After a fun few weeks travelling through Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco, it was time for Nina and I to go our separate ways and head off to our respective summer camps. We were literally going to opposite sides of America, the furthest we’d been apart since we became best friends in our first year of university. She was going to Oregon and I was bound for Camp Blue Ridge in northern Georgia! I was excited to be spending my summer among the mountains and on the lakefront as a lifeguard, as well as a cabin counsellor for the 13 year old girls cabin! This is what it was like arriving at summer camp, ready for the summer of a lifetime.
Arriving at Summer Camp
I explored the camp Jill and Hannah, two lovely American girls from Florida and Kansas, who found out that they were actually in the same sorority, and so were sorority sisters! My college friends and I absolutely LOVED watching the TV show Greek and so I was full of questions about Greek life (also, if you’ve never watched Greek then you’re missing out)! It was so nice to explore the camp and get a feel for the place before the campers arrived and the madness began!
Exploring the Camp
The three of us were lifeguards for the summer and so were excited to check out the lake where we would be spending the majority of the summer! It looked so much fun with a dock, dive tower, giant blob and giant swing, as well as kayaks and paddleboats! The lake looked so beautiful and I knew that we were in for an epic summer (and would get awesome tans)!
We then headed down to the ski lake where the lifeguards would also work. Apparently there was a really bad accident last summer at a nearby camp where a counsellor was killed by a ski boat and so the rules have changed and the camps can now only use jet skis for water skiing and tubing etc. The jet skis looked like fun though and I was really excited to hopefully have a go throughout the summer!
Camp Blue Ridge literally has every sport and possible activity on offer ranging from rock climbing, to soccer, to gymnastics, art, shooting, music, drama and so many more! The kids were so lucky to be able to experience this every summer, I wish we had summer camps in Australia!
The boys thought it would be good to test out the slip n’ slide, which very quickly gained the nickname of slip n’ die as people ended up with a lot of bruises from the slide!
Exploring our Cabin for the Summer
It was then time to check out our cabin, where we’d also be spending a lot of the summer! I was placed in ‘G20’ which was the 13 year old girls cabin, the youngest of the teen groups. Together with Sharna (also an Aussie), Jill, Alana and Rikki (two more Americans), we were the counsellors for G20! Sharna and Jill very quickly became two of my closest camp friends.
This was G20.
Home for the summer.
We considered it to be a ‘waterfront cabin’ as we had glimpses of the lake from the balcony!
The cabin was quite basic as you’d expect of a summer cabin cabin, complete with bunk beds and plenty of storage.
This would be my bunk for the summer! The bed was quite comfy thankfully! I knew that one of the hardest things for me would be getting enough sleep in a shared living space as I definitely value my sleep, and like plenty of it!
The bathrooms were also very basic, but did the job.
You can see by my face how shocked I was with how much luggage our campers had! They were allowed to bring two of these massive bags each and these were shipped across a few days before everyone arrived.
Camp Blue Ridge
Camp Blue Ridge is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Northern Georgia and we were surrounded by natural beauty! There was plenty of stunning hikes to do and we spent our last free afternoon before the campers arrived hiking up by this little waterfall.
The first few days at camp were seriously epic and I just knew it was going to be the summer of a lifetime! The facilities at camp were incredible and my fellow co-counsellors all seemed so fun and lovely! Hopefully this will give you a good idea what it is like when arriving at summer camp, when coming to work as a camp counsellor.
Have you ever worked at a summer camp or is it on your to-do list? x
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