Camp Canada
My first solo trip. This experience was a gentle ease into the big bad world outside my little hometown in England. Two days after finishing my A-Level exams, just after turning 18, I took a flight across the Atlantic to Montreal to work in a summer camp for 8 weeks 😊
Contents :
🟧 Best Moments
🟨 Intro
🟩 Daily Routine
🟦 Challenges
🟪 Summary
Best Moments
Many, many, many piggybacks
Swimming in the lake at sunset
Campfires
Trying activities I never thought I would e.g. basketball, archery, ice hockey, tug of war (the list goes on … )
Stargazing 🎇
Rainy days chilling in the bunk with the kids
Yoga on the bunk porch
Movie and camp sing-along nights
Intro
When you apply for the first time to a summer camp, you use a recruitment agency called NyQuest. They give your application to camps and the camps choose you (not you choosing them). The application was the first time I’d ever had to really ‘sell myself’, and involved basically exaggerating previous experience from DofE, gymnastics coaching, and babysitting I’d done, to explain why I suited a role as ‘Camp Counsellor’ (aka a 24 hour babysitter for kids 🤙).
I did this during my final year of school, around April the summer before I left. If you’re planning to go the summer after you finish school like me, apply earlier than you think. After my first Skype interview with a camp called ‘Camp Wingate’ I was offered a role! ✨ NyQuest organised the paperworky stuff like medical insurance, work permit, DBS, and any questions you might have. On the whole, you pay them too much money, but at the end of the day as a young, first-time traveller/working abroad, they were great.
My first long-haul flight alone was liberating and after my first night sleeping in a hostel, I felt like a true traveller. It’s easy to look back now and think, why was I so nervous? But after cultivating some compassion for baby me, I realise it is really odd sleeping/showering with strangers for the first time.
The morning after, I was greeted by a nice NyQuest person and given a lil briefing. I was then picked up by the founder of the camp. We drove to the camp with me gazing out of his 4X4 the whole time in awe at the ‘americanisation’ of Canada: shopping malls, vast highways, trucks and him non-stop chatting about camp, with all this new lingo I’d never heard of. I nodded along and quickly realised that I was diving headfirst into the deeply engrained summer camp culture in North America. These kids spend EVERY summer at these camps. It’s like their second home and family, each with its own traditions and history.
We arrived and after an extremely awkward ‘new girl walking in after everyone else has arrived and turning to stare at her moment’, I started making friends (I was late because of my exams). Also, to my surprise, I was the youngest there, but, as you’ll read my other posts, this is a recurring trend 😅
All in all, there were 20 international staff and 20 Canadian staff (the divide was distinct). My roommate was Australian, my summer romance Spanish, and I made friends from all over, and so commenced one of the best summers of my life!
Daily Routine
The standard routine varies from camp to camp, but here’s a link to mine ⇢ https://campwingate.com/future-families/#DailySchedule
I was lucky enough to be hired at a pretty wealthy camp and therefore my days varied from speedboat trips, rock climbing, trips to amusement parks and a cinema + an amazing daily buffet. It was incredible.
I loved working with the kids. I was in charge of the junior girls aged 6-8. They were a handful, but in all honestly, I really did learn key skills, such as patience, teamwork, determination and flexibility. Furthermore, we were able to blow off steam with two evenings a week when staff could either go to the local village or a bar by school bus ( a drunk purchase by the famous ex-hockey founder of the camp). Essentially we worked hard and played hard 👌
Challenges
Homesickness - I’m the kinda gal who always acts strong even when she may not be feeling quite so. Therefore no matter how hard I tried to deny it, when I was comforting one of my girls at 11 pm (way past their bedtime) and they were crying and ‘missing mom’, I honestly just wanted to start crying and get a hug from my mum too.
Feeling overwhelmed - there were moments during the peak part of summer when it was me and my co-counselor with more than 15 girls. This ratio seems bearable on paper, but in reality, with each girl needing sun cream, water, encouragement and attention, it all just got a bit too much… (especially one day when we had a new arrival who unfortunately had a meltdown and shat her pants).
Balancing a relationship, friends and work - so I had a summer romance with a lovely Spanish fella and it meant I was frowned upon by the camp leaders because it wasn’t allowed (priority should be the kids). It also meant the other girls viewed me as a bimbo. It made me sad. When you feel like you’re being pulled in many directions and that people disapprove of you no matter what you do and how hard you work, it’s pretty challenging.
On reflection, however, I believe the challenges I faced gave me the strength and confidence needed to go on to have further adventures throughout the world 🌍
Summary
If you’re looking for an amazing way to spend a summer; packed full of amazing moments, and opportunities to develop and work abroad, then a summer camp is just the place for you. Pack lighter than you think (seriously), offset your carbon emissions for the flight and appreciate every moment.
I made just over $1900 Canadian Dollars for the 8 weeks I spent at camp. I used this money to travel the East of Canada, which you can read more about here. Each summer camp is different so your experience will be unique in its own way. Life is mostly what you make it anyway :)
Feel free to contact me with any questions and I hope you enjoyed reading!
*If you’re in the mood for an extremely detailed packing checklist that my mum so kindly created for me then please email and I can send it to you
