Week 4: Getting into the swing of things

And a sneak peek of Camp Lochearn traditions

So much has happened in the last month here at camp. It is time for another blog post, but this time a little less nurse-y.

One morning this past week, I woke up to the view of a hot air balloon over the lake. Sometimes I forget how different of a view (to wake up to) this is from my typical view whenever I’m back in Jacksonville or Oviedo. It is crazy to me that there is only a month left of camp!

Major Moments in the past few weeks:

• Classy Lassies: Each session the camp hosts an early dinner event where they have finger-foods set out on outdoor tables, such as charcuterie boards and a “walking-taco” station or a “make-your-own-sandwich” station. The campers, and staff members, dress up and take photos with each other and enjoy the beautiful weather. Dessert on this night was cupcakes because this is also an “all-camp” birthday dessert. They organize tables into months January-December and have you go to your respective birthday table to get a cupcake! Camp birthdays are really big here, but they also wanted to acknowledge campers that have a during the school-year birthday!

• Whales Tale Water Park Adventure! On July 4th, we had an out of camp trip to Whale’s Tale waterpark in New Hampshire! This trip happens once a camp session, so I will get the opportunity to go again for session 2. Here, I acted as “nurse” and got to clean cuts and scrapes acquired from kids being kids (aka running on slippery surfaces). This was honestly one of the more stressful moments of camp because none of my co-workers were there to help me out and I had a big responsibility that day.

• Camp Carnival: The camp held a carnival on July 5th, which was lots of fun! They created different games, brought in a dunk tank, snow cone and cotton candy machines, a bounce house with an inflatable water slide, and had other typical carnival games on land and in the lake! It was super fun to watch kids get to be kids, but also nerve-wracking because I was just waiting for someone to get hurt with all of the commotion going on.

• Shrek: The Musical: Each session the camp puts on a musical that the campers can partake in. The musical was so cute and entertaining…from what I heard because I was in the clinic (since one person has to be in the clinic at all times). The girls did such a great job at putting this performance together in two weeks!

• Donut Days!: The camp had two days throughout the session where they catered Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. The first day I had a Boston Creme donut and the second day I had a blueberry donut. Both were pretty good and satisfied the sweet tooth. The kids go crazy for donuts here and certainly make that known when they try to eat four donuts at once.

Waterpark Views & Classy Lassies

Also! Look!!!!

SURPRISE! I got to see my parents and siblings this week!!! It was a much-needed visit. My parents and I explored St. Johnsbury, which is where my grandfather grew up and we then traveled to Lake Winnipesaukee, which is where my mom’s cousin has a lake house (Shoutout to Susie!). I was so lucky to be able to get the time off and spend a few days with them. I wish I could’ve stayed at the lake longer, but all is well and I returned to camp refreshed and ready to continue to learn from this amazing opportunity.

Some snippets from my days off!

Real talk: Each day, I miss home more and more, but this camp experience has helped me with my interpersonal skills and shown me that a smile can take you a long way. It is always hard to start somewhere new, but I am so thankful and grateful for the experience that I have gotten here. Transitions are scary and being so many states away from home was particularly difficult for me this time. But I persevered, stayed curious, and signed up (a little reluctantly) for some of the staff activities, which led to new connections and friendships with others. I have met so many cool and unique people here! I have met people from Scotland, England, Germany, Australia, Montana, Utah, Vermont, etc. My biggest take away thus far is to always lean into discomfort, and that just by saying “yes,” you will open a few new doors! Keep reading, stay curious, and I can’t wait for you to read my next issue :)