Is It June Yet?
It may be winter, but summer camps are filling up fast. Remember camp? Bug juice, swimming, socials? Let Brookline's Sophie Samdperil, 13, refresh your memory.
You started going to sleep-away camp when you were 11 - what made you want to go?
My friend went the year before, and she told me about all the nice people and the fun stuff and the surprises. Sometimes we have treasure hunts or play hide-and-go-seek with the counselors. If you win, you get to have hot chocolate in the morning. The first year I was nervous. It was hard to say goodbye [to my parents when they dropped me off]. I wasn't crying, but I felt weird. But then last year I couldn't wait for them to leave.
How do you keep in touch with people?
I write letters. You can't IM at camp. I miss that when I'm there, but it's supposed to be about the outdoors and stuff. There are moments where, I'm like, "Oh, my God, I wish I could tell my friend this."
Couldn't you put it in a letter?
You can, but letters seem so slow.
Can you at least receive care packages?
Yes - people get magazines, toys, some people get makeup and lip gloss, or books and flashlights and batteries. Sometimes parents sneak in candy.
What are the counselors like?
Sometimes they give us candy. And one night they woke us up in the middle of the night and took us to the waterfront and we saw shooting stars.
Do you socialize with the boys at the camp across the lake?
We have coed day and dances. The older girls, they spend, like, hours in the shower.
How about the girls your age?
We got ready, but we didn't get all get obsessed and "Oh, my God."
How do you decide what to bring to camp?
There are events, and you bring some nice clothes for those - there are dances, and the last night there's an awards night, and there's a food fight, so you bring bad clothes for that. You want to bring everything, but you can't. It's difficult.
At camp, you sleep 10 girls to a cabin - do you like that?
It's fun, but the counselors don't usually let you talk after 10. My friends got unlucky and they had really mean counselors who wouldn't let them talk after 9:30.
As a veteran of both day and overnight camps, you're in a position to know - where can you make better friends?
At Park [day camp], you get closer because it's five weeks, but at P.V.C. [Pleasant Valley Camp in New Hampshire], you get to live with them. Also, if you don't like someone in your cabin, it's not good, but at Park you can just avoid them.
Do you like camp or school better?
Camp - there's no homework.
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