Jodie's Camp America Story

It all started during my travels after camp where I stayed at fellow counsellors houses and with some campers families. After that summer I was lucky enough to come home with a boyfriend from camp. We met up with some of our fellow British counsellors, had American counsellors to visit but most of all we got to reminisce about that one time at camp regularly. We were two of many people that year at camp to meet their significant other, several of them are now married and I think that shows the power of camp friends more than anything.

Every time you see them it is like nothing has changed, this summer we saw camp friends we hadn't seen in five years and there was no awkwardness, nothing. Yes we had grown up but we were still the same five silly people who had shared amazing days off all those years back. What's more is there was another guy from camp in later years there and we immediately became friends. That's the thing about camp and camp friends, they are just like you, they hold similar morals, they have all those shared memories even if they happened in different years, it is the place that matters. At the end of the day they just 'get' camp like none of your other friends will.

If you have the time in your life to be able to spend two months at camp and a month travelling then just go. You may never have three months spare to go again and you'll always wonder what if I'd have gone? I only did camp for one summer and every year life has gotten in the way and every year I've been grateful that the summer I had the chance to go I went. It really did shape my life.

Jodie, Camp Walden MI - 2011