I arrived in New York on a late Greyhound and somehow figured out the way to my Hostel collapsed and sat in wait for my Soulmate* (who was working at a different camp and had just finished) to turn up... I waited a while but eventually she appeared weary and tired. That night we hit her camp leaving party in New York where I met so many new people, danced in a very crowded room, got blisters from my flip flops which kept sticking to the floor, walked round the block a couple of times and got hugged so many times I felt like a teddy bear. A wonderful night. The next day we went on the Staten Island Ferry, turns out there isn't much on Staten Island but the view of NY is beautiful. We then had an accidental nap and had to rush to get ready for the next camp leavers party she was supposed to go to. We figured as we had done the last night all we needed was an address and we'd be fine; that's the problem with things going so smoothly the first night.Somehow we ended up in Harlem late at night and the ticket machine for the tube wasn't accepting notes... luckily a lovely woman gave us change for a dollar (or we were seriously considering jumping the turnstile) and we got out of there. After some more random wanderings we gave up on the after party and went to starbucks (still open though it was getting on midnight) we then decided it was time we went into central park.
This is the moment I fell in love... with New York, maybe it was something in the coffee but before New York was noisy a little annoying and too big, then the sun went down and something magical happened. At night New York is the insomniac city it reaches that beautiful slightly restless calm, mimicking the state my brain gets to. For the first time I was walking round a city that felt like I did, it is truly a city that never sleeps.
We then found an open apple store and utilised there internet before heading to bed (I think we finally got in at 4 in the morning). The next day we packed and made our way to Central Park again to lounge on the grass in the sun and then we made our way to the train station for our 19hr train (that ended up a 21 hour train) to Chicago.
*she chose the name
Monday 10 September 2012
Wednesday 29 August 2012
Lost in Boston
After a surprisingly pleasant 10 hour Megabus (I did get two seats to myself) I arrived in Boston introduced myself to some people going to my hostel (also fresh from camp counseling) and we split a cab to the hostel, then it was pretty much straight to bed.
I chose the right hostel as there was free muffins and coffee in the morning, which pretty much made my day and it was only about 8:30 (was still on camp time). I joined the same people for a wander around Boston center, we got free juice, chilled out by the dock, and I cannot forget my amazing peanut butter brownie experience (peanut butter gets me through each day in America, one day I think my veins will start running with peanut butter instead and I with then have to become a cannibal/vampire). The evening was spent in revelry in front of the mini cinema like room in the hostel (there was some singing along to The Lion King happening... I was the only one singing along though... I also spoke along to it too I think).
The next day I went round Boston with a girl not from camp and we got lost, I ate watermelon on the lawns of Harvard, we wandered past MIT, followed the freedom train (well for a bit then we got distracted) and ended the wander with a chill our on a island next to a river. Then I introduced her to Fro Yo (frozen yogurt, there is no way for me to describe how amazing it is). In the evening we settled down with a few beers played pool, met loads of new people, more camp counselors, some Irish men, a french man and others, I danced round the hostel, spoke in a pretty consistent Irish leprechaun accent and lost at pool.
The day after a group of us visited the Samuel Jackson brewery (it was quite an experience), I realised that it is possible to get a baked potato in America (Wendy's it wasn't the best baked potato but it reminded me of home), then it was time to see the Red Sox.
Walking into the stadium was like walking into a film it was amazing I literally felt like I had walked into a set at the beginning the novelty was brilliant and it felt really exciting, then it started to dawn on me while watching the pitch:
1. I have no idea of the rules of baseball
2. Baseball would be much more fun to be at after a few drinks
3. Baseball is a very slow game
4. Enjoying a sport is difficult when you don't know the rules
5. I have no intention of learning the rules of baseball
6. When it gets to about halfway through and you realise 1-5 it's time to call it a night and end on a high
On my last full day I spent the day wandering again with the girl I met in the hostel, again we decided to lose ourselves so hopped on a subway and got off at Ruggles (because it sounded like muggles). At first it didn't seem very exciting we felt like we should maybe turn back, then we found this beautiful little park that ran through a neighborhood that I could see myself living in perfect location, just out of the main city but only a few subway stops away. There was a house with a yellow door I was so tempted to knock on and ask if they had room for a wanderer. We had beautiful cheap chinese which we ate in the Public Park in the center (a beautiful park). In the evening I went back to my hostel played pool with some Irish Men got chatting to some other camp counselors and also two girls who cycled from Toronto to Boston (amazing feat) then it was bed and an early morning for the coach to New York the next morning. All in all I fell a bit in love with Boston I really felt at home by the end of the trip and was quite sad to be leaving.
I chose the right hostel as there was free muffins and coffee in the morning, which pretty much made my day and it was only about 8:30 (was still on camp time). I joined the same people for a wander around Boston center, we got free juice, chilled out by the dock, and I cannot forget my amazing peanut butter brownie experience (peanut butter gets me through each day in America, one day I think my veins will start running with peanut butter instead and I with then have to become a cannibal/vampire). The evening was spent in revelry in front of the mini cinema like room in the hostel (there was some singing along to The Lion King happening... I was the only one singing along though... I also spoke along to it too I think).
The next day I went round Boston with a girl not from camp and we got lost, I ate watermelon on the lawns of Harvard, we wandered past MIT, followed the freedom train (well for a bit then we got distracted) and ended the wander with a chill our on a island next to a river. Then I introduced her to Fro Yo (frozen yogurt, there is no way for me to describe how amazing it is). In the evening we settled down with a few beers played pool, met loads of new people, more camp counselors, some Irish men, a french man and others, I danced round the hostel, spoke in a pretty consistent Irish leprechaun accent and lost at pool.
The day after a group of us visited the Samuel Jackson brewery (it was quite an experience), I realised that it is possible to get a baked potato in America (Wendy's it wasn't the best baked potato but it reminded me of home), then it was time to see the Red Sox.
Walking into the stadium was like walking into a film it was amazing I literally felt like I had walked into a set at the beginning the novelty was brilliant and it felt really exciting, then it started to dawn on me while watching the pitch:
1. I have no idea of the rules of baseball
2. Baseball would be much more fun to be at after a few drinks
3. Baseball is a very slow game
4. Enjoying a sport is difficult when you don't know the rules
5. I have no intention of learning the rules of baseball
6. When it gets to about halfway through and you realise 1-5 it's time to call it a night and end on a high
On my last full day I spent the day wandering again with the girl I met in the hostel, again we decided to lose ourselves so hopped on a subway and got off at Ruggles (because it sounded like muggles). At first it didn't seem very exciting we felt like we should maybe turn back, then we found this beautiful little park that ran through a neighborhood that I could see myself living in perfect location, just out of the main city but only a few subway stops away. There was a house with a yellow door I was so tempted to knock on and ask if they had room for a wanderer. We had beautiful cheap chinese which we ate in the Public Park in the center (a beautiful park). In the evening I went back to my hostel played pool with some Irish Men got chatting to some other camp counselors and also two girls who cycled from Toronto to Boston (amazing feat) then it was bed and an early morning for the coach to New York the next morning. All in all I fell a bit in love with Boston I really felt at home by the end of the trip and was quite sad to be leaving.
Wednesday 22 August 2012
Walking in a postcard
It's about time I started documenting my after camp travels (even though I still have so much to say about camp, there is so much to say and so little time to write it). My first stop after the American's house was Washington, I arrived with a friend still stuck with this feeling that I wasn't really in the real world. The first night was spent wandering round taking everything in trying to find food, after asking for directions from a lovely doorman we eventually found a Safeway, not sure if it's the same chain that in England got turned into Morrisons (or in my friends case Waitrose) and then it was pasta for tea, something you just can't beat.
The next three days merge together in a haze of monuments, museams and window shopping. Walking round Washington felt like I was walking in a postcard I knew I was infront of these beautiful buildings but it didn't quite feel real. Also the White House was dissapointly small, I don't think I would have noticed it if it wern't for the crowd of tourists taking photos of it, Washington is full of huge beautiful building and in the face of those it just looked insignificant.
I was impressed by the Botanic gardens maybe because I didn't expect them, outside were comfy sofa like chairs and inside was a maze of greenouses filled with different exotic plant. Maybe I enjoyed it so much because of the connection with home and the gardens around where I live, whatever it was, it was beautiful I felt safe and it was a wonderful stop to each our PB&J sandwiches we had made for the day. I could write so much more about Washington and maybe I will but right now I need to pee really badly and start getting ready for my last day in Boston.
The next three days merge together in a haze of monuments, museams and window shopping. Walking round Washington felt like I was walking in a postcard I knew I was infront of these beautiful buildings but it didn't quite feel real. Also the White House was dissapointly small, I don't think I would have noticed it if it wern't for the crowd of tourists taking photos of it, Washington is full of huge beautiful building and in the face of those it just looked insignificant.
I was impressed by the Botanic gardens maybe because I didn't expect them, outside were comfy sofa like chairs and inside was a maze of greenouses filled with different exotic plant. Maybe I enjoyed it so much because of the connection with home and the gardens around where I live, whatever it was, it was beautiful I felt safe and it was a wonderful stop to each our PB&J sandwiches we had made for the day. I could write so much more about Washington and maybe I will but right now I need to pee really badly and start getting ready for my last day in Boston.
Monday 13 August 2012
And so camp is over
I feel emotionally, physically and mentally exhausted, I have not yet showered, I have not yet replied to the millions of messages I need to reply to, I have not sorted my uni course, I have only just got round to sorting getting paid. I have had a lie in, eaten Fro Yo (frozen yogurt, amazing thats a blog post in the making), had a pedicure and a chinese and now I have written a blog post. My brain does not work enough to fill this with observations camp, or interesting things. Camp is over, I feel like I only got here yesterday, and now I need to shower
Thursday 9 August 2012
The Olympics
I thought I would take a moment away from camp life to discuss world events... well that's a lie, I'm going to take a moment to discuss world events and their relation to camp.
So many Americans have come up to me and asked why I have left England while the Olympics are on and to be completely honest I never really thought about it. It never really hit me that the Olympics were going to be in England also I have only ever watched bits and pieces of them anyway so I didn't really think it would be a big deal.
It first hit me on the day of the opening ceremony I was in a shop talking to an American who had asked me that very question and I was saying how the Olympic torch had gone down a road parallel to mine. Suddenly I got this longing feeling, I knew my family had been out to see it and my friends, I pushed this away with the thought I was in America though and it was alright. A day or so later (who knows anymore with camp time) we were sat waiting for a show to start in Terrace (the outdoor theatre) and they played a bit of the opening ceremony. J K Rowling appeared reading something I couldn't here there were baddies from around great literature, suddenly Mary Poppins descended (well more than one), Mr Bean was just, well Mr Bean, and I realised, the Olympics is in England! My home country, the strange mad country it is and I am in a country which doesn't drive on the right side of the road, spells things wrong, uses the wrong words for everything and can't make chocolate.
We get updates on the gold medals and all but it feels like we are so far away from it all. I now understand the months of hype the patriotism, I feel like a parent who has missed their child's first steps. Britain is making history and I am not there, even the fact that it has been raining here doesn't make me feel at home anymore. I'll always be the person who was out of the country for the Olympics and I thought I was alright with that... now I am not so sure.
(Also best story from the Olympics so far http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-19132479 made me miss the good ol' city of steel).
So many Americans have come up to me and asked why I have left England while the Olympics are on and to be completely honest I never really thought about it. It never really hit me that the Olympics were going to be in England also I have only ever watched bits and pieces of them anyway so I didn't really think it would be a big deal.
It first hit me on the day of the opening ceremony I was in a shop talking to an American who had asked me that very question and I was saying how the Olympic torch had gone down a road parallel to mine. Suddenly I got this longing feeling, I knew my family had been out to see it and my friends, I pushed this away with the thought I was in America though and it was alright. A day or so later (who knows anymore with camp time) we were sat waiting for a show to start in Terrace (the outdoor theatre) and they played a bit of the opening ceremony. J K Rowling appeared reading something I couldn't here there were baddies from around great literature, suddenly Mary Poppins descended (well more than one), Mr Bean was just, well Mr Bean, and I realised, the Olympics is in England! My home country, the strange mad country it is and I am in a country which doesn't drive on the right side of the road, spells things wrong, uses the wrong words for everything and can't make chocolate.
We get updates on the gold medals and all but it feels like we are so far away from it all. I now understand the months of hype the patriotism, I feel like a parent who has missed their child's first steps. Britain is making history and I am not there, even the fact that it has been raining here doesn't make me feel at home anymore. I'll always be the person who was out of the country for the Olympics and I thought I was alright with that... now I am not so sure.
(Also best story from the Olympics so far http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-19132479 made me miss the good ol' city of steel).
Monday 6 August 2012
Tubing
At camp as counselors occasionally we get put in a group to help supervise trips that kids sign up for before coming. Unluckily I didn't get to go on the New York trips to see any shows instead I got placed on the tubing trip. When I mentioned this everyone reassured me telling me it would be a great relaxing day and told me how much fun it would be.
We got there and they hadn't blow up the tubes so we were waiting around for a bit then we got on the river. It started pretty nice, chilled all just floating, then it got a bit dull. Tubing is basically lying on a rubber ring (although with a bottom piece so no hole in the middle) and floating, that is it. After the first bit as it was dull the counselors (me and two others) made an executive decision to hold onto each others handles so we could float together. We had a bit of a chat and sunbathed.
Lunch time came and we stopped off for some overly fried chicken, potato salad I didn't even touch and watermelon. Then it started thundering but they decided it wasn't so bad and we could continue, after a short while it started to rain... then it started to pour (bear in mind it is still storming at this point and there was fork lightning). They decide to stop us but we were not allowed to get out of the water all together because then we would be under tree's which would be too dangerous. It's chaos kid's are screaming we're trying to find out what we are actually doing, then the rain lightens up and they tell us we're off again but now we must paddle. Tubing rings do not come with paddles and so it was time to use what god gave us, our arms. A lazy day turned into an arm workout more intense than swimming, the river felt like it would never end, we could have probably walked faster than we paddled. The best part was probably near the end when me and one of the other counselors were at the front and decided to string ourselves together again (when the storm hit we all had to separate) and we reached the slightly rapidy bit. It wasn't a bad trip but it was exausting I felt horrendous afterwards and it was my night off afterwards which I was so glad of but it did mean I spent my penultimate night off feeling pretty awful.
We got there and they hadn't blow up the tubes so we were waiting around for a bit then we got on the river. It started pretty nice, chilled all just floating, then it got a bit dull. Tubing is basically lying on a rubber ring (although with a bottom piece so no hole in the middle) and floating, that is it. After the first bit as it was dull the counselors (me and two others) made an executive decision to hold onto each others handles so we could float together. We had a bit of a chat and sunbathed.
Lunch time came and we stopped off for some overly fried chicken, potato salad I didn't even touch and watermelon. Then it started thundering but they decided it wasn't so bad and we could continue, after a short while it started to rain... then it started to pour (bear in mind it is still storming at this point and there was fork lightning). They decide to stop us but we were not allowed to get out of the water all together because then we would be under tree's which would be too dangerous. It's chaos kid's are screaming we're trying to find out what we are actually doing, then the rain lightens up and they tell us we're off again but now we must paddle. Tubing rings do not come with paddles and so it was time to use what god gave us, our arms. A lazy day turned into an arm workout more intense than swimming, the river felt like it would never end, we could have probably walked faster than we paddled. The best part was probably near the end when me and one of the other counselors were at the front and decided to string ourselves together again (when the storm hit we all had to separate) and we reached the slightly rapidy bit. It wasn't a bad trip but it was exausting I felt horrendous afterwards and it was my night off afterwards which I was so glad of but it did mean I spent my penultimate night off feeling pretty awful.
Friday 3 August 2012
And it's theme park time
Last session I went to Six Flags (theme park) and was in charge of a group of no roller coaster kids, which was good as I am not a thrill seeking adrenaline junkie (I get my kicks for cutting it close to deadlines and spontaneous decisions). What was bad about this is they didn't want to do the water park; before I go on I should probably tell you Six Flags consists of roller coasters, the water park and scattered kiddie rides. One of my kids decided even the carousel looked to scary (bear in mind I wasn't looking after the youngens but rising 9th graders (14yrds) so yes this was ridiculous); we eventually managed to persuade her to do the carousel but the tiny ferris wheel was too much for her and she refused. The day was spent wandering round I tried to keep up my spirits my kids were great it was just an unfortunate location so the first theme park trip was definitely not a great sucess.
The second trip was the other day to Hershey Park; no it is not a park made of chocolate I was disappointed (although not that much as I don't like Hershey's). My co and I (co-counselor in the bunk) both wanted no roller coaster groups... our kids wanted some roller coasters our unit leader put us together to make it better that we had a some group. This time the kids did want to go to the water park, however we started on the rides with me and my co waiting in the line then just skipping the ride and we waited together at the exit for the kids to come through. We got to the water park a little late and managed the log flume (which I did and did not enjoy), log flumes in America are more intense than any I have been on in England it took you up really high and we all wore our bathing suits as we just got soaked. The kids then went on a water slide however after the log flume dibacal I wasn't in the mood. We then decided just to pack everything in we'd rush over to chocolate world and do the chocolate ride. Going on the chocolate ride felt like I was in an Americanised Cadbury's world there were singing cows shiny things. To my surprise they skimped out on the chocolate front while at Cadbury's world I remember complaining about only getting three chocolate bars after the chocolate ride we got one tiny chocolate bar (not that I was that sad as hershy chocolate tastes like I just threw up in my mouth). The Hershey shop was impressive I must say it was huge and I had the most amazing chocolate peanut butter milkshake. It was an exhausting day. All in all I would recommend Hershey Park over Six Flags if you don't really like roller coasters. Now to bed as I really shouldn't have written this
The second trip was the other day to Hershey Park; no it is not a park made of chocolate I was disappointed (although not that much as I don't like Hershey's). My co and I (co-counselor in the bunk) both wanted no roller coaster groups... our kids wanted some roller coasters our unit leader put us together to make it better that we had a some group. This time the kids did want to go to the water park, however we started on the rides with me and my co waiting in the line then just skipping the ride and we waited together at the exit for the kids to come through. We got to the water park a little late and managed the log flume (which I did and did not enjoy), log flumes in America are more intense than any I have been on in England it took you up really high and we all wore our bathing suits as we just got soaked. The kids then went on a water slide however after the log flume dibacal I wasn't in the mood. We then decided just to pack everything in we'd rush over to chocolate world and do the chocolate ride. Going on the chocolate ride felt like I was in an Americanised Cadbury's world there were singing cows shiny things. To my surprise they skimped out on the chocolate front while at Cadbury's world I remember complaining about only getting three chocolate bars after the chocolate ride we got one tiny chocolate bar (not that I was that sad as hershy chocolate tastes like I just threw up in my mouth). The Hershey shop was impressive I must say it was huge and I had the most amazing chocolate peanut butter milkshake. It was an exhausting day. All in all I would recommend Hershey Park over Six Flags if you don't really like roller coasters. Now to bed as I really shouldn't have written this
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