What Its like Being Cut off from the Outside World at Camp
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In previous blog posts, all too often I go on about ‘the summer camp bubble’. What does it mean? And what happens inside of it? Well, in this blog post we are going through what its like being cut off from the outside world when working at summer camp.
First off, your phone is on you all the time. And by that, I mean more than usual (somehow!). You’ll be taking the gadget everywhere you go, just to try and get that smidge of signal in that one place camp has it. It’s also your go-to for telling the time, even when you have a perfectly working watch strapped to your wrist. And photos. You’ll be wanting to snap everything that made your summer camp so special.
Second, there’s the internet situation. A lot of camps don’t really have an internet signal to the outside world. Meaning, all those facebook updates, Twitter tweets and Insta likes are gone for the months you are in the bubble. Fear not. While I was at my summer camp, I came to realise that I didn’t miss the internet as much as I depend upon it outside the bubble. I could check it a few times a week and be caught up on the big things. Its somewhat of a detox going into the bubble, making you realise that friends and experiences mean so much more than the shallow world of social networks.
News was a bit of a weird one for me while working at summer camp. All the news that crept in through the bubble was somehow bigger and more dramatic than I would have taken it out in the big wide world. I’m not sure why, I guess its because you just get to see a brief passing headline without seeing how the news dies down. Perhaps it was just me, but that disconnection to the wider problems in the world was a little unnerving.
Typical Gossip from the Innards of the Summer Camp Bubble
Speaking of the news, there is a far more pressing news agenda inside the bubble.
“Oh my god, what!? Kristy got with Mark?! But Mark’s with Sophie? How’s she gonna react when she was cheating on him with Kristy?!”
and
“Hey, you heard what happened to Craig?”
“I heard he had a row with one of his campers, I ain’t seen him for a while thinking about it.”
“Dude, he’s been fired. I just saw him being marched out. Apparently he hit a kid?”
Later on
“Hey, you hear about Craig? I heard he killed a kid…”
It’s easy to get swept up in the news being the gates of a summer camp. It happens at all of them, all of the time. It goes to show how much of a bond you make with the people inside camp. They do become your second family, caring for every single one of the faces you will see non-stop for the few weeks you are there.
I hope that gives a little insight of what its like being stuck inside the best place on earth.
In the next episode, we are going over the drama bound to happen at camp. Should be a goodun.
See you Tuesday,
A.
