Hey guys! This blog post is week 1 of camp - even though it feels like I have lived here for about 2 months haha. The picture above is of my fellow counselors - Steph (left whom i actually met on the visa day) and Kaija. The fourth counselor (Alice) is on a picture with the campers and I, but i'm not sure i am allowed to actually publicly post pictures of the campers :(


Day 6: Thursday 8th June 2016


THE DAY IS HERE! The campers are arriving! I woke up and had a little work out at the gym before breakfast. I had cinnamon toast and bacon ... strange combo hahah.

We impatiently waited ALL morning for some campers to come, nobody came until late afternoon. Then the rest at dinner! We have 6 girls altogether amd every one of them are soo sweet and lovely! I couldnt be happier with my bunk. I felt so happy once they had all arrived! It was sooo hot too, the sun was actually shining!

After dinner the kids had an orientation and then we went to the canteen and had ice lollies and danced to the cupid shuffle and the wobble song. I'm not sure whether I love dancing to them more than the kids haha.

We went for a walk around the camp, it literally is so pretty by the lake!

An early night was soo needed!

Day 7: Friday 9th June

Bunk G11B awoke and made our way to breakfast. It was freeeeezing and drizzling, then we had a theatre orientation and it became so hot I even managed to burn my arms!

As the other counselors in my bunk are all in theatre, music of circus departments i was the only counselor able to split myself into 6 pieces and take my girls to auditions, callbacks and do various other activities! 4 of the girls got callbacks! So proud!!

We also went to cooking which was fab because we got to eat crepes, then had a wander in the gym to cool off with the air conditioning haha!

The night time activity was a counselor singing some banging 90's tunes it was so funny! I dont think i ever stop singing or dancing here - even though im tone deaf hahaah.

The girls went to sleep really early as it was such a long day and also quite hot!

Day 8: Saturday 10th June

The first day of teaching ahhhhh! I have first major off every single day for 1st session meaning I have longer to do my makeup haha! I went on the WiFi of course.

My first lesson was nature craft and I made a cute dragon fly out of leaves and twigs! I had never done or heard of nature craft, but it was cute! Only 2 girls came to the class and they make little teepees - however you spell it haha.

I then had jewellry, lunch, chainmaile, batik and more jewellry which was fun. The children were all lovely! It was so nice and chilled out.

For evening activity we played human bingo in the canteen, just like we played on induction week!!

I was on area duty in the canteen, although i managed to get off at 10pm and still have a social life! It's so great on a night time, we have pizza, ice cream AND milkshake EVERY NIGHT!! And the best part is, in the canteen the camp DJ plays so many jams and also the wobble song and cupid shuffle which are my fav new dances. My camper Katie and I had fun dancing to the party dances, it makes me happy seeing the campers happy and having fun!

A few of us hung out later on and had a nice chill night, it was lovely - and also my latest night at camp yet haha. I also saw fireflies for the first time ever which was so cute. I wish i could have taken a picture of the sky, it's so clear here - you can see so many stars it is so cute.

Day 9: Sunday 11th June

The second day of teaching panned out the same as the first - although we had no children for nature craft so I helped out aith jewellery instead.

On the evening we watched the Tony awards in one of the theatres but it was sooooo hot! I also swapped bunk duty with Alice so she could watch the rest of the Tony's. To tell you the truth, i hadn't even heard of half the shows that were nominated haha.

The early night was needed, the heat just seems to be draining the life out of me!

Day 10: Monday 12th June

I got up early and went to the gym as per, i find it a lovely bit of time for myself to gave a nice workout in the morning. As much as i would love sleep, i do not want to be coming back wobbling from the states.

I found today particularly hard, im not sure whether its just a mixture of heat and being exhausted from working long hours, but I could have fallen asleep on a washing line haha!

It was actually only around 31 degrees, but we still had to work in the heat and wow it was bloody hot outside! It doesn't help that literally everything is made of aluminium which conducts heat, and also wood! Everywhere feels like a sauna - except the gym and the staff room (big up air conditioning)

The evening activity was brain wars - the same thing we played as counselors on intro week! It is fun, however as I was so tired I felt like i just had 2 left feet and couldn't dance for the life of me - which is not like me haha.

It was also Ciaras birthday (who was in the Hi Hostel in New York with us) so a few of us hung out for a bit but Amy, Robbie and I were just going to drop like flies haha. So we decided to sleep.

Day 11: Tuesday 13th June

I awoke with great difficulty and went to the gym again. It was going to be a hot day again today and it looked beautiful! By 9.30am i had already hit my step goal - which was probably a good thing seeing as the kitchen staff overloaded me with French toast for brekkie haha.

I got to facetime both parents during forst major too which was great, i miss them soo much!

The "real world" also doesn't seem to exist in my mind at the minute - which isn't exactly a bad thing. But I forgot I was even due Uni exam results until I checked a group chat, turns out I got 74% on my Mental health exam!

Nobody turned up for nature craft, so Shauny and I made cute little dream catchers and hung them on the rafters.

I also made another chainmaile bracelet - i'm getting the hang of this haha.

During rest hour, it's so lovely because the girls just practice their songs and dances. It's a lovely atmosphere to see the girls having fun. I also had a little nap before evening activity. It was the staff talent show tonight and wow, there were some talented staff members. I only got to see half of it as I was on duty in the canteen again. The performances which got me the most were the kitchen staff, wow they should not be working in the kitchen, they should be teaching! The voice and dance talent was outstanding.

Luckily i got let off duty early as most of the staff were going bowling, I wanted to wait until the day after as that is when Robbie, Amy and Fran are going!

I was so tired I just went to Wifi and then bed.

Day 12: Wednesday 14th June

I didn't actually wake up for the gym today... And I felt so much worse.

We started making dream catchers in nature craft, carried on making friendship bracelets in jewellery and chainmaile, and nobody turned up to batik again. I'm just not sure anyone knows who it is.

The evening activity was the Disney/Superhero dance. Unfortunately i never got the memo and didn't bring my snow white dress haha.

We then had our nightly pizza and ice cream and I headed to the mini buses to go bowling.

The creepy town of Hancock is only a 10 minute drive away down a pitch black country road - so not too far. When we pulled up i thought we were at some kind of church. It didn't look like your regular Hollywood bowl haha.

The bowling was just unlimited all night however, i did not bowl once all night. We were too busy chatting and laughing. It was a great way to meet new people too, i really enjoyed it. The only thing is, nights like this you are able to dress up, and anyone who knows me knows I own countless bralets and belly tops WHICH I COULD HAVE BROUGHT AND WORN. Now im having to go on missguided or forever 21 and buy a few more nice tops!

It was such a good laugh, and the thing is that no matter how exhausted you are, you need to participate in activities like these. You're in such an intense environment that you need to have "me time" and chill to then proceed with teaching the fun activities at camp (in my next blog i want to attach a photo of the list of activities kids can chose DAILY for their minor periods, it is crazy).

So the end of the night came, and I went on a mini bus without my bunk co counselor and managed to be wandering around camp for a good 20 minutes trying to gather an inkling as to where the hell my bunk was haha. I finally got to bed at around 2.

Day 12: Thursday 14th June

So my gorgeous little campers have been here a week, and i love them all. They get along so well and are so mature. It has also been great to bond with my co counselors Steph, Alice and Kaija more. We have really gotten along so well, we already give so many hugs and there is laughter constantly. I have been blessed with this bunk haha.

Obviously it was not a day to go to the gym today after strolling in at 2am from bowling.

We made our own dream catchers in Nature craft, we seem to be getting the hang of this now!

The evening activity was the camper talent show and the talent in this camp is unreal! I was so proud of my camper Izzie performing, she was amazing!

We didn't have canteen because we had a staff meeting regarding our first week at camp.

I couldn't wait to go to bed, I slept solid all night! These 14 hour days make you so tired, but it's so worth it!

Jade xxxx

p.s I know as a girl whom has studied A-Level English, i should check grammar and spelling. But quite frankly i am writing this blog as I go - like a diary. And i dont have as much time to proof read as i do at home! Blog update same time next week xo