The Good Life at Summer Camp USA.

Greg Lewry has spent his last two summer holidays as a counsellor at a summer camp in the US organised through BUNAC.

‘I'm getting paid to do this?!' was a thought that continuously ran through my head this summer. A beautiful shimmering lake for a workplace, young people from all over the world for colleagues and food and accommodation all taken care of.

My job title? Swim Instructor, Lifeguard and bunk counsellor at a summer camp in the USA.

My summer started by with two weeks of lifeguard and counsellor training at camp. This is the calm before the storm allows the staff to prepare themselves for the chaos that lies ahead!

Every camp is different. The camp that I have worked at for the past two summers is a traditional co-ed YMCA camp. Some camps choose to specialise in a particular activity but my camp has a wide range of activities on offer, ranging from horse-riding to water-ski, performing arts to mountain hikes.

Every day at camp is also different. The days seem long because we start at around 7am and sometimes don't collapse into our beds until past midnight. You share living quarters with the kids and so a full night's sleep isn't always guaranteed. It is physically and mentally draining, stressful when things don't go to plan, frustrating when kids don't listen or beg you constantly for piggy-backs, but the second you think about those times, they become the best bits about camp because they are so rewarding.

Camp is an ocean of opportunities open to you for just a summer. All you have to do is dive in. Once you're in you discover that the ocean is bottomless. I've found through my two years at camp that you get out whatever you put in to the ‘job'. The Good Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

Many future counsellors worry that they will be expected to be happy-clappy, crazily-smiling, ultra-energetic people when they work at a summer camp. Very few counsellors are actually like this! What all counsellors have in common though is a willingness to step out of their comfort zone and take on challenges that they would never attempt in their ordinary day-to-day life. The more you get involved, the more fun you have and the more you realise summer camp is the Good Life.

The role of a summer camp counsellor is by no means singular. I've come to learn that Counsellor is actually an umbrella term for parent, teacher, best friend, role model, idol, actor, mentor and climbing frame (I don't know how many piggy-backs I gave this summer but it was a lot!).

The night before Opening Day, when the first deluge of kids descend upon camp, the Camp Director gave a speech. He emphasised that in 40, 50 or even 60 years we would look back at the eight weeks we were on the verge of starting and think of this time as our ‘good ol' days'. Eight weeks is not a very long time. In ‘Camp Time' it is even shorter. The days fly by because they are so filled that you have no time to think about them; days of the week get muddled, the exact date is a matter of debate at the dinner table and you don't even realise it's your 20^th birthday until one of your kids reminds you by handing you a hand-drawn card! You have no clue what is going on in the outside world and you couldn't care less; it seems irrelevant when I have an afternoon of swimming lessons to teach and an Overnight to help arrange.

It is because of this ‘Camp bubble' that you form so many close friendships and this is the best thing about camp. Like joining any team you instantly come across a load of people who share the same interests as you and, because of the intensity of camp, you quickly come to rely on each other. It's a cliché, but you really feel after a few weeks that you have known everyone for years.

Doing BUNAC's Summer Camp USA programme isn't just about summer camp- it's also about the USA and more specifically travelling around it. My first summer I stayed at a variety of American counsellor's houses in between undertaking a demanding (and, in hindsight, crazy) Greyhound bus tour around some of the Eastern coast's best cities. Sleeping on the buses at night and waking up to a new city on the horizon every morning was a great way to tick off a load of American cities including Nashville, New Orleans and Washington DC, yet this year I wanted something different- more time in each city and more people to share the experience with. And that's exactly what I got!

After the staff night out in Manhattan I travelled with ten other counsellors over the border to Toronto where we spent 4 days watching baseball, touring the Niagara Falls and making the most of Canada's lower legal age restrictions on alcohol. Travelling with other counsellors after camp is something everyone on BUNAC's programme experiences and it's a great way to see the country you've been working in the last 2 months as well as readjusting to reality after camp.

The friendships don't just stay in America. We have met up in England with nights out in London and tomorrow I'm off for a weekend to Prague with a friend from camp. Your time at camp may just last for eight weeks in a summer, but your relationship with camp and counsellors can last a lifetime.