Harriet is from the Greater Manchester area.
Harriet worked at a summer camp located in Wisconsin, working with children with special needs.
I remember arriving at camp, very anxious and questioning why I got myself into this situation. But luckily the first few people I spoke to were English, or at least from the UK, which automatically made me feel at home. I made friends for life at camp and hope to meet up with them again in the very near future. You get to know everyone so quickly at camp, their good and bad sides which you wouldn’t usually see at home because of the situations that you are in at camp!
I don’t think you can really ever explain or imagine what camp is like. Especially at a camp like at my camp, as it is a truly unique and special place that you can’t fully understand until you’ve lived the experience. I remember working very closely with one camper who had autism and so working was tough at times, however at the end of the week, he asked for a hug goodbye. That was truly a touching moment for me, as I had made a connection and hopefully impacted his life for the better.
The best part of camp was seeing in the one week campers were with us, how much they loved it. It was their highlight of their year, and being part of that was very special. Especially since our campers had special needs, it was nice to give their year round caregivers and parents a must needed break.
The weekends off were something all of us would live for at times. My favourite times were waterfall cliff jumping, so scary but beautiful, then times shopping and eating out in the local city, visiting a friend’s nearby lake house, going to an amusement park and even walking up camp to have campfires or using the pool.