Fraser on Tour!: Session 4 and DC

Apologies once more for yet another late blog posting but just to confirm for my friends and family back in the UK, I’m alive and well. Here’s my latest news from camp.

After the wild break away in Rehoboth, our focus quickly returned to work matters with the start of session 4, the second adult session and longest session of the summer being 12 days long. Although it was long and exhausting towards the end, the session as a whole was rather enjoyable due to the closer connections we made with our campers as well as the sheer volume of trips we went on. We were with our campers (Byron, Eric, Justin, David, Steven & Andy) for so long that when it came to outtake day it felt like we were saying farewell to close friends.

D2 Cabin Photo (from left to right)- Byron, Pedro, Andy, Marnix, David (in the chair), Braxton, Justin, Me, Steven, Snoopz and Eric

In session 4 I went on 4 trips: Bowling, Cookout, Baseball and Rodeo of which the latter were my favourites-real American experiences. On the Baseball trip we went to see a Minor league game between local side Hagerstown Suns, against West Virginia Power. After a sumptuous barbecue, we sat down to what was a rather long and disappointing game in which Hagerstown lost convincingly but it was great nonetheless to experience an American sports game in the flesh. I suppose Baseball is really like their equivalent of Cricket and like with Cricket, I believe it would be a much better sport if they sped it up a bit more! The Rodeo was something else for me. It felt like we'd traveled miles down south to dry desert land of Texas due to the large amount of horses and people walking around in full cowboy gear! The Rodeo made for great entertainment as we watched various brave/stupid rider almost hopelessly stay on their bucking bull and there was a real frenzied atmosphere despite the odd drop of rain.

Baseball trip

Cookout

Rodeo trip

Camp-wise, the Theme days for the session were Through The Decades (opening night dance), Sports Jersey Day, CGT Pride day and 80's Disco (Banquet theme) which were all great fun, especially the 80's banquet where me and the rest of my cabin mates from D2 dressed as rejected members from the Village People (I was a builder)!

Me, Steven and Matt at the Welcome dance

Karaoke

Camp fire time!

Fashion show

80's Banquet

me and Andy

Me, Roderick and Natalie

me with Megan

me with Sara

me, Chris and Janvier

me with Maria

Overall, Session 4 was for the most part an enjoyable one however it was somewhat overshadowed by the departure of my cabin leader and roommate, Braxton. As far as leaders go, Braxton was one of the best I've had the pleasure of working with and his guidance and expertise really helped me get through the first few weeks of camp when I was still getting to grips with what my job entailed. I'm still gutted that he had to leave so soon but hopefully I will see him again sometime and I wish him all the best.

Fairwell Braxton!

So, once the 4th session was over it was straight onto my first bit of sightseeing in the USA and what better place to start it than in the capital-Washington DC. I really enjoyed our day their seeing the various museums of the Smithsonian as well as the obvious main sights such as the White House, Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial as well as the more nerdier attractions such as Capitol hill and the Supreme court (it's safe to say I went to these locations by myself as no one else was interested). I really like DC as a place. It's a very clean and efficient city, giving off a real sense of national pride which is something you don't really feel when you visit London.