America!
So touching down in New York gave me butterflies in my stomach and the familiar ‘oh my god im in America’ feeling came back to me. Not entirely sure why I get that feeling although being here does excite me =)
After queuing up for over an hour to get into customs, all went ok and I picked up my baggage from the other side without any problems (despite me having a minor freak out that I would lose my luggage for no apparent reason).
Suddenly I got a tap on my shoulder and realise that this guy, who I have also been staring at throughout the zig-zag queue back and forth, is actually coming to my camp! Its Billy Barclay – he’s teaching football at my camp and we get along fairly easily and I finally get a buddy to travel with to camp? Wow that sounded gay.
All the other BUNAC’ers had congregated on the other side of the terminal so we went and sat down and joined them. Whilst soaking up the atmosphere of my first steps in the country, I bought a Mountain Dew! Man I missed that taste =)
So then we got our bus to NYC; further goosebumps were kicking in and the closer we got into the heart of the city, the more excited I became. After the initial orientation of what’s what, I get told im bunking with 9 other guys which was interesting to say the least. Despite having never met any of them (apart from Billy) we decided to all head out and get some dinner.
Heres a picture of my meal, pretty huge if im being honest, yet the picture doesn’t quite do it any justice as to how big it actually was.
I forgot to catch any of their names so could be slightly difficult to track them down once I decide to search for them haha – apart from one guy, Mustafa whos Albanian, was pretty talkative and was funny as anything. Anyway after we head back to our room after dinner, we all seem to pass out pretty quick and woke up at 7.30 to shower and head to breakfast.
After we hit breakfast, we were told to meet downstairs in the lobby at 9.30 to be sent off to camp – after getting our instructions we were sent down the subway to 42nd street (Times square) and caught our bus to Providence RI. We had an extra hour or so to kill so Billy and I decided to walk about a bit and hit the shops to see if there was anything that we fancied.
After we caught our bus and a lovely 7 hour trip passes us by, we finally got to our destination and met up with 2 counsellors Gill and.. crap I cant remember his name haha, who took us to camp and there we met my camp director Will and his wife Sandy and all the other staff. Immediately we are taken to get some food and greeted by some lovely pizza! The rest of the evening pretty much consisted of just talking to the other counsellors and getting to know them.
Sunday, Billy and I woke up and laze about camp whilst watching some football from the world cup and decide to session the table tennis pretty hard. Both of us acknowledged the fact that if we were able to continue our addictive sessions, by the end of the summer we are going to enter 2012 olympics however I’m, sure once the kids get here its going to be pretty hectic.
Monday is here already! Another early start (better get used to these) and straight after breakfast and a shower, we headed off to find something to do, plus today we have nothing on so we have a whole day to kill!
Me, Billy and Ted, one of the American counsellors who teaches lifesaving/swimming is your stereotypical looking American (not fat before you think; will get a picture up soon) and showed us what’s decent to kill time. I was CRAVING to play some basketball since I got here so fortunately for me, we all headed straight for the basketball court to play anything and everything we could get our hands on.
Basketball, baseball, ultimate Frisbee, throwing, American football, and rugby were all parts of the agenda and before I knew it, I was sweating like a waterfall on crack.
After lunch we decided to hit the lake and great grandmothers spatula it was warm! I actually got in without thinking for a split second that I was in the Antarctica. A nice change from crappy England beaches.
We swam to the other side and immediately straight back. It was pretty exhausting I wont lie, and having already been told that there are turtles that will bit clear through anything and I mean anything, I didn’t really want to hang about.
After dinner we all went to see Toy Story 3 and hung out at the Mall beforehand and had no idea how expensive jerseys were.. Christ they are like 80 dollars a pop… might rethink some gifts for that sake. I’m not made of money…
Anyway it’s time to hit the sack for me tonight. Im pretty exhausted (yeah from all this lazing about) from today and starting staff training tomorrow so should be interesting to formulate some sessions. World cup/ American open themed tennis are on the horizon for the kids so I got some planning to do!
Peace
/Ollie
After queuing up for over an hour to get into customs, all went ok and I picked up my baggage from the other side without any problems (despite me having a minor freak out that I would lose my luggage for no apparent reason).
Suddenly I got a tap on my shoulder and realise that this guy, who I have also been staring at throughout the zig-zag queue back and forth, is actually coming to my camp! Its Billy Barclay – he’s teaching football at my camp and we get along fairly easily and I finally get a buddy to travel with to camp? Wow that sounded gay.
All the other BUNAC’ers had congregated on the other side of the terminal so we went and sat down and joined them. Whilst soaking up the atmosphere of my first steps in the country, I bought a Mountain Dew! Man I missed that taste =)
So then we got our bus to NYC; further goosebumps were kicking in and the closer we got into the heart of the city, the more excited I became. After the initial orientation of what’s what, I get told im bunking with 9 other guys which was interesting to say the least. Despite having never met any of them (apart from Billy) we decided to all head out and get some dinner.
Heres a picture of my meal, pretty huge if im being honest, yet the picture doesn’t quite do it any justice as to how big it actually was.
I forgot to catch any of their names so could be slightly difficult to track them down once I decide to search for them haha – apart from one guy, Mustafa whos Albanian, was pretty talkative and was funny as anything. Anyway after we head back to our room after dinner, we all seem to pass out pretty quick and woke up at 7.30 to shower and head to breakfast.
After we hit breakfast, we were told to meet downstairs in the lobby at 9.30 to be sent off to camp – after getting our instructions we were sent down the subway to 42nd street (Times square) and caught our bus to Providence RI. We had an extra hour or so to kill so Billy and I decided to walk about a bit and hit the shops to see if there was anything that we fancied.
After we caught our bus and a lovely 7 hour trip passes us by, we finally got to our destination and met up with 2 counsellors Gill and.. crap I cant remember his name haha, who took us to camp and there we met my camp director Will and his wife Sandy and all the other staff. Immediately we are taken to get some food and greeted by some lovely pizza! The rest of the evening pretty much consisted of just talking to the other counsellors and getting to know them.
Sunday, Billy and I woke up and laze about camp whilst watching some football from the world cup and decide to session the table tennis pretty hard. Both of us acknowledged the fact that if we were able to continue our addictive sessions, by the end of the summer we are going to enter 2012 olympics however I’m, sure once the kids get here its going to be pretty hectic.
Monday is here already! Another early start (better get used to these) and straight after breakfast and a shower, we headed off to find something to do, plus today we have nothing on so we have a whole day to kill!
Me, Billy and Ted, one of the American counsellors who teaches lifesaving/swimming is your stereotypical looking American (not fat before you think; will get a picture up soon) and showed us what’s decent to kill time. I was CRAVING to play some basketball since I got here so fortunately for me, we all headed straight for the basketball court to play anything and everything we could get our hands on.
Basketball, baseball, ultimate Frisbee, throwing, American football, and rugby were all parts of the agenda and before I knew it, I was sweating like a waterfall on crack.
After lunch we decided to hit the lake and great grandmothers spatula it was warm! I actually got in without thinking for a split second that I was in the Antarctica. A nice change from crappy England beaches.
We swam to the other side and immediately straight back. It was pretty exhausting I wont lie, and having already been told that there are turtles that will bit clear through anything and I mean anything, I didn’t really want to hang about.
After dinner we all went to see Toy Story 3 and hung out at the Mall beforehand and had no idea how expensive jerseys were.. Christ they are like 80 dollars a pop… might rethink some gifts for that sake. I’m not made of money…
Anyway it’s time to hit the sack for me tonight. Im pretty exhausted (yeah from all this lazing about) from today and starting staff training tomorrow so should be interesting to formulate some sessions. World cup/ American open themed tennis are on the horizon for the kids so I got some planning to do!
Peace
/Ollie
Es ist Sehr Interesant
Esta Muy Interesante
Tres interesant Ollie
Creo que tu Mama estaria muy filiz de ver este blos, puesto que me esta preguntando si he recibido noticias tuyas.
Well what about posting a few more photos and updating this blog. I find it rather interesting
Dad