Hello! I’m Kiaya, a returning camper from the previous year. The first thing I noticed was that my comb was missing, so I had to spend awhile searching for it, but thanks to the lovely campers here it was in lost & found.
After checking in before morning meeting, we sung a short song together and then the talent show was announced.
It’s interesting to see what people come up with, last year there was quite a few funny skits and some really impressive piano playing.
I got to Advisee a bit earlier than usual and my advisor Blake had us play a game called Good Day Shelia, it was a strange combination of a memory game and bad Australian accents.
I planned to go to a workshop on writing, specifically writing and how it relates to your own emotions and experience but I needed to scout people for a talent act.
I was able to find quite a few people willing. But I ended up having to sprint to the workshop, and still be a bit behind.
The lovely camper Maya was leading the discussion. They gave some really interesting discussion points, about mixing your experiences or emotions with fiction to create something both new, and very human in your writing.
We talked a lot about writing without rules, and whether there’s such as thing as bad writing.
During camp you’re assigned to a superhero team, and I help clean Forest Dell, a small, usually quiet place. It’s a relatively new team so some stuff hasn’t been cleaned much before, including the welcome rug.
While I assume it has been swept before when one of our group took it upon themselves to shake it out, the amount of dust and dirt that came out screams that anything more hasn’t been done in the past couple decades.
We finished cleaning up, and today there’s a workshop that’s always popular every year at camp. The Tea Workshop, It’s a lovely time to drink some really good tea and learn a lot about it. We got to try something called a purple tea, and also a really good oolong tea, along with a couple others.
After we wound down with dinner there’s evening check in and community meeting, where campers usually make announcements.
And finally the much anticipated Talent Show. There were a many neat acts: reciting a monologue, an original musical, some beautiful covers from various people, large skits, and karaoke. I also had an act.
Once the talent show had finished a lot of us went to stargaze, myself included. The Perseids meteor-shower being at its peak that night, it was an amazing view.
While I have a picture to share, it still doesn’t and can’t capture just how many stars there is compared to most places. It really is a beautiful experience, and I got to have some good conversations all the while.
If you’re reading this considering going to camp, do it. It’s such a unique experience you’ll never find anywhere else, even in the same camp every year is different. I hope to see even more new faces next year.
Kiaya, Camper