At
the age of eighteen I had just finished my first
term at university in Liverpool, England and
was looking for a fresh challenge for the summer.
I had travelled since an early age and love
new adventures, so I started investigating the
possibility of working abroad.
When
I looked at all the different options one that
appealed was going to the USA and becoming a
camp counsellor. I thought the placement would
offer me a great opportunity to learn new skills,
meet new people and travel whilst integrating
into a new and exciting society. Unfortunately
there were no guides which explained how to
go with and what the process and summer involved.
But I managed to get connected with a company
who specialized in sending people over the summer
camps and after filling out the application
form I had to attend an interview where it was
assessed if I was right for the type of work
available. This interview was extremely successful
and I was told to attend a pre departure meeting
month before I left for the U.S.A..
My departure date to fly from London Heathrow
to New York was on the 18th June 2003, the only
problem was that I still didn't have a placement
at a summer camp!!! I arrived in New York, then
all the camp counselors were transported from
the airport to the hotel for the night whilst
the company tried to arranged summer camp placements
to hundreds of International staff, who like
me hadn't yet been placed.
When
I arrived at the hotel, I went into the main
office which was sending people to camps all
over the country. I felt quite apprehensive
and waited as they found a suitable camp to
send me too. The American man said 'Well,
most of the summer camps are full now, but we
have found you a place at midget camp.'
I was like, hmm what?
He told me I was off to midget camp where I
was to teach dwarfs to trampoline. I was a bit
shocked by this, I had travelled all this way
and I was to teach dwarfs how to trampoline???
But the man assured me it was great place, as
he put it "When you play basketball
you can dunk the hoop!" I was speechless,
and went a very pale colour. It was at this
point the people in the office started taking
pictures of me and laughing that I realised
he was only joking!!!
I was then told I would be placed at a summer
camp located in Maryland. Afterwards I thought,
wow midget camp would have been really fun!
Luckily I went on to spend the two most amazing
summers at a summer camp located on the East
Coast of the United States In Maryland. During
these two special summers I met so many really
amazing friends from all over the world.
I
created this website to act as an independent
guide to help other people thinking about working
abroad or travelling. I wanted to share my experiences
with other people and provide information so
more people could learn about summer camps and
how to work at them, then go onto have their
best summer ever, just like I did.
