CRS '23 Session 2 Week 4
WELCOME TO WEEK 4 BLOG: CAMP RISING SUN GIRLS AND NB SESSION
Meet Your Editors
Hey! I’m Esther, I am 15 years old, and I’m Korean but live in the most random state, Maryland. I’m an upcoming sophomore in high school and my hobbies are hip-hop dancing, boxing, writing, and listening to music. My current favorite artist is Wave by Earth. Even though I struggled so much in the beginning of Camp, I’m so glad that I took the opportunity to be here at Camp Rising Sun to meet new people and learn so much more about myself. I’m so excited to be the blog writer for this last week here at Camp and I hope you guys enjoy it! :)
Heyy! I’m Levke, I’m 16 years old and I’m from Germany. I’m going into tenth grade and my hobbies are gymnastics and I also work as a gymnastics coach. If I’m not training I’m probably reading. Currently I’m reading Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, but my favorite book is the Twisted book series by Ana Huang. My favorite part about Camp is making friends from all around the world and being able to learn something new everyday, either about myself, about other cultures or new words and phrases in other languages. I’m looking forward to being in blog for the last week of Camp and I can’t wait to write down all your beautiful memories! :)
LAST FEW DAYS AT CAMP
As Camp made its way to the end, the close relationships we had with all the people here made us realize many feelings we never knew about. We asked a couple campers on how they felt about the 4 weeks we had all spent together, far away from home. Even though a majority of people were homesick in the beginning, we wondered about how they feel now as it’s the last week of Camp. Meet the campers!
Hiiiii my name is Somin! I was born in South Korea but I'm here to represent Hungary. I like Pink Floyd, and I hate Lea!
Hi! My name is Lea and I'm from upstate New York. Hmmmmm - I hate Somin!
Hii! My name is Liva, I'm from Denmark and I'm 15 years old.
How do you feel about Camp coming to an end?
Somin: I feel bittersweet about Camp coming to an end. The first day feels like yesterday but at the same time it feels like a year being here. I met so many great people and made so many good friends. I know that this is a once in a lifetime experience. I’m gonna miss everybody here.
Liva: It's a sad feeling, because I'm obviously going to miss these people and from what I've heard from alumni, you don't really see them until like more than 10 years later. So it's going to be a lot of tears and a lot of sadness on the last day.
Do you wish that you could stay for a longer period of time?
Somin: Yes, it feels like home already and when I go home I feel like I'm gonna face reality and that makes it a little scary, going back to all the responsibilities that I have to take care of. But I guess it’s exciting in a sense because I can carry back what I’ve learned here.
Liva: Yes, I actually kind of do. I wish I could stay for a longer period of time, if I didn't have to worry about school and my life back home, then I would stay for maybe even a week longer. But since school and private life do exist, I’m not able to.
How do you feel about leaving your friends and keeping in touch with them from a long distance?
Somin: I’m scared to lose the connection I made with all the people and lose all the bonds that I have made here. I know I’m always going to keep in touch with all my friends here.
Liva: I've never really had long distance friends before, so it's going to be a new experience. And it's going to be sort of odd to me, but if I'm just persistent that I want my relationships here at Camp to keep going, then I think I can do it if I just stay stubborn about it.
What is your favorite memory here at Camp?
Lea: My favorite memory was the first time I met Somin and we sat down on the dinner table and I had no idea who she was but the conversation we had was the best conversation I have ever had in a while. I remember her telling me a dad joke: “When does a joke become a dad joke? When it becomes a parent.”
Liva: I think my favorite memory from Camp is sleeping under the stars.
How did the memory impact or influence you?
Lea: I learned how to solve a Rubix cube, learned the drums, and learned how to sing happy birthday in Hungarian; in general, I learned so much from Somin. And…. uhhhhh. I don’t know. I learned that you can become so close to someone in a short period of time and I wasn't expecting to feel so comfortable with her in that amount of time. I think our friendship is what the Camp represents.
Liva: I think so, because it's just like sharing a moment with amazing people. It was such a beautiful moment that I don't think I can ever forget it. And it kind of was solidified by being with my favorite people.
WHO OR WHAT ARE YOU MOST GRATEFUL FOR HERE AT CAMP?
My name is Ori. I am from Israel and I'm a Second Year!
Hey everyone, my name is Janyl. I'm from Kyrgyzstan, but I live in Egypt and this is my first year at CRS.
Who or what are you most grateful for here at Camp and why?
Ori: I'm most grateful for the community, the diversity, and the chance to know more people that I never knew existed. I also really appreciate the traditions. I think that it’s an opportunity to learn and to grow and spend a lifetime here at Camp and have your own memories. Also having fun with things you don’t normally do at home.
Janyl: I am very grateful for Karabo the counselor. He was a really sweet person with only positive energy, he was also really understanding and relatable. So he made my time here just super sweet. And I also really like this community because it's very supportive and everyone is friendly and it's just a good community. That affected the way I adapted here at Camp, because of this good environment here. I was able to adapt way quicker than I thought.
COUNSELOR SPECIAL EDITION
I am Ben, I am a videographer and counselor here at Camp. I am from the UK, and I am loving it here at Camp!
Hi, my name is Dilshod. I'm from Tajikistan, Central Asia, and I'm here at Camp Rising Sun as the general counselor and program videographer.
What made you want to work here at Camp or come back?
Ben: This is my first year at Camp and I had friends who came to Camp and heard a lot of good things and I had the opportunity to come here so I decided to come! I would’ve regretted not coming here because I wouldn't have met all these people.
Dilshod: Actually, there is a little history about this Camp, because I knew about this Camp when I was a high school student, but I didn't apply because I thought it was too good to be true. And then when I saw that the first campers from Tajikistan were here in 2018, I read more about it on the website. I was like, wow, that's a great program, I would love to come there as a counselor, because I saw that they also hire counselors. And that's why this year I decided to apply to come to see everything. I wanted to see everything in real life.
What was your favorite memory here at 2023 summer Camp?
Ben: I have two favorite memories: connecting with everyone and hearing everyone’s story during tent talks because I believe that it’s really special and important. I also love to see everyone work together on projects. I’m excited to finish this video project that we’re working on right now and spending the rest of the summer with all the great people here!
Dilshod: I would say my favorite memory is probably the nature trip. When we went with the campers and stayed in Red Hook in nature for three days. I would say every single moment was very interesting, the way we were engaging with campers, cooking food - especially Shakshuka - that was really good. And we went on that hiking day trip. So overall I loved the nature trip, because that was very memorable for me. And the most important thing is that we took a lot of pictures on the phone and we were so excited to edit and publish them but something happened and they're all gone. So now it's like only memories as there is nothing on the camera.
Did you learn anything from this year’s session?
Ben: Yes, I have learned new words in different languages, I learned to box, I learned to cope from bug bites, appreciate time in the community without technology, making and doing things, and writing!
Dilshod: I actually learned a lot from the Camp itself, starting from lifeguarding, because I had to go through all the process of becoming a lifeguard. At first I thought it's just being able to swim but you have to know a lot of diverse ways of saving people, which was very interesting. And besides that I learned about the experiential learning process, which when taught, I knew a little bit about it, but not much. So I heard from some people about it but I haven't seen it in practice and coming here, working with the campers, I was able to learn and practice these skills.
APPRECIATION PAGE
