The City of Angels

I arrived in Los Angeles and made my way from the Greyhound station to the local bus, with my backpack on and a bag in each hand. The bus driver was not impressed but I continued onto the bus and got off at the subway. I took the train into the heart of Hollywood and emerged from the station, excitement rushing through me.
My hostel was directly across from the station so I made my way there through a maze of people and street performers, checked in, dumped my stuff and head straight back outside to explore Hollywood Boulevard! I strolled down the street with the Walk of Fame disappearing under my feet, exploring each and every shop along the way. Each one was so unique yet all had one thing in common: fun! Flashing lights and pound music erupted rom every store, perfectly blended with the performances commencing on the streets outside.
I came across the Dolby Theatre, The Chinese Theater and the Hollywood sign, far in the distance, on my mini adventure down the street, and even managed to get myself some dinner.
The next day, I decided to walk up the Walk of Fame, but in the opposite direction, and see what I could find. I came across many more stores, bars, clubs, tattoo shops and, best of all, The Capitol Records Building! I said hi to the Biebs and, after having some lunch in a questionable Subway store, I walked all the way back to the hostel. When I arrived, the staff members were busying themselves with the set up for a party they were hosting later that night. I hung out there and made some really cool friends, namely Otto and Natalia. Otto worked at the hostel and was in charge of the music and beer pong refills for the night! Natalia was from Spain and she was in the states as an Au Pair in Kansas. We had a lot of fun sharing war stories and, once the party got going, enjoyed laughing at the pool and drinking game craziness that was unfolding!
I was up bright and early the next morning, Starbucks in hand, and ready for the city tour ahead of me! We set out and the guide pointed out so,ex old Oil Fields as we were driving toward Venice Beach. Once we arrived, we were given some time to explore, and I spent mine walking down the beach, feet in the water, toward the pier. I spent some time on the pier watching the surfers, then made my way back along the road and through the market place. I even came across the famous  muscle Beach, which is an out door gym situated on a section of the beach.
We hopped back onto the bus and drove through Santa Monica, which was beautiful, and even saw the dock where Dexter is filmed!
When the bus stopped again, we all got off and found ourselves in Old Town Los Angeles, a tiny, beautifully persevere little town, lined with Mexican stores selling all sorts of things! We spent some time there but I crossed the road to see the area that was used as the CBI offices in the filming of The Mentalist! I was learning fast that the saying was true: every part of LA has been used for filming!
We got back on the bus and drove up Maul Holland Drive, which is a road that not only climbs the huge mountain the divides the city of Los Angeles, but is also the road upon which many celebrity homes can be found. We stopped at the top of the mountain at a look out point that gave you a breathtaking panoramic view of the city, and also provided a great view of the Hollywood Sign. We snapped some pics and jumped back onto the bus, en route to Beverly Hills.
The area was beautiful, as one would amazing, and there was wealth everywhere you looked. We stopped one last time on the famous Rodeo drive, where shopping is by appointment only and if you have to ask the price, you cannot afford it.
I, in my jean shorts, tank top and All Stars, did not even step into one of the stores but enjoyed walking the length of the street and watching the magnificent cars rocket past me.
We got back on to the bus for the final time, and I was dropped off at my hostel where I had dinner and went to bed after a full day of exploring.
I awoke to my last day, but  had lots of time to kill before my bus left that evening. I was invited to the beach with a few people from the hostel, but it unfortunately had to decline as I unfortunately didn't have quite that much time, so I found myself at a Birmingham Italian food festival down the street, wishing I was on the beach instead. I left, slightly annoyed, and with more time left than expected to get through before I could justify leaving for the bus station. As I was walking back toward my hostel, I had the idea to keep walking up the street and go watch a movie in the iconic Chinese Theatre!
I booked my ticket, got myself some very expensive popcorn, and sat down for the screening of The maze Runner.
I loved it, so much!
The greatest thing, however, was that once the movie was over, the timing was perfect to start my journey to the Greyhound Station, and then on to San Fransisco

San Diego

It took 7 hours to get to San Diego, where I was to meet Victor, a friend of Julie's. He and his best friend David lived next door to each other, and Victor's 80-something year old mother, who was a sweet as anything but hardly spoke English, stayed with him too. They had two sweet little dogs who I became friends with very quickly and who would come jump on my in the mornings.

My first adventure consisted of a beach front town tour, starting in La Jolla, a rich and somewhat snobby town which hosted many cute but smelly seals on its beach front. The sweetest little things, but the stench is strong enough to get you moving on pretty quickly!
We walked around a bot and went into the little shops and art galleries, and then moved on to the next town: Bird Rock. It gave off a younger and almost hipster vibe, and we stopped for iced coffee, sat on a bench and watched the world go by. We soon jumped to the next little town over called Pacific Beach, and gosh did I love it there. Victor and I walked the length of the beach, people watching, which is always such fun! We wandered around and stopped for dinner at a cool little New Zealander restaurant we found. The food was great and we made friends with a lady and gentleman that were sitting next to us, and we chatted the afternoon away!

The next Victor and Victoria adventure was spent in a little place called Seaport Village which is a quaint little shopping village on the harbor. We window shopped for a while and finally gave in and got gourmet cupcakes from a cute little boutique that actually won the TV show competition "Cupcake Wars"! Needless to say the cupcakes were delicious, complimented by the interesting staff in the shop. I made friends with the young man who worked the register who was telling me about his ballet career and his passion for dance. We had a great chat and I had so much energy when we left! We went home through downtown and the Gas Lamp District, where we had dinner. We then headed out to San Diego Old Town which hosted a pretty Victorian section, juxtaposed by the Spanish section across from it. Both were so beautiful and Victor and I once again gave in, and indulged in a Coldstone Ice Cream: Peanut Butter and Jelly flavored goodness.

The next day I was hanging out with David who was invited to a baseball game in the Major League World Series that night! He said that he dint want. To go and gave me his ticket instead: so off I went to the baseball!! The game was the San Diego Padres bs the San Francisco Giants and ended in a close 2-3 to the Padres! The Giants went on to win the World Series so I can now claim to have seen the Champs in action. I had fun at the game and am so glad I got to see it!


The last little San Diego adventure was spent in Balboa park with myself, Victor and the dogs! The park is massive! So huge that 2 main roads and manny little ones go though it.
It hosts a collection of museums, street performances, restaurants and memorials and is over all very pretty! We walked the entire place flat and took a break on a beautiful gene outside of a full scale replica of the Globe Theater. We let the dogs off of their leads and allowed them to run free for a bit while the sweetest baby girl ran and played along with them. Her cute little face all rosy and smiling and her high pitched laugh filling the air, it was such fun.

The next day I was off to LA and so very excited to arrive!

Vegas - Madness and Magnificence Everywhere You Look.

I knew Vegas was different the moment I arrived in the airport. The craziness commenced the second I stepped off the plane, and I cannot explain why. Perhaps it was the energy of all the travelers surrounding me, all eager to hit the strip, or the One Armed Bandit gambling machines that lined the walls, but I could feel the difference in the air.

I was picked up at the airport by a family friend, named Julie, who I had met 9 years before in Seattle. She took me to her home, where I would be staying for the next 5 days, and as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light!
The next morning we woke up a little earlier than I wished but I knew that the outcome of this early morning wake up call would be well worth it: we were headed for Red Rock Canyon. It was a beautiful canyon, about 45 minutes away from the house, which had an hour long driving route through the park, as well as multiple stop off points where you could get out and get really close to the rocks, even climb on them!
The rocks themselves were beautiful. 3 different types folded together in incredible patterns, Black, White and a deep Red. At one of the look out points, I climbed high up the side of one of the rock structures and just took it all in. The 360* view of the canyon was amazing and I just sat up there for a while, taking it all in.
After we had adventures around the rest of the beautiful park, we headed to the "Old West Trading Town" for some food. The "town" was basically an interactive museum of the time and the way people loved in the Old West. It was great! There were fully operational shops, nestled in between the preserved homes and entertainment facilities of the times, and if you looked hard enough, you would find the petting zoo! Julie made friends with a deer there who wanted to eat her skirt, while I got close to the cutest goat ever!
After walking around the town, and seeing all that there was to see, we headed to a delicious lunch of cheese and steak subs.
As we were leaving, Julie asked me if I wanted to go see a hotel that had dolphins and tigers in it, and of course, I said yes! We drove from the outskirts of Las Vegas, into the heart of it and onto the famous Strip. It was nothing less than awesome. It is an experience that I will never be able to describe and so I a not even going to attempt it. I remember my mother and father both coming home from Vegas on separate occasions, and asking them "what was it like!?" And they both replied "It was another world, you cannot explain that craziness to anyone. You are just going to have to go see for yourself."
This answer always frustrated me, but now I fully understand. Basically, there is madness and magnificence everywhere you look. We drove a little ways down the road and the turned in to a hotel called "The Mirage".
It was beautiful. You walk into the lobby and a huge fish tank lines the walls behind the staff who are checking guests in. As you continue toward the rest of the hotel, you cross a bridge that runs through a Forrest, and over a waterfall filled pond, to the casino. This was just the beginning. We walked through a maze of casino games, shops and restaurants until we reached the pool area on the other side, which was also filled by multiple waterfalls and had a DJ playing the coolest music! Gosh, I just wanted to grab a towel and stay by the pool all day! Sadly, we moved on from the pool and up a ramp where, waiting on the other side, was a huge pool filled with 3 beautiful dolphins! Playing with large inflated balls and splashing water and making those clicking noises they make. I was so happy, and I saw that there were 3 adjoining pools with even more of them in each, we watched them play and then be fed and then be trained and we learned that they were very well taken care of, interacting with their trainers ever half hour. We then crossed another bridge which lead to where all the tigers and lions were, and they were all playing or hanging out. It was amazing to see and even more amazing that this all existed in the back yard of this beautiful hotel.
It had been a long day out in the desert sun, and so we headed home for a nap and something cold to drink, and then, once the sun had set, Julie put me back in the car, and we drove off toward the strip one more time.
If I thought the strip was pretty in the day, it was sensational by night! I have never seen so many lights in one place, shining in every direction! It was 10pm but it was as bright as day down that street. We pulled into the Bellagio Hotel and I was so excited for what we would see next: The Bellagio Fountain Show. It's a free show that happens ever half hour and is basically the lit up water fountains "dancing" to the music they play over the loud speakers. It was incredible and something I have always wanted to see, another thing ticked off my bucket list!
We headed home again and I fell asleep with the biggest smile on my face.

The next day was my first solo adventure day, and my objective was to explore as much of the strip as I could get through!I was dropped off at the bottom at a huge hotel called Mandalay bay, and decided to work my way up from there.
Mandalay Bay was beautiful! It had a fun and young vibe but still felt sophisticated. It had a wonderful waterfall out back and beautiful intertwining staircases and rounded escalators that lead to a beach for a swimming area, equipped with it's very own pool and next to one of the hottest clubs in the area.
I left and walked next door to the amazing Egyptian themed Luxor hotel. If you are not sure which one I'm talking about, it's the one that is shaped like one of the Pyramids and shoots a huge skylight out of its tip at night. The lobby was beautiful and the attention to detail along the walls and such was amazing! There were statues of the Egyptian Gods all over the place and, as I was leaving the hotel, I witnessed a flash mob!! It was so amazing to see and was yet another thing ticked off the bucket list in less than 24 hours!
I walked to the next hotel, The Excalibur, which is an Arthurian themed hotel, built to look like a castle with a moat and a draw bridge. When you enter, the casino opens up in front of you, and one of the largest arcades in town lies beneath your feet! There is knights amour and swords decorating the hotel and the vibe was very fun loving.
I crossed the draw bridge to New York, New York which no only looks like the Manhattan skyline, but also has a huge roller coaster that runs through and above the towering hotel. My submission at this point was to find and ride that roller coaster, and it proved to be a maze to get to the ride entrance, through many rooms and up many escalators but it was so worth the journey! The ride was amazing! Not only as a coaster but also as a way to get up high and see the stip.
After the ride I walked across the sky ramp to the MGM Grand hotel which was, in a word, grand. The biggest hotel I had seen yet and the first that I actually got lost in. The hotel and casino was a buzz because not only was there an exclusive Cirque Du Soleil show going on, but there was also a huge boxing match that night between Mayweather and a large rival, who I have no idea about as I don't watch boxing but been I could tell this was big.
I finally made my way out of the labyrinth, I walked down the street until I happened upon the two coolest shops yet: M&M world and Coca-Cola world.

M&M world was a 4 story tower of chocolatey goodness and apparel, with my favorite quirk being a huge machine on the 4th floor that allowed you to customize your  M&Ms!
I spent way to much time in the Coca-Cola store but how could you not when the store is inside a giant glass bottle. It was well set out and even had a "Cokes around the world" tasting bar.

I continued down the street and arrived at the Paris hotel, which is French themed and has a huge Eiffel Tower replica emanating from its lobby. The feet of the tower actually come down through the ceiling and into the casino. The tower also has an observation deck on top and a fancy restaurant on the first level.
I couldn't get up to either so I moved onto The Flamingo which was so pretty once you got through the dingy casino level and into the gardens. There is a little river that runs through the gardens and a pretty waterfall where couples were taking pictures, and little groups of flamingoes that were chilling under the palm trees.
I walked across the way to Caesars Palace and was picked up and taken back to the house for a great dinner.

The start of the next day was the most thrilling so far. I was taken to the Stratosphere hotel which has a giant tower coming from the top that rises 350m into the air! There is an observation deck with a restaurant and a 360 degree view of Las Vegas. The view was breath-taking and the little city seemed to arbitrarily placed in the midst of a vast desert. It looked almost colourless which was interesting because, by night, it is the most bright and colourful place I have seen. The tower also hosts 3 incredible thrill rides: Big Shot, Sky Jump and X-Scream, all awesome but the one I was dying to try was the last.

X-Scream is the third highest thrill ride in the world standing 264m above the ground and the ride I decided to start my day off with! It basically shoots you off the edge of the tower and then pulls you back, and I managed to land the front seat. It was awesome and the most thrilling start to any day in a while!

I was then dropped off at the Wynn hotel, which I loved! It was very classy with a tropical feel and even had a beautiful rock waterfall near the entrance. I crossed the sky walk to Treasure Island in the hopes of seeing the free sidewalk show featuring pirates and pirate ships but it was unfortunately not running due to construction so I quickly moved on to the Venetian Hotel across the road. A beautiful place, themed like Venice, Italy, and even has a little river running around and through the property, on which, you can ride the pretty little gondolas while being serenaded by its captain. The attention to detail inside the hotel was incredible, and one of my favorite sections was the Leonardo de Vinci hall featuring his paintings and a few sculptures based on his work. I then traveled to Caesar's Palace, which is the largest of the hotels if I am not mistaken. It was beautiful, and I walked into the lobby to a spontaneous dance party, with a mini orchestra providing the music!  The statues that were dotted around the hotel were beautiful and there was even a colosseum replica of sorts inside the hotel! I don't quite know how I got this right, as access is restricted to guests, but I managed to get into the pool area and, boy, am I glad that I did! It was the most breath-taking pool area I have ever seen. Huge pools with a gigantic water feature cascading off of a statue in the centre of the first pool and there were many more, all different, on different levels, and of different temperatures. I ambled around with my jaw dropped for quite some time and then left to go to Planet Hollywood to book the next day's adventure.

I woke up at the crack of dawn and was dropped off at a hotel pick up point. I rubbed my sleepy eyes and got onto a bus, the destination: The Grand Canyon.
The trip was 5 hours both ways down Route 66 but we made some cool stops along the way like The Hoover Dam, that is fed by the Colorado river, and lunch at The Grand Canyon Railroad Cafe which was a cute buffet style restaurant that was train themed and even had little electronic train models circling a track above our heads.
We arrived at Grand Canyon National Park and made our way to the South Rim where we stopped at Mather Point. We were given an hour until we had to return to the bus and set free to explore.
I approached the Canyon and could not have prepared myself for what I saw. That was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, it quite literally knocked the wind out of me and left me speechless for the longest time. It is so beautiful, so vast, so serene, so indescribable, so worth it. If you ever get the chance, go and see it, it is life changing.
I walked around the edges of the canyon and just tried to absorb as much of it as I could, but before I knew it, my hour was up and I made my way back to the bus.
We drove to another look our point called Bright Angel Lodge which was also beautiful but not my favorite of the two. This was more touristy with shops and a lodge and lots more people. We had more time here so I walked around, found a spot, and just sat and starred out into the magnificence.
The bus ride back was mostly in the dark, which was great as it made the trip feel shorter and we saw The Hoover Dam all lit up!

I was picked up at the MGM hotel and we drove to the "Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas" sign for a picture.
When we got home, I fell asleep with another major thing ticked off of my bucket list.

I awoke the next morning and was taken to the bus station, again. I said my goodbyes to Julie and got on my bus to San Diego, California!

The Falls in Buffalo and the Toe-Tapping in Nashville

The hostel I had found myself in was awesome! It was decorated in a very funky yet informative way, so that you would be draw to something odd on the wall and come out of the experience knowing something new about the city of Buffalo. I had been placed in a 12 sleeper co-ed dorm which actually made no difference as most of the time you wouldn't find yourself in the room, and if you did, everyone pretty much kept to themselves.

When I finally woke up, I tore myself out of bed and headed to the lobby to officially check in. I then packed my backpack for the day and headed off to the bus station to catch the number 40 bus to Niagara falls! This journey had two intentions behind it: firstly to see the Falls, and secondly to cross the boarder to Canada, come back into the USA and switch from a work visa to a tourist visa. 

I arrived at the Niagara State Park and decided to get my visa sorted out first, before going and enjoying the view, so I missioned in pursuit of Canada! All business. I found a sign pointing left to the park and right to Canada, and I smiled at the idea that it was all so close! I went right and found the little unmanned gate; no one was stopping me from leaving the country and it was so easy to do so. I literally walked into Canada and allowed myself my first view of the falls from the bridge between the two countries.

It was breath taking. 

Absolutely beautiful.
Gorgeous.
Incredible.

I allowed myself some time to take in the view then headed back to America to sort out my visa. I didn't actually have a visa to enter Canada, so I walked back across the bridge and into the customs office, and was lucky enough to get an officer with a big smiling face who was happy to help me switch my status. I walked back into the US, officially a tourist, a little sad but excited for the journey ahead.
I entered Niagara State Park for a second time that day, and walked the place flat! I tried to get a closer look at the Falls, and managed to, but it was nothing like to magnificent view I had managed to snag from the bridge. I was pretty lucky in that way, and the reason being that the water comes from the American side so you can't truly see the full picture from the park, but you can get much closer to the water! I stood above the Falls and watched the tour boats take willing victims into the splash zone of the water, but what was really cool, is that the Canadians boats called "The Hornblower" were all blue, and the American boats called "The Maid of the Mist" were all in red.

I spent the next few days organizing my life, planning my trip, and sending stuff home that I no longer needed. I took some time to explore the town a bit, but mostly I found it to be somewhat boring and lacking in things to do. I was there for a total of 4 days and so, before I knew it, I was making my way to the bus station once again, this time headed to Nashville, Tennessee.

This trip was to take me 18 hours, and I found it to be filled with dodge stop points, sketchy pick ups of small parties and questionable morals, and busses filled with odd people. One guy I found myself sitting next to would not stop talking to me. Now it's late, I'm tired, Taken is playing on the TV screens and I would much rather be watching that than attempt to make small talk with this smelly guy who is talking under his breath and swallowing his words. I think he got the hint, as he said nothing more to me until, my favorite quote came from his lips: "Do I smell like marajuana?" 

Yes, yes he did. And in that moment everything made sense. 

At the next stop, I switched seats and attempted to get some sleep.

I finally arrived in Nashville and hopped into the car of a lovely lady named Tanja, who's family I would be staying with for the next 10 days.

The Cloete family was a South African family who moved to the USA 10 years ago. Marc and  Tanja owned both a successful company and a beautiful home, and had two sons: Cameron who was 16, and Logan who was 12 and my newest buddy. 

On the first day of my Tennessee adventure, I stayed at the house, soaking up the wifi, food, Netflix and hospitality. When Cameron and Logan came home, Cam had to go to work so Logan and I entered into an epic Pool and Table Tennis tournament, which I promptly won, to his surprise! I was treated to a home made dinner which was something I didn't know I missed as much as I did, until I had it again. 

The next day Logan and I headed downtown with Marc and Tanja as they had a stand at The Home Show. The event was perfectly placed for some exploring, and so we set off into the city, Logan showing me the way to the best spots on Broadway street. 

The "strip", so to speak, of Nashville, was pumping! Bars and restaurants were overflowing with football fans, who were awaiting the game that was to be played at the stadium at the end of the street later that day. We walked around the area, stopping in every crazy store along the way! The things you could find here were so wacky and wild, most cannot be mentioned in a blog post. I will say that you could get anything from Cowboy boots to boob shaped cups and everything in between! We found ourselves in some famous locations such as The Hard Rock Cafe and Margaritaville, and I'm some not so famous places, which were such fun to explore!  We stopped for some Ice Creme before heading back to the convention centre, and collecting all of the free candy we could get our hands on! We then went to dinner at Jason's Deli where Cameron had just started work, and terrorized him for awhile: such fun!

Over the next few day we had a few more adventures, like one day, Logan came home and we waited with baited breath for the mail to arrive. He had ordered an Eno, which is essentially a fancy camping hammock, that is all the rage over here at the moment. The truck finally pulled up and he ran out the front door, grabbed his package and ran back to the room I was in to open it. We then decided to take a walk through the area, up past all the houses, and into the forest that surrounded the area, to try out this new toy! 

We found a beautiful spot between two trees and set up the Eno, which proved to be a little tougher than expected. Once we got it up, though, it was worth the journey and the struggle as we then spent the next hour lying in it and relaxing, soaking up the surroundings. Another great day was when Logan taught me how to solve a Rubix Cube in 30 minutes! That became my new favorite pastime, solving it, and again, and again.

On one fine day, Marc took me out on his BMW motorbike, and we drove through the country side: it was beautiful. The wide open spaces, the rolling hills, the cotton fields, the magnificent houses, it all felt like something from a wonderful dream. We were gone about an hour and a half, and came home to a delicious dinner.

The next day was my favorite, and I will tell you why in two words: Jason Mraz. We went to see him perform at the Reimen Auditorium, which was so beautiful. It used to be an opera house so you can imagine the look and the acoustics in there were phenomenal! He gave a fantastic show, and nearly brought me to tears when he played "I won't give up". It was such a perfect end to this chapter of my trip.

The next morning I packed my stuff into the car, and Tanja drove me to the airport. It was hard to say goodbye to this family, I really liked them and they made me feel so at home. The next stop, however, was Las Vegas, and the excitement was starting to build... 

Florida to Philadelphia Road Trip

The road trip to Philadelphia was going to take 20 hours.
We piled into the car and prepared for the long journey ahead of us. We had pillows, blankets, iPods, a huge cooler box of food and drinks and the determination of 7 young travelers!
We drove and drove, crossing state line after state line, hours slowly dripping away as the kilometers disintegrated beneath our tires.

Sandra drove the entire day with Asad as her right hand man, and so the rest of us slept, only waking for food and bathroom breaks - which were frequent. Amir drove all night and it was my job to keep him sharp and awake. We kept ourselves busy by engaging in intellectual, in depth conversations until about 4am when my resolve faded and I was doing all I could to keep my own eyes open, let alone Amir's! My saving grace was Asad who woke up and claimed to not be able to sleep. He took over my post and I closed my eyes. I awoke about 7 minutes later to a torrential rain storm that made both seeing and driving impossible! We pulled over into a mall parking lot and attempted to wait the storm out.

We woke up the next morning when the sunlight flooded the car. We had just accidentally spent the night in a parking lot and we were now 8 hours behind schedule! We traded drivers and continued our mission to Philly! A few hours later, we pulled up to the largest outlet mall in the state! We all but ran out of the car and into the food hall where we all scoffed down huge delicious burgers. After lunch we all split up and scoured the mall for deals and steals! Amir and I tore it up and went to all the fancy shops first, defiantly underdressed and looking a little scruffy after sleeping in a car and not having had a shower in a long time. We found a few places to spend a bit of money and then met up with the family again. I had my last dinner with them at a cute little diner that served horrible food, after which we had another 3 hour drive until we truly parted ways.

They were going to drop me at my hostel in Buffalo, New York, and then cross the border into Canada and head home to Toronto. We followed the GPS off the interstate and to the address my hostel had given me. We ended up in the most sketchy neighborhood I had seen yet and saw no sign of the hostel. I called the front desk, after hours, and was relieved when someone answered! We were in the wrong zip code and had another 30 minute drive into downtown, both a blessing and a cure as I was so happy to not be sleeping where we were currently but frustrated and somewhat embarrassed that we had further to go. It was 2am and we were all exhausted!

We pulled up to the top of my street because, of course, it was closed to street traffic, and said my final goodbyes to everyone. It was sad saying bye to the brothers: Asad, Areef and Ateef, they were a lot of fun.
Amir walked me and all my bags to the lobby and we said our goodbyes with the promise of seeing each other soon back in SA!
I found my room card and linens left for me on the front counter, and slowly made my way up to my room, dropped my bags and fell into bed, finally. I was so grateful to the family for seeing me there safely, and to the hostel for allowing me such a late check in. There were many things that could have gone so wrong, and many people who could have turned their back on me, and none of them did. What a great feeling it was!

Walt Disney World!

I bussed down from North Carolina to Florida which was needed but a big mistake. The trip itself took 20 hours, 20 very long hours.
From NC I went to Greenville, South Carolina and had a 5 hour layover there. Now, Greenville is a nice place but the area I was in was sort of sub par and it was as hot as anything! I had time to kill so I ended up spending most of my time in Walmart and then went out to search for food. I then spent the remainder of my time at Zaxbys, which is basically really good KFC, and later walked back to the bus station. I absolutely looked like a homeless person: I was carrying my walmart bags and my backpack down the side of the main road, with my Nike track suit pants rolled up to my knees, sweating, aimlessly walking around and singing to myself under my breath to pass the time... No shame.
I then made my way down to Atlanta, Georgia where the bus station was located in the most dodge block I have ever seen. If I am not mistaken, there was a prison across the road. I had a 3 hour layover there but I was not going anywhere! I then headed through a few more towns and stops but they were all short lived, until I finally made to to Orlando at 4.45am.

I Facebook Messaged my Canadian friend Amir, who was picking me up, to let him know I had arrived but I saw that he hadn't been online for 9 hours, I began to worry... I knew his phone would only work on Wifi as he was as much a foreigner as I was, so I did my best to stay calm. I waited an hour and still no reply. I then Messaged a mutual friend of mine and his, who was thankfully awake at 6am on a Saturday, and asked him for Amir's parent's numbers as I had no way of getting hold of them and the number Amir had given me for his mother was incorrect! We finally got a hold of the numbers and I texted them both as it was still so early and I didn't want to be rude.
I was freaking out a bit at this point but luckily the station had wifi and I skyped my parents, asking for advice. Nothing like mom and dad! They calmed me down and set be back on track by reminding me that it was early, they had probably overslept, that I was safe, I had the hotel address and that I could probably get a cab there if push came to shove. I was not going to be stranded, which was my main concern. I hung up with my parents and there was still no reply from either of the texts so I decided to call the numbers. Of course, my phone is out of airtime.
I go over to a public phone and use the last of my coins to attempt to get hold of someone and, of course, the phone swallows the coins. I'm beginning to loose my cool.
I go up to a station security guard, almost in tears, tell him what has happened and ask if I could please use a phone to make a call. He was very sympathetic and took me to his office.

Both of the numbers rang through and I awkwardly left a message on each line, asking if someone was coming to pick me up. I then sat in the station with no answers for another hour until, finally, my phone rang! It was Amir's dad, I breathed a sigh of relief. He informed me that he wasn't with them, and that the family wasn't even in Florida yet but that he had called the hotel and informed them that I was coming so I could check in before the family. I was so grateful to have an answer and a plan moving forward! I thanked him profusely for his help and hopped into a cab.

I arrived at Vacation Village and it was beautiful! I went up to my hotel room and just relaxed! At this point it was 1pm and I hadn't slept in goodness knows how long! I took a well-deserved nap and an amazing shower when I woke up!
The family arrived at 6pm.
I was expecting Amir, his mom and his brother but had no idea that there were also the twins and another family with them! It was great! I was introduced to everyone and helped them all unpack the cars and get settled. Let me break this down:
There was Amir, the oldest brother at 19 and one of two people I had actually met before. There was Sandra, his mother, Asad his brother of 16 years old whom I had also met before in Canada, and the twins Ateef and Areef who were 13 and full of crazy antics! The adjoining room was filled with a grandmother, a mother, and 3 "kids" aged 23, 19 and 14. Basically it was a bunch of youngsters and 3 adults in 2 rooms for 5 days. We all headed out to Pizza Hut for a midnight dinner and then collapsed into bed.

The first part of our adventure began the next day at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom! It was great to be back and I surprised everyone, including myself, by having the park memorized from my trip there at 10 years old, and by knowing where everything was. It was great and everyone was very happy having me as their personal GPS. We had a fantastic day riding the classics such as Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Stitch's Great Escape, The Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Monster's Inc Laugh Floor!
The Laugh Floor was particularly fun, it's basically an animated, improvised stand up comedy show, and both Asad and I were featured in it! The highlight of the day was the incredible firework show that happens at Cinderella's Castle. It was a dream come true to see, as 10 year old Vicky could not say awake long enough to see it, and totally missed it.
During the day I had been texting Caroline saying that I wish she was with me, and before I knew it we had made a spontaneous plan for her to come join us!
She arrived the next "morning" at 2am and it was the best surprise ever! I could not believe that she bussed for 2 hours to see me! She had no classes for the next few days, just by chance, and her college in Gainesville was far closer than I realized, so it all worked perfectly.
We went upstairs and I introduced her to the gang!

The next morning I was in the best of moods, and we all headed out to Hollywood Studios! Again, I remembered most of the park but Hollywood Studios is not as ride orientated and more focused on entertainment. We headed straight for the Rock 'n' Roller coaster and the Tower of Terror! two of my favorite rides in the world. I recall my father bribing me with gifts to go on the Tower of Terror with him as a tot; it worked and I am still so happy that he managed to trick me! We ran around the park like 5 year olds, eating Micky Mouse Ice Creme and hitting rides like Star Wars Star Tours. We headed back to the hotel after dinner and the firework show and all hung out until bed time.

The next day, the family was heading down to Miami so Caroline and I made Mac 'n' Cheese for breakfast, then left for the Millennium Mall. We spent the day window shopping and went to lunch at Chick-fil-A. It was an amazing day somehow, so simple yet such fun. We went back to the hotel at about 10pm and watched movies till we fell asleep.

The family arrived back at 3am so we had a late start to the day, but headed to the Nike factory store which was right outside our hotel. I may have spent some money, maybe.
We then left for Epcot which is Disney's educational park. It features rides such as Spaceship Earth, Mission Space (which is a Spaceship simulator), and Test Track! It also features an around the world section which is basically a path that runs around a huge lake, that is divided into countries, each section being completely themed with shops, rides and restaurants. We took a trip around the world and decided to go home and have dinner there. We ended up have a spontaneous dance party, the parents in one room and all us youngsters in the other, it was such fun!

The next day was our last park-day and we spent it at The Animal Kingdom!
I was particularly pumped about this one as I had never been!
We walked straight to Africa, typical. Only I could go all the way to America, just to end up back in Africa!
It was really cool and very well done. There were shebeens everywhere and Kenyan music being performed on stage. We headed to the African Safari ride which was such fun. You get in a 4x4 truck, drive all across the "continent" and see real live animals. Its quite impressive! We saw Lion, Elephant, Giraffe, Zebra, Kudu, Flamingo and many more, more than you would ever see on a game drive!
It felt a little like inception: I was an African, in America, in Africa, with Americans and Canadians.
Then we walked over to Asia but on our way a huge storm came out of nowhere and we all scattered to get out of the rain. Thing is, we got separated and Caroline and I found ourselves seeking shelter in the line of the ride called Expedition Everest, which is an intense roller coaster up Mount Everest. We got to the front of the line and had our hearts broken when we were informed that the ride had been closed due to lightning, and that apparently, the storm had been seen past the Gulf of Mexico. We hung our heads and ran through the downpour to Dinosaur land USA for lunch. We ate our kiddies meals and waited for the rain to lighten up a bit, and when it did we ran back to Asia to see if Expedition Everest had opened up - it hadn't. We made our way over to Discovery Island, still in the rain, where we finally found the family and all went back to Dinosaur Land USA to find any ride still operating. We came across a miracle: dinosaur time travel was up and running, a kiddies ride but goodness was it amazing fun!
Last, but most certainly not least, we found the epic indoor ride that is "Dinosaur." You are in a 4x4 and on a team of scientists who are alive during the time of the dinosaurs. You have to drive around and find a certain Dino but as you are out there, a meteor shower hits! The adrenalin is intense and when the ride came to a close, we convinced the operators to let us go again!
We arrived back at the hotel, got changed and showered for our last dinner all together. We went to The Golden Coral which is an all you can eat buffet, and you know we ate that place to the ground. We went back to the hotel and passed out; we were all so full.
The next morning I got up early to take Caroline to the bus stop and said goodbye to my best friend again. I went back to the room, we packed the cars, went to breakfast then stared our road trip journey to Pennsylvania!

The Henderson County Young Leaders Program

The Henderson County Young Leadership Program is completely different to anything I have ever done. It is a leadership camp for kids in the county of Hendersonville who may not have the financial means to come to camp. They get to go as a reward for doing well in the program and it is a week long, Co-Ed camp that is sort of "renting out" Camp Ton-A-Wandah.

Because it is a completely different camp, we all had to report to Orientation the morning of the kid's arrival. It was so strange to walk into little Rec with half the staff being male counselors. In fact, it was surreal. The boys immediately brought a new energy to camp and the fun began! We played some get to know you games and then sat down with the camp coordinators to discuss the program. We learnt that the days were going to be structured a little differently, with two hours in the morning dedicated to leadership workshops and then four one-hour long activity periods. There was also a "word of the day" that was to be presented every morning and was to be aspired to each day. The entire concept was golden and I knew right away that this camp was going to be completely different to anything I had ever done.

Jourdan and I were Co-Cos again but with the addition of a third Musketeer: Candice. We were placed in Walnut cabin and had a group of eight 10 year olds. They were all such sweet girls who were all so excited to be at camp and all so grateful, polite, well mannered and well behaved. They answered everything with "yes ma'am" and it was so cute!

I was placed in charge of teaching these crazy kids karate and again the boys brought such an energy to the one hour classes, that we powered through everything at an extreme pace! I also taught kayaking with a guy named Ethan. He was great! He is a Harvard University graduate and had also been working at a camp all summer. He and I had fun trading camp games and ideas and he even came with the greatest kayaking adventure of the summer!

We organized with camp to get a huge box of candy. We then put all the kids in their kayaks and headed off on a lake wide, single file paddling trip. We then beached on a man made island close to shore and went on a little hike into the woods where we sat in a circle on the ground. We then brought out the Skittles and each person drew out two candies of differing colours. Each colour represented a question you had to answer about yourself. Things like "What is your biggest fear", "what is your fondest memory", "what is your most embarrassing moment" or "who is your hero". It was the most incredible game and the most incredible two classes. Those kids have so much depth and what made it even better is that we played in the pouring rain and it didn't break anyone's spirit, in fact it lifted everyone's! It's a memory I will have for the rest of my life.

The highlight of the week was the camp wide White Water Rafting trip! We all piled into busses and headed to Tennessee toward the mighty Pigeon river: a class 4 river rapid! We were assigned to boats with 4 campers, 1 counselor and 1 guide. Our guide was named Jordan and was great fun! He was only 20 years old and his and my humor were so alike that we kept scaring all the kids with our jokes. At one point, he and I pretended we were going to flip the boat, but he was so committed to playing along that he actually hung off the side of the raft and lifted one entire side off the water! High!
We were also allowed to hop out of the boat and swim at certain points, I wasn't going to get in the water but Jordan ran at me from the far end of the raft, grabbed me by the life jacket, forward flipped over me, and pulled me into the water! He then had to go rescue the boat and pull us all back in as he had essentially abandoned ship!
It was great fun and I think the kids enjoyed it as much as I did, at least I hope they did!

As the week came to a close it was a tearful goodbye yet again as all the kids climbed into their busses and waved goodbye. We then all went to lunch, received our payments and went our separate ways. This was the last goodbye and it weighed heavily on me.

A few of us were staying one last night. Caroline and I moved into the lodge and asked to use the camp van to go and get some food. We were told yes but we had to do a chore as "payment".
The lake at Ton-A-Wandah disappears underneath the dining hall. Coming off the dining hall and hanging over the lake are about 10 flower pots that have geranium flowers brimming out of them, our job was to water them and pull out all the dead ones. Now the only way to get to these plant pots is by canoe so off we went a-paddling!

The task was a lot harder than expected! We had to juggle between watering the plants, getting close enough to actually do this, not flooding the dinning hall and avoiding the massive spiderwebs and the spiders that lay in them, all the while trying not to tip the canoe! It probably took us 40 minutes to achieve the seemingly simple task and we were absolutely exhausted once we were through.

The next day was the day we had been dreading all summer long: the day we had to part ways. Caroline, Bizzy and I all packed up the car and headed to the airport. It was a sad trip and once we arrived, I walked Caroline in and helped her check her luggage. She was off to Florida, and I was staying one more night. I walked her to the boarding gates and stopped to hug her goodbye. It was the saddest hug I have ever felt but it was filled with so much hope and so much promise. We finally let go and she walked into the boarding zone and out of my sight.

We would see each other's again in two months.

The next day, Bizzy drove me to the station, and I hopped on a bus down to Florida to meet up with my Canadian friend Amir, whom I had met in Montreal at the Karate Commonwealth Tournament last year. His family was going to Walt Disney World and he invited me to tag along!

Starter camp

Starter camp is great, and such a clever concept!
It's basically a one week camp for the little girls who want to go to Ton-A-Wandah but ether they or their parents want them to try it out first. The oldest girls at starter camp are around 11, with the youngest being only 4!

It is a very small camp and I believe that we only had 45 kids there! This meant that there were only 4 cabins and 8 counselors. I was placed in Spruce cabin with my new awesome Co-Co Jourdan, she and I operated on another level. We were so on the same page with every little thing including our dry humor. Those poor kids.
We had the oldest girls and only had 5 campers. We were the Spruce Spookies and our door decorations were these demented looking creatures that should not have been allowed! One of our campers chose her creature out of the lot as, and I quote: "I'll take this one, it looks like it has the least amount of issues."

The kids all get a predetermined schedule and, because of the "understaffed" nature of the camp, all the counselors have to teach all the activities! We all swopped in and out of horseback riding, karate, dance, arts and crafts, archery, swimming, rock climbing, activity sampler and tennis.
Caroline and I managed to match our schedules and taught everything but arts and crafts and activity sampler. It was such fun to be able to teach all sorts of great things and to do them with Caroline was amazing! To not have fun was impossible, and the kids all fed off of that energy.

A huge perk of working starter camp is the camp wide trip to Sliding Rock! It's sort of self explanatory but it's a huge natural rock that the stream runs over. It is so smooth that you can slide down it and into a freezing plunge pool at the bottom. It was so great and all the kids loved it! Bonus: we then went for ice cream on the way back to camp.

The camp is only 5 days so it passes in the blink of an eye but I absolutely loved it! After a triple session on Hilltop, having the little girls was so refreshing and such a different type of fun! We said goodbye as soon as we had said hello and sent them on their way, with the promise of seeing them all next summer at the main camp!

We then had to say goodbye to even more of our staff members and then went off on our 2 night session break before the Henderson County Young Leadership Program Camp came in. Caroline and I decided to do our own thing and booked into a hotel rather than hang around at camp.
We spent our time relaxing and eating ice cream and doughnuts, watching tv and joking around. I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Third Session, What a Session

Third session was great! Again a new Co, again a new cabin, again new campers, again I was not disappointed!
I was placed in Birch Cabin with my Co-Co Palmer. We were named The Birch Burger Kings and we had the awesome age group of 12-14 year olds. The campers were great and because they had come to camp for so long, the knew how it all worked, making our job super easy! They all seemed to keep in touch with each other throughout the year, and even had a cabin instagram account!

The vibe this session was amazing! All the kids were such happy campers and the camper attitude makes a huge difference! At this point, all the counselors are tired and going into their 9th week of consecutive work, and it's the kids that give them the energy to continue.
Our cabin was particularly energetic and we had some interesting evens transpire... Let's just say that we laughed so hard that there were 3 instances wherein someone wet themselves...

Camp continued as normal with all the same amazing activities, however, I landed myself a killer trip: The Biltmore Estate Trip!
Every session there are a series of trips that go out of camp and most often, the trips are all awesome. A counselor or two go on the trips to assist with all the kids and I somehow managed to get placed on the most prestigious of trips. If there is a trip that the counselors want, it's that one!
As a lifeguard and kayak instructor, I often went on the water based trips, which I loved, but this was going to be my first on-land one, and I was exceptionally excited!

The Estate is the largest house in the USA, even larger than the White House. It was owned by the Vanderbilt family, and is the most magnificent place I have ever had the privilege of going to. It looked like something out of a movie.
After the tour of the house's five levels, we went for a delicious lunch, and then went shopping in the gift store! I was lucky enough to go on the trip with my cabin, and my campers bought me sweets which is always great. We then headed to the petting zoo and after that, went on a wine tour, which was lost on the kids, but so interesting to me and some of the other counselors. The guide had such a dry humor that went straight over their heads! Last but certainly not least, we all went for ice cream! The day was amazing and I would go back in a heartbeat!

It was a rainy and miserable day back at camp and so when we returned, we all went to join in on the Harry Potter movie marathon that was taking place in the gym! The program staff decided that the day deserved something special, canceled all activities and created the movie day! Ah I love them!
All my friends were "mad" at me when I sat down as I had gone to Biltmore without them! They did not let me forget that I had left them at camp that day.

Something else that changed third session was the shuffling of off nights, leaving new groups of people off on each set of nights. Caroline and I ended up together, which was amazing but I found myself missing my other friends as I didn't get to see them often, and when I did, it was almost never in a casual or social environment. What made this worse was that it was our last session all together and whatever time we had left together was precious.

Because of this, the Candlelight ceremony was particularly sad, not only were we saying goodbye to a great group of kids, but also to a solid 90% of the staff! It was heartbreaking knowing that there was a very real chance that I would never see some of these people again.

Closing day followed and we sent off our last group of Ton-A-Wandah girls. We then had to do a major clean of the entire camp, finally having to clean all those places we had ignored over the summer. We then had one last meal together and were free to leave whenever we were ready. The staff at camp becomes your family and saying goodbye was so tough. Tears! Tears everywhere!

Saying goodbye to Kelly, Sophie, Maggie and Anna was horrible. Somehow I have a feeling that I will see them again though.

The remaining staff had a session break before the kids arrived for Starter Camp and so Caroline and I tagged along with Bizzy to her mountain house (the same house we had spent most of the summer in as Bizzy and Anna are sisters. Bizzy was part of the program staff, however, and was more of a boss to us over the summer so couldn't hang out with us on off nights). We spent the time watching movies and doing all sorts of little DIY tasks around the house. It was such fun and the next morning we arrived back at camp feeling relaxed and refreshed.

Second Session!

I am aware that I haven't posted for an entire session, and I'm so sorry about that, so I'm going to make a "lump post" to wrap up the last 3 weeks!

So new kids, same cabin, new Co-Co! The kids are 14, the cabin is Beechnut, the Co-Co is awesome and named Lydia. She had the greatest sense of humor, and my wit paired with her sarcasm is just pure gold.

The first night is spent making s'mores and playing dodgeball in the gym. The counselors made a team and dubbed the game Murderball! We had such fun and added a round of "Kids vs Counselors" where the campers gave us a run for our money! We were launching off each other's knees to nail the kids on the other team. Perhaps not our best counselor moment, but no-one was hurt and everyone had a blast. We then moved into Little Rec to make our s'mores over the fireplace, as it was pouring with rain outside. The next day was tribe initiation and the funniest thing that happened was what I call "The Chant War". Let me explain:
As the counselors of a tribe, when a girl is called into our tribe, we will say a chant that we make up like "welcome to the Navajo tribe" or "You're so fancy, you're a Navajo". So what happened was the Mohawks and the Cherokees targeted each other and proceeded to diss the other tribe for a solid 12 initiates! Everyone was crying with laughter.

The next night, we went out to watch a movie: Maleficent. It was good but I could defiantly have gone without seeing it. We returned to camp and the EP the next night was Gold Rush, the Pirate themed treasure hunt. It was such fun as I was picked as one of the people to storm the dining hall in Canoes! Myself and Sophie were in a Canoe together and the genius that is Sophie nearly tipped the boat right in front of all the kids! We docked and then ran through the dinning hall, scaring the heck out of the kids and capturing Marji, the waterfront director! We made her walk the plank into the lake and then the kids spent the rest of the night trying to save her. The next night we had off, Kelly, Kristina and I missioned to watch the sunset from the top of the mountain. You would think the finding the top of a mountain would be easy as in theory you just go upwards, but we drove in circles for ages! Eventually we made it and watched the most beautiful sunset from the edge of the mountain, overlooking gorgeous hills and valleys. It was simply breathtaking.

The next day was the 4th of July!!!!
We had been out to buy ridiculously American outfits, and when I woke, my Co-Co had decorated the entire cabin, knowing it was my first Independence day! It was great! We got up early to paint our faces in Red, White, and Blue, and then ran to breakfast. The dining hall was beautifully patriotic: the boiled eggs were colored like out facepaint, and there were streamers everywhere, banners hanging and all sorts of bits and bobs! The day was normal until the Independence Rally which was a series of games all around camp. That night, the EP was Capture the Flag and am epic fireworks displays down near the meadow. We had so many fireworks that we had to send the gifs to bed before we could even finish them!

The next night off was our overnight and Kelly and Kristina kidnapped me! That is not a joke. I was told to pack a swimming costume, PJs, clothes that can get dirty, no money, and not to worry about where we would be sleeping. We had to sneak away from camp a little early as I was told once we were in the car we had a 4 hour drive ahead of us. I asked where we were going but that was answered with a: "um, we'll tell you once we cross the second set of state lines."
We drove out of North Carolina, through South Carolina and as we drove across one last state line, Kelly blasted Country music and shouted "Welcome to Georgia!!"
We drove to her family's lake house and spent the night eating great food, fishing, riding quad bikes and golf carts, boat rides and 2am lake swims. We spent the night in an open top tent under the stars and had to wake up early to get back to camp by Chapel! It was such a great adventure and the absolute spontaneity of the trip was incredible!

The next great day would have to be my birthday! I woke up to my bed being covered in streamers and my Co-Co and campers around me blowing Noise Makers. It made me so happy. The rest of the day was filled with amazing people making me feel so special and loved, ranging from kids I had just met to my best friend making my day. The camp presented me with a cake at lunch, which soon ended up all over my face thanx to the beauties that are Anna and Caroline.
That afternoon was an event known as Birthday Banquet, which is the EP that celebrates everyone's birthday. Basically that meant that I got two cakes in one day, and another one in my face! Over all, my birthday was amazing, however there was a part of me that wished my family were there as well.

On our last night out, we headed to Asheville and went to Target for an unknown reason. We ended up buying all sorts of stuff we didn't need, including Key Lime Pie and Reese's Ice cream. We then went to McDonalds. It was horrible! It made me love South African MacD's so much more, I will never complain again.
We then headed to Anna's house and decided to eat all our dessert while watching a scary as hell movie called "Devil's Knot" which is about Satinism and child murder... It was the worst decision we have ever made, especially considering our home in the woods with 300 kids. We drove back to camp, scared out of our minds, and all but ran into our cabins!

A cute moment was close to the end of camp, where the girls started asking what I was going to do after camp and if I was coming to Miami. When I said maybe, they began to argue over who of them I would stay with and proceeded to have a Floor Tennis match, the winner gaining me at their house! It was so sweet. I love my campers!

The lifeguards had to do some work on the dock and spent a few hours cleaning all the fun stuff that the kids get to play on. At the end, we took a Lifeguard picture on the floating trampoline but that was the backup plan... Initially we all attempted to get onto the Blob, which for those who don't know is a huge inflated tube that catapults kids into the air and into the lake! After many attempts and many flips, we almost broke it and were told to make a new plan. The photos we got were priceless!

The last day of camp AKA Tribe day, which is spent competing for your tribe in many different event in the morning, and hosts the award ceremony in the afternoon. Banquet was Frozen themed this session, and the girls did a great job with it! The evening was spent at Candlelight which is ended with hundreds of little candles out on the lake. The last night the kids get up to some nonsense and then all head to bed, safe and sound before seeing their families the next day.
One of our kids had to catch a flight early in the morning, and our entire cabin woke up at 3.30am to say goodbye! The rest of the day was spent slowly saying goodbye to some incredible kids and wiping away many tears.

We were assigned new Cabins and Co-Cos and unleashed on session break! Anna, Caroline, Maggie, Sophie and I drove out to Greenville, South Carolina! The town is so beautiful with pretty little houses and huge European looking churches everywhere. There was even a river running through it and we found a bridge that overlooked the waterfall!  We went to a mall and went shopping then headed to dinner at this amazing little deli. Our last mission was to get some exceptional ice cream and then set off to the house back in North Carolina. We watched "The Lucky One" and went to bed. The next morning, Maggie, Caroline and I made Scones and Pizza for breakfast and then headed back to camp.

Overall, July was a good month and I am really looking forward for August and all the adventures it holds.

#camplife

My favorite EP so far is most definitely Counselor Hunt! Even though the title is pretty self explanatory, I'll explain:
The counselors can either hide in pairs or by themselves, and the trick is to completely cover yourself up and hide both your clothes and your body type in a blanket or something of the sort. The kids then find you, come up to you and attempt to guess who you are. They have 3 guesses and then have to move on. Caroline and I hid together and did not get "found" for both rounds, like a boss. Needless to say, we got to know each other really well, stuck in a tiny area for hours!
When the game was over and we came out of hiding, our kids came running, shouting "we thought you had gotten lost in the forest and died!" They all asked repeatedly where I had hidden, to which I replied "you will never know..."

The next day, I was surprised with a $50 gift from one of my campers! It's a seat called a "Crazy Creek" and sort of uses a pivot system to keep you up, and is used outdoors or on the floor, it is the best thing I have ever experienced. It was signed by all the campers in my cabin and my Co-Co, and is just fantastic! We then proceeded to play cards on the floor so that I could use my gift, and that transformed into them putting Duck Tape on my unshaven legs, and waxing the hair off them! That night we had off and went to dinner at Ingles for sandwiches, before heading off to watch a movie!

The following Wednesday was what is known as "Wacky Wednesday" which a day that was made for me. It's a day where pancakes are green and oatmeal is blue. A day where you wear the craziest outfit you can manage to make, and when you teach all your classes in the most upside down way that you possibly can. I had such fun the entire day, running around like a mad person for no reason other than that it was perfectly normal on that magical day. That evening the EP was "Taking back Ton-a-wandah" which begins with our Program Director running into the dining hall, dressed as a crazy man, claiming that he has taken the deed to the land and that they were going to flatten camp to build a mall. The kids got really "angry" and start screaming take back TAW!!

The EP consists of multiple stations where the kids have to run and collect "money" from each place. They then head to the program office and buy a key to a hidden box. They then find the box and attempt to unlock it. If their group's key unlocks the box, they win and claim back the deed to the lands, saving us all!

The next off night we had, we headed into town in Hendersonville and went to dinner at an great Italian restraint called Mezalino. The best thing about it is that it was showing the FIFA World Cup and I actually got to watch a game! I feel so disconnected from it, and I would normally be curled up on the couch, with my family, watching the tournament like it was my job! This year I would probably have been working my butt off with my Gino's family, catching glimpses of it, but that would still be more than I'm seeing now! I watched the game, munching on some pizza, and was happy as a clam!

For the next EP, the campers were divided into their tribes and played Basketball. It was great fun and the kids were all pretty good, but my favorite part was screaming chants and war cries for my tribe more than watching the games. My tribe won by a long shot, and I am convinced it's because of my undying spirit! Well, that's debatable but a girl can dream.

The next day was our cabin Happy Nappy rest hour movie, and we watched The Little Mermaid. I slept all through it and the next period, luckily I didn't miss my class as it was my off period! All my campers came out of that happy nappy absolutely petrified, as they seemed to take it all a little too literally, ah Disney.
That night, the EP was the Area Cook Out where the Hillside girls (youngest), the Lakeside girls (middle), and the Hilltop girls (oldest) are all separated into groups and make their food over the open fire. It was great, and what made the night for me was the EP that us counselors made up: the Riff Off!! We lived Pitch Perfect and it was a dream come true! The counselors started every round and the kid's groups jumped in when they could, some were amazing and others were Cut Off! I loved it so much.

The next day the Counselors in Training (CITs) were in charge and they orchestrated a great pirate themed day where in the kids completed challenges and received pieces to a treasure map after each game. The treasure was a huge bag of sweets which made it the best day in the eyes of the campers! Caroline and I were stationed in the Gym with a great CIT and basically sat there, jamming to great music, while she did everything. We ate about 12 Pixie Stix each and giggled at nothing at all.

That night we had off and we all jumped into cars and head off for some fast food! Our car attempted to get some Chick-Fill-A but it was closed so moved onto Zaxby's chicken, which is basically like really good KFC! I was so happy because I got to see another World Cup game, and because Caroline, Kelly, Maggie, and Ali make my life! We finished our food and landed up back at Anna's house with the rest of the gang. We put a movie on as background noise and basically used the Wifi for all it's glory! We then set off back to camp and long story short, Caroline and I ended up taking showers at 5am just because we hadn't gotten to bed yet.

The next day was the final day of classes, which meant finishing up lessons and just having a great time. We all practiced our routine for the demo karate exhibition and performed later that night along with all the dancers and drama performers. I came back to the cabin that day to a package on my bed. It was a gift from one of my camper's parents and it was the best surprise! I love that people here make it very clear when they are appreciative!

The next day, some campers performed in the Horse Show but us Lifeguards went to do in-services, which is basically just like revision on all practicals. It was great, we sped through the work and straight into the play! It morphed into a huge lake party and the highlight for me was finally being "Blobbed" which is a huge inflated tube that one person sits on one end of, as the other jumps onto the other side from an elevated platform. The result is one being shot off the end and into the lake! It is such fun! That night, the EP was the Hillbilly Games which is an excuse to dress up like hillbillies and get super dirty! I was on the waterfront and basically orchestrated the best lake games ever! That night we had a "Half Off" which meant we were off but couldn't leave camp. We all ordered pizza and watch "17 Again" and drooled over Zac Effron...

The next day was Tribe Day which is synonymous with the last day of camp. It's my favorite day because the oldest girls at camp, run through the grounds with blow horns and wake the entire place up really early in the morning! We then get dressed in tribe clothes and head off to get tribe paint. We then walk to breakfast in our tribes, screaming war cries at the top of our lungs! We then break into a series of sport challenges. The best event by far was the Counselor Balloon Stomp which consisted of us representing our tribe, with balloons tied to out ankles, and trying to pop the balloons as the boundaries were made consistently smaller. I made it to the last 3 and then got knocked out of the circle, and lost my last life. Over all, the Navajos (my tribe) won the day and the entire session!!

That afternoon was the awards ceremony, where in all the activity directors make and give kids awards that they deserve. It was really great, and I gave out ninja stars I had crafter out of paper to my top Bruce Lee's! We then headed to dinner which again was an event that the oldest girls at camp created and hosted.

The event is called Banquet and is so legit I cannot even begin to describe it! The girls work on it all session long and pick a theme, then make all the decorations, the skits and the multiple elements that bring this event together. They picked the theme The Hunger Games and I was blown away! Each table was a district and the skit was perfect! They even ended up fighting in the lake and throwing each other off the dock towers. The evening is brought to a close by the Candle Light ceremony which is basically the goodbye. All the girls cried their little eyes out and then walked to the lake and set lit candles on the water. It was so beautiful.

The next morning all the kids left, with many more tears, and we all took a deep breath. We then had to clean our cabins and activity areas and went to lunch, childless. We were reassigned cabins and Co-Cos then were set free for 24 hours for session break!

With first session over, and one full month away from home behind me, I'm feeling good.

Ah those legendary EPs

The EP was so great! We played something called "Gold Rush" which is a game wherein the "Booty" is hidden all over camp and the staff are placed all around in an attempt to stop campers from returning the stolen booty to their treasure chests. Really it's just an excuse for the counselors to dress up as pirates and chase the children with shaving creme and flour!

The game begins when a select few pirates approach the dinning hall in canoes, who then splash all the people in the dinning hall with water. They then storm the hall and capture another staff member. In this case, the brave Palmer was captured and was forced to walk the plank into the freezing lake. The aim of the game is to collect the most treasure and save Palmer from the pirates! The kids broke into cabin groups and set off. Meanwhile, we were all placed in our positions, painted faces and swords in hand, ready to attack (I mean tag) any kids who dared to steal our booty! I was placed with the best group of pirates I could ever ask for: Kelly, Kaki, Tyler, and Caroline. We had a blast scheming... Anna jumped into our group at some point, and ended up pulling Kelly down some stairs which she sat in a little wagon. I couldn't make this stuff up.

My cabin won the Hilltop competition and won us all Ice Creme Sandwiches, which in my opinion are the BEST things you could win! It was great.

The next night was my night off and Kelly and I tagged along with a new group of amazing people. We went for sushi at Umi's with 8 others including Caroline, Anna, Maggie, and Angie. We were split across two tables as we did not make a reservation, whoops, who knew it was so fancy? We saw a few camp parents there so were all on our best behavior! We enjoyed a very delicious but very expensive meal, coupled with laughs and jokes between the two tables of friends. We were thoroughly surprised when the bill (or the cheque as its know here) came, however, as someone had payed for our entire meal! It was the best thing ever, especially because I am living on a budget and the bill was so high. We all suspect it was some of the generous camp parents, however we can never be sure which set. If you are out there reading this, thank you so much for your kindness, your gesture will always bring a smile to my face.

We left Umi's and headed off to Anna's holiday home in high spirits. Caroline, Kelly and I jammed to some awesome music, which is an absolute God send when you are at camp and away from technology. When we arrived, I was blown away. The house was nestled between the forest and the mountains, down a secluded driveway. It is one of those places that makes you feel calm and elated all at once. Once inside, it opens up into a beautiful naturally lit lounge that merges into an elevated patio outside. The view was breathtaking as we stood and watched the sun set between the trees, over the horizon. The house was great and one of its best features is the uncapped wifi! At this point in my life, wifi is like gold! We all sat in the lounge and talked the entire night, laughing and joking while a movie played in the background. We headed back to camp and went to sleep, with many more memories and personal jokes than we had had that morning.

The next night was my night in and the EP was what is know as "The Auction". Basically, kids are split into cabins and given "$100" to bid with. They bid on secret prizes and have to do/get what they win. Some prizes are great, such as a pizza party, a movie night, or dressing up your counselor for the day. Others are not as great such as the polar plunge in the lake before breakfast or doing the cabin clean up for another cabin for a week. Our cabin won an automatic Super +++ on their cabin clean up score sheet which was great as it brought us one step closer to the winning prize for the week's cleanest cabin! It goes without saying that cabin clean up was a breeze the next day!

Flag day was so interesting, and nothing we have back home is similar. Basically, a ceremony takes place in which we make a big circle around the flagpole, and many patriotic songs are sang and poems are read, as the flag is hoisted up into the air. It was both awesome and slightly intimidating, as strange as that sounds. It made me a little homesick, which surprised me. I think it was the pride I could feel everyone had for their country and it made me miss mine a little. Still, I decided to lap up the joy of those around me, and I left the ceremony feeling better than when it started. I think I am starting to understand it here, at least a little more than before.

That night was my "Overnight" which means that we were allowed to have an entire night off, and only needed to be back at 10am the next morning. Our overnight was pretty fun as Kelly, Victoria and myself headed outward to Asheville, a little town just over from Hendersonville where we were. We met up with some of the boys from Camp Carolina for dinner at an Irish pub and then went for "drinks" at a Mexican bar up the road. As most of us were under 21, out drinks consisted of sweet tea and Diet Cokes, but it was all the same to me. The guys are really cool but the funniest thing about their staff is that only about 10% are actually American. After drinks, us girls went our own way and ended up at a Hookah bar in downtown Asheville until 1am. We then went to Cook Out for some yummy and super greasy fast food and drove back to camp, rather than spend the money on a hotel room for the evening. We arrived at 3.30am and peeled off to our separate cabins. Kelly and I found out the following morning that poor Victoria had been locked out of her cabin and ended up sleeping in the counselor room!

The next day was a Sunday which operate completely differently to all the other days at camp. We all sleep in an hour longer and wake up to a breakfast of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts! We then head up to the Chapel in the woods for a half an hour church service, which is so beautiful it makes you feel like you are in a movie! There are no activities to teach or be had so the camp normally does one big tribe based event for the entire camp population where teams start to accumulate points. This day we had the Tribe Swim Meet.

All Lifeguards on the dock, all tribe colors on, all faces painted and all spirits high!
There were something like 6 events and the tribe Chiefs put forward tribe kids to participate in each. The events included relays of all strokes, t-shirt relays, life jacked relays, endurance swims, diving, wild cards and noodle relays. The kids really loved it and my tribe killed it, winning most of the events! The highlight of the swim meet is what is known as the counselor dive which is really just a skit that involves all the staff jumping in the lake. The Navajo counselors did a Frozen skit and rewrote all the lyrics to convince people to join our tribe, and I had such fun. The skit goes towards your tribe's score and so I hope it was as good as we thought it was!

That night was movie night and all the kids piled into the gym and awaited  the announcement of the movie: Frozen, much to Caroline's and my delight! We, and our other friends, sat behind all the kids and part watched the movie, part caught up with each other. The best thing about camp is that all the counselors are friends, yet the worst part of camp is that all the counselors are friends. We all want to be with each other all the time but are always separated or need to be with our kids, which of course is what was always going to happen but it's a bitter sweet situation. It's so strange but I feel so close to these girls, even though I hardly know them and only partially know their stories, I feel a real bond that runs through camp and connects us all.

Bedtime came too soon that evening, but when our heads hit the pillows, we were all fast asleep within seconds!

Camp has Begun!

The kids are here!
Repeat!
The kids are here!!

The gates opened at 8am and a line of cars, that had been there for hours, drove in one by one like a consistent stream of water. You could feel the excitement in the air as the kids began to pile out of cars and run up the stairs to their new homes for the next 3 weeks.

Opening day is very different here. Once the gates open, the kids are assigned cabins and the cars are directed to the appropriate parking grounds. The "trunk boys" then help the families carry the luggage into the cabins and the parents help the kids make up their beds. The kids then go to the infirmary where they go through a health check, and if they pass, they head off to lunch with their family. They are free to do as they please until 1pm when the parents reluctantly leave and campers report to their cabins for a first Cabin Meeting.

Our kids are great! There are 8 girls, 2 of whom are new, who are all friends and are all so aware of how things should be done. The "oldies" are so on point with the camp operations and they have taken the "newbies" under their wings. They are all good kids who are cheerful and fun, and are all looking forward to the rest of the summer. In our Cabin meeting we got to know each other a bit better and made some cabin rules. We then headed off to the opening assembly, where we were introduced to all the campers, and talked about our activities and rules for the session to come. The campers were then divided by age and half left for the swim test, while the others stayed and signed up for the activities that they wanted to do each day. The groups then switched.

Karate killed it! All of my classes were filled except for 3 places which I was surprised by! Kids seemed so excited to join my class and I couldn't be happier! I won't let them down. I am so excited to get these bright eyes and bushy tailed karate kids into the dojo as soon as can be, we are going to have a blast!

After all the campers had been through the swim test, and had filled up their daily activity slots, we all made our way to the dinning hall for dinner, and headed to the EP with full tummies. The game was Dodgeball in the gym and the snacks were s'mores by the fire. This was followed by bed time, and every single one of us passed out with no problems!

Second day of camp and it's been great so far! All the kids are super enthusiastic about all their activities, and teaching a different class each period is a great way of keeping the staff from getting bored.
Today I will be teaching karate as well as Kayaking and Mad Science for the first time, which I'm looking forward to! The Mad Science class was sort of dropped on my Co-Co and I but we are gonna make it work, even though we are not too sure what we are doing and only have high school science and National Geographic as a reference. Still, I'm sure we can impart some kind of wisdom to these happy campers! I was also told today that next session, the Canoe teacher would be leaving and that I am going to be taking over. Let's do this!

Tonight is my first official night off and Kelly and I, along with some other great girls, are going to go to dinner and and movie as they are half price on Tuesdays! It's going to be great! I believe we are going to watch "22 Jump Street" which myself, Anna, Caroline, and Palmer are very excited to see.

Orientation Marches On!

We continue to sit in a boiling room and learn the stuff we need to know to be the best we can be! it hurts so good.
My favorite time is when we step out of class and play some camp games with "bang", "Ninja" and "Hoedown" being some of my favorite so far. The EPs have been great and are a way for us counselors to take part in all the events the girls will do, and that we will be leading, YIKES.

We hosted "The Counselor Talent Show" in which I got to show off some karate! It was great fun and I think everyone was a little surprised... A few people came up to me afterwards and said that they were surprised I could be so serious as I am always so bouncy and energetic. I smiled and thanked them. Over all the show was great! My favorite performance was one that re-enacted "Don't Stop Believing" by Glee! I laughed the entire time, it was so hysterical!! The Lifeguard trainees, as usual, then reported to study hall to study for our multiple tests that would determine whether or not we were ready to officially wear the red swimsuit.

We were up at 7.30am swimming laps and doing drills. We then went to breakfast, freezing cold and dripping wet, and panicking for our official Final Practicals that we had that day. At the last second, myself, my international buddy Sam and the crazy Kelly were saved and told that we were going on a Kayaking trip down the Green River.

It.was.magical.timing.
The three of us were selected as the kayaking instructors for the summer, provided of course that we passed our lifeguard exams which camp seemed sure we would. Their support felt so nice.

We marched over to "the kayak shack" and loaded our boats onto the top of a 4x4. We drove down the interstate and into a beautiful gorge, surrounded by an amazing and enveloping forrest. We were taught how to half roll and how to buddy rescue and all sorts of other handy tips and tricks to teach the girls in the lake. not only that, but some skills we may need going down this river-trail with the instructors. We headed off down stream with our two guides and had the most amazing time going down the white rapids for miles and miles!
Our guides were a ton of fun, and one was even the father of a camper we were soon to meet! The showed us tricks we would never be able to do and kept us laughing the entire trip. I felt so lucky to be on the water that day, and so ready to return to camp and succeed in my practicals so I could keep this up all summer!

It was a phenomenal trip and we returned to camp, physically drained but hyped up on adrenalin. It was time to return to reality... Practicals.
We walked into the heart of the most stressed bunch of girls I have seen in a long time. Anna, Shelby, Angie and Taylor were all in the middle of their exam and all looked as if their world was slowly coming to an end, and my heart began to race. Our instructor has a tendency to increase the stress level in any situation, as seen here, but I have no doubt she will make us the best lifeguards we could possibly be as she constantly pushes us past the limit. We were all meant to test out that day but not one of us finished the complete test sets and so, we all remain trainees for now.

That evening was counselor initiation night, but let me explain. Every single person here is part of a "Tribe", either The Cherokees, The Navajos or The Mohawks. The campers and counselors alike are divided into theses groups and compete against each other in many games and events throughout the summer. That evening was the night that all the new kids on the block were to be initiated into their tribes, including myself! We were gathered in a room and blindfolded. We were placed in a line, hands on the shoulders of the initiate in front of us, and lead blindly to an unknown location.  We were "hazed" the entire way but it was all in good spirits, as we walked down what felt like the steepest and longest hill in the world!

When our blindfolds were lifted, we found ourselves at the bottom of the waterfall, in what is known as the Tribe Fire Ring. All the tribe members were divided into their tribes and all the initiates sat on benches on the open side of the semi-circle. We watched as the meeting began and all the Chief and Co-Chiefs circled the fire. The initiates were called up one by one and called upon by a tribe. I was called by the Navajo tribe and walked to my Chief and Co-Chief who painted my face with tribe colors and symbols and welcomed me to the group. This continued until everyone found their place. We sang war cries and chants and then wrapped the evening up and went back to our cabins. The evening was such fun, and I was beginning to feel like I belonged.

We were told that if we washed our face paint off, we would greet the day by being thrown into the lake but I didn't believe them... I was sorely mistaken. Straight after breakfast, all the defiant newbies were sent tho walk the plank (also known as a diving board), fully clothed and laughed at! It was great fun and everyone was such a great sport. We were sent to shower and then returned to orientation, where we were finally assigned cabins, age groups and co counselors (Co-Co's)! My Co-Co Barbie and I were assigned the Beechnut Cabin, which will consist of girls approximately 13 years old, which I am super happy with. We moved into our new cabins from the temporary ones, and since Shelby and myself were next to each other both in our new and old cabins, we decided to pack everything into her car and drive our stuff over. Camp has a bunch of what seemed like one way roads and so, to get say 300m one way, we had to exit camp grounds the other way, drive around, enter through the bottom gate and drive back through camp. We made it to our new cabins after nearly causing a 5 car pile up, but lets not talk about that! Once we had unpacked all our things, we had to navigate the gauntlet once again to park Shelby's car down in the meadow, meaning that we had to hike back to camp as the meadow stood far below the actual camp grounds.

A constant bell then began to ring which signaled a fire drill. We all made our way to the flag pole on Lakeside and gathered for role call. Captain Billy and Ms Judy, the owners of the camp, addressed us and told us all how happy they were to have us, and surprised us with the news that we were to "put on our dancin' shoes 'coz we're havin' a Hoe-Down!". The dance was to be held in the gym and our guests were to be the staff of Camp Carolina, our all-boys brother camp just down the road. The theme was basically be as American Cowboy-ish as possible, which was difficult as I don't even have much of that stuff at home, let alone here at camp! Luckily, with the help of some friends, I was dressed in Plad and dungarees in no time! We all left to get ready and met a few hours later, as the busses of boys started to drive in. We played a few "get to know you games" before making our way over to dinner. The guys were all great and had just as much energy as we did, which we all showed off by chanting war cries and singing mad, loud, upbeat camp songs at/with each other. We made our way to the barn where we were lead in many different types of line-dances and the sort. We all had such a blast and finished the night off with the Cha Cha Slide, one of my personal favorites, and only dances I can actually do! The strangest thing that happened the entire night, was that I met a boy named Grant who is from SA and lives in JHB as well! It was so cool to be able to chat to someone who understands my accent, and all the quirky things that come for being South African. We all said goodbye and, even though the boys left, all us girls stayed in the gym and danced to a few more songs before we got shut down. A memory that will stay with me forever is when Garrett and Eliz tried to send us to bed by turning off the music, we all kept the party going by singing, in its entirety, Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" so loud and proud that it hardly seemed that the music had been quieted. It was such fun.

The next morning, the lifeguard candidates awoke to a sinking feeling in the pits of their stomachs: Final Practicals were today. We has been dreading this for many days and all felt so nervous, knowing that it was a pass or fail situation and that if we didn't pass, some of us would no longer have a job at camp. Personally, I was with petrified and inspired, and I knew we could do this

The test consisted of a passive and submerged victim being rescued from the deep water and having a spinal injury, meaning that neither their head, neck or spine could be moved. We were divided into teams and Rescuer 1 would swim out to the victim and roll them onto their arm so that their head would be out of the water. Rescuer 2 would bring the Backboard to her partner and get the injured person onto it, making sure they were secured and that their head was strapped into place. The team then swam to the dock and had to get the pinned victim out of the water, and perform two minutes of CPR using an AED (defibrillator). All this had to be completed within five minutes, and was unbelievably stressful. If you passed being Rescuer 1, then you had to redo the exercise as Rescuer 2 and visa versa. I am very happy to report that we all passed this test. We unfortunately ran out of time to do the First Aid Practical section of the exam and our instructor would come back the next day to finish that with us. The rest of the day was back to orientation. We played an amazing game called "Counselor Treasure" wherein each person brought a personal possession to the circle and explained why it was so special to them. Tears, tears everywhere. So many of us cried but it was sweet, the love and support in that room was palpable. All the time we have spent together has really brought us close together, which I feel is very important for a team of leaders who will be pushed to their limits this summer. I brought my scruffy little elastic bracelet with me which my little cousin TJ had made  a few days before I left. She handed it to me with a sad smile and said "don't forget me in America". It means so much to me and reminds me not only of her, but everyone back home who means so much to me.

We were then informed that we all had the night off and were welcome to leave camp grounds and explore, as long as we were back by midnight. 7 of us piled into Anna's car and headed off to dinner at a great Mexican place called "Papa's and Beer" where the food was so good and so huge that Kelly and I shared a meal, and still struggled to finish! After dinner, we drove to Walmart for a last minute shop before the campers arrive on Sunday. It was so much fun because most of the people from our camp were there and our shopping group just got bigger and bigger!

We headed back to camp and again hiked back from the meadow, laughing our butts of because of something or another. We got up early the next morning and reported to our final Practical exam: First Aid.
We all passed!!!!!
We were all so happy and were marched up to the lodge to receive our certificates! We returned to orientation to a massive ovation and many smiling faces.

Barbie and I are now in the final stages of preparation before our kids arrive tomorrow! We are both feeling good and I am confidant that we are going to make a great team for first session!