I'm a camp counsellor, get me out of here!

PART 1:

I attended a US summer camp for four of the summers between 2016 and 2019 from June to August. In 2016, I began working as a camp counsellor. Then, in 2017, I became a lifeguard, a head lifeguard in 2018, and in 2019, I became the waterfront director. Each summer was so different, and even though it had its difficulties, it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I'm grateful for everyone I met, the children I had the honour of working with and caring for and the lovely camp in general—which was truly the safest place on earth. You were free to be your 100% self and I discovered a lot about myself, other people, and the world around me. Each summer I worked there, I felt as though I was going back home.

I'll discuss the very beginning in this post. Everything from my decision to do Camp America to how I got the job and the hiring process, to the visa and the journey.

Growing up in Australia, I had previously worked with children. In Burwood, Sydney, New South Wales, I had assisted my mum at an after-school care programme. She used to work with people who had cerebral palsy, so I was also able to do some volunteer work. I would walk over to her workplace after finishing my shift at the café across the street and worked in the gym and hydrotherapy pool with a lot of kids my age. When swim time came around, I would then work in the pool with children and babies as well as individuals between the ages of 15 and 19. At the time, I was 17/18 years old.

I was in my eleventh year when I came across an advertisement in the local newspaper from Camp America seeking employees to work at summer camps around the US. After being reminded that I still had a year of school left, I made a vow to myself that I would follow through on it as soon as I was finished with school. 

It finally came to the time to sign up for Camp America, and they make it easy to do so, all you have to do is start an application online in which you fill out all personal details and share some of your skills as well as obtain a police check. Having previous working with children my experience made it very helpful. You have three different payments to make over the course of your application which provides you with a camp placement, visa sponsorship, support, food, and accommodation on camp as well as accident and sickness insurance. You also arrange for an interview either on skype or in person with someone that works at Camp America.

I spent a lot of time working as many hours as possible at the café and coming home to work on my application to make sure it was perfect. I had my interview with a lovely girl from Camp America in Sydney and I remember having a great chat with her. I just remember feeling as though I couldn’t believe this was all happening! Everything was processing and I knew that I’d have to wait on a placement...

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I went to a Camp America job fair in Sydney. I must admit it was a little overwhelming but I was so thrilled to get to know all of the summer camps and see what it was all about. I ended up speaking to one camp that was based in New York that worked with children with disabilities and they seemed incredibly lovely. That camp had definitely piqued my interest but I had a feeling to keep waiting for something else to pop up. I got home that same day and to my surprise, got an email from a camp director from a girl scout camp in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In her email she explained what the camp looked like (with photos,) what they were all about and what a regular day was at camp. As soon as I read it, every part of me just knew this was the camp. I sent an email back expressing my interest and from that I was officially placed!

Eventually, I finished all my paperwork needed for my application, plus the new paperwork for GSEMA (Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts,) as well as paid off my three payments for Camp America. I had everything set besides the visa. I booked a visa appointment in Sydney and again, Camp America made it so easy and stress free. I got my visa approved and was ready to go! 

That was the start of four truly incredible summers and I can't wait to post more about my experiences. I couldn't recommend Camp America enough. There is so much paperwork but they are so supportive with it all and make it a lot less stressful than it would normally be. Everything in the application is simple to follow and you can tell how hard they all work to make sure you get placed and that everything runs smoothly. I hope this helps anyone who is thinking or wanting to work at a summer camp in America. DO IT! You'll have such an awesome summer and it will change your life. In my next post I'll talk about the camp itself, what a regular day looked like and what all my different job posts entailed. 

Talk soon! 

The Runaway Redhead 

My first post!

 Hey guys, 

Welcome to my blog! My name is Fiona, also known as the runaway redhead. 

This is my very first blog post ever... and about time too. 

I've been wanting to start a travel blog ever since 2015, when I finished high school in December. I got a job working at a café near Manly, Sydney and saved up to fund my travels for Camp America in 2016. 8 years later and I'm so excited to finally start it up! I run an Instagram named 'the_runawayredhead' as well as a tik tok and trecco account! With these social media accounts my aim is to share my experiences and passion for travel. I also love being outside as much as I can, so I post about my hiking, wild swimming, camping adventures and the great outdoors in general! 

I thought I'd use my first post to write about my backstory and where it all began.

Without further ado... 

My mum is originally from England and went solo travelling to live and work in Bermuda when she was 18/19. She also visited a couple places in Europe and then came over to Australia to live/work and eventually got citizenship. My dad (born and raised in Sydney, Australia) also travelled to England and quite a few places in Europe whilst he was young. 

I can vaguely recall visiting my mum's family in England while I was in Year 1 at school. Then, when I was 10 or 11 years old, my mum, brother, and sister and I travelled to Florida to visit her parents again. I think this was the beginning of the travel bug. I don't believe I truly appreciated it because as a kid, I didn't fully realise what travelling and taking a plane entailed, but I now realise how fortunate and privileged I was to be able to experience it at a young age, and it definitely made me want more. Being an Australian also means that many locations are far from one another. It's a huge country! We have owned a farm on my dad's side of the family for 50 years; it was two hours away from Sydney, where I grew up. For summer holiday, it took four hours to travel up to a place named Blueys Beach near Forster, New South Wales. Plus, I was so accustomed to the school commute that took an hour each way on various types of public transport, I knew it all like the back of my hand. I believe that as a result of everything, I found myself confident using public transport, navigating about in new locations, and always having the ability to explore freely and be adventurous. 

I don't recall when I first began keeping a daily journal, but I kept several of them and used them to write and print off pictures of places I wanted to travel to. I glued pictures of stunning Scottish castles, tranquil Californian beaches, and amazing European towns to my journals. Over the course of my final two years of school, I considered moving abroad to study or work instead of going to university and tried to plan it out in my notebooks, complete with drawings and photos of course. Fortunately, I got to visit Valdosta, Georgia in the US at the start of 2015 with a group from my school for a student exchange trip for two weeks. We lived with a host family, went to school there and even checked out the university. I was living out my dream already! My desire to do more of that became official after that trip. When 2014 rolled around, I noticed an advertisement in the local newspaper for Camp America Australia, which was looking to hire people to live and work with children at a summer camp in the United States. I immediately told my mum after seeing it because I was so excited. She reminded me that I still had one year of school left, so I made a commitment to myself that THAT was the goal I was going to pursue. I was going to travel and work for a summer in America.

And that was the start to all my travels. 

I'm very excited for you all to follow my journey. I still have a lot to sort through, from my time at camp in 2016 to my current residence in England with my extremely amazing and supportive boyfriend Deejay, as well as our future plans for other travel experiences. 

Make sure you keep up to date with me and everything I'm up to on my Instagram, TikTok and Trecco accounts at the_runawayredhead. Let me know what you'd like to hear from me, or if you ever have any questions feel free to give me a message!

Talk soon!

The Runaway Redhead