Hey everyone!
Dana here and I already made an Ask An American video on summer day camp in the U.S.
So if you haven't seen that yet, I'll link to it down below.
But today I'm going to be talking about sleepaway camp because as much as I enjoyed day camp,
it was sleepaway camp that just really made a huge impression on me.
Even now, even today so many years later, when I think back to my time at sleepaway
camp, even now, I often get choked up and teary-eyed and emotional just thinking about
those memorable, wonderful times.
So if I start to cry in this video, that's why.
I went to summer day camp from about age 7 to age 11 and then I went to sleepaway camp
when I was 12, 13 and 14.
And actually my very first summer at sleepaway camp, I went for 6 weeks.
So, my parents dropped me off there toward the beginning of the summer and then picked
me back up toward the end of the summer.
And then the next two years, 13 and 14, I went for three weeks each summer.
In addition to some of the activities that I mentioned in the first video, such as swimming,
archery, arts and crafts, at the sleepaway camp we also did horseback riding.
Which was actually kind of scary at the beginning.
My parents and I didn't pick the camp because I especially wanted to go horseback riding.
We picked the camp because it looked like a really good sleepaway camp, that just also
happened to have horseback riding.
And at first it was really scary.
I was really scared to, to be on that massive animal, and I didn't really know what I was
doing at all.
But after the three summers I had learned to horseback ride and had really learned to
love it as well.
But when I think back to my time at sleepaway camp, it's not really so much the activities
that come right into my mind like they do with day camp, but rather the strong emotional
bonds that I formed with the other girls in my cabin.
You know, it was a very intense age, early teens that we were there at camp, and there
were just a lot of emotions flying around, and I would say intense is just the word to
describe it.
We were there living together for three or six weeks, and we always said that one week
at sleepaway camp was like getting to know someone over a whole year out in "the real world."
And so, yeah, it was just a emotional, intense bonding time.
But okay, I'm getting a little ahead of myself here.
Let me take a step back and explain a little bit about sleepaway camp, itself.
Once again, we were separated into groups by age.
This time into groups of 10.
Each group of ten campers would share a cabin with two counselors.
So inside of each cabin you had 12 people, 6 bunkbeds -- each with a top and a bottom
bunk, so 12 beds -- 1 sink, 1 shower, 1 toilet, 1 ceiling fan, and 2 mirrors.
Thank goodness we had two. They were never enough.
This was a camp for girls and boys, but the boys slept way over on the other side of the camp.
We did all of the activities together; horseback riding together, eating all the meals together,
doing dances and activities in the evening together.
But not sleeping in the same cabins together or anywhere near each other.
There was no mingling between the cabins.
Even if a guy counselor would come onto the girl's side there would be shrieking and just
mass panic.
Aaahh! Boy on the girl's side! Boy on the girl's side!
Kids came from all around the state to go to this camp.
And also from sometimes different parts of the country, and so that first day -- drop
off day -- was super exciting if you were a returning camper.
Parents would come, arrive throughout the day, drop the kids off.
And, you know, you're running around looking for, is your friend from last year here?
Is this friend here, is that friend there?
And you're so excited to see each other again.
You missed them so much.
There was a lot of screaming and jumping up and down and hugging.
But, you know, if this was your first time at the sleepaway camp, that first day could
be really hard because all the other campers are super excited to see each other, and you
don't know anyway.
So your parents bring you and then they leave, and at least for me, I just remember, that
first day was really hard.
My parents left, and I had just this lump in my throat.
And I was sitting there just like, "Please don't cry. Please don't cry.
I don't want to be the one that, that cries."
But I really wanted to cry. I was pretty homesick.
But then, you know, you go to dinner and then in the evening there's activities.
And then, yeah that first night sleeping there was hard, I was homesick, but then you wake
up in the morning and boom, you hit the ground running.
There's activities all day long and you pretty much just don't stop running until the end of the session.
So the homesickness, for me at least, really didn't last all that long.
But like I mentioned at the beginning, those bonds that I formed with my friends at camp
were so emotionally charged and strong that actually, once I left camp at the end of the
summer or the end of the session, I did have then a kind of weeks-long, not homesickness,
but "campsickness."
So a typical day for me at sleepaway camp looked like this.
Woke up and got dressed and then headed off to breakfast.
But before breakfast we had the flag-raising ceremony, and then we had a special morning thought.
So usually a couselor, but sometimes also a camper, would get up in front of everyone
and tell a little inspirational or motivational story, really short story, or a special saying
or quote that meant something to them.
Just something to start the day off right.
Then it was breakfast.
We had a large mess hall where everyone ate together, but still in their cabin groups.
We sat at these long, yellow picnic-style tables.
And each day -- we had a chores wheel -- and each day one person from our cabin was responsible
for going into the mess hall and setting the table, getting the breakfast.
And then we'd eat and after breakfast that same person had to bring all of the dirty
plates and dishes back to the kitchen and clean the table.
And maybe you're thinking, "Uh, well, that doesn't sound like a nice job."
Eh, it wasn't great.
But if you were the meals person for that day, that meant that you didn't have to help
clean the cabin that day.
After breakfast it was time to clean the cabin.
Unless you were the person who did the meals and then you didn't have to.
But everyone else on the chores wheel had something to do.
Clean the shower, clean the toilet, sweep the sand out of the cabin, which it just seemed
like you would sweep the sand out and magically it would reappear.
There was always sand in the cabin.
Then it was time for activities, but unlike with day camp, you wouldn't go off and do
all of your activities together as a cabin.
You'd do the activities with boys and girls and campers of all ages together in each activity.
In the afternoon after lunch we had about an hour of "siesta."
And since this was summer camp in Florida, we really appreciated this.
It was just so hot in the afternoon, and most people -- you know I said we had one ceiling
fan up there -- but most people would bring one or two huge box fans with them.
So we would sit there in the cabin with all the fans on high just like: aaahhh keep us cool.
During siesta is also when we got the letters and packages from home delivered to us.
And oh man, if you were waiting for a letter or package from home, the guys would drive
up with the mail and you'd be like did I get anything? Did I get anything? And
if you didn't get anything it was a little sad and disappointing, but on the days that
you did get something, it was very exciting.
Then after a few more activities in the afternoon, it was time for dinner and then time to head
back to the cabin to get ready for the evening activity.
Now as I said, we were 12 girl in the cabin, including the counselors.
12 girls with one shower and two mirrors, so getting ready for the evening activity
was a bit of a cram-fest, but we helped each other out.
You know, doing each other's hair, doing each other's makeup, picking out our clothes.
The evening activity was different every night.
Some nights it was a themed dance, like the hippy dance -- dress up like a hippy.
Or the red, white and blue dance for the 4th of July.
Or sometimes it was a talent show.
There were hay rides some nights.
You would get into a wagon filled with hay and you'd be pulled around the camp in the
dark, until you finally ended up at a campfire.
And you'd sit around the campfire roasting marshmallows, maybe making s'mores, telling
ghost stories.
Then around 9 o'clock it was time to head back to the cabins, but not time to go to
bed quite yet.
After we brushed our teeth, got into our pajamas, got into our beds, we did another quiet activity
together, more bonding time.
We went around the room and each person had to share, maybe, their warm fuzzy and cold
prickly from the day.
So what was something that they really liked about that day and something that they didn't
like so much about that day.
Or we would have to answer a hypothetical question, like if you could only eat one food
for the rest of your life, what would that food be, and why?
Or we needed to share some sort of meaningful quote to us or tell who we maybe had a crush
on at camp, or something like that.
More bonding.
Just a warning, I don't think I'm going to be able to get through this last part without crying.
I was just reading what I wrote down that I want to say, and I'm already crying.
Okay, so here I go.
And then, before you knew it, you had made it to the last day of camp.
And like I said in the day camp video, there were also awards given, an award ceremony
at sleepaway camp.
But because it, there was so much more bonding, the awards given were just, they meant so
much more.
Counselors would get up on stage and they would laugh and they would cry, telling stories
about campers who had made an impact on them that summer.
And we would have one last dinner, where we would all get really dressed up and then after
dinner we would sing songs together and we would put our arms around each other and together
we would sing "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and cry.
It was a good time, it was a good time.
So I have tried to do my best to impart on you in, you know, 10 or 15 minutes everything
that sleepaway camp meant to me, and I hope that I did a good job.
I hope that I've at least imparted something about sleepaway camp to you.
So my question for you is: alright, let's get deep today.
What is the time in your life when you look back on it now, it was such a special time
to you, that when you look back on it, you are overcome with this immense feeling of
joy at the memory, but also at the same time this kind of tinge of sadness too.
Joy and happiness that you have that memory, but I guess sadness that, you know, it's a
memory, it's in the past.
Yeah, please let me know in the comments below.
Thanks so much for watching this very special video.
I hope I didn't scare you off with the tears there.
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Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!