When school ends for the summer, there are a lot of different options for entertainment. Some people get summer jobs and internships, some people travel across the country or around the world, and some very lucky people get to go to summer camp.

Although each summer camp is unique in its own way, there are certain things that every camper has in common and understands because they have grown up at camp, regardless of whether they have been going to camp for 12 years or just one summer.

Every camper knows that pulling into camp each year with your egg crate and your shower caddy is an experience muddled with all different kinds of emotions. As much as you'll miss your parents, your pets and your home friends, you know that there's nothing like spending three months at your summer home with your camp family.

You know that the next few weeks or months will be filled with excitement and new experiences because you know that camp is a place to push yourself and to try new things. It's a place where you can be comfortable with yourself because the people around you have known you and loved you from the beginning simply because of the nature of camp. You know from the moment you arrive that the people there are your family and that creates an air of comfort and acceptance that is both impossible to imitate and impossible to forget.

You know that you'll get to enjoy all of the best parts of camp: the things you don't get to do at home. You'll get to rock climb, water ski and have sleepovers every single night. You'll sing songs and chant cheers, and you'll forge an immediate closeness with your bunkmates that you know would be impossible anywhere else. After a mere few days, your camp goggles will be o, and the same people who annoyed you on the first day will suddenly turn into the people you walk circles around camp with during free time.

You'll get way too competitive at multiple times throughout the session, but by the time it's all over, you'll learn what it means to be a good winner and a good loser.

The staff will occasionally get on your nerves, and there will be times when you think they are doing things just to ruin your life, but you know in the end that they are one of the main reasons why camp is so great and you will definitely cry when it's time to say goodbye to them.

You know that you'll complain about how unfair everything is, and that sometimes, your problems will seem like the end of the world. You know that you'll have some bad moments, and that some nights, real life will get in the way of the perfection that is camp.

But even more than all that, you'll find that in the small moments, you make the biggest connections. When you get to stay closed into the perfect world that is camp, you'll appreciate how safe you feel in the place you get to call home every summer. When you feel sad and need a friend, you'll have 10 people within three feet willing to do whatever it takes to make you feel better. When you face a challenge that you don't think you can overcome, whether it's taking a leap off a zip line or just trying something new, an entire family will surround you with love and encouragement, and you'll realize that there's nothing you can't do.

You know that going to camp leaves you with more than just amazing memories. You know that the friends you have found and the impacts they have made on you will last forever, and that an incredible ability to love and accept yourself and others has bloomed in your own heart. As you get older and look back, you'll realize that camp gave you a greater appreciation of the things that make you you, and the things that make others different. You learned how to take care of yourself and how to help others learn the same, and you know that you couldn't possibly have done it without camp.

You know that you'll carry on the traditions and the memories, and most of all, you know that you'll be back next year.