Camp America: Do I? Don't I?
June 4, 2006 10:17 AM Subscribe
Camp America: Should I, or shouldn't I?
I'm throwing the question out to the Green in the hope that a few of you may have 'done' Camp America before. My background is that I'll be 19 when I go, and I live in the UK. I enjoy working with kids and I'm taking a year out between college and university.
I want to know if it'd be good idea for me to spend 9 weeks of my year (possibly more) working on a camp in America. I'd love to go travelling afterwards as well. This question can be split up into two parts: "Is Camp America worth it?", and "Whats the cheapest way to travel across and see America?". (Bearing in mind I have to end up back in NY for my return flight). Your experiences and ideas will be welcomed with open arms!
I'm throwing the question out to the Green in the hope that a few of you may have 'done' Camp America before. My background is that I'll be 19 when I go, and I live in the UK. I enjoy working with kids and I'm taking a year out between college and university.
I want to know if it'd be good idea for me to spend 9 weeks of my year (possibly more) working on a camp in America. I'd love to go travelling afterwards as well. This question can be split up into two parts: "Is Camp America worth it?", and "Whats the cheapest way to travel across and see America?". (Bearing in mind I have to end up back in NY for my return flight). Your experiences and ideas will be welcomed with open arms!
A friend of mine did Camp America a few years back. Though I can't remember her exact impressions, I think she gave the place a general thumbs up.
Now, if I had a few spare months, a flight to America and was after a real adventure, I'd bike it coast to coast.
posted by popcassady at 10:44 AM on June 4, 2006
Now, if I had a few spare months, a flight to America and was after a real adventure, I'd bike it coast to coast.
posted by popcassady at 10:44 AM on June 4, 2006
Do it.
My brother went to Camp America three times while in college, was asked back (and went), another five times, was employed by them as a life guard trainer here in the UK and met his future wife on one trip to Camp.
He's now settled in Oregon and living the life he dreamt of. As for the travelling, he used a Greyhound pass to see the country.
You have absolutely nothing to lose at 19, so just stop thinking about it and go! It could change your life..
posted by Nugget at 10:58 AM on June 4, 2006
My brother went to Camp America three times while in college, was asked back (and went), another five times, was employed by them as a life guard trainer here in the UK and met his future wife on one trip to Camp.
He's now settled in Oregon and living the life he dreamt of. As for the travelling, he used a Greyhound pass to see the country.
You have absolutely nothing to lose at 19, so just stop thinking about it and go! It could change your life..
posted by Nugget at 10:58 AM on June 4, 2006
Response by poster: Nugget: A Greyhound pass looks exactly like what I want, albeit a little expensive... What did your brother do for accommodation on the road? I get the impression that something like camping would be cheapest - I'm a cash strapped student!
posted by xvs22 at 11:05 AM on June 4, 2006
posted by xvs22 at 11:05 AM on June 4, 2006
Best answer: Hostelling International - USA will sponsor foreigners to live and work at one of their hostels. I did this last summer while my kids were away, and it was a lot of fun. At my hostel, we lived for free (a private room, shared kitchen, shared bath) and got $7/ hour when we were working. At my hostel, there was a girl from Hungary doing this.
Also you get a few comped nights at other HI hostels, as well as a free HI membership.
So how would you go about getting a job like this? They have an official portal, but I would just look up the council for the hostels you're interested in and call them on the phone (or email). Hostels won't necessarily list their available jobs on the HI jobs list.
posted by Methylviolet at 11:40 AM on June 4, 2006
Also you get a few comped nights at other HI hostels, as well as a free HI membership.
So how would you go about getting a job like this? They have an official portal, but I would just look up the council for the hostels you're interested in and call them on the phone (or email). Hostels won't necessarily list their available jobs on the HI jobs list.
posted by Methylviolet at 11:40 AM on June 4, 2006
Some of the universities have guest houses and the such like which are quite cheap - I stayed in one while in Cambridge, Mass. last month. They're cheap and functional and cost $100-150 a night, rather than the ritzy-glitzy big city hotel which cost a fortune.
Camping is good too.
I just looked at the Amtrak and Greyhound month passes - it's cheaper to get an Amtrak pass for a month than it is to get a season ticket from where I am in the suburbs in to London each day for the month. There's something deeply wrong about that.
posted by tommorris at 11:48 AM on June 4, 2006
Camping is good too.
I just looked at the Amtrak and Greyhound month passes - it's cheaper to get an Amtrak pass for a month than it is to get a season ticket from where I am in the suburbs in to London each day for the month. There's something deeply wrong about that.
posted by tommorris at 11:48 AM on June 4, 2006
For accommodation, hostels.com is the way to go. They're mostly safe and clean and you shouldn't be paying more than $30/night. Read the reviews before you book.
There's something deeply wrong about that
Amtrak barely even pretends to be a proper train service. For the most part it's one-service-a-day leisurely-pace stuff. Nobody uses it.
posted by cillit bang at 12:01 PM on June 4, 2006
There's something deeply wrong about that
Amtrak barely even pretends to be a proper train service. For the most part it's one-service-a-day leisurely-pace stuff. Nobody uses it.
posted by cillit bang at 12:01 PM on June 4, 2006
I worked at a camp for 5 summers and while we didn’t use Camp America, we did use a similar program (Camp Counselors USA). Being a camp counselor remains one of the best experiences of my life, and after camp is over you will have friends from all over the country to stay with for free. I always had a few South Africans or Australians on my couch at the end of every summer and to this day I have places to stay all over the world.
posted by finallymarki at 1:40 PM on June 4, 2006
posted by finallymarki at 1:40 PM on June 4, 2006
I did the BUNAC programme (not working in a camp: they just got work permits, for Canada in this case, and we had to find our own jobs.)
I travelled around with a Greyhound Ameripass: did around 8,000 miles in 30 days. For accommodation I mostly stayed in youth hostels: there are plenty around, and it's a good way to meet other people. Food and accommodation are both a bit cheaper in the US than the UK.
For particularly cheap nights I'd get overnight buses (Greyhound do plenty of those) and sleep on the bus, then wash in the washrooms.
I had an absolutely great time! Heartily recommend it: it's a lot less intimidating than it seems from home, and you'll meet a lot of other people doing similar things. Also it's a lot harder to do this kind of thing when you're older and you have rent or mortgages to pay and jobs you don't want to lose and stuff to put in storage... and joints that don't want to sleep on buses. Do it: you're only young once.
Didn't do the camp thing though: I'm not a big fan of kids, but met other people who did and they seemed to find it OK. Would definitely have saved hassle to have the job lined up in advance.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:17 PM on June 4, 2006
I travelled around with a Greyhound Ameripass: did around 8,000 miles in 30 days. For accommodation I mostly stayed in youth hostels: there are plenty around, and it's a good way to meet other people. Food and accommodation are both a bit cheaper in the US than the UK.
For particularly cheap nights I'd get overnight buses (Greyhound do plenty of those) and sleep on the bus, then wash in the washrooms.
I had an absolutely great time! Heartily recommend it: it's a lot less intimidating than it seems from home, and you'll meet a lot of other people doing similar things. Also it's a lot harder to do this kind of thing when you're older and you have rent or mortgages to pay and jobs you don't want to lose and stuff to put in storage... and joints that don't want to sleep on buses. Do it: you're only young once.
Didn't do the camp thing though: I'm not a big fan of kids, but met other people who did and they seemed to find it OK. Would definitely have saved hassle to have the job lined up in advance.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:17 PM on June 4, 2006
Samstarling: my brother did exactly the same as TheophileEscargot above - youth hostels or cheap motels.
He also saved a lot of money he got paid for being on camp as all the meals were provided, and the cost of living's a lot cheaper as well.
But seriously, don't spend too much time thinking about it. Do it and worry about the details later, because that's where the adventure comes from!
posted by Nugget at 4:22 PM on June 4, 2006
He also saved a lot of money he got paid for being on camp as all the meals were provided, and the cost of living's a lot cheaper as well.
But seriously, don't spend too much time thinking about it. Do it and worry about the details later, because that's where the adventure comes from!
posted by Nugget at 4:22 PM on June 4, 2006
Absolutely do it: I'm from Australia and worked for Camp Counselors USA. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I got an Amtrak pass for travelling around on after camp. They have these veiwing cars where you can sit facing the scenery, (and potentially get away from the weirdo sitting next to you) and do hokey things like quiz nights on the overnight trains. I even won an Amtrak cap!. They're a little restricting though, as to where you can go, so the Greyhound pass might be the better option.
posted by azuma at 6:14 PM on June 4, 2006
posted by azuma at 6:14 PM on June 4, 2006
Make sure you don't work in the catering department for any Summer Camp. 9 Weeks of 9 Hour days - nope, not fun, and you don't get paid more than pocketmoney, definitely worth it if you're working with the kids, or lifeguarding though.
posted by RufusW at 7:56 PM on June 4, 2006
posted by RufusW at 7:56 PM on June 4, 2006
I Amtraked around the US for three months and loved it. You can't go everywhere (LA is pretty much out) and it is slow, but it's beautiful and comfortable and very social. I think you have to be careful about where you sit, what you do and who you talk to on Greyhound, but on Amtrak you'll have dinner with other passengers, (I had some amazing conversations with some very interesting people, and the food was great) it's very well staffed, and felt very safe to me (a 23 year old woman on her own).
Do it! The pass is easy to use and a bargain, although all in all I ended up spending a lot of money. NYC is a great start / end point, as Amtrak services are concentrated on the east coast.
I saw New Orleans, New York, Boston, DC, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Atlanta and North Carolina via Amtrak, and I met my wife!
I can't speak to the Camp America part though, but good luck!
posted by crabintheocean at 9:06 PM on June 4, 2006
Do it! The pass is easy to use and a bargain, although all in all I ended up spending a lot of money. NYC is a great start / end point, as Amtrak services are concentrated on the east coast.
I saw New Orleans, New York, Boston, DC, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Atlanta and North Carolina via Amtrak, and I met my wife!
I can't speak to the Camp America part though, but good luck!
posted by crabintheocean at 9:06 PM on June 4, 2006
Best answer: Camp America, or Shit-camp USA as I came to call it, was one of the worst 10 weeks of my life. This was in 1996. It might have changed. But it probably hasn't. I did the camp staff thing rather than the actual working-with-kids camp counsellor thing - they told me I would be working on a summer camp and would get the opportunity to work with kids but just wouldn't be with them all day. This was a lie. I was assigned to a place in Hopewell Junction and that was all I knew.
Arrival in New York? Chaos. They were supposed to meet us at the airport but there was 4 hours sitting around with lost looking people waving Camp America paper work desparately searching the lounge for an official to tell us what to do. Then the buses arrive and we get herded towards them and taken into the night to a place in Connecticut - a very cheap hotel. Here some hundred jet-lagged europeans hung around trying to work out which desk our paperwork was at. About 3am we get to sleep sharing four or five to a tiny room. Up at 6am the next day to get a bus back into NY, train up the Hudson, met at the station by a nice bloke and taken to "Camp".
The camp was a hotel that had redefined itself somehow as a summer camp in order to take advantage of the cheap european labour. The deal with Shit-camp USA is that if you leave early, you have to pay admin costs and pay the transfer fees for your own flights home and they are not cheap. You know for a fact that the organisation gets them in bulk, but somehow, when they try and sell them back to you it costs (I think) 1200 quid (can't remember exaclty, but do remember seriously considering it). I was on the front desk of this psuedo hotel 6 days a week from 4pm till midnight, sharing a "bunk barn" (aka "shed") with 12 czech and slovak girls who were all working in the laundry, so started at 7am. One guy (undergrad from Cambridge) went home early with trench foot from the dishwashers.
The lifeguards seemed to have the best job. I think I could have put up with that (except they had to clear the goose shit off the lake every morning - but that's a small price to pay). Everyone else had a really crap time. On the plus side, I did read war and peace in a fortnight, and I was 21, so could drink.
Travelling around the US afterwards, people had good things to say about BUNAC, but I didn't meet anyone who'd enjoyed their shit-camp USA experience.
posted by handee at 2:33 AM on June 5, 2006
Arrival in New York? Chaos. They were supposed to meet us at the airport but there was 4 hours sitting around with lost looking people waving Camp America paper work desparately searching the lounge for an official to tell us what to do. Then the buses arrive and we get herded towards them and taken into the night to a place in Connecticut - a very cheap hotel. Here some hundred jet-lagged europeans hung around trying to work out which desk our paperwork was at. About 3am we get to sleep sharing four or five to a tiny room. Up at 6am the next day to get a bus back into NY, train up the Hudson, met at the station by a nice bloke and taken to "Camp".
The camp was a hotel that had redefined itself somehow as a summer camp in order to take advantage of the cheap european labour. The deal with Shit-camp USA is that if you leave early, you have to pay admin costs and pay the transfer fees for your own flights home and they are not cheap. You know for a fact that the organisation gets them in bulk, but somehow, when they try and sell them back to you it costs (I think) 1200 quid (can't remember exaclty, but do remember seriously considering it). I was on the front desk of this psuedo hotel 6 days a week from 4pm till midnight, sharing a "bunk barn" (aka "shed") with 12 czech and slovak girls who were all working in the laundry, so started at 7am. One guy (undergrad from Cambridge) went home early with trench foot from the dishwashers.
The lifeguards seemed to have the best job. I think I could have put up with that (except they had to clear the goose shit off the lake every morning - but that's a small price to pay). Everyone else had a really crap time. On the plus side, I did read war and peace in a fortnight, and I was 21, so could drink.
Travelling around the US afterwards, people had good things to say about BUNAC, but I didn't meet anyone who'd enjoyed their shit-camp USA experience.
posted by handee at 2:33 AM on June 5, 2006
I went to the same place as you handee in 2003. Hasn't changed much - Camp Kindering. Was cooking, they got a lot of Eastern Europeans because the money was kinda half decent for them - I think. Was shit :)
posted by RufusW at 4:02 PM on June 7, 2006
posted by RufusW at 4:02 PM on June 7, 2006
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