This one time, at Adventure Camp.........

This past weekend I was in London, mainly for a training weekend with BUNAC, the company who I did Summer Camp USA with back in 2007. I have a position with them where I'm a Student Marketing Co-Ordinator. It sounds fancy, but really just means that I big BUNAC up at universities and encourage other students to do summer camp and the other programmes. It's something for the CV anyway.....

Being around other people who have done summer camp did remind me just how much I loved it and that I absolutely want to go back next summer. I have never felt more free to be myself than I did when I was over in New Hampshire. The experience is so hard to describe - it's intense, the hardest work I've ever done, crazy, mad, emotional. Within a single day you can experience every feeling under the sun. The kids are funny, amazing, inspiring, yet intensely annoying and frustrating at times! As far as jobs go, being a counselor doesn't look so appealing on paper - the pay isn't amazing, you live with teenagers, sometimes your evening meal is something your campers cooked for you over a log fire (seriously kids....how hard is it to boil pasta?!), you work pretty much from the second you wake up until you hit your bunkbed at night and get maybe two days off a fortnight. Am I selling it yet?! The thing is....the mud, the tears and the tiredness are what make the experience. Without a doubt I have never done a more rewarding job - and I really hope South Africa will be more of the same.


Described by my friends as a 'girly' girl, I like clothes, make up, cosmetics. I paint my nails and blow dry my hair. I like to shower every day, wear clean clothes. Mainly I wear skirts and dresses and read subscriptions to Marie Claire and Glamour. But not at camp. At camp showering daily was a rare treat, and there wasn't time for blow drying my hair afterwards. At camp there's no point painting your nails because they'll just get chipped when you're collecting wood for a fire! I had to sleep in the wilderness, face my fears, climb high ropes courses, overturn a kayak, jump into a murky (and snake-inhabited) lake, learn to mountain-bike. Not only did I do all of those things, I enjoyed doing them. I was proud of myself for achieving something other than losing weight. What annoys me is that I can face up to the fear of jumping down from a high ropes course (even if it did take a lot of persuasion!) but I can't let myself eat a sodding muffin. My biggest fear was falling off a mountain bike and getting hurt.....one rainy day it happened. Did I break a limb? Did I get hurt at all? No, I just jumped back on the bike, carried on and had a pretty awesome bruise to show off! So why can't I do that in my real life?

This weekend has definitely made me feel a lot more excited about SA! I've been focusing on how nervous I am, but now I've truly remembered how much fun working with kids can be, that every negative minute is outweighed by an hour of fun, laughter and positivity, that I can let go, be myself and have fun too.

Every camp meal starts with an inspirational quote, and with that in mind, I want to end with my favourite quotation. Ok, it's not by Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Ghandi or even Sarah Palin(!) but I still love it and it is something I want to apply to myself and my life:

The most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous.
 ~ Carrie Bradshaw, Sex & the City