You’ve all probably heard of Camp America or Camp Leaders and other camp related agencies that find you work at camps in America. And I bet most of you have thought about doing it, well let me just say as someone who has done it I encourage you to do it!
I just want to tell you about the realities of it first. It all starts with a pretty straight forward but strenuous application form. You basically just tell them a little bit about yourself and what not. But oh boy thats just the beginning. The application process for these kind of organizations are probably the most grueling you will ever go through. Some of them even require you to make a short video but by this point half of the people that were applying have probably dropped out.
And a huge part of the process is money. Serious money will be coming out of every single orifice of your body. There’s the money you pay to the agency then there’s visa money, police checks and the daddy of them all… flights. Expect to fork out around £700/£800 of your hard earned cash (or your parents) to finance this adventure.
But once you get past all that it’s plain sailing from there pretty much and you’re well on your way to have one of the best summers of your life. It will certainly be a culture shock but two different kinds of culture. Both American and Camp culture. I don’t know about other camps but the camp I went to was just totally wacky. It was like a 2 month High School Musical film, will literally break out into song and dance all the time. But still great fun. I guess that’s Americans for ya.
The people you meet will just be amazing. Not only are they Americans but they’re also camp people which makes them all that more awesome. Your fellow counselors and children you are looking after. You will not want to leave.
But WARNING. The work is hard and it will probably be one of the harderst things you ever do. After the first few days you will be thinking “What have I got myself into?” But it gets easier. Much easier. You start to become more used to minimalistic lifestyle and regimes of camp and it will feel like you’ve been working there all your life. You will become so used to it in fact you will forget about all the perks of western life.
So for all you thinking of applying as long as you can afford it, are willing to go through the application process and are ready for some of the hardest work of your life, I say go for it! It looks great for future employers and you will find out you have skills that you never even knew you had.
I loved it so much I’m going back for a second year…
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