10 things that happen when you come home from camp

1. Your friends get bored of your America chat 

You come home buzzing and catch up with your friends, who ask you heaps of questions about America and camp. However, about halfway through you telling a story about how a counsellor messed up the lines to a song and it became a running joke all summer, you notice that they don’t seem to find it very funny and they don’t really seem interested in your third summer photo album on Facebook...

2. You miss your camp friends

You may have only known them for a few months, but camp friends are the best friends. Your bonds run deep - after dealing with a homesick child together or nailing that ridiculous skit. Life was so much easier when you all lived and worked together and now they’re halfway across the world. You’ll find yourself looking at skyscanner more than once...

3. You forget how to cook 

Back to real life means having to make your own meals again. You know you complained about camp food more than once, but now you really appreciate all your meals being cooked for you…..even if you had hot dogs hundreds and hundreds of times.

4. You sing in public... by accident

A word or a phrase will set you off and without even realising, you will be singing a camp song….until you look at the reactions of your mates around you who have no idea what is happening.

5. You miss American food and meal sizes

Free refills, bottomless breadsticks, huge portions... you miss the days when $10 would feed you for a day. Wetherspoons just isn't quite cutting it... 

6. You come home with a new vocabulary

You have started saying weird American words and phrases and you can’t make it stop. ‘Lit’ ‘hella’ and ‘trash’ keep escaping from your mouth. Your friends will not like it.

7. You start flossing without realising

You did it all summer and now it has just become a reflex when you are standing still. You just can’t stop the arms….and you don’t want to.

8. Skype becomes your best friend 

You have to talk to your camp friends and that means setting up a Skype date, usually with more than one person, in more than one country. The world clock on your phone suddenly has a lot more countries and you quickly consider yourself a mathematician... 

9. You can conquer anything

You are a strong independent individual. You have dealt with children throwing up, working after little sleep, being thrown into a lake and teaching archery with no previous knowledge of how to shoot an arrow. Suddenly back home you can take on the world.

10. You get the post camp blues

You’ll get sad, you’ll miss the days when life was filled with fun and singing and dancing. Your daily bus to uni or part time job won’t seem quite the same. You’ll miss the American weather and all your new friends. You'll especially miss the kids - who drove you crazy but were your little brothers and sisters all summer.

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