Summer camp work, USA 2004

In the summer of 2004, after my first year at University, I travelled to the USA. This was the first time I had travelled outside of Europe, and it wasn’t just a holiday - I was working for 10 weeks on a summer camp in upstate New York, followed by two weeks of travelling. I was a participant on BUNAC’s KAMP programme - a foreign exchange programme which provides support staff to some of America’s many summer camps.

On June 20, I flew to Newark and spent the night with other BUNAC participants in a hostel in Manhattan. The next day, I joined my soon-to-be fellow support staff on a bus which took us to Kutsher’s Sports Academy, a camp near Monticello, New York. Whilst life on camp was strange at first, I soon settled in and had a fantastic summer, working mainly in the camp Canteen, a snack bar open to campers in the evenings. As camp drew to a close, I felt a complete mix of emotions - on one hand I was sad to be leaving behind my new friends and the camp I had come to love over the course of the previous nine weeks, whilst on the other hand I was getting slightly bored of being stuck in the Middle of Nowhere, New York, and the food on camp left much to be desired (such as flavour and vitamins!).

On August 28, I left camp at 7am and boarded a bus to New York City, and from there I took another bus to Boston, where I stayed for four nights. I spent the three days in between taking in the view from the Prudential tower, walking around Boston and the Freedom Trail, going to the cinema (two hours sat in air conditioned luxury was very enjoyable!), visiting the JFK museum, the USS Constitution, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, and generally enjoying myself, with the help of Dunkin’ Donuts.

On September 1, I flew from Boston to Baltimore-Washington Airport and then took a short train to Washington DC (which worked out cheaper and a lot quicker than taking the Greyhound bus). I spent 4 nights in DC, where I went to the top of the Washington Monument, visited the World War 2 memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Smithsonian Air and Space museum and Arlington Cemetery, and walked past such landmarks as the White House, Capitol building, World Bank and IMF. And I had my bag x-rayed dozens of times (even to visit the tourist information office you have to pass through a security check).

On September 5, I hopped on another Greyhound bus to New York City, where they are still security-conscious, but not quite so paranoid about what’s in your backpack. I spent six nights in Manhattan, and I saw dozens of landmarks, too many to name them all. Some highlights included shopping on 34th Street, walking around Times Square, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, riding the Staten Island ferry, going to the top of the Empire State building, taking a three-hour round Manhattan boat trip, and all the usual tourist stuff. Just as good were the small things like eating lunch looking out over the East River, riding the subway, walking through Central Park in the pouring rain, and eating Ben and Jerry’s outside the hostel on Amsterdam Avenue. I really did have a fantastic time there and I really can say “I love New York”!

You can see more photos of my travels in the USA here.