Before you read this blog post, just know that this truly is coming from the bottom of my heart. No exaggerations, no nothing. I've always been so brutally honest in my blog posts and I aint stopping now!

Okay, so I first found out about French Woods all the way back in 2015 when I first applied for Americamp. It was the first camp I actually ever saw, the Performing Arts aspect drew me in completely as you would expect.

As you can read in one of my first ever blogs "My Initial Americamp Experience", I deferred my entry from summer 16 to summer 17. Funnily enough, I was interviewed in 2015 for camp Lindenmere over skype which I recently learned my camp director founded and sold! My camp director was the very first to create a camp with such a flexible schedule. In the orientation when he explained how the schedule worked, I thought how the bloody hell will that actually work! But it did!

I remember the day we were picked up from the Hi Hostel in New York City. That sick/excited feeling in my stomach. I remember turning down past the cute white church and seeing the bright "French Woods" sign before pulling into a gravel filled car park.

I remember trying to drag my 10 tonne pink suitcase around, along with a huge bedding pack and a map, looking at this huge place thinking "how on earth am I going to find anything".

I eventually found my bunk and walked in absolutely mortified at the sight of this disgusting, dirty, red wooden shed I would have to spend the next 13 weeks. How was this ever going to be home?

The first time I met my co-counselors is a complete blur. It took Steph and I over 24 hours to realise we already met at the Visa day in March! How crazy. Unfortunately, Kaija had to return home in session 2, but she was an absolute pleasure, and such a sweetheart and was missed the whole summer. As for Steph and Alice, I can truly say from the bottlm of my heart that they are two of the nicest, beautiful and funniest co-counselors I could have wished for. We entered the summer as strangers, and ended the summer as great friends.

Orientation week was the longest week of my life! I just wanted the campers to arrive, although we did have a lot of fun at canteen haha.

Session 1 was a dream, we had the best campers we could have ever wished for and more. I was still quiet in session 1. I guess I was still finding my feet and trying to get used to the daily life at camp. That first day of camp and walking into the dining hall with a fresh set of newby campers and the whole dining room (except us) were doing the "give it to me one time" hand clapping, table chant still haunts me to this day haha.

Session 2 was something else, this was where the intense side of summer began. It was interesting for me as a person. I am very reserved, I tend to put myself in the background of a situation and onlook from the side lines. Let's face it, i'm too nice so I tend to be a bit of a walkover! And that is okay in certain circumstances but there was not a prayer that my personality type would help the bunk in any way, shape or form in session 2. I had to find my voice! I had to alter myself for the better. It took some time, but I did it and I am so proud of myself.

Session 2 was also a time in the summer where I was the most homesick. I really didn't appreciate Session 2 to the best I could have, however, I think that was because it was the toughest session and also the most draining.

Session 3 I picked myself up, and I was back to it! Despite my little push back in session 2, I still knew that next year I wanted to return... as I did in session 1 haha!

At camp, you create the best friendships ever. You meet people through your sheer love of travelling and working with children.

Session 4 flew by in a breeze, and before I knew it, I was waving my final campers goodbye. I remember I was hugging a camper whom had told me on their first day that they didn't fit in at their other camps. They didn't want to go back to their camps because it was awful and unaccepting. That camper ended up extending their summer at French Woods in G11B (our cabin). That camper loved the atmosphere and the accepting surroundings of French Woods.

This is what breaks my heart about the White House trying to abolish the J-1 Working Visa. Because of the J-1 visa, I truly have met he most incredible people - inside and out. These people begin to become your closest support network. I mentioned to my parents that we all said "love you" when saying bye, and before bed. I suppose to them it seems weird saying you love someone you have known a mere 12/13 weeks? But these peope are your family at camp - they understand this hectic bubble which is camp! Without the international staff working there, the camps would not survive and campers would not have this safe haven which is Camp. This doesn't apply to just French Woods, it applies to every camp in the US.

I have been able to meet friends for life from different cultures - and now I have a fair few sofa's to sleep on all over Australia haha! I've been able to work with and see the most incredibly talented kids grow over the portion of summer I was able to spend with them. I have been lucky enough to visit world wide famous landmarks, and see parts of the world others would only dream to explore.

At the start of summer I wore heaps of makeup EVERYYYY day. False lashes and the rest! Gradually over the summer, I became either lazy or exhausted that I never wanted to wear makeup anymore... not even eyebrows haha. Even a few campers made a few remarks. But I realised, I was slowly becoming comfortable in my own skin. I was carelessly standing on the tables and chairs during dinner singing my heart out to Party in the USA - even when the campers were sat embarrased that Steph and I were "mom" dancing in their presence haha.

I don't even know where to start with the campers. Yes, some can be a handful, they can be cheeky and stubborn. But the children at French Woods are special. I could be teaching a child in Nature Crafts or Batik and they seem like the most timid child ever, then the next week they're owning the stage and belting each note to the top of their lungs, or they're perfectly finishing every single step in their dance. It made me so proud.

On the very last night at camp, no matter how physcially and mentally exhausted I was, watching the burnout of 2017, I knew I needed and wanted to return to French Woods in 2018!

And as for that "disgusting, dirty, red wooden shed" I mentioned at the beginning? Funnily enough, thats the place I began to refer to as "Home".

I would highly reccommend anyone to apply for AmeriCamp. I believe anyone with a passion for working with children and travelling the world should have the opportunity to have this experience. I honestly believe that when I first pitched the whole AmeriCamp idea, and after I deferred due to Tunisia, I have a sneaky feeling a lot of people thought I probably wouldn't pursue it... and I'm so glad I did. It sounds clichè, but Camp has changed me and my outlook on life.

Two years ago, I was in Scotland with my family because we were too scared to holiday abroad - which rightly so. For one whole year, I let terrorists dictate what I did and where I went. Maybe my friends could argue that I let them dictate where I went up until this year? I mean it happened to us once so why couldn't it happen again? I truly believe that being in the "camp bubble" and being less exposed to the media on these atrocious attacks has had a positive impact on me mentally. Of course when walking into a place like Times Square with all the police and brick barricades my heart races a little and I try be vigilant, it's the world we sadly live in. But no way on earth would I have even dreamed that I would be in the place I am in right now. Life is too short to let that one day back in June 2015 stop me from exploring the places i've always wanted to explore.

I could write forever and ever about camp, but nobody can even understand nor describe what camp is like until you experience it for yourself.

My favourite quote from one of our camp directors really put a perspective on camp. "A day feels like a week, a week like a month, but the summer goes by in an instant" - i'd say almost an instant haha.

I hope you all liked my overview on camp as a whole and my perspective. You should all watch the camp 2017 video if you want to put it into a perspective. P.S the main brunette haired girl was one of my precious mosaic girls - she was such a beautiful girl inside and out.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rJZz5Y6FCpg

Remember you can apply now for the 2018 summer season! http://www.americamp.co.uk

Until next time,

Jade xoc