Podcast Episode Archives - There's No Place Like Summer Camp

An interview with a fan of the show! Alex is from Germany, and provides entertaining insight and stories from his time volunteering with Camp America. Due for a return this year, we also discuss the impact of the Coronavirus on summer camp volunteers.

Podcast transcript:

Hello. And welcome to There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. I’m Andrew Waterhouse. And in today’s episode, we have another cracking interview lined up for you today. Before it begins, I should mention the sound quality.

But I hope the quality of chat and laughs more than makes up for that. If you hadn’t guessed, this interview is with a fan of the show. And I’ll let Alex speak for himself with regard to his Camp America experience and his German background. It’s a cracking episode for sure. Speaking of which, if you’d like to get interviewed yourself for this show, feel free to get in touch by going to there’s no place like summer camp dot com.

Now with that all out of the way, let’s crack on with the rest of this episode. Coming into our tent, and we’ll spill the beans. Right. So it’s recording. Welcome to There’s No Place Like Summer Camp.

Thank you. Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from? My name is Alex. I’m, 19 years old.

I’m from Hamburg in Germany. It’s a big city in the north. Yeah, I’m still a student. I’m doing my a levels this year, this summer, next week. Good luck.

Good luck. Cheers. Well, I will I was just gonna ask, like, why did you go to camp? I just wanted to have break from school last year. And, so I just I I looked up, possibilities, and then I saw, okay, camp.

It’s possible. It’s not too long, so I could I can go to school afterwards again. And yeah. So that was your first summer last year when you were you 18? Were you 18?

Yeah. I was 18 years old. Okay. How did you find that with all the drinking laws and the 21? Yeah.

It was quite, quite, annoying. It wasn’t as bad as people might think. Okay. We’ll leave it there. So we plan are you planning to return?

We plan to return this summer? III already signed up, and I paid the fees. And I already have my visa. And now let’s see what’s happening. Mhmm.

I have I have come been in touch about, maybe postponing or any cancellations? Or is it still going ahead as far as you as far as you know? So my camp director is, like, giving us, news, like, every 2 weeks. And, he’s positive that that it’s, happening. But I know he he said he’ll give us, more information at May 15.

So when the US, government decides what’s happening now. Mhmm. It’s all in their hands, sort of thing. Yeah. How do you feel about going?

Because if I if I was returning this year, I feel a bit anxious about going over there when. Did you fly into New York? Because Yeah. Yeah. So That’s, like, 1 of the worst affected places is, is that?

I so I’m in, Long Island, New York. That’s where my campus. And the little town that’s close is, like, 1 of the worst parts of New York. -So -Oh, yeah. -Um, I mean, if if it’s possible, I would still go.

But I I don’t I don’t really I can’t see it happening right now. Mhmm. Neither can I, to be honest? But it’s, I find it surprising to see Camp America still pushing for it because, obviously, they don’t wanna lose loads of money and, they they must be pulling their hair out at the moment. So, yeah.

So we know you’re from Germany. The question that everyone wants to know is how does the accent work in America? I think people think it’s it’s funny. Like, and people don’t think about it as much as I do. So I had I had 1 German, we had 2 German counselors in our camp.

And when I heard him speaking, I thought, ah, that sounds quite German. Yeah, but, the Americans and, Brits, they didn’t really care. Okay. So you’ve had maybe found it hard to did you were you the only German in your camp? No.

We had 1 1 other German. We had 3 Germans. It was me, Roman, and, Lena. But Lena, grew up in England. So she does speak German, but she, yeah, grew up in England.

So she’s she’s English. Okay. So the question that everyone wants to know now is, did the accent help you get, the babes? Might have helped. Okay.

So, how did you come about doing Camp America? Is it like a is it like a popular thing in Germany to go and volunteer at summer camp? No. Not at all. I don’t know anyone who does who did it.

I just, looked up, walking travel, USA. Mhmm. And that’s, like, the closest thing you can do, in the US. Yeah. And, like, I don’t think that it’s not really, popular over here.

It’s what I heard, it’s very popular in, the UK. But in the rest of Europe, I don’t think so. Ah, surprising. So you just happen to stumble upon it. You wanted to go to America, and you were like, oh, I could do this.

I could go volunteer for a bit. Yeah. I know I know Camp America is a really popular thing in the UK, and New Zealand as well is a particular hotspot. We had a at my camp when I went, we didn’t have anyone from Germany or I don’t think anyone else from the rest of Europe, but we did have Australians and a Kiwi. So, what do your what do your friends think about you going?

Have you come back and told them all your stories and now they wanna, like, come along as well or check it out? Most of my friends, are busy with, a university or, job apprenticeships. So they they are not able to do this. And, like, I I taught everything and I think they they got, like, quite annoyed after after. Yeah.

I’m, like, the only 1 who does it. And it’s it’s quite special for me to be, like, the only 1 who does it. So I’m I feel I feel a little special. Nice. Nice.

I I had a question. It’s just gone for me. It’s it’s it must have been really good that you’ve enjoyed it so much that you tried to return. I don’t think I caught what job you had while you’re at camp. Was it a counselor?

So, what I heard that, my my camp is very different than yours. Okay. So in our camp, everyone was a counselor. Like besides the directors, we had, like, 1 camp director and then, 5 or 6, unit directors. And everyone else was a counselor and, was in the department.

So I was, spot department counselor. So I was in the cabin with another with 1 co counsellor and, 6 kids a week. Mhmm. And then I still I still ran, like different activities. So it wasn’t like in your camp that the counsellors followed around the group and yeah.

Everyone was busy with their activities and Oh, okay. So, yeah, at my camp, in case people haven’t listened to this before, we had counselors that would follow the kids, and they would have dedicated people on the activities that would only do the activities, and the kids would just come through, like, a conveyor belt. But, it’s interesting to hear how it’s, it can be so different at different places. So with the campers at yours, what what camp did you go to? Sorry.

Was it It was, the Peconic Dunes 4 h camp in Long Island. Okay. So at at that camp, were kids just coming in every week? Yes. We had a different, group of kids every week.

Okay. What what was it like in your camp? So ours was a Jewish summer camp, Camp Carmen, and, we had 2, 2 sessions of kids, which would last a month each. So you’d have a month of kids and then a 2 day break and then another month of kids, and then it’ll be finished. Wow.

That sounds, intense. It was intense. I loved it, though. I can imagine what was it like at at yours maybe getting to know the kids if you’re only seeing them for a week? Did you remember did you have favorite campers or I definitely have favorite campers.

And, I had campus I had weeks where I didn’t like any where everyone was, just, like, hard to handle. Mhmm. And, sometimes I wish, like, okay, couldn’t this kid, like, stay a few more weeks? Did you have troublesome kids as well? The ones that, would maybe push your buttons, try and annoy you, try to get away with with things.

Oh, yeah. I I had, like, in my first 2 weeks, I had, that could could also stay for more weeks. But, it’s usual that they stay for 1 week. I had should I say his name? III can predict the name.

So he he was a brad. He oh. What did he do to you? He he just didn’t didn’t listen. Like, I said, okay.

We we’re we’ll all go to take a shower now. And he said, why? I have had a shower yesterday. I don’t want to take a shower. I don’t take showers, daily.

We’re brushing our teeth now. Why? I brushed my teeth this morning. No, why? Always always this.

He says why. Always in this long Yeah. Version. He said why? No.

So did you have any experience of, like, working with children before camp? Like, what what did you put down in your profile when you first applied? I was a soccer coach, football coach. I had a group of 10 year olds. Yeah.

And that was quite good. So I could, go into the sports department. Okay. I remember you’re from Hamburg. Do you support?

Who do you support? I do, I support, Dortmund. Okay. But, like, you you have to support Hamburg as well. Like, it it would be great if they come to the 1st division again.

They’ve been relegated? Yeah. They they were relegated, 2 years ago, 2 seasons ago or 3 seasons ago. Yeah. Oh, damn it.

I’ve actually been to Hamburg myself, actually. How did you like it? That’s really nice. I went to the, do you have the the miniature museum? Yeah.

Yeah. I forget what it’s called. Miniature miniature Wonderland. I didn’t do the dungeon because we have a similar 1 in London, and I’m too scared. But this miniature this miniature world, I’ve never seen anything like it before.

It’s like miniature character characters and worlds and Yeah. Model train sets and it’s unbelievable. Highly recommend, check it out on YouTube if, you don’t go visit yourselves. So back to camp. What type of camp was it?

Was it was it like a normal, traditional camp? Was it religious 1? Was it, underprivileged? It wasn’t normal camp. It wasn’t, religious at all.

Yeah. And I think it was more onto the fun part. So, that the kids, like, can get out of their, Long Island’s rich kid lives. Yeah. Did you have any kids that were, like, related to celebrities?

Or No. Not not that I know. Okay. I guess it can be different when you’ve got, like, kids just for a week and then they’re gone, and then kids for a week and then gone. And, must be must be difficult.

So how long was your camp in total? Sorry. It was 10 weeks. Oh, we had 8 weeks where the kids were there, and before we had 2 weeks of, preparation. Mhmm.

How did you find this? So we we we call that our staff week where it would just be only us to do our training. How do you find that? Was it full of icebreakers and teaching you stuff over and over again, making sure you know what you’re doing and showing you things around camp, or was it, like, learning the activities because you have to lead? I don’t know.

What sort of activities did you have? So I was in the sports department, and, we had, soccer, handball, lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, Gaga ball, that’s a -Yeah, All the kids go crazy for Gaga. Oh, you Gaga Ball. Gaga. And it was it was crazy.

I had to give it a try when I was over there just to see what the hype was about, and it was so much fun. It’s like dodge dodgeball, but 10 times 10 times the the the pressure and the tension in all enclosed. Gaga is way too cool. Yeah. Yeah.

We we were hanging out in the departments a lot And, yeah, we’re doing, sessions over and over again. We had, like, people coming in to tell us stuff about ticks and other insects and how to how to treat kids and, what not to do. Yeah. It was, quite, boozy. Boozy?

Yeah. You could you could drink? No. Not not not on camp. No.

That wasn’t that hard. Wait. Should I should I talk about this? Yes. Yeah.

We just had some some fun after after work Okay. At the beach. Oh, nice. So you were you allowed out of camp after your shift? Yes.

So we had 2 weeks 2 nights off a week and, the Saturday from 12 to Sunday 12. Uh-huh. Off and, yeah, we could do anything. And, it was recommended to go off camp, yeah, to get your head head free and yeah. Do stuff with your friends and don’t think about camping and during that time.

Nice. I think that’s a lot more relaxed than I had it. We would, we had a certain allocation of hours that would have to be spread over the month. And, typically, it would be maybe 1 evening off a week. Mhmm.

Then maybe in the next week, we’d have a full day. Wow. Yeah. It was pretty tough. But I I think I’m not sure if it’s the same same for you, but, working at summer camp was so full on and and, very it’s, like, from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep, it’s just work, work, work, work, work.

And then only in the evenings when you get to chill out with your friends, you’re like, wow. That was such a cool day. There’s so much that happened and, and that sort of thing. It was the most exhausting, job I ever had. Mhmm.

But it’s, still the best job I ever had. It’s, 1 of the, like, best summers in my life. Yeah. I I don’t regret regret anything. Mhmm.

So I missed a little bit of school, like, 4 weeks, but that’s that was totally worth it. That’s good to hear. A a question that’s just popped into my head is the drama in camp. I don’t know if you have big brother in Germany. But it felt it felt like big brother where everything’s in a bubble, everyone’s like getting on top of each other, having arguments, flirting, the hooking up, and people would get fired as well.

Did anyone get fired from your camp? Yeah. We had 1 guy getting fired. Any any juicy stories? So, he was weird.

He was he was cool. I I liked him. But he he didn’t want to listen. So he, treated some, campus better than others. He hung out a lot with, the older girls.

And our camp director didn’t like that. And he told him, yes, stop that and, distance a little. And he kept, he kept, making them, like, like, presents and stuff. And that was that was quite weird. So, at 1 point, it was enough.

And he said, our camp director said, yeah. Okay. You have to go. Okay. I think every summer, at least from what I’ve heard, someone gets fired from camp.

So that seems to follow the trend. What highlights of camp do you have? Oh, we had 1 1 activity called adventure trail. So we had a trail through the forest, and through the dunes. And me and, my mate, Jake, we we tried to make the best out of it.

We we made stories for the kids. Like, we had the prison escape, adventure trail for the younger guys. So we ran through the forest and, they had to hide, from the cops. Or, like, we had, keys or stuff so they had to find them. For the older guys we had a military, thing.

So, they had to do, like, a little boot camp. That was that was quite cool. Yeah. And camp in general is is such a nice, environment and so different from what I know from home. And we don’t have anything like that at home.

And that was quite special for me to experience that. Yeah. I found that as well, being in all the nature and being away from technology. I don’t know if it it was the case in your account, but, you’d have no you’d have no, mobile phone signal to be cut off from the outside world, and you’d be able to just chill out, be yourself, make some a load of new friends. And, yeah, being a a little bit carefree, I guess.

Yeah. A capri is is is a good word. Like, Canva is the only thing that, that cares right now. And, like, it was different for us In Peconic Goons, we had, Wi Fi, but it was, forbidden to use your phone in front of the kids. And when you’re on, your phone had to be in your pocket or in the cabin or like your backpack or something, so you were not allowed to take it out.

And, yeah, we had we didn’t have any, like, technology for the kids. Yeah. They were they weren’t allowed to have the phones as well. So it was was, different from, like, my usual life. Yeah.

And, well, yeah, it was the best time. I don’t know if I can say that, but probably the best time of my life. Yeah. Well, that’s exactly how I felt, like, while I was there. I I came to realize, like, holy hell, like, this is insane.

Like, when when I would be sitting on the porch late at night with friends that I’d only made at camp, like, when I went to camp to begin with, I didn’t know anyone. And over the course of volunteering at the summer camp, you get so close with people there that I still stay in touch with them today. And we we still talk about those nights at camp where it’s just insane, incredible memories, and that sort of stuff. So, personally, I like to stay in touch with them and try and arrange more travels, but, whether it lives up to what the summer camp itself was, it’s, to be, to be found. So we’ll see.

Where did you travel after camp? Did you did you use the is it AJ2 visa that you get over in Germany? Yeah. It was AJ1 visa. Yeah.

Okay. I didn’t travel much. I went to New York City. My my siblings came from Germany for a week. And, yeah, we had just a week in New York City, Explored the city.

Yeah, we were sleeping in, Brooklyn, in Bedford’s Diversend. It’s like a little dodgy area. It was a bit scary, but it was it was, cool. Yeah. I’ll, it was it was cool that my siblings came, like, picked me up from from America.

Nice. Do you have any plans, for this summer? So if if you if you’d happen to go over there this year, do you have plans on where you’d like to travel, or are you just gonna see that it what happens with all this pandemic stuff going on at the moment before making any sort of plans? Yeah. I’ve I’ve thought about just, booking flights a hard part so I can, so I I can use my, the the travel days, the 30 days.

Now I want to just look what I think we will just plan during the summer so we can see because, like, everyone gets different amount of money. Yeah. We can we can then see what everyone does. Mhmm. Are all your friends from the 1st summer coming returning as well?

Most of them from you. Yeah. And many from from the UK? Yeah. Most of the American Americans do.

My other German, counselor, he he can’t come back because he’s at uni. But besides that, yeah, almost, like, most of them. Nice. They’re important people for me. Yeah.

That that’s all that matters at the end of the day. Like like I say, I only went for, 2 summers at my camp, but, once your friends start to drop off, then you’re just a bit like, I don’t really wanna do it all over again. It can be hard to keep replicating that same feeling from your first summer account. We’re on to the last question now. And oh, actually, there’s 2 2 more questions.

The first the first of the last 2 is what would you say to someone thinking of doing Camp America? Just do it. Don’t think about it. Even, like, if you think it’s too expensive, it’s it’s not really expensive. You get you earn money in America.

And, it’s it’s such a good experience, and it’s, like, worth any every cent I I invested. So this is the last question And, I hope to ask everyone this going forward, seeing as you’re, like, the first proper interview I’ve had apart from the Scott episode I’ve done before. What food or smell will bring you back to summer camp? You can think about this 1. There’s no rush.

Shepherd’s pie? Yeah. Or Shepherd’s pie. Like, we we don’t have Shepherd’s pie in Germany. And, it does.

Like, it was bad bad 1, bad Shepherd’s pie. So it wasn’t, like but, if I could eat it now, I would I would I like, yeah, fajitas. Yeah. These little Mexican stuff or burgers. Sloppy Joe.

I’ve never had Sloppy Joe. Oh, it’s the worst. It’s just so it’s a bun with, like, sloppy meat and sauce in it. That that that doesn’t sound appetizing at all. But, yeah, we’ve come to the end.

I never thought I’d have someone listening from Germany. So, thanks for being on. Do you have any questions for me or you’re done? I hope you will keep going with the podcast. Yeah.

It gives me the it gives me the camp vibes. Thank you. It helps me through this through this time. I’ll try to keep it up. Yeah.

Like I like I said to you before, the whole crisis with this pandemic at the moment is is crazy. And if Capital America decides to shut all applications going over there, then I’d have to consider, like, what I do about the podcast. But I’d like to keep it on. But, like I say, I’m trying to promote a book here, and I don’t think there’s much point in doing a load of podcast content if, you know, no one’s gonna be looking at that sort of thing and everyone’s gotta hunker down, but I appreciate that. It’s nice to hear.

Yeah. When is your book coming? Well, it’s been in the works for, I’d say, around 4 years where I’ve just been editing and making it better and that sort of thing. The current state of the book is I’ve found an editor that I like. I’ve pushed the book as far as I can, and, I’m about to send it over to them.

However, they’re they’re a bit caught up in this coronavirus thing as well, which is a little bit crazy because I never thought it would affect my book, but here we are. It is. I’d hope my my plan was to release it this year, September, but, we’ll see. We’ll see what happens, with what my editor’s doing and whether they can get it out in time. So I’ll post updates to the website.

I’ll post updates to my Instagram and Twitter and blah blah blah blah blah, All all that good things. But yeah. Thanks for being on. Thank you for having me. No worries.

Fair warning: this episode contains terrible renditions of some genuinely great songs. The audio quality of the singing is not the point. The point is the songs themselves, and why campfire songs are one of those things about summer camp that lodge in your brain permanently and never leave.

This sounds like a flippant topic until you realise that campfire songs are one of the most consistent pieces of institutional memory at any summer camp. Kids who attended the same camp ten or twenty years apart will know the same songs. The songs are part of the identity of the place in a way that very little else is.

As a counsellor — and especially as a British one who had never encountered this tradition before — learning the camp songs is one of the fastest ways to integrate. Knowing the words signals that you’re part of the community. Not knowing them signals that you’re new. The process of learning them is, weirdly, part of how camp gets under your skin.

Most camps have a mix of their own original songs and versions of widely known campfire classics. The originals will be camp-specific and you’ll pick them up by osmosis. But the classics tend to appear at most camps in some form:

Kumbaya — Perhaps the most famous campfire song in the world and justifiably mocked at this point, but still somehow gets sung. Usually early in a session before anyone’s feeling self-conscious.

This Little Light of Mine — Genuinely joyful, works well with kids of all ages, hard to sing badly enough for it not to work.

Down by the Bay — Call-and-response format that kids love because it’s inherently silly and you can make up verses on the spot. A counsellor favourite.

I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) — Not a traditional campfire song by any stretch, but The Proclaimers have somehow become campfire canon. Andrew can confirm this one appears.

Camp-specific songs — Every camp has them. Some are beautiful. Some are aggressively catchy in the way that only children’s songs can be, meaning you’ll be humming them in a supermarket in England six years later and not being able to explain why.

The songs are only part of it. The actual campfire — particularly if you’re running it as an Outdoor Living Specialist like Andrew was — is an experience in itself. Building a proper campfire that stays lit, produces minimal smoke, and doesn’t accidentally set anything else on fire is a genuine skill. The kids watching you do it don’t know that. To them you’re basically a wizard.

S’mores are mandatory. If you don’t know what a s’more is: graham cracker, toasted marshmallow, square of chocolate. You press it together. It is not a complicated concept but it is a disproportionately good food item and American children take it very seriously.

Read my hilarious, touching diaries from volunteering at a summer camp here:

Smoking at summer camp can be a grey area, especially for those applying through Camp America. In this podcast episode, we discuss if you can smoke at Camp America, as well as an update on Coronavirus.

Hello and welcome to There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. I’m your host, Andrew Waterhouse, and in today’s episode, we’re taking a look at whether you can smoke while working at summer camp. So coming into our tent and I’ll spill the beans…

He’s on a quest! He’s on a quest… No, he’s not, he’s just answering questions.

Hello, everyone and welcome to another Friday episode of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp because we’ve got Coronavirus. Well, speaking of which we actually do have a Coronavirus update to provide you kicking off this Friday episode of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. So this one comes from Camp America. The update was literally the day I’m recording this Thursday, the 16th of April. So just so you’re all aware, I will try and keep these up to date and anything around Coronavirus and summer camps I’ll try and include within my podcast episodes.

Now, this one is speaking of course around the camp closures and weather camps still going ahead Camp America is still going ahead. And pretty much in short, Camp America is waiting for the governments of the US and the different states and the US Department of State to all work together and monitor their activity and guidance around travelling into America.

So America themselves are expecting an update from the Department of State by mid-May. So there is some confusion around it am I still go into camp? And what happens if I’ve got my flight out there before mid-May? So Camp America are actually getting in touch with these participants who are expecting to depart within the month of May. And you will shortly be contacted if you haven’t already. And Camp America will be working with you and your camp to make sure that any changes that need to be made will be made.

So this brings up the question of what’s actually happening with summer camps. And there has been a small number of camps that have sadly taken the decision to close their doors for the summer, which of course is a really terrible decision for any camp director to make. Camp America has itself been around since 1969. I’m sure there have been occasions when some camps would close. But I don’t think anything on a grander scale than what Coronavirus is doing to the travel industry, Camp America is going to be hit really hard by this.

So as a result, Camp America are working directly with the participants who have had their camps cancelled to either find a new position for the summer at a different camp potentially or to defer their application to the next summer.

Now that’s pretty much all the details we have around the cancellation side of things. So if you are one of these people that have been affected, please get in touch and let me know what’s going on with your application you can go to our contact us page. And you can send me a form. It’d be interesting to hear what about people that just want to cancel their thing and just get the money back is there’s no real mention of money. Well, particularly around the Camp America fees and the visa fees, the passport. Personally, I suspect that most of the money that’s been into the Camp America program this summer will be just lost because these are fees, passport fees, checks, they’ve all been completed and Camp America have bought loads of flights.

So from the flights side of things, that’s something for Camp America to worry about and try and get their money back for the new participants to Camp America. For those that have been returning to a summer camp for a second summer or subsequent summers. You will obviously be working with your airline to get that money back rather than through Camp America. But for the fees side of things, the visas, the checks they’ve all been completed. The only thing that’s not happening is the actual going over there.

So there are a lot of things up in the air at the moment, I’d highly suggest getting in touch with your summer camp agency if you have any questions about this. I’m literally just reading off an FAQ blog post from Camp America who has recently posted.

If I haven’t said so already in this episode, I should really say it with every episode. When I do mention the words Camp America, I do try and encompass all of the summer camp agencies out there. There are plenty of them. There are upwards of five. There’s that plenty where’s the definition for plenty but seriously, I focused on Camp America, particularly Just because I did it myself. And I think that’s a real common slang name for going over to America to volunteer at a summer camp when you’re coming from abroad. Now, many camps are gonna be working on their different plans for the summer, they will have their Plan A or Plan B, the Plan C, and many more plans for the weeks and many camps are honestly considering amending their summers, which could mean that you start earlier or later and have shorter, shorter sessions. But if this is the case, of course, Camp America has been actually pretty generous here. And you will still receive the full pocket money allowance that you get, which is a term, I totally forgot that they use the words pocket money as the money that they pay you for going over there and volunteering for the summer. So if you’ve already got your wages, your number for the wages that you’re going to be getting while in summer camp, and you’re going to be maybe delayed and pushed back maybe a month or two, you’ll still get that full allowance, which is quite nice.

So obviously, this is a challenging time for everyone and Camp America, we’re going to be taking a massive, massive hit. So obviously, as with everything at the moment, you’re going to have to have patience, and you’re going to have to remain positive guys, because these guys are really passionate about trying to get you over there for the summer. But really, this is really out of their hands. And it’s out of a lot of people’s hands. There are so many plans that have just fallen through and all sorts. So one of the things that come from their blog post is, if summer does not go ahead, there will be options in place.

Rest assured they will take the health and safety of the applicants very seriously. And we will not expect participants to travel if travel bans are in place. And they finish off the blog post with in true camp style you have banded together and been incredibly understanding. For now, we ask you to wait a little longer until we have further information. Once we have heard from the Department of State, we will update you once again. If you do have any questions, they do have a phone number there, I would recommend going on to the campamerica.co.uk website where they have further information on the Coronavirus. And with that all out of the way. Let’s crack on with the rest of this episode.

So can you smoke in camp America? We’ll start this off with my own personal opinion. And then we’ll move on to the more official line.

Okay, so most camps let you smoke at camp, okay.

But there has to be a line there has to be moderation with this, I would say personally two or three times a day maximum.

And you should only really be smoking while on your break.

And honestly, don’t be a dick and take it when others other people that you’re working with have to pick up extra work because you’re going off to have a smoke that’s really crossing the line and isn’t accepted at all at summer camp. You’re there for the kids at the end of the day. And if you’re going off to have a smoke every hour, every couple of hours even, you’re going to be frowned upon and you’re going to be brought to one side saying, pretty much look, calm it down.

So typically there’s going to be a smoking area. And this is going to be normally away from the kids as well as it being very well ventilated, so you don’t stink of smoke when you come back. So you do really have to consider all of these things. At my camp, we had somewhere well above and out of the way of summer camp. So the kids would have no way to know nor see the smokers. And it was really in moderation. I think some people that would normally smoke a pack a day were having one a day in the evening.

One thing that I’d really recommend around this piece, if you are really concerned about having a smoker at Camp America is, I would put it on your Camp America profile because then camps will know before hiring you that you like to have a smoke. And you can also bring it up in a video interview. I think it’s one of the questions that they may actually ask you whether you smoke because, of course, different camps have different rules, some of them won’t even let you smoke at all.

So this actually brings me to the next point, which is the official line from Camp America, which is really interesting. Actually, I didn’t think of this I’ll read this word for word just so I get it totally clear. And then we’ll have a discussion piece around this. So when you’re applying to Camp America, there’s a total massive long list of a contract that you have to sign and part the part that’s around the smoking is particularly interesting. Okay, so here we go.

So you agree to abide by all lawful rules and reasonable regulations of Camp America contained herein and of the camp you have which you are placed. Please be advised that all camps have a strict no alcohol or drugs policy. Some are zero-tolerance policy camps. Some also have no smoking policies that may extend to local towns as well as campgrounds. Most camps also operate a curfew require requiring you to return to camp by a deadline when on time off. If you break any of these rules, you will be required to leave camp immediately, and be responsible for your own costs. And for costs incurred by Camp America through non payment or reduced payment or fees by the camp.

It is illegal to buy, consume or be in possession of alcohol under the age of 21. In the USA, in line with standard protocols when working with children and vulnerable adults, participants are expected to ensure all social media accounts are set to private prior to departure to the US. Participants are required to supply personal social media accounts as part of the visa application process. And the US Embassy may use this information to determine suitability for the program.

Well, well, well, that is some juicy real juiciness coming from Camp America with all their guidance. And it’s I wouldn’t say it’s guidance, it’s the fucking like law pretty much. So it surprised me to hear that all camps have a strict no alcohol or drugs policy. I’ve read plenty of other summer camp novels and diaries and insights and blog posts. So yeah, in those blog posts in those books and stuff, some of them are a lot more relaxed than my camp was around the alcohol side of things. Man, that was literally zero tolerance, it was literally just like this, if you’re seeing with any sort of alcohol, you’re out of there. If you came back drunk, you were out of there, you had to buy the next flight home out of your own back pocket, and you wouldn’t be paid for the time that you had worked at your summer camp. So of course, with everything I’m saying, please, please follow this guidance, this sort of thing, this law, this thing that you’ve signed up for is the contract, okay. But all I’m saying is I’ve seen blog posts and books written where camps were a lot less relaxed.

Of course, if your camp is more relaxed, then that would have precedent over something like this, because they wouldn’t be bringing you up on a no-alcohol policy if your camp itself has a more relaxed alcohol policy. That is the line from Camp America, no alcohol, that makes sense. Camps will also have no smoking policies that may extend to local towns and campgrounds. Most camps also operate a curfew requiring to return to camp by a deadline when on time off. That pretty much makes sense to me as well. But in my camp, we had a smoking area, which was a lot more nice. And I think it actually means that camps can hire a lot broader range of staff without having to cut people out of their recruitment process just because they like to have a smoke in the evening.

I think that pretty much covers everything smoking-wise. Of course, if you do smoke, I’d highly recommend putting it into your Camp America profile, it might put off some camps from hiring you in the first place. But it will mean that you’ll be able to get the camps that don’t really mind the smoking side of things. As long as it’s in moderation, as I’ve said before, the part they have about the social media when you go and get a visa. Now, that was really surprising to me. But it’s a guideline that’s been in place since I went to Camp America in 2014. And 2015.

The whole thing around social media is you won’t really want your social media to be privatized and locked down because kids are going to be searching for you while they finish their session of camp for the summer. Or they look forward to the people that have mentioned the camp and then they’re like, ah, no, I know this guy is going to be working on my summer camp this year. So they really do like to dig deep, and try and find out as much information about camp that’s coming up because summer camp is their main thing they look forward to every year.

So trust me when I say this, they’re gonna dig deep into these sorts of things. But this guidance from Camp America is particularly around the visa application process, which wasn’t in place when I went to summer camp. As far as I’m aware, I didn’t have to supply any social media documentation to the visa application for them to look through my social media and see whether I’d been suitable for such a visa application to a summer camp. This makes a lot of sense to me, but it does have some like privacy concerns in my opinion, but I think it’s always smart to have your social media locked down anyway. You don’t want people to be seeing everything that you’ve been doing and if you’ve been a lot of people that apply to Camp America, those that are recently out of university and if you’ve got loads of pictures of you get an absolutely smashed and your profile picture is you drunk on the floor, they’re not going to want to hire you.

So this really sums up like the whole stance that you should have when you go to any interview to be honest so I think with our other way I think that pretty much wraps up the question of can you can smoke at Camp America?

I did intend for these Friday episodes to be a lot shorter but I think this one there was so much content to actually provide you guys and I really enjoyed actually recording this episode. There was things that I learned that I didn’t know were policy around Camp America and particularly the update around Coronavirus as well as how you can get actually get kicked out if you don’t follow the camp rules.

Okay, so without the way guys that’s another episode of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow us on Instagram at There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. Next week’s episode is coming up on Tuesday and in this one we’re going to be taking a look at the best campfire songs and who knows I might do a little jingle myself.

Okay, once again guys, thanks for listening. Please subscribe on your podcast platform of choice and check out the book. There’s No Place Like Summer Camp which is available on Amazon.

https://theresnoplacelikesummercamp.com

I’ll see you on Tuesday keep thriving and surviving.

When working at summer camp, you’ll be surrounded by a ton of new cultures and particularly, Americans. they’re obsessed with us, so in this episode, we discuss all you can expect being a Brit in America.

Driving while volunteering with Camp America can bring many great perks to your summer camp experience. How does it all work out, and how can you apply? Listen to this week’s Questions episode to find out!

Hello and welcome to the Question series by There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. In this episode, we’re taking a look at how you can drive while out volunteering with Camp America. So without further ado, play the intro.

Q U E S T. He’s on a quest! He’s on a quest!… No, he’s not just answering questions.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode, a Friday episode of There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. I’m your host, Andrew Waterhouse. And each episode we are looking at different questions that people have around volunteering with Camp America. Well, we do that every Friday, and on every Tuesday, if you’re new here, we take a look at other broader topics.

But in this episode, we’re taking a look at how you can drive while out there volunteering with Camp America. I have to preface this video with some not so much warnings… But a bit of a head’s up this video… This podcast and blog are specifically for those that are British,

I’m pretty sure that other countries will follow a similar kind of process. But this podcast is for those that are volunteering from the UK to apply through a program like Camp America, Camp Leaders or any of those sorts of places.

Now, to be able to drive in America, I do have to give you a bit of a backstory because I have done two summers of Camp America myself. In the first summer of going over there, I had no idea that I’d even be needed to drive cars. In the second summer, however, I was more than excited to get my name down and have a vehicle to be able to drive out of camp and do not only my job of doing the campout, the campfires taking kids on hikes, canoe trips, and all those sorts of things, but also more fun things as well. So I could like drive out and get some takeaways and bring them back into camp and do those sorts of shenanigans.

So let’s address the question of this episode. How do I drive if I want to go out into America? So what you really, really need is a driving license. Of course, you need to have a driving license from the UK. Before you go ahead with any of this if you don’t have a driving license, why are you even contemplating driving in the U. S, A. without one!? So make sure you get your driving license first in the UK, then you apply for an international driving permit.

Now this permit allows you to drive in countries where a UK driving licence alone is not sufficient. And these countries include the USA, Brazil, Japan and some others. So as soon as you get this, you’ll be able to drive in all of those, not just the USA. Now there are over 140 countries that are would require something like this document, as well as your driving license for you to be allowed to drive abroad with your license.

Well, the first place that you really need to head to is the post office, the post office handles all of these. And what you want to take with you is your photo card, a driving license, a passport-sized photograph, which pretty much is a passport photo as well. And your passport as well as proof of ID. So you take your driving license, you take your passport photo, you take your passport, as well as a proof of ID. And then you go and find a post office that is able to give these out. So please do check on the post office websites for nearby post offices that allow international driving permits to be produced there as well. You take all these documents, and you queue up in a normal post office, and you have a £50 application fee to pay.

That is all you literally take all these documents, you put them in front of the post office worker, they go and stamp a few papers and write your name down and that sort of thing. And then they hand you back all of those things, as well as an international driving permit, specifically international driving permit 1949. And that’s it.

So with all these documents now you’re actually free to go abroad and start driving and make sure of course you have to bring your bring all of these documents with you. So you want to bring your visa, of course, that allows you to get into the country. You want to bring your passport that allows you to get in the country and you want to bring your driving license, as well as this slip of paper that basically says he’s allowed to drive in the USA, there’s not much to it at all. There’s no like hidden terms and conditions. And it’s no more expensive than £50, I really don’t understand why we need to sign this sort of thing, because there’s no test. There’s no background checks, there’s nothing whatsoever other than bring in some forms give us £5 and we’ll stamp a piece of paper for you to say that you’re allowed to go.

So once you get to your camp, this isn’t done through Camp America. By the way, if you want to be a driver at your camp, it’s all done through your camp. It’s not done through Camp America, I don’t think I’m 96.4% certain that you don’t apply through Camp America to be a driver. If you want to be a driver, you get hired as a normal specialist or counselor first at your camp.

And then you can go over to your camp and say, look, I’ve got all these documents. I really want to drive his all the stuff that you need. Am I okay to do this? And they should be able to go yeah, here you go. Here’s a car, and you can take it for a spin.

Now everything to do with insurance and that sort of thing. That’s all covered through camp, whether they have insurance or not depends on what state and what regulations they have to follow. But 90% of the time, you’re all covered. It’s all cool.

So I think that pretty much sums up everything you need to know about the international driving permit, which allows you to drive in the USA, with Camp America, and all that sort of thing. Of course, this actually lasts between one and three years depending on how how much you want to buy this thing I think they asked you at the desk.

So even after your camp has finished, you’re able to still go ahead and drive in the States if you want to. And with that episode we’re at the end.

Guys, I hope you enjoyed this one. Catch me on Tuesday where we’re going to be discussing the questions you can expect from being a Brit working in Camp America, its going to be a fun one guys.

Keep safe and productive.

Keep thriving and surviving.

I’ll see you next Tuesday guys.

Peace out.

My story of volunteering with Camp America for the first summer is available now on Amazon. Check it out if you’d be so kind! Click here.

Finally, the big day of the week arrives where you have an evening to relax and make full use of the free transport that camp provides for your evening off. But where is the best places to go? We are here to help guide you through some of the best places we experienced in our evenings off to make that week get that little bit better.

Can you think of any other places that are a great crack when you go away on an evening off? Let me know in the comments! Want to know more about American Summer Camp life as a member of staff? How about you check out my book page where you can find similar articles and a couple of links to buy the book which is out now at Amazon and all leading retailers.

In the second episode of the questions series, we talk campower and what it is all about. We also have our first jingle!

Speaking from experience, I did my fair share of travelling after finishing 2 months in an American Summer Camp. My first year, I made sure to visit 3 of the big ones along the east coast while in my second year I hit up fewer places but still was able to check off some things from the bucket list. Read with me as I divulge into some of the top places to visit after you finish volunteering at your American Summer Camp…

So obviously before I begin, don’t plan to go anywhere before you have even set foot in camp. I mean it, it’s not worth it! It is a million times better to go with the flow, go with the best friends you are going to make on your own journey and see where the wind takes you. This article is more for people curious about potential places to travel while still at camp. Also, this list is in no particular order – remember I’m just a normal guy throwing ideas into the mix!!

Think I’ve missed some of the most obvious places to visit from the list? Let me know in the comments or follow me on Twitter @androow09. Want more of the same? How about you check my book! There’s No Place Like Summer Camp is available from Amazon and all good book retailers soon. Pre-order it here.

Camp America storytellers have a mystical air about them. In this podcast episode, I uncover all in our first episode of The Questions Series.