windows just a screen to keep out the bugs, no bathroom. That night we got to know each other and meet more people who we would be working with. I distinctly remember sitting under the stars chatting with everyone!
Top tip: Like I said before it can be overwhelming arriving but don’t let that negatively affect you and instead embrace it, take this chance to throw yourself into it and get to know people. I will admit that sometimes you get moments where you think ‘Can I do this?’ but I promise they will pass!
Staff Week!
Depending on your camp, you may have staff week which is the week before kids arrive, and you have time to settle into the camp. This was one of the best weeks of my life but also one of the hardest. You spend much of your time training in the necessary skills for camp such as first aid, and depending on your activity, lifeguarding or high ropes etc. One of the highlights of staff week is being with the most amazing people from all over the world, getting to experience Walmart for the first time, getting trips off camp to see New England and nights off where we got to visit the nearby lakes and towns! I can honestly say I have never laughed as much as in that first week!
Top Tip: Throw yourself into Staff Week! It is the best time to get to know people and have fun! It is one of the most life changing times of the camp experience and you will notice a huge change in yourself.
The Kids!
Over your time at Camp you’ll meet so many different kids. Some of them I miss and some I don’t miss as much! My Camp had 4 sets of kids over the summer. One of my favourite experiences was with my last group of boys, the ‘Pawnee Boys’ as we were known after the name of our cabin! We would often have evening activities where we competed for ‘Monkeytown’ Money. Our cabin’s rivals were the Blackfoot cabin, who in a treasure hunt- stole our Monkeytown money and we had to devise a plan to get it back… the kids absolutely loved it especially when you really get into it.
Top tip- Really be enthusiastic with the kids… You’ll be asked to do some pretty unusual stuff and play a few odd characters and the best way to do it is to throw yourself into it and enjoy it yourself!
Days Off!
As fun as camp was, we always looked forward to our days off each week. Our days off started from 6pm and ended at 6pm the next day so you had the whole night to have fun as well! We would often book hotel rooms that were split between us and that kept the cost down. It was always so nice being able to get dressed up before heading on your day off usually going somewhere nice for dinner. We would often go for food, shopping, the beach, drive in Movie theatres (my first experience of one was amazing) waterparks as well as taking the day to discover other states such as when I went to Maine for the day! We hadn’t anything booked we just went and hoped for the best… one of the highlights of the summer! One of my favourite places to go for days off was Weirs Beach, a lakeside beach about half an hour from camp with an Edwardian Promenade and Arcade and Ice cream!
Top Tip: Use your days off to do as much as you can, you really feel as though you’ve come back to camp having had a good break but also make sure you have enough time to have a bit of a rest. Your camp will also probably let you stay onsite that night, this is good as we didn’t always get a hotel which allowed us to spend what we would’ve spent on a hotel room on something else or even save it for travel after camp! Just tuck a blanket over your bunk bed so the kids know not to disturb you (although this didn’t always work!).
Day to Day life at camp!
Much of your time at camp will have a similar routine, 7:30 wakeup bell, breakfast at 8, cabin clean up until 9, activity teaching until 1, lunch, rest period, General swim, last activity, dinner, evening activity with the entire camp (treasure hunt, capture the flag, barn dance etc.) followed by Friendship Circle where the entire camp would stand in a circle and sing the Friendship circle song before ‘shower hour’ which I got a lot of stick for my Northern pronunciation of ‘shar arrr’; candle pass and then bedtime. Then we got our two glorious hours to ourselves as Counsellors.
After Camp Travel!
After some very tearful goodbyes we travelled to Boston before flying to Miami, travelling up to Orlando, flying north to New York, and then heading back to Boston. These experiences are completely different to camp but equally as incredible. You will no doubt have a group of friends you have made over the camp experience that you will be travelling with so have a rough idea of each of the destinations you’ll be travelling to and your first two destinations settled. They will no doubt change as you work your way through America and meet others along the way but embrace every destination as you go along!
Top tip- There may be times where you are a little overwhelmed and unsure of what you are going to do next be it due to money worries or whatever. The best thing to do is talk to your friends and make sure you are all on the same page, your plans will change but that is fine. There may also be a stage when you are on your own. Due to our home flights being booked on different dates I actually had a week where I was on my own in Boston! A very unusual experience but very rewarding, as with the rest of the summer you prove to yourself that you can do so much more than you think you can! Take time to plan out each of your days and have a few ideas of what you want to do while also taking a few days to relax or just dander around the area you are in. On my own I got to explore Boston, take a day trip to Harvard and take the train to Salem! I was also staying in a very student orientated area of Boston and it just so happened to be Freshers Week so it felt very close to my life at Queen’s (especially when my phone automatically connected to Eduroam).
Few Extra tips
- America has a very different Culture to here… Remember to tip, they will notice!
- Depending on where your camp is you may have unusual wildlife about, we did have the odd bear work its way into the camp!
- Give your camp time to grow on you, it’s very different to normal life but you will honestly love it!
So that’s but a few of my top Memories! I cannot recommend doing Americamp more, it has honestly changed me so much and I have come back an even better person!
Mr Ruairi McLarnon , BA Drama
Ruairi participated in the Americamp Summer Scheme.
For further details and information on this Programme please click here.
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