A typical day at Camp

A typical day at Camp

The first trip to the US with student program is not only a pleasure and fun, but also brings a lot of stress, responsibilities and requires careful preparation to leave. This content is to raise awareness of future campamerica employees – what to expect, what you should know before you go and how to prepare for it. Describing my typical day at camp I will present the most important information you should know before the departure. Your american trip must be successful, because of the incredible adventure which awaits you 🙂. Soon, in a separate post I will also describes how to choose and where to find programs to travel to the United States, as well as how to submit applications for Camp America. Meanwhile, I invite to my diary from a typical day at camp!!

Where are we?

Let’s find ourselves on the map. We are in the north-eastern United States, right at the border of Vermont, but still in New Hampshire. This state has only 1 mln people and due to the small number of residents, they don’t have to pay a tax. Thus, in stores prices are final and we don’t add tax to them like we do in other states.

Welcome to the Merriwood Camp

But before I will describe you a typical day at Camp, I share with you my first experience. After landing in Boston, we had to buy a ticket on the bus to Hanover in New Hampshire. The cost of travel has been returned by the directors of Camp, who could not pick us up from Boston. After 2 hours of driving we arrived to the Hanover, where the Head of the Camp was waiting for us. We packed to the car and then we drived another 45 min. When we finally arrived, we stoped in the forest. No shops, only nature and single, private bungalows and of course our cabins. Right next to the Camp was a similar one, but only for boys.

We arrived late in the afternoon and we went straight to the dinner. After the meal, they accommodated us to one of the cottages with lake view. Quite nice, but room area was really tiny. Fortunately, they moved us to a much larger house when it turned out that some people do not come, so we can live in a bigger cottage. It was so big and I could even twirl hula hoops in the house: D

Kitchen dress-code

Before you go to the kitchen conquest, you should dress up well ;). As it happens in the kitchen, a few rules should be followed. Firstly, always tie your hair. Second, wear full shoes. Crocsy allowed, but it’s good to have some old sneakers – it’s better to run in the kitchen wearing comfortable shoes and they protect against injuries. Thirdly, wear clothes that can be destroyed and you won’t be sorry for that. Keep this in mind when you are packing. I threw up almost all kitchen clothes after camp – they were completely destroyed. Including shoes, which even had a hole in the sole 😉

Wake up! 6:30 – time to prepare brakfest

A typical day at camp – time, start! There is no mercy. Despite the long journey, the next day we started at 6; 30. At 7:00 we had to be in the kitchen. We had to learn quickly because in less than four days our camp was starting. There were 4 of us (4 polishgirls) + 1 master chef (who has employed us) + 1 cook! At the beginning all of us were coming to the kitchen to learn how does it work. Our tasks were quite easy – prepare and cut fruits, covering tables and serving food. Usually it lasted 20 minutes and then we had time to eat our breakfast. Of course, we had access to food 24/7 so we could eat when we wanted and how much we wanted. Breakfest were too small for me – mainly fruits, white melted cheese, peanut butter, toasts, cereals, and sometimes pancakes, waffles or sausages.

After breakfast, the children brought the vessels that we had to wash and then re-cover the tables again. The whole washing, food packaging, tables cleaning and re-covering was taking us about 40 min. We wanted to clean up as quickly as possible, because the length of our breaks depended on how fast we were in the kitchen.

First break

We had to come back to the kitchen at 11;30 or 12:00 – depending on how much work was it. In the meantime, we had a little time for ourself. What we did on free time? Well … Everything depended on the weather and our mood. Sometimes we were surfing on the internet, which was only available in one house. Another time we were burning calories on bikes, swimming in the lake or just kayaking. We explored the neighborhood well. Sports equipment was available all the time, but of course the children had priority. Usually, it was not a problem because there was lots of equipment and we could safely use it almost any time.

Sometimes, breakfest was the only meal, because kids were going to the trips. We could also go with them, totally for free 🙂 Once we went to the amusement park somewhere in New Hampshire, but it was a lil bit boring for us 😛 They didn’t have lots of attractions and most of them were more for small children 😛 They also went to the water park. Due to the bad mood I didn’t go with them.

Once a week, after breakfest, we could leave our clothes in a special bags to take them to the laundry.  Personally, I recommend hand wash for your favourite clothes, because you never know in what condition they will return: P However, they have never destroyed or missed our clothes, but I wouldn’t risk better clothes. We had aslo a laundry at our camp but we could use it only when everyone left the camp.

Lunch

Time went fast, so after short break we were again in the kitchen. However, we didn’t have too complicated tasks. Mostly, we were preparing salads, serving tables and food or cutting a cake. More or less waiter tasks. We had always more work after the meal. We always wanted to clean up ASAP, because everyone likes long break 😀 Lunch in contrast to the breakfast, looked much better (bigger portion and choice). However, as it happens in the US, even at camp, we often ate hamburgers or other, not entirely healthy food. I must admit that it was delicious, but I also missed our Polish food (especially bread, which I’ve never seen in the U.S. – just toasts and bagels). My favorite dish was Casadia. Not only because of taste, but also because it looked so cool on the trays. We made them with pleasure. Same story with strawberries in chocolate. All of us wanted to make them and ate at the same time 😀 😀 😀

Afternoon break

In a typical day at camp we had to prepare three meals a day and we had 2 breaks. Only on Sundays our last meal was Lunch. Counselors were preparing dinners at this day (that girls who cared for little girls). Breaks in afternoon were generally longer, but we were already more lazy. Definitely it was better to mobilize after breakfast or even after dinner to the effort than in the afternoon. We didn’t always have a good weather. At the camp there was even quite interesting microclimate. It was definitely colder than eg. in just 20 minutes away Orford. While in the heat, the temperature at the camp was perfect and enjoyable, but during cloudy days you had to dress warmer – don’t forget to take warmer clothes!!

• Free afternoons

Sometimes, we had picnics or parties with boy camp. We really enjoyed because it was always something new for us and sometimes we skiped a meal 😀 In this way we celebrated the 4 th of July! The made a big picnic for us with food and music. All children were dressed in patriotic clothes. Later on they prepared firework show us. It was great 🙂

However, sometimes they just forgot about us. I remember that once when we took a car and went somewhere and when we came back they asked us why we didn’t come to the evening that was organized by kids?! We were shocked and disappointed that no one told us about it. So, yeah it happened that they forgot from time to time to invite us or let us know about evenings.

Luckily we had Jimmy – the Camp handyman. Although, he didn’t remember our our names, but he still seemed to be the closest person at Camp for us. We had so much fun with him and he showed us a big part of New Hampshire. About our tours through this small state, I will tell you in another post.

Dinner

It didn’t differ a lot from the lunch, because it was also big and served as hot meal. I’m not used to eat such a big dinner, but it was hard to refuse it, especially when the dinner was really tasty 😛 I knew that it wasn’t good for my belly and at some point I even started to say that for dinner I would only eat a yoghurt with cereals. But sometimes it was impossible and my friends even gave me on my birthday a cake with the words „For dinner I eat only yoghurt” :D. And this is how I brought additional 5kg from the U.S. 😛

After dinner we wanted to clean ASAP, because it was our longest break. Additionally, after last meal of the day, we had to clean the floor. Usually, we managed to finish before 08:00 PM.

Evenings

Our second life started after dinner 😛 Finally we were free till the next day 😀 We loved to play tennis – at some point they even started laugh from us because we were practising so hard!

Although, we had access to the food, sometimes we were going to the Walmart just to break out of the Camp 😀 The car was to our and Counselors disposal. It had to be booked in advance if we wanted to be sure that we will take it, but sometimes we were taking it spontaneously if it was available. We didn’t pay for use, only for the consumed gas. Walmart was 20 minutes away from Camp, so the average cost was $ 3-4 per person (when 3 of us were traveling). But before we went alone, our chef took us for a few rides around the area, so we can get used to the car automation.

In U.S. you can drink alcohol since you are 21 years old. Same with club entrance. We were all more then 21 years old (I was 23 years old). Of course, at camp alcohol was prohibited, but to be honest everyone knows how it really works 😀 We actually didn’t care that much, but from time to time it was nice to drink something. Usually we did it very quietly, so that nobody saw (especially children) and generally there was no problem with it. We had fridge in our cabin that no one control.

Shower and other Camp residents

As I previously mentioned, the showers were available in a special house. In our house there were only two toilets and two sinks. I didn’t think, that the daily trip into the shower will be an extraordinary experience for us and I will mention about it  in this post. The shower was a challenge for us. And I don’t mean cold water, or generally cold temperatures, which sometimes teased. Here weighed the fate of a heart attack. Above our heads lived huge spiders. I’ve never seen such a big spiders above my head 🙁 . They were centered over our showers and we watched their moves with horror. When I saw them in its place – ok. But when they changed the position, we had tears in our eyes 😀 Sometimes we were yelling under the shower 😀 .

Spiders weren’t the only attractions that were waiting for us. We saw a beautiful moth moon and in our cabin lived chipmunks and a mouse. Not infrequently chipmunks ate our food, that we brought from the kitchen and in the morning woke us their noises. Unfortunately, they were very skittish. So a typical day at camp was full of various experiences and challenges, which we do not even dreamed of 😛

What happens in the woods, stays in the woods 🙂

As I mentioned above, boys Camp was right next to us. We were not allowed to contact them (such a strange rules), but in the evening, all of us (I mean Counselors not children 😛 ) came to the nearby forest to get know each other. There was alcohol, fire and heart issues. Counselors were often hungover 😀 . Sorry, here’s all I can tell you. Be aware that the wood adventures steal your precious time to sleep 😛

In the night

It was very cold. I often slept in fleece and in a sleeping bag, although we had in addition quilts and blankets. So you should necessarily bring a sleeping bag.

4 girls together 24/7

You know how it is when four foreign girls live together in one house, see each other every day, work together and spend time together? Definitely hard. 😀 Sometimes we were tired of each other, we argued, but on the other hand, I don’t see anything strange in it. With that amount of time together, better and worse days, someone always got under someone’s skinwas pissed off someone. 😀 But overall we manage to survive and this is the most important 😉 But be careful sometimes might be hard 😛

Such was more or less my typical day at camp. If you have any questions simply ask me. Take a look also at other blogs to see how other people describe a typical day at camp and check official Camp America site!!

Check also:

Thing to see in New Hampshire

Mount Washington

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