Hello USA - June Review

Hey readers I know it been a long time. with me moving around and working has put me in a state of mind where I can't think on what to write. It's hard finding a quiet place to write and honestly, it's not just that, I have been finding hard to concentrate, I've been getting distracted very easily. I am fully aware why, it's because of the constant change of routine that I am not used to, but now that has been over a month, I got used to it, and I am ready to pick up where I left off. Before arriving in the US, I was so nervous and anxious because of the amount of paperwork I had to have with me at the airport and the fear of something going wrong was always at the back of my mind. Funny enough, no one asked to see all the papers, only my passport, even when I arrive in the US and it actually made me feel safe and more relaxed. Airports in an America were so different then I expected and the plane journey to, they gave me a blanket, everyone had a tv in front of their sit, they also gave me free food (FYI this was through United Airlines), this plane experience was very new to me. I made sure I was wearing my blue camp leader’s shirt, so whoever picked me up could spot me straight away. Once I arrived, I thought I lost my luggage because of the delay, but I was approached by 2 members of the camp that spotted me straight away and I got my luggage straight after. We still had to wait for more internationals that were arriving on that day, people were arriving from Ireland, New Zealand Australia and England. Once we got pretty much everyone, we went back to the camp, but I wasn't expecting us to take almost over an hour to get to camp, it was a long journey but I pretty much slept. Honestly, I didn't feel like I was in America straight away, it took me a while to get into that realisation that I was over 4,000 miles away from home. It only hit me when we started to go out for food, the food here is, good but nothing like back home, where everything is huge, and I get full very quickly. Everyone is very nice, and you hear the typical American accents, which I fell in love with. At camp, I feel safe but I am a bit scare to travel on my own after camp, but I have made friends and I am going to Chicago with 2 of them which I am really excited about. I already have all my travels planned but you will just have to keep an eye out on my next vlogs and blogs to find out where I am going. My job role here is being a councillor and how it works is, that they have different camps almost every week, we have kids, older adults, teen, conservatory, Jr. soldier, sports, tween and family camp. On our first week in camp, we did a lot of training to be councillor along with getting First aid training which we get an official card, that we can take with us back home. The first camp was Older adults but it wasn't like we had to be their councillor, but their assistant in case they needed anything, along with helping in the kitchen. Then it was Sports camp, and we were assigned a group of girls, (I had 7 girls, all the age 8- 10), I was really nervous and didn't know what to expect, but soon as they arrive it was actually ok for a first camp, they were difficult moments, like getting them in a shower and in bed, and wake them up but other than that, it was good. We then had kids camp and then teen Camp. Teen camp is the one that got me really nervous because these kids were from 13- 17 years old and I didn't know what to expect, but I prayed and again I was assigned 7 girls and all the age 13, it honestly this was one of the best camps I had so far, you could have a very good conversation with, they were mature but also knew how to have fun, it was chilled and fun. After each camp is over we have to clean the cabins and we get 1 or 2 days off, which is normally a weekend, normally we go out of the camp and on Sunday mornings we go to church which I have been missing so much, however after Jr. soldier camp was over we had 1 day off until Conservatory camp arrived and 1 day later music camp, which stayed here longer than other camps, so we are all really tired. Currently, we are in the music camp, and tomorrow all the kids have a final show, where the parents come to watch and then they go home. The group of girls I had this week are so good, they all go bad when I tell them along with cleaning their cabins really well. At camp we also have awards for the best clean cabin and clean tables after each meal, the reward is that you get to be the first or one of the first group to go and get your meal. Another thing I didn't expect was that before breakfast, we raise the American flag, lower it before dinner and pay allegiance to it and we pray before each meal. In each camp we also do a Jesus theater, that some of the councillors perform to the campers, however I am not in it as I am in the worship band, but the only time we haven't played for the campers was during conservatory and music camp, because some of the campers and teachers perform for all of us. During the day we also have some time off, while the campers are in class, we either clean our rooms, socialise together or what happens most of the time, we take naps. The campers also are given free time, which we counsellors are given rotations, like being on the ropes course or paddle boats or at the swimming pool, etc,... At the moment my rotation is at the paddle boats and the swimming pool. It's not bad at all, plus I been tanning a lot. Overall, I feel very much at home and just thinking that this camp experience is almost over makes me very upset because here you making an impact on people around you, your helping and honestly all I wanna do next year is to come back. Meanwhile, I still have a few more weeks to enjoy and I will keep updating the blog which week.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask in the comments. Don't forget to follow me on any social media to keep in touch and stay tuned for new vlogs next week.

Love Maria x

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