Interview with a German Camp Counsellor from Camp America

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An interview with a fan of the show! Alex is from Germany, and provides entertaining insight and stories from his time volunteering with Camp America. Due for a return this year, we also discuss the impact of the Coronavirus on summer camp volunteers.

 

Podcast transcript:

Hello. And welcome to There’s No Place Like Summer Camp. I’m Andrew Waterhouse. And in today’s episode, we have another cracking interview lined up for you today. Before it begins, I should mention the sound quality.

But I hope the quality of chat and laughs more than makes up for that. If you hadn’t guessed, this interview is with a fan of the show. And I’ll let Alex speak for himself with regard to his Camp America experience and his German background. It’s a cracking episode for sure. Speaking of which, if you’d like to get interviewed yourself for this show, feel free to get in touch by going to there’s no place like summer camp dot com.

Now with that all out of the way, let’s crack on with the rest of this episode. Coming into our tent, and we’ll spill the beans. Right. So it’s recording. Welcome to There’s No Place Like Summer Camp.

Thank you. Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from? My name is Alex. I’m, 19 years old.

I’m from Hamburg in Germany. It’s a big city in the north. Yeah, I’m still a student. I’m doing my a levels this year, this summer, next week. Good luck.

Good luck. Cheers. Well, I will I was just gonna ask, like, why did you go to camp? I just wanted to have break from school last year. And, so I just I I looked up, possibilities, and then I saw, okay, camp.

It’s possible. It’s not too long, so I could I can go to school afterwards again. And yeah. So that was your first summer last year when you were you 18? Were you 18?

Yeah. I was 18 years old. Okay. How did you find that with all the drinking laws and the 21? Yeah.

It was quite, quite, annoying. It wasn’t as bad as people might think. Okay. We’ll leave it there. So we plan are you planning to return?

We plan to return this summer? III already signed up, and I paid the fees. And I already have my visa. And now let’s see what’s happening. Mhmm.

I have I have come been in touch about, maybe postponing or any cancellations? Or is it still going ahead as far as you as far as you know? So my camp director is, like, giving us, news, like, every 2 weeks. And, he’s positive that that it’s, happening. But I know he he said he’ll give us, more information at May 15.

So when the US, government decides what’s happening now. Mhmm. It’s all in their hands, sort of thing. Yeah. How do you feel about going?

Because if I if I was returning this year, I feel a bit anxious about going over there when. Did you fly into New York? Because Yeah. Yeah. So That’s, like, 1 of the worst affected places is, is that?

I so I’m in, Long Island, New York. That’s where my campus. And the little town that’s close is, like, 1 of the worst parts of New York. -So -Oh, yeah. -Um, I mean, if if it’s possible, I would still go.

But I I don’t I don’t really I can’t see it happening right now. Mhmm. Neither can I, to be honest? But it’s, I find it surprising to see Camp America still pushing for it because, obviously, they don’t wanna lose loads of money and, they they must be pulling their hair out at the moment. So, yeah.

So we know you’re from Germany. The question that everyone wants to know is how does the accent work in America? I think people think it’s it’s funny. Like, and people don’t think about it as much as I do. So I had I had 1 German, we had 2 German counselors in our camp.

And when I heard him speaking, I thought, ah, that sounds quite German. Yeah, but, the Americans and, Brits, they didn’t really care. Okay. So you’ve had maybe found it hard to did you were you the only German in your camp? No.

We had 1 1 other German. We had 3 Germans. It was me, Roman, and, Lena. But Lena, grew up in England. So she does speak German, but she, yeah, grew up in England.

So she’s she’s English. Okay. So the question that everyone wants to know now is, did the accent help you get, the babes? Might have helped. Okay.

So, how did you come about doing Camp America? Is it like a is it like a popular thing in Germany to go and volunteer at summer camp? No. Not at all. I don’t know anyone who does who did it.

I just, looked up, walking travel, USA. Mhmm. And that’s, like, the closest thing you can do, in the US. Yeah. And, like, I don’t think that it’s not really, popular over here.

It’s what I heard, it’s very popular in, the UK. But in the rest of Europe, I don’t think so. Ah, surprising. So you just happen to stumble upon it. You wanted to go to America, and you were like, oh, I could do this.

I could go volunteer for a bit. Yeah. I know I know Camp America is a really popular thing in the UK, and New Zealand as well is a particular hotspot. We had a at my camp when I went, we didn’t have anyone from Germany or I don’t think anyone else from the rest of Europe, but we did have Australians and a Kiwi. So, what do your what do your friends think about you going?

Have you come back and told them all your stories and now they wanna, like, come along as well or check it out? Most of my friends, are busy with, a university or, job apprenticeships. So they they are not able to do this. And, like, I I taught everything and I think they they got, like, quite annoyed after after. Yeah.

I’m, like, the only 1 who does it. And it’s it’s quite special for me to be, like, the only 1 who does it. So I’m I feel I feel a little special. Nice. Nice.

I I had a question. It’s just gone for me. It’s it’s it must have been really good that you’ve enjoyed it so much that you tried to return. I don’t think I caught what job you had while you’re at camp. Was it a counselor?

So, what I heard that, my my camp is very different than yours. Okay. So in our camp, everyone was a counselor. Like besides the directors, we had, like, 1 camp director and then, 5 or 6, unit directors. And everyone else was a counselor and, was in the department.

So I was, spot department counselor. So I was in the cabin with another with 1 co counsellor and, 6 kids a week. Mhmm. And then I still I still ran, like different activities. So it wasn’t like in your camp that the counsellors followed around the group and yeah.

Everyone was busy with their activities and Oh, okay. So, yeah, at my camp, in case people haven’t listened to this before, we had counselors that would follow the kids, and they would have dedicated people on the activities that would only do the activities, and the kids would just come through, like, a conveyor belt. But, it’s interesting to hear how it’s, it can be so different at different places. So with the campers at yours, what what camp did you go to? Sorry.

Was it It was, the Peconic Dunes 4 h camp in Long Island. Okay. So at at that camp, were kids just coming in every week? Yes. We had a different, group of kids every week.

Okay. What what was it like in your camp? So ours was a Jewish summer camp, Camp Carmen, and, we had 2, 2 sessions of kids, which would last a month each. So you’d have a month of kids and then a 2 day break and then another month of kids, and then it’ll be finished. Wow.

That sounds, intense. It was intense. I loved it, though. I can imagine what was it like at at yours maybe getting to know the kids if you’re only seeing them for a week? Did you remember did you have favorite campers or I definitely have favorite campers.

And, I had campus I had weeks where I didn’t like any where everyone was, just, like, hard to handle. Mhmm. And, sometimes I wish, like, okay, couldn’t this kid, like, stay a few more weeks? Did you have troublesome kids as well? The ones that, would maybe push your buttons, try and annoy you, try to get away with with things.

Oh, yeah. I I had, like, in my first 2 weeks, I had, that could could also stay for more weeks. But, it’s usual that they stay for 1 week. I had should I say his name? III can predict the name.

So he he was a brad. He oh. What did he do to you? He he just didn’t didn’t listen. Like, I said, okay.

We we’re we’ll all go to take a shower now. And he said, why? I have had a shower yesterday. I don’t want to take a shower. I don’t take showers, daily.

We’re brushing our teeth now. Why? I brushed my teeth this morning. No, why? Always always this.

He says why. Always in this long Yeah. Version. He said why? No.

So did you have any experience of, like, working with children before camp? Like, what what did you put down in your profile when you first applied? I was a soccer coach, football coach. I had a group of 10 year olds. Yeah.

And that was quite good. So I could, go into the sports department. Okay. I remember you’re from Hamburg. Do you support?

Who do you support? I do, I support, Dortmund. Okay. But, like, you you have to support Hamburg as well. Like, it it would be great if they come to the 1st division again.

They’ve been relegated? Yeah. They they were relegated, 2 years ago, 2 seasons ago or 3 seasons ago. Yeah. Oh, damn it.

I’ve actually been to Hamburg myself, actually. How did you like it? That’s really nice. I went to the, do you have the the miniature museum? Yeah.

Yeah. I forget what it’s called. Miniature miniature Wonderland. I didn’t do the dungeon because we have a similar 1 in London, and I’m too scared. But this miniature this miniature world, I’ve never seen anything like it before.

It’s like miniature character characters and worlds and Yeah. Model train sets and it’s unbelievable. Highly recommend, check it out on YouTube if, you don’t go visit yourselves. So back to camp. What type of camp was it?

Was it was it like a normal, traditional camp? Was it religious 1? Was it, underprivileged? It wasn’t normal camp. It wasn’t, religious at all.

Yeah. And I think it was more onto the fun part. So, that the kids, like, can get out of their, Long Island’s rich kid lives. Yeah. Did you have any kids that were, like, related to celebrities?

Or No. Not not that I know. Okay. I guess it can be different when you’ve got, like, kids just for a week and then they’re gone, and then kids for a week and then gone. And, must be must be difficult.

So how long was your camp in total? Sorry. It was 10 weeks. Oh, we had 8 weeks where the kids were there, and before we had 2 weeks of, preparation. Mhmm.

How did you find this? So we we we call that our staff week where it would just be only us to do our training. How do you find that? Was it full of icebreakers and teaching you stuff over and over again, making sure you know what you’re doing and showing you things around camp, or was it, like, learning the activities because you have to lead? I don’t know.

What sort of activities did you have? So I was in the sports department, and, we had, soccer, handball, lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, Gaga ball, that’s a -Yeah, All the kids go crazy for Gaga. Oh, you Gaga Ball. Gaga. And it was it was crazy.

I had to give it a try when I was over there just to see what the hype was about, and it was so much fun. It’s like dodge dodgeball, but 10 times 10 times the the the pressure and the tension in all enclosed. Gaga is way too cool. Yeah. Yeah.

We we were hanging out in the departments a lot And, yeah, we’re doing, sessions over and over again. We had, like, people coming in to tell us stuff about ticks and other insects and how to how to treat kids and, what not to do. Yeah. It was, quite, boozy. Boozy?

Yeah. You could you could drink? No. Not not not on camp. No.

That wasn’t that hard. Wait. Should I should I talk about this? Yes. Yeah.

We just had some some fun after after work Okay. At the beach. Oh, nice. So you were you allowed out of camp after your shift? Yes.

So we had 2 weeks 2 nights off a week and, the Saturday from 12 to Sunday 12. Uh-huh. Off and, yeah, we could do anything. And, it was recommended to go off camp, yeah, to get your head head free and yeah. Do stuff with your friends and don’t think about camping and during that time.

Nice. I think that’s a lot more relaxed than I had it. We would, we had a certain allocation of hours that would have to be spread over the month. And, typically, it would be maybe 1 evening off a week. Mhmm.

Then maybe in the next week, we’d have a full day. Wow. Yeah. It was pretty tough. But I I think I’m not sure if it’s the same same for you, but, working at summer camp was so full on and and, very it’s, like, from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep, it’s just work, work, work, work, work.

And then only in the evenings when you get to chill out with your friends, you’re like, wow. That was such a cool day. There’s so much that happened and, and that sort of thing. It was the most exhausting, job I ever had. Mhmm.

But it’s, still the best job I ever had. It’s, 1 of the, like, best summers in my life. Yeah. I I don’t regret regret anything. Mhmm.

So I missed a little bit of school, like, 4 weeks, but that’s that was totally worth it. That’s good to hear. A a question that’s just popped into my head is the drama in camp. I don’t know if you have big brother in Germany. But it felt it felt like big brother where everything’s in a bubble, everyone’s like getting on top of each other, having arguments, flirting, the hooking up, and people would get fired as well.

Did anyone get fired from your camp? Yeah. We had 1 guy getting fired. Any any juicy stories? So, he was weird.

He was he was cool. I I liked him. But he he didn’t want to listen. So he, treated some, campus better than others. He hung out a lot with, the older girls.

And our camp director didn’t like that. And he told him, yes, stop that and, distance a little. And he kept, he kept, making them, like, like, presents and stuff. And that was that was quite weird. So, at 1 point, it was enough.

And he said, our camp director said, yeah. Okay. You have to go. Okay. I think every summer, at least from what I’ve heard, someone gets fired from camp.

So that seems to follow the trend. What highlights of camp do you have? Oh, we had 1 1 activity called adventure trail. So we had a trail through the forest, and through the dunes. And me and, my mate, Jake, we we tried to make the best out of it.

We we made stories for the kids. Like, we had the prison escape, adventure trail for the younger guys. So we ran through the forest and, they had to hide, from the cops. Or, like, we had, keys or stuff so they had to find them. For the older guys we had a military, thing.

So, they had to do, like, a little boot camp. That was that was quite cool. Yeah. And camp in general is is such a nice, environment and so different from what I know from home. And we don’t have anything like that at home.

And that was quite special for me to experience that. Yeah. I found that as well, being in all the nature and being away from technology. I don’t know if it it was the case in your account, but, you’d have no you’d have no, mobile phone signal to be cut off from the outside world, and you’d be able to just chill out, be yourself, make some a load of new friends. And, yeah, being a a little bit carefree, I guess.

Yeah. A capri is is is a good word. Like, Canva is the only thing that, that cares right now. And, like, it was different for us In Peconic Goons, we had, Wi Fi, but it was, forbidden to use your phone in front of the kids. And when you’re on, your phone had to be in your pocket or in the cabin or like your backpack or something, so you were not allowed to take it out.

And, yeah, we had we didn’t have any, like, technology for the kids. Yeah. They were they weren’t allowed to have the phones as well. So it was was, different from, like, my usual life. Yeah.

And, well, yeah, it was the best time. I don’t know if I can say that, but probably the best time of my life. Yeah. Well, that’s exactly how I felt, like, while I was there. I I came to realize, like, holy hell, like, this is insane.

Like, when when I would be sitting on the porch late at night with friends that I’d only made at camp, like, when I went to camp to begin with, I didn’t know anyone. And over the course of volunteering at the summer camp, you get so close with people there that I still stay in touch with them today. And we we still talk about those nights at camp where it’s just insane, incredible memories, and that sort of stuff. So, personally, I like to stay in touch with them and try and arrange more travels, but, whether it lives up to what the summer camp itself was, it’s, to be, to be found. So we’ll see.

Where did you travel after camp? Did you did you use the is it AJ2 visa that you get over in Germany? Yeah. It was AJ1 visa. Yeah.

Okay. I didn’t travel much. I went to New York City. My my siblings came from Germany for a week. And, yeah, we had just a week in New York City, Explored the city.

Yeah, we were sleeping in, Brooklyn, in Bedford’s Diversend. It’s like a little dodgy area. It was a bit scary, but it was it was, cool. Yeah. I’ll, it was it was cool that my siblings came, like, picked me up from from America.

Nice. Do you have any plans, for this summer? So if if you if you’d happen to go over there this year, do you have plans on where you’d like to travel, or are you just gonna see that it what happens with all this pandemic stuff going on at the moment before making any sort of plans? Yeah. I’ve I’ve thought about just, booking flights a hard part so I can, so I I can use my, the the travel days, the 30 days.

Now I want to just look what I think we will just plan during the summer so we can see because, like, everyone gets different amount of money. Yeah. We can we can then see what everyone does. Mhmm. Are all your friends from the 1st summer coming returning as well?

Most of them from you. Yeah. And many from from the UK? Yeah. Most of the American Americans do.

My other German, counselor, he he can’t come back because he’s at uni. But besides that, yeah, almost, like, most of them. Nice. They’re important people for me. Yeah.

That that’s all that matters at the end of the day. Like like I say, I only went for, 2 summers at my camp, but, once your friends start to drop off, then you’re just a bit like, I don’t really wanna do it all over again. It can be hard to keep replicating that same feeling from your first summer account. We’re on to the last question now. And oh, actually, there’s 2 2 more questions.

The first the first of the last 2 is what would you say to someone thinking of doing Camp America? Just do it. Don’t think about it. Even, like, if you think it’s too expensive, it’s it’s not really expensive. You get you earn money in America.

And, it’s it’s such a good experience, and it’s, like, worth any every cent I I invested. So this is the last question And, I hope to ask everyone this going forward, seeing as you’re, like, the first proper interview I’ve had apart from the Scott episode I’ve done before. What food or smell will bring you back to summer camp? You can think about this 1. There’s no rush.

Shepherd’s pie? Yeah. Or Shepherd’s pie. Like, we we don’t have Shepherd’s pie in Germany. And, it does.

Like, it was bad bad 1, bad Shepherd’s pie. So it wasn’t, like but, if I could eat it now, I would I would I like, yeah, fajitas. Yeah. These little Mexican stuff or burgers. Sloppy Joe.

I’ve never had Sloppy Joe. Oh, it’s the worst. It’s just so it’s a bun with, like, sloppy meat and sauce in it. That that that doesn’t sound appetizing at all. But, yeah, we’ve come to the end.

I never thought I’d have someone listening from Germany. So, thanks for being on. Do you have any questions for me or you’re done? I hope you will keep going with the podcast. Yeah.

It gives me the it gives me the camp vibes. Thank you. It helps me through this through this time. I’ll try to keep it up. Yeah.

Like I like I said to you before, the whole crisis with this pandemic at the moment is is crazy. And if Capital America decides to shut all applications going over there, then I’d have to consider, like, what I do about the podcast. But I’d like to keep it on. But, like I say, I’m trying to promote a book here, and I don’t think there’s much point in doing a load of podcast content if, you know, no one’s gonna be looking at that sort of thing and everyone’s gotta hunker down, but I appreciate that. It’s nice to hear.

Yeah. When is your book coming? Well, it’s been in the works for, I’d say, around 4 years where I’ve just been editing and making it better and that sort of thing. The current state of the book is I’ve found an editor that I like. I’ve pushed the book as far as I can, and, I’m about to send it over to them.

However, they’re they’re a bit caught up in this coronavirus thing as well, which is a little bit crazy because I never thought it would affect my book, but here we are. It is. I’d hope my my plan was to release it this year, September, but, we’ll see. We’ll see what happens, with what my editor’s doing and whether they can get it out in time. So I’ll post updates to the website.

I’ll post updates to my Instagram and Twitter and blah blah blah blah blah, All all that good things. But yeah. Thanks for being on. Thank you for having me. No worries.