So long, farewell

..auf weidersehen, goodbye! (titled so because Hannah and I watched The Sound of Music in our time off at camp)

So, leaving was one of my least favourite parts of the summer. I was torn between really wanting to see my family and friends back home but also really not wanting the summer to be over and having to say goodbye to everyone who I'd become close to. During the week before leaving, we talked about going back home and not being part of camp; some things I was really going to miss like the community, the laughs, the silly greetings (#awkwardsalmon), the sunsets, the adventure course, being in a routine and being around kids all the time but there were some things I was not going to miss as much like the time difference between New York and London, showering with flipflops on because of gross-ness, cleaning the girls bathroom, the heatwaves, dealing with ticks and, being around kids all the time. I knew it would be strange leaving everyone I'd met that summer and coming home to a place where if I shouted "Hey [insert name here]!" I wouldn't get a shout back of "HEY WHAT" and then a continuation into some crazy camp song. 

I wrote here about saying goodbye at True North to Megan, Mike, Matt, Emma and Madison (so many M's) and after that we got into the international van for the last time and Karen drove us to the train station. Saying goodbye at the station was so strange because our train was waiting at the platform so we said goodbye then got on the train but it wasn't scheduled to leave for like 2 minutes so there was a period of waiting (us on the train, Karen on the platform)  in which, whilst almost all of us were crying/tearing up, Jess gave Karen her dancing chicken. True story. When the train left we did the classic waving for as long as possible out the window and then sat down for the journey into the city. It felt like a genuinely sad train journey but we looked through each others cameras at pictures of the past 7 weeks which was nice. Then Rachael, Katie, Jess and Pete had to get off at the station before Hannah and I so urgent hugs and goodbyes were had as they all needed to get off the train with their luggage to travel on to their next adventure. So it was just me and Hannah left on the train which pulled into Penn Station and we then lugged our suitcases up some stairs and navigated ourselves to the nearest bagel place, naturally. 

Then it was time for my final goodbye to Hannah, this one thankfully was less emotional than all the previous ones as I just sort of knew I'd see her again in the not too distant future so that was really great. We realised the other day that Hannah was the one person I spent every singe day with during my 8 weeks in the US which was really annoying pretty cool! I then headed to my hotel to get ready for my 4am flight the next day. 'Getting ready' involved spending all my change in the vending machine, dancing to the radio and rolling around on the massive bed all mixed in with bursts of loneliness - it was so strange to go from being constantly surrounded by friends to suddenly being alone in a hotel room!

So that's that. Summer: Complete!

And so that concludes my posts on my summer as a camp counselor. I could write about heaps more things, but will leave just a few more good memories here:

• The evening that began as talent show (in which us G3 girls performed the most Godly of raps) turned into a dance party involving Irish dancing with Rachael and a fab rendition of 'Kung-fu Fighting' with Hannah.
• When I dressed up as a caterpillar and escaped from the zoo (funniest thing ever).
• Getting sick from eating too many mangoes and the only way to recovery was having my kids dance like monkeys and sing songs from The Lion King.
• The absolutely insane cabin time where our girls turned off all the lights, had their torches on and did a fashion show.
• Eating ice-cream wherever possible.

Bethan