Summer Camp Worldwide - Work at a worldwide summer camp, Information, Jobs, Forum

Speak to people who have already worked at summer camps. You can do this on our summer camp forum.

If you are going to work at camp you can set up a placement today! Browse all our summer camp job opportunities on our partner summer camp jobs website.

· Be open to meeting new people
· Don't judge people on first impressions
· Be fun to be around
· Realize and learn to deal with the long hours you could work
· Take care of your health and fitness,
· Eat healthy food to provide energy for the busy / long days
· Enjoy every moment, the highs and the lows
· Remember that the children are there to have fun, provide a safe environment where they respect you and follow the camp rules
· For information on how to become a successful camp counselor why not our summer camp forum.

"It's good to go with open mind and be happy. Working at a camp is sometimes hard, but together with counselors around the world you can make the experience unforgettable." Essi, Finland

· Take a credit card
· Take US Dollars but change large notes into smaller denominations, for example $10 and $20 dollar notes as it is often hard to change larger notes in cafes and shops.
· Keep some of the cash on you at all times, and hide cash in multiple places in your bag.
- Think about buying travellers cheques prior to leaving on your trip

Internet Banking is not safe in a lot of worldwide Internet cafes. We recommend that you get a family member or reliable friend to have authorisation from your bank to act on your behalf whiles you are away.

It is best to leave only a small amount of money in your account, just in case you get your card stolen and the thieves withdraw all your funds. You can get a family member to monitor and regularly check your account whilst you are away and when they see the funds are running low they can put more money in.

Voltage in the U.S.A. is different to Europe, they also use different plugs. North American voltage is 110 voltz/AC-60 cycles, if you use electrical appliances such as stereos, shavers, or a hair dryer you'll need an adapter and a voltage transformer.

In the rush when you first arrive at summer camp, you may not have any free time to go shopping, so bring the following items with you: toothpaste, soap, deodorant and hair washing shampoo.

Explain to your friends and family that summer camp's are usually in very isolated places, so contact via telephone or email can be quite difficult. Set up an email address, or a blog so your people can keep up with your summer of a lifetime.

Summer Camp Worldwide users get a 10% discount from the travel shop Homeway - Travel with Care. Website: www.travelwithcare.com

Arrival in the USA

Jet Lag

Jetlag is caused by a complex combination of circumstances. First, there are the environmental deviations of traveling, shifts in time, alterations in magnetic fields, modifications in climate, and diversities in cultures.

As if this weren't enough, flying in commercial jets we are forced into a sickening environment where we are deprived of air and humidity while exposed to radiation, pesticides, and pollution, just like bad conditions on the ground, only more so.

Jetlag affects us physically, mentally, and emotionally. A physical example is swollen feet. A mental example is disorientation. An emotional one is anxiety. Swollen feet are caused by the low air pressure on board and lack of circulation from sitting for long periods without moving.

To remedy this, Abstaining from alcoholic beverages in flight (and drinking lots of water instead), is both a physical and a mental remedy, it helps to offset dehydration, and it promotes mental clarity.

· When you first buckle up on your flight, set your watch to the local time at your arrival destination as a mental commitment to support the process of re-setting your biological cycles.

· Sleep on board if your flight lands in the morning. Avoid sleeping on board if your flight lands in the evening. The important thing to remember is that you want to be able to sleep at night at your new destination.

· To help speed up acclimatisation, go outside during daylight hours. Even being in a room with windows helps to enlighten our body clocks. Natural light automatically cues our cells to the new local cosmology.

· Flying west usually produces less jetlag than flying east. This is because eastbound travel crunches the day to less than 24 hours, so at bedtime we're not sleepy and then it's hard to get up in the morning.

Arrival at Camp

Culture Shock

When you first arrive at your summer camp everything might be a bit too much to take in, the drastic change in scenery may take time to adjust to. This even applies if you are going to work at a summer camp in your native country because of the issolated areas camps are usually in.

You will meet a lot of new people, and remembering peoples names at first could be a problem, but don't worry with time you will pick them up. Camp lifestyle is like nothing else in the world, even though you may be exhausted from the flight and travel to camp try to remain upbeat and enthusiastic.

Staff Visits

During your summer, staff from the company you travelled with may come and visit you. Do not worry, this is common and is your chance to say how your summer is going and to ask questions.

Early Departure from Camp

Unfortunately not all camp staff will compete the whole of the summer. There are several reason for this:

· You decide to leave early
· You leave due to a family illness, death emergency
· Employment is terminated by the camp due to violation of the rules
· Employment is terminated by camp due to poor work performance

Try to avoid any of the above situations. If you do have to leave prematurely though, do not panic, stay clam and ask your camp directors or company who sent you over for assistance in getting back to your home country.

Travel writer Bill Bryson states: 'Any foreigners visiting the United States can perform an easy magic trick: buy a newspaper and see your own country disappear. Actually you don't need to read a newspaper. You can read a magazine or watch television or just talk to people.'I had several funny conversations with children when they asked questions you could hardly believe they were really asking. For example: do you have electricity in England? Do they change the language in American films so you can understand them? Seriously, I'm no even joking.

Set up a counsellor interaction corner during free period, this involved getting ten counsellors from different countries to attend, and bring pictures and information about their home country. By using visual aids this helped put pictures to the children's visions in their heads.

A game call head catch is very entertaining. Get a ball, any kind e.g. soccer or tennis, get all your campers to line up and then throw them the ball and state either head, or catch. They have to do the opposite of what you say, for example you throw the ball and say head - they have to catch it. Try this game out at camp, it works really well.

Physical and mental abuse is strictly not tolerated at summer camp. If you have any problem campers who are interrupting your activity or being a nuisance, then make them understand what they are doing is wrong. Also you can make them do little forfeits, for example make campers do a funny dance or clean the cabin. Your camp will provide training for these situations.

Homesickness is a type of anxiety that children sometimes experience when they're away from home. It's extremely common. There are several ways to deal with homesickness:

1. Remember that homesickness is a temporary feeling for most campers. Give campers time to adjust to their new surroundings.
2. Keep them busy, get them involved with other campers and activities
3. Get them to call or write home
4. Talk out their feelings, just getting feelings off your chest can provide a new perspective and sense of relief.

"The absolute essentials A good flashlight - I'd recommend a maglite. Very strong mosquito repellent. I took something ridiculous like 90% deet. It's for use in the jungle but did the trick. You can find the good stuff in any good camping store - just not generally in boots. Head and Shoulders menthol shampoo - it keeps the bugs at bay - anything else the bugs will love it! Strong factor sun cream. " Caroline, Lincoln

"When I arrived at camp, I had one week before i could leave camp to buy things, so take the essentials. leave some room in your case, so you can buy loads of clothes and bring them back. Try and fit two weeks worth of clothes in your case ( you can buy some when your there) as you go through that in about 1 week, and usually there isnt a washing machine on camp, we could only wash our clothes on a weekend at the local town 3 miles away." Vicky, England

"The whole thing on bug repellent. Get it when you are over there. The stuff they sell in this country doesn't work over there at all, don't go to some sorry expense by buying some super bug spray from a camp store it might work but its going to e a rip off, you can buy a huge can of stuff thats designed to protect against their sort of bugs for bugger all money in any Walmart or Target store when your over there." Dani, Carlise