I was a warm June day during the summer after my sophomore year. I was on my way to start my new job for the summer. I was headed to a summer camp in a small town called Hettick Illinois, a town of about two hundred people and little more than a few houses and a church.                                                                                   Although I did not go to the camp to work by myself, I defiantly felt a sense of being alone. When we first got to the small town we were early and did not need to be there for about an hour so we decided to look for a store to go and kill some time and pick up any last minute supplies. We noticed a man walking down the side of the road. We decided to ask him “is there a store or a gas station anywhere near here.” He responded, “no your in Hettick” and walked away, which only made us feel even further from civilization that before.

        When we get to where we will be staying, the first thing that we are asked to do is set up where we will be sleeping for the next month and a half. Which was just a wood frame that is there year round and a canvas cover that when over the frame. Once we got settled we noticed some things that were a little unsettling like that fact that there was very little that separated us from the things outside the tent. Also the walls of the tent did not quite make it all the way to the ground. Which made things a little more interesting when is rained. 

        My daily duties consisted of , setting of food area, serving, cleaning tables, setting up cleaning area, sweeping, garbage and dishes, also what ever else was asked of me. One of the biggest and most important parts of my job was to make sure that our guests were happy, which as time went on it proved to be the hardest tasks that I had to take care of while I was at camp.

        Soon after camp began there were curtain things that I started to miss, some of which were Electricity, a steady source of water and 8 hours of sleep a night. On top of that there was the making sure that I was doing everything that I need to for my job. But once I got in the swing of things I stated to notice that the more time I spent out there the less any of those things seemed to be a problem anymore.

        During my time there I also had a chance to meet many different people from around the state and even a few that were from out of the U.S. I saw how different most of them were from the people that were my friends back home, and how they thought differently and did thing differently, I know it weird but I remember one incident were I saw one of the people I met eating an apple, most people I had ever seen stop eating at the core, not for my new friend I saw him eat the entire apple stem and all.

        Sooner than I thought it would end, camp was over. The day we left the sky was dark and gloomy as if the camp itself was sad that we all were leaving.  The day we left was the worst day for me during the whole experience, one because I was sad it was time to go, and two we had to make sure that the camp was ready to go for the next year.

Which means cleaning up all the messes that I had “over looked” during the course of the camp. After I had cleaned up my area I was off to see what ever else needed to be done to make sure that we could get paid and leave on time.

         In a way I got lucky that it rain on the last day of camp, since it rained are tents were still wet and could not be taken down, which I did not mind since it was really hard to do. Since they could not be put away for the year until they were dry. We were told, “ they will stay up until the prisoners come during the fall to clean up camp.”

        On the long drive home, I had a lot of time to think about my experience in the woods, I thought back to the first day I got there and how I had no idea what to expect, to when I first realized that this would not be an easy summer. Then I thought mostly of what it would be like going back home and finally having all the things I missed so much at the beginning of camp. The more I thought about it I really did not car about those things any more, and the rest of the way home I thought about plans for next year.