Whats The First Thing You'll Do When You Get To Camp?

[these.city.lights]

Ok, so the other day me and my friend were relaxing in the sauna at our local gym when the conversation turned to camp (Doesnt that happen a lot!)
And he posed a rather laid back question:

Whats The First Thing You'll Do When You Get To Camp?

And I imediatly replied with no thought:

"Take a picture!"

So...

What are your plans to do within the first 5 minutes of being on camp soil?

[Smudge]

After taking my luggage to where ever it has to go, I will find the ice-cream sandwich my friend is supposed to have waiting for me, this will be followed by getting her to take me on a tour of camp.

[laurathistle]

As I will arrive around 11pm (although it will feel like 5am because of the time difference) and I will have been up for more than 24 hours I will want to take a shower and sleep! I hope they don't want me to start filling in forms or doing ice breakers with people or anything!

[Smudge]

No - i would imagine they will expect you will be tired and will prob have some light snacks for supper and then it will be off to bed.

Although by the time you get there you may be so excited that you end up staying but getting to know people anyway.

[laurathistle]

Yeah, there is that pint where you go past being soooo tired. I think it must be adrenalin or something that keep s you going that that point!

Or, they may want me to clean the showers.....

[Smudge]

That happened to me.

Three days to get to camp. Day 1: Dalry - Brighton by bus. Day 2: Brighton - Gatwick - 2 trains, Gatwick - Boston - Plane, Airport to daycamp where we stayed over night - mini bus. Day 3 - mini-bus to get social security number, then mini bus to camp via the airport and another patriots trail summer to drop staff of.

When I got there all I wanted was a shower. They showed us round camp, including the shower house and it hadn't been clean and we were dive boomed by bats when we turned the lights on. I could have cried.

We had to clean the shower the following day before we could shower. By which time I was on the verge of jumping in the lake fully clothed.

[Angel_Jenny]

hmmm first thing will do is probably hug everyone I know!! :D hehe miss them all so bad!

[Smudge]

I know what you mean (having been a returning staffer at my last camp) - i will only 1 person at the camp I am going to but I have seen her since sept 04. But she is coming to the airport to collect. If not as the van driver then just as a passenger - she has had permission to do it since it was confirmed that I was coming back in Feb.

[Angel_Jenny]

Theres alot of staff not returning this year that I miss too :( Hope I will get chance to visit them soon though!!

[Smudge]

If they live locally they will prob come and visit - i know that is what some of my frineds at my previous camp did the year after they left.

Its funny isn't - camp you either love it and go back year after year or you hate and after your contract is over never do it again.

[Angel_Jenny]

Or you love it but can't get back due to other commitments or lack of money etc! I know what you mean though!!
I have had an invite to spend a weekend with one of my Camp pals who lives 5 mins from camp so I know I get to see her soon too :)
I will probably want to go back again next year too but betwee now and next year ANYTHING can happen!!

[gabor85_hungary]

If I get there in daylight then I will try to to find another new staff member and take a walk to discover the sight.

And maybe let my mom and girlfriend know by SMS that I arrived safely:)

[Cat]

I'll probably be arriving when no one is on camp yet. They are mailing me a key so I can get in and unload my stuff to the health center. I will probably pick up my sisters and then go back down to camp and have them help me set stuff up and take inventory etc. The first thing we will probably do is go see what the health center is like (if we can find it!!) and then take a drive around or walk around camp to explore a little.

Then depending on what we feel like we will either drive home or stay the night and be goofy. I might see if we'll be allowed to have a small campfire so we can roast smores or something cuz I think my sisters would have a blast doing it, and we need some sister time!

[prettysocks]

I will hug everyone there. Omg. I'm going to be so hyper and excited. I hope I don't cry. Ahhhhhhhh Camp HURRY UP!

[Smudge]

I'll second!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Angel_Jenny]

I'll Third?? LOL !!!!!!!!!

[Smudge]

do you think we could actually make camp come any quicker.

[Angel_Jenny]

No but it's fun trying!! Lol! Coming on here helps me cope with how slow things are going too and today I have written 5 letters to peops from camp!!!!!

[Smudge]

Goodness - I have been our town cattle show - the big event of the year until we have party in the park (not T in the park) in June 16th and the flower show in September. I live in a very exciting town. Also been making cards which mum is buying from me. The cards, plus some I have been commissioned to make for someone else, and the money mum is paying me to dye her hair are providng my spending money for in the camp shop for things like camp t-shirts etc.

[Angel_Jenny]

Thats cool!! What sort of cards?? I used to put together stand up 3D Christmas cards for a small firm but I litterally got about 3 pence a card even though once built up it had to be put into plastic packets with inserts then sealed etc which took ages to do so wasn't worth it! Now I make Birthday and Cross-stitch cards for fun but nobody would "buy" them from me lol I would just have to give them out when Birthdays come around!! I need some ideas to get a little spare cash! I thought Avon would give me spare cash but thats being used for my petrol etc! any ideas?

[Smudge]

I make all sorts of cards.

The ones I have been making at the mo are birthday cards - one with a butterfly for my sis, one with a moveable chess peice for her hubby, one that looks like a candle for my aunt and one that will look like camera film for my uncle, also 2 money wallets which are simple with vertical or diagonal stripes of various widths. The other ones that I made was a first communion which had a cross and the communion elements on it, and then I am making a 21st birthday card which will b 4 playing cards (3, 5, 6 & 7 = 21 - 5 (years before you start school, 7 years in primary school, 6 in secondary school and 3 from when you leave till you turn 21) and a 3-D/pop-up wheel barrow for a 70th birthday.

Although I do cross stitch my eyes are getting worse so I don't do it as much as I used to.

When I make cards I tend to go for the more simple designs rather than really fancy ones.

As for earning a bit of extra money, in the past I have done things like paint my grans kitchen and walk my mothers dog. Basically if you can do something that they would ordinarily pay someone do, e.g. cleaning the wheely bin, get them to pay you to do it instead! That is what I am doing - just got mum to say she will pay me to clean our bin (we haven't seen the bin cleaners since christmas and last week our neigbour put a really stinky burst bag of rubbish in our bin cos his was full. Cleaned it last week and it still stinks - really not happy with him.

Hope that helps.

[these.city.lights]

A good way I find to make a bit of spare cash is to sell your unwanted stuff on ebay. You have a little longer to go than I do so the time it takes for a bid on some stuff, you'll have plenty of time to make some cash.
You'd be surprised at what people want to buy on ebay.

Sell any unwanted PC games, ask your family if they have anything they would throw out that you can sell, sell old DVD's, old VHS.
And its all easy to do so there's no carboot sales involved. Its just done from your computer where you seem to spend a bit of time on anyway on talkcamp :D

I've made a good £100 or so selling random bits and bobs.
Old Playstation games or cds. Lots of things.

[Angel_Jenny]

was that a slight dig at my recent increase in posting?? lol got to catch up with smudge :-p we post alot in games section u notice? hehe thanks for ideas may try them all! Do u not lose money with posting things u sell on ebay to people?

[camper]

the first thing i am going to do when i get to camp is take a deep breath and SMELL camp for the first time of the year...it's my favorite thing to do. then i'm going to take my school friend, who is coming for the first time, on a tour!

[Smudge]

It costs a min of 30p to sell on ebay.

There is nothing wrong with spend lots of time on talkcamp if you have the time to spend, except when it leaves you in pain (my eyes hurt when I spend too long on the comp which is such a pain cos optician said that I shouldn't spend more than 30 mins at a time at the computer).

But the games are fun - I am going to try them at camp - by pinning sheets up somewhere in the unit so that the campers can take part - haven't figured out the details yet but thought it would be fun.

[these.city.lights]

Yea I agree with you Angel Jenny. Smudge has been posting like no tomorrow recently.
I thought that posts in the games section didnt count as a post?
Or is that a different section I'm thinking of?
Ebay is fairly cheap. You just need to make sure your item gets more than the cost of the listing cost and you've made profit.

[ocean]

The first thing that I am going to do when I get to camp is hug all of my camp friends, and then say goodbye to my friends from school that are dropping me off.

[Angel_Jenny]

ooooh might do it in my cabin too hehe! new ideas I like ;)
I also won't be able to stop grinning when I get to camp lol!

Oh and Chris? I asked about odd jobs at home lol and was told no they wouldn't pay me because I should do stuff out of love lol hmmmph!

[these.city.lights]

Oh and Chris? I asked about odd jobs at home lol and was told no they wouldn't pay me because I should do stuff out of love lol hmmmph!

:D AWW so sorry to hear it. Try your neighbours!

Or do what I did and join a temp agency who can get you work that will only last 2-3 weeks tops. Was a great way to earn money for me. Reed is who I went with.

[happy_camper]

When I get to my regular camp... I'll walk into the office and hug everybody like I do all the time (I work weekends). And then I'll be put to work and get the details of the week's assignments.

When I get to my new camp... I'll walk into the office and ask for the head counselor and probably become very confused, excited, and disoriented.

But I'm excited :)

[kilolo1943]

The first thing I'm going to do when I get to camp is run(well speed walk since running isn't allowed) into whatever platform tent I'm assigned and claim the most comfortable cot out of the four so I get a good bed unlike last summer!

[Smudge]

I am sure that the very first thing I will do will be to have food since I will have been traveling for many hours - something like 12 or 14 hours one that day i will prob have to leave home the night before and spend the night at an airport hotel - then I will call home and let my mum know that I have arrived safely - then I will just hang out with the staff that have already arrived. Getting a bed shouldn't be an issues as I will be going out a week early to do additional training so there wont be a huge amount of people there yet.

[these.city.lights]

The first thing I will be doing when I get back to camp in 2008 is to go and locate the keys that I lost on the last day of camp when I was annoyed (I threw them) and since then a counsellor has been to camp and taken pictures of them in a tree lol!!

So yeah I will be going to find them in the tree as they are my pool keys.

[Smudge]

Hope you find them!

I lost the case with my full memory cards in it (well actually I think they were stolen out my bag cos I left it in the staff room all zipped up and when I came back it was open - but maybe I will find them - not sure if they would be usuable after a snowy cold NH winter!)

[these.city.lights]

Good luck Smudge! I always worried I'd lose my memory card with such valuable pictures in so I hope you find them!

[kilolo1943]

well, the reason i don't usually get a good bed is because I don't exactly work at camp. I'm a camper. I still have a few years until I'm 18, so I won't be working at camp for a few years. except, it won't be the camp I've gone to here in Michigan, instead, since this is my last summer here, I'll be working at some camp in or around Chelmsford, England if I want to work or go to a camp.

[Smudge]

TCL - I was lucky that just before they disappeared I had put most of the pics onto my directors computer because she was compiling a staff photo disc - so I only lost a few short video clips and my session break pics but at least I had most of them, and I had just put in my 1 GB card in the camera so at least I had loads of memory space on the one that I had left.