Ah, summer camp - where friendships are forged, bug juice is chugged, and mosquito bites reach record-breaking highs. It's an experience like no other, and it's pretty near impossible to explain summer camp memories to your hometown friends without sounding like a complete lunatic. There are some pretty valuable things to be learned from summers in the mountains, on the campgrounds, and in the forests that all of us can relate to our everyday lives:
1. Breaking out into song is always a good idea.
From call and response songs to songs that speed up to sappy campfire songs, roughly 75% of the time we spend at camp is spent singing about one thing or another. Secretly, it was our counselors' way of forcing us to pass the time without complaint, which is actually a pretty useful habit for the real world.
2. Snail Mail is always the way to go.
Texting who? Number one rule of summer camp: NO CELLPHONES. EVER. It was one of the best lessons to learn as a kid, because it allows you to realize you don't need to be on your phone 24/7, especially when you're out enjoying nature.
3. Disposable cameras are way cooler.
Granted, all of my pictures from my camp days may be blurry or of irrelevant things (Feet? My sleeping bag? An animal that you can't even really see because its so far away?), but it triggers much more fun memories--instead of being focused on taking an actual quality photograph, I now remember the reasons behind the picture when I reminisce.
4. Dining hall food can be low-key amazing.
Oh my god, do not even get me started on the heavenly experience that is camp food. I don't know whose idea it was to let seven-year-old children dictate their diets, but I would like to shake their hand. Pasta, pizza, ice cream, and BUG JUICE –– the sugary holy grail of summer drinks. I really feel bad for you if you have no idea what I'm talking about. It just goes to show you that it's possible to make the best out of any dining hall food.
5. Tests are stressful, especially when they are swim tests
On the first or second day of camp when swim tests rolled around, I can remember being way more stressed than one should be about treading water for five minutes. I basically concluded that my swim level was the equivalent of my SAT score, and looking back I realize that I made the test fifty times harder for myself by being all nervous about it.
6. Camp friends are the BEST friends.
I think I'm still Facebook friends with some camp friends from when I was in fifth grade or younger. The bonds you create by being locked in cabins in remote areas with only each other for company for weeks at a time are like no other. The good times, the bad times, the scary trips to the bathroom at 3 AM: camp friends have seen it all.
I should definitely write my parents a long thank you note for sending me to summer camp. Even though I may have whined at first, once you see the magic that happens at summer camp you always want to go back for another taste. The memories and lessons I took away will always have a special place in my heart.
