So let me break it down for you what happened...
January to April: I finished university, hooray! I had been stuck in this university rut for three years and I was truly ready for it to be over, I'm proud I completed it and I look back at it fondly, nevertheless I never want to go back.
During this time I applied to go to Botswana to build a school for blind children. I got through the interview process and the next step was just the payments, I thought it was what I wanted, until it come to me paying something just wasn't sitting right. So I scrapped the idea and instantly applied for Camp America, without really thinking about it. It was almost a joke application, such little thought process went into it. I sat there on my bed and had a 'screw it moment' next thing I know I've submitted my application and booked my interview with a Camp America representative. Cut a long story short I got hired within the week and was spending my summer in America.
May to September: Yep you guessed it, summer camp months! I can honestly say applying for Camp America was the best decision I've ever made, I needed it. I was in a really 'non-moving' place before camp. I'd always wanted to travel but had never really taken the major steps for it and going to camp was a bit like a sprint. I honestly thought I'd drown at camp in some deep, dark hole but I was wrong and I thrived.
Camp taught me more than I'd ever expected, I did not expect it to have such a big impact on me, do not get me wrong it was not all sunshine and rainbows (but mostly it was) and there were crappy times but as a whole it truly is amazing. Even the bad swings to a positive because you learn a hell of a lot from it. There is way too much for me to say about camp but in short here are the things I took away from it:
The Kids: Ohhhh the kids will inspire you every day, that is not to say there aren't days where everything goes wrong and you have 7 incident reports by 12:00pm, a child throwing up, your science experiment has gone horrifically wrong, there's water everywhere, another Kid has had a fight with a kid in your group, your kids aren't listening to you for love of money and you question is this really the summer you signed up for?
You have to learn at camp to really focus on the good, the little things and the big things. The kid that challenges everyone and everything starts to listen you and you build a type of friendship that you will treasure for life. The kid with stuff going on at home starts to open up to you. The letters and little gifts (by gifts I mean an odd stone they found) to those kids they're giving you treasure. The kid that is on the spectrum pays you a compliment. I became really attached to my kids and they taught me so much about life, kids and myself.
The Friends: You build all types of friendships at camp, some will stay and some will dwindle. You will become a family that is so unbreakable, you smile, you laugh, you cry, you scream and you all love together. You won't get on with everyone but that is okay that is life. It's another little challenge that teaches you how resilient you really are. The friends you make all have different outlooks and it makes you have multiple outlooks. I made some friends for life at camp and even though some live a 100 miles away and others thousands of miles away they all end up meaning the world to you.
Independence: I think this is something I thank camp for, I was not the most independent person before I went to camp. I thought I was but I now know I most definitely was not. Camp taught me how to deal with things by myself, I had stuff happen at home that I had to deal with without the support of my family, I had things happen at camp where everyone was busy and you just had to manage. It really does teach you a lot about yourself and it does throw you in the deep end. You'll grow more as a person that summer than you'll ever know.
September to Present: So I landed back home on the 1st of September and started my teacher training on the 3rd, yep a hell of a quick turn around!
Coming back home hit me like a ton of bricks, I didn't realise just how much I'd miss my friends, camp and St Augustine. It's a funny feeling, feeling home sick in your own home. It took some time to adjust especially as I haven't had a chance to actually chill and settle, I got chucked straight into a year six class.
Over one month in and I'm really starting to settle back down, I'm not loving it, it is cold, it rains a lot and I have enough work to fill a house with but working with kids is the one thing I really do love.
Training in year six is such a crazy experience, one moment you're teaching children the next you're teaching teenagers, truly mind blowing! I'm feeling more confident as time goes on. The kids are amazing and as always you can learn so much from every single child.
Future: So over the last 10 months a lot has happened and sometimes I don't actually recognise myself. I have had so many life changes, family changes, work changes and personal changes that it is hard to keep up. But I do feel like I know what I want now.
I've never wanted to stay in England, it's never really been an option for me but I'm also not ready to settle, I know as the moment stands I want my end destination to be St Augustine, Florida, but I'm not ready quite yet.
I want to complete my teacher training and my newly qualified year. I love teaching and it is something I will always come back to... just not quite yet.
After those two years I want to work with kids across the world, I want to explore, I want to grow and I want to be free.
So that's been my last 10 months, this blog is not going to be a regular thing, I don't want to force things onto it for the sake of their being a blog post I just want some form of space I can talk on!
I am going to do a blog post (or a few) on camp and travels!
