Week One
| International Camp | International Camp International camp formed to try and build up relationships with other European countries after the Second World War. The idea of the camp is to build up friendships and give people the chance to learn about different nationalities. It is for young people aged between 16-21 years old. It takes place at East Mersea Youth Camp. |
It’s already been a week at International Camp and it has been good fun. We left from Hoek of Holland on Sunday after having quite some delay with the HSS and we had even more delay when we were on sea. Eventually we arrived though and took the bus to Mersea. Once we arrived at Camp, people who had been here before were thrilled to see their old friends again. Everyone got sorted out in their villages and for the rest of the evening (well, until people decided to go to their bed) there was a lot of socialising going on. The next day (Monday) all the other countries arrived and the whole camp was complete. There were some activities going on, but the actual ‘meeting new people’ started on Tuesday. We had ‘Teambuilding’ in the morning and ‘It’s A Knockout’ in the afternoon. Both activities were quite good ways to get to know each other. On Wednesday and Thursday we went on our village expedition. This really gets the village close, and not only that, you have an amazing time. Our village, Hawaii Five 0, went bowling in Colchester and after walking through the town we went to a place called Thriftwood. This all happened on Wednesday, it was an enjoyable day. On Thursday we stayed in Thriftwood, built rafts and went carting. We also had camp fires during those two nights, which can be very amusing, if instruments are played and people sing along with a warm mug of tea.
 | | Fun with cooking at the camp |
Friday got even better. We went to Cambridge where all the villages met up again. Cambridge is a lovely city and really cool to walk in. We had the Red Party that night and over the weekend we also had the Krypton Factor, Sumo Wrestling and Nationalities Day. Nationalities Day is very good to experience each other’s cultures a bit and Sumo Wrestling ruled. It is fun bumping into each other with big sumo wrestling suites. The Krypton Factor was good, it was only raining a lot unfortunately. Week Two Monday was London Day, and underwear shopping day - we had six hours to go through London, which was more than enough time to see things. It is a beautiful City. On Tuesday and Wednesday there were just sporting events at the camp, which always exciting. There was also a small group who went with the Rotary Club on Tuesday in Maldon, and that is a good tradition to keep ongoing. You learn a lot and have a great time. On that day we also had the Super Hero’s party and it was impressive how everyone got dressed. On Tuesday and Thursday there were also bus trips to Colchester, which is quite good but there are people who want to go but can’t because there is not enough space on the bus. Something should be done about that. Tonight (Thursday) is the Masquerade Ball and people have been able to make masks in the art tent which is very handy. A lot of people are looking forward to it. The two weeks were really good. We had a lot of parties which were great, only the music wasn’t always that great. There were a lot of activities going on, like workshops and sports. All the trips outside of the camp were really good especially the village expedition. Now we would like to say farewell, until the next time we meet. Big Kiss and Hug, Rosalie & Joanna P.S It was really good meeting so many people from different cultures. You really learn how to communicate with each other in different languages and it really improves your English. | 
