This is something our Dean of Students, Dr. Sammy Spann, used to say to us every time he would visit one of our training sessions and it’s something I’ve had in the back of my head for the past three weeks. And the quote has never been more true than it was this weekend.
It’s been crazy hot this past week and I’ve been trying to be outside as little as possible. The humidity is pretty brutal and makes it feel about 15-20 degrees hotter than the recorded temperature. I mentioned last week that my roommates and I started doing workouts together and the heat has definitely not made those enjoyable. We haven’t been able to get up in the mornings to run when it’s cooler so we’ve been having to do our workouts at night when the sun starts to go down, but we’re doing them!
It finally happened! Monday morning, at about 9:45, I was finally cleared to be with the kids. I did some active observing the first day and then hopped right in on Tuesday. The SAC caters to grades 1-5 and splits their field trip and swimming days by age group. Tuesdays the older grades(3-5) go on their field and the younger grades (1-2) go on Wednesdays. Similarly, the older kids go swimming on Thursday and the younger ones on Friday. The center staff runs smaller camps in the morning that we assist with, and then we do our programming in the afternoon. I was in gardening club with the younger kids all week, and went on the field trip with them on Wednesday and swimming on Friday. This week we went to a small amusement park called Leolandia (about two hours away)! We’re also doing “pie the counselor” each week. The kids can earn tickets for being good throughout the week and they can choose which counselors bag they want to put them in. On Friday we have a raffle for which kids get to pie us that day, and boy did my kiddo get me good! It was a little messy but a lot of fun. The first week was a blast and I’m so excited for more great weeks with them!
Back when we first got to Vicenza we bought tickets to participate in a trip with the MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) and the ODR (Outdoor Recreation center) to go canyoning in Lake Garda. There were 10 Camp As (with about 15 others) that headed two hours out to Lake Garda. After we got geared up in our wetsuit, waterproof socks, trail shoes, harness, life jacket, and helmet, we started our adventure. Canyoning consisted of a 150 meter hike (straight up) and about an hour of repelling and sliding down waterfalls, and venturing through the Rio Nero. This was followed up by a delicious meal and another two hour bus ride back. Canyoning was definitely something that pushed me out of my comfort zone but was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. I would absolutely do it again!
After we got home Saturday we decided to head back to Verona to go shopping at Primark, one of the stores in the mall. It was a giant, super cheap department store and we will definitely be making a trip back there with some more time.
Sunday we had a little bit of a delay in the morning that changed our plans and we ended up in Trieste, Italy (on the border near Slovenia and Croatia) for the day. Trieste houses one of the four transit camps occupied by the Nazis during World War II. “Once just a local rice mill or risiera, in September 1943, the Risiera di San Sabba took a dark turn. The complex became a Nazi concentration camp, used for the detention and killing of political prisoners and Jews” (https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/risiera-di-san-sabba). A lot of the buildings were destroyed as the Nazis were fleeing so much of the camp had been remodeled/turned into a museum. It was definitely a heart-heavy experience that I will never forget. We also got to explore Trieste a little while we were there and it was beautiful!
Next week is the Fourth of July so we only have a four day week! There’s a big event thrown on base for the day but we’re going to try and get up to make a day trip before getting back for fireworks at night.
My first week of camp was great and I can’t wait for the rest of the summer with the kiddos!
Top (left to right): Amy, Julye, Rebekah, Danielle, Alyssa, me, Madeline, Andrea (guide)
Bottom (left to right): Sydney, Marco (guide), Emily, Gabby
Camp Adventure 2019 