Camp America

I applied for Camp America 2017 because I wanted to see the world after I graduated from school in June. The programme is perfect because you have the chance to meet awesome people and work with them, upgrade your soft skills, and also travel around America. Since I’m from Germany, I also wanted to improve my English skills, and I thought this could be an excellent opportunity for it.

I was hired as a ropes instructor at the Jewish all-girls camp “Camp Shoshanim” in Pennsylvania. I had no idea what to expect from camp. All I knew was that I was totally afraid of flying by myself to New York and that everyone would judge me because I’m not a native English speaker. But these fears were absolutely nonsense because everyone wass just so kind and helpful! Also, I didn’t know anyone Jewish and so I didn’t know much about their culture, but after the first few weeks, we were immersed in the Jewish culture—experiencing Jewish cuisine, learning a bit of Hebrew and celebrating our first Shabbat, and even a Bat Mitzvah with campers!

As International Staff, we had some issues with various aspects of camp, like disorganisation, but also mistreatment, which could have been caused by the differences of our cultures. The thing was, we all wanted the same thing: an amazing summer that we wouldn't forget. So we all found a way to stay positive as a team and, at the end of the day, we had definitely more happy and funny memories than bad experiences.

A huge reason why camp is so incredibly awesome is that you make friends for life there. Now I can say that I have friends in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Poland, and Austria. We’re still in contact and we even plan a so called “Shosh meet-up." When camp came to an end, it was very hard to say goodbye to everyone, but luckily I travelled with some of my camp friends to New York. After that, I spent some days in Los Angeles by myself, but met a friend from camp again there the last day! From LA I did the Wild Western USA Trek from Camp America, where we got to see, for example, the Grand Canyon or Las Vegas, which was absolutely stunning!

To everyone who is thinking about doing Camp America: just do it. It is literally the best summer you could ever experience. You learn so many new things and you meet amazing people along your way! Doing Camp America has changed my life, inspiring me to study tourism at university. I would love to do it again, just because you make so many amazing memories. Sadly, the semester break in Germany is not long enough, but I hope there is a chance to go back to America after I finish university to experience the American culture even more!

You will definitely not regret applying for Camp America, because it will change your life for the better!