My Month at Camp Lakeside

When I started my month at Camp Lakeside, I didn’t know what to expect. How would I give the children memorable experiences? How could I contribute? As it turned out, I learned so much from interacting with children from different cultures. Let me tell you about some of my experiences.

In the beginning, I was so afraid to scare the kids or make them feel uncomfortable. I mostly did standard activities, and to it say myself: they weren’t really that fun. But as the days went by, I slowly started to make friends with the kids and the bond between us started to grow. I didn’t feel like it was a job, I just hang out with my friends. And when you get to know kids that are 8-12 years old, they are actually really funny and such a good company. We started going on the most amazing adventures. Climbing the mountains in the wood till the top for that incredible view. Early mornings swims in the lake nearby, while watching the sunrise. Or roasting marshmallows by the campfire at night. The days suddenly went by so fast. Every day we found something new to do. We build rafts that we raced on in the lake and went horseback riding. One day on a ride we got to a little cave we hadn’t seen before. We ate our lunch in the small cave were all us could sit, but it was tight. As we sat in the cave, an insane rainstorm started. It poured down for hours and we were stuck. It became darker and darker, and I could feel that the kids were starting to worry a bit. But luckily, I had a flashlight with me, so we took a turn telling horror stories. Everyone was wilder than the other. More blood, creepier and more hilariously insane than the other. We guffawed for hours until the weather finally cleared up. Right before we left the cave, we made a pact to always stay friends and this was OUR cave. So, each one of us left a little thing behind us. A piece of clothes, jewellery, a hat or something else. We put it in my backpack and hid it under a stone, so one day we would all come back to the cave and dick it out.