Hi i’m kyson I am blogging today and hope you don’t mind my ranting, ravey sort of writing style.
So today I spent the earlier parts of my day as any before it had gone. I woke up and ate breakfast, not a unique experience but one that would’ve been considerably more somber if my friends weren’t there. because my friends were there the last full meal of camp breakfast didn’t feel like the last full meal of camp breakfast; instead it simply felt like another breakfast at camp, although breakfast has never been my thing I’m not a big fan of eggs with breakfast which kinda culls a lot of options for food in the morning, although I did eat just over 19 oranges or exactly 20 oranges if you want to get technical.
After breakfast as per the usual of camp I went to morning meeting alongside a group of friends at which point we noticed a plague spreading around camp, not one of true danger but instead of a bunch of chairs which had been stuck upon the backs of campers, it was kinda fun watching them create an entire plague from thin air.
Morning meeting was, well at least in my head, mostly uneventful. There was a group photo at the end but there was a head of hair in my way and I could hardly see the camera when they pushed the shutter to take a group photo.
Although the fun of the day wasn’t exactly off to a great start I did enjoy my morning it felt fitting for a final day at camp, it felt satisfying that they didn’t treat it like some impossible celebration of all the times or try to overwhelm us with small minor details, instead the day was simply normal.
After awhile I left morning meeting and went to advisee, it was a good thing today where i felt as though the world was sort of there at camp and it was the first time that the fact that it was really the final day actually fully sank in. My Advisor Will, arriving to join me and the other two advisees who had arrived early, we tried jokingly to convince him of a new religion in the form of the Weatherman. Tragically he did not convert. Slowly but surely the rest of our advisory arrived. I didn’t count seconds but I’m pretty confident in declaring that some of them where in fact slightly late.
Advisory started well, with an interesting opportunity to share what you wanted to put behind you from over the course of this camp session. In full honesty I did not share what I wanted to put behind me for I felt like there would be a better time to do so. So i simply listened. It was kinda weird listening to all that people said about themselves, and while I didn’t learn much specifically, I did learn things I value as a writer, and as a person. For it somewhat allowed me to broaden my view of people.
The most important part of advisory for me came a few minutes after, as my advisory played a game in which one person was put on the spot and would receive the compliments of the rest of the group. Now I was not first nor last to go but somewhere in the later end of the middle, likely around the sixth person to go, and the compliments surprised me, as my fears about how people perceived me where kinda washed away, where many of the things I was most ashamed of about myself instead had a chance to shine positively. What most stood out to me was a compliment to my bravery, which I believe has never been a strong suit of mine. By the end of advisory things at camp felt much better, where in spite of all that I was leaving behind me at camp, I would also be leaving behind something considerably more cool to me then many of the daily interactions: a good impression upon the people around me.
After advisory it was sort of a blur around lunch, as nothing much happened there as per usual. Lunch was sort of the anti-highlight of my day. Not because it was bad but instead it was simply that lunch was utterly unmemorable, at least for me.
At Siesta I mostly read and stuck to myself until I had to figure out what workshops i wanted to participate in today. It was hard as there were plenty of good ones.
The real experience of daily camp began after that when I went to the music workshop, which was surprisingly good. It was quiet outside of the music and somewhat contemplative. While it was not the best workshop of the week, I quite enjoyed going to it.
I remember more of the next workshop slot, as it was action packed. I went to open field games, which started with a game of banana tag/infinity tag, which was quite fun as it’s one of the few running games i can actually do pretty well. It was swiftly changed for a game of camouflage, which was less fun for me although still quite enjoyable. (Camoflauge is played like hide and seek but without the seeker being able to move and the hiders being unable to leave line of sight) The hiding spots that I went to were clearly not good on either my shoes nor my shin as even as they are still sore as I type this considerably later. The last game played during was a team based game that I am not going to explain. Just understand that it was quite ridiculous, and filled with cheating on both teams, This was accented by both complaining that the other team was cheating. It was utterly terrible in a good way and should be forgotten to time.
While the workshops of the day for me where fun, they were not as fun as the conversations that happened at dinner. They were private between my friends and me and I don’t intend to share them but they were genuinely fun. Those dinner conversations really made camp better as a whole for me. After dinner and the conversations there came night meeting which is still quite fresh in my mind as I write this. It was moderately hilarious and we got to throw “Blake in the Lake.” It was a very enjoyable experience.
The highlight of the day and night had to be closing ceremony. It was a one time event, where all of the campers who would not be returning gave a heartwarming speech, before everyone got hugs. My words will not do it justice no matter how much detail I give and how much elaboration I type. To understand you would need to come to camp, which I cannot recommend doing so enough.
Although the experience of closing ceremony was astounding, what happened after was personal and just good. The first few friends I made at camp and I had a short little conversation about what it meant and the moments that had made it great. There was also a bit of discussion about Bonding Night and other miscellaneous events. Then another highlight event at camp was impromptu, as a bunch of campers set up a limbo line and campers preformed limbo and then jumped over the limbo stick.
While I cannot say my experience at Not Back to School Camp was completed when the clock struck midnight, i can tell you that the day was. And that even with all of the minor missteps and disagreements I had about small details, Camp was wonderful for me. Even though camp was not perfect it was still an all around great time.
–Kyson A., Camper