Camp Compare!

If you follow me on Twitter or read the blog post I posted last night, you'll know I am applying to work at a camp in America next summer. I'd heard about Camp America whilst I was in sixth form, then last year a meeting was held at my university about it but for the past couple of years, I've considered applying to go and work during summer overseas.

So I thought next summer, 2014, would be the perfect opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone and travel to America! So with the thought of travelling to America in mind, I began googling (and we all do love a good google!) about all the different companies which do the cultural exchange programme to summer camps. Originally, I only knew about Camp America as they are the most well-known but after researching I have found out about CCUSA, BUNAC, Camp Leaders, AmeriCamp and more. Now if your reading this looking for advice on who to go with, you have to decide who is better for you.

Some things you ought to consider when looking for the right company are: how much does each company charge for their services? How much will you earn whilst your out there? What is included in the charges? What is the application process like? And most importantly, who is the most trustworthy? Now, by this time you might be thinking OMG?! Why do I think about all this? I thought they did it all.. Well, once you've chose a company, all is well and its pretty stress-free and your chosen company will help you along the way.
Well to answer all those questions above and possibly more, click here, this Save The Student site I found very useful when asking all those questions and putting all those things into perspective. 

So at the company which came out on top for me, when considering anything, is AmeriCamp!

Now, AmeriCamp wins it for me because overall, you end up earning something from working abroad for 9 weeks. Which for me, is a big deal because I'm a student and what do students not have a lot of? MONEY! We need all the money we can get therefore, the wages from this make it worth my while. If possible, I'd love to travel some of America after camp but I also want to go on a summer holiday with my friends so I'm passing on travelling America next summer and instead, getting a holiday fund jar and SAVING! I'm planning on getting one of those saving jars which you have to break to get into therefore, I can't touch any of my holiday fund and will get to travel after graduation in 2015.

I am just loving life at the moment!

So why don't you join the AmeriCamp revolution with me?

Sending love your way x

Edge Hill Freshers!

I know its been quite some time since I last posted up and if your family/friends you'll be wanting to know how my first 2 weeks at uni has been going. Well, in a nutshell, its been awesome! This is such a new experience for me; living away from home and fending for myself, well in my opinion, I've been doing a pretty damn good job!

Firstly, lets discuss freshers week; a week full of partying and meeting new people.. Basically, just like my Kos holiday, just without the sunshine.

Monday 24th September

UV Paint Glow Party

From the name of this night you can probably guess what this was; its was a biggg glow party (thankfully, I had a little UV paint leftover from holiday too). It was held in the campus' own club 'The Venue' which was fully packed and for small people (like myself) it was pretty hard to move so if you have a major problem with claustrophobia, I would recommend not attending one of these. This was different from the one on holiday as instead of just painting your face with paint, they actually had paint canons! Yes, I know, pretty big deal, and they were! If you were aiming to keep yourself relatively clean, these did not. Paint just covered you from head to toe!



BEFORE





DURING




AFTER




Absolutely covered.. Thankfully, we returned back to halls relatively early to take numerous showers!



Tuesday 25th September

Jameela Jamil

The title is explanatory in itself really; Jameela Jamil, the T4 presenter and Radio 1 DJ came to DJ at 'The Venue'. Like many of your reading this, you'll all be like, who is she? Shes not very big.. and stuff like that but she was a good DJ. However, compared to the previous night 'The Venue' was pretty empty but on the other hand, it was nice to be able to move and have room to boogie!

Wednesday 26th September

Freshers Fair

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures at the freshers fair because I had to fit it in around my introductory lectures into my course but I can tell you what it was like. I heard what freshers fairs are like before going to this so I was eagerly anticipating all the free goodies and seeing all the societies and clubs Edge Hill had to offer me. It did not disappoint.

During the day I managed to sign up to the NUT (National Union of Teachers), which was something I had to do as a trainee teacher; I registered with the doctor in Ormskirk (although, I don't know where the doctors surgery actually is haha); I got a lot of free stuff like food, stress balls and pens haha. Onto the clubs and societies then.. Well I was quite surprised at the amount of societies there were and what they ranged from, some of them were really bizarre. To start with, there were the stereotypical societies like cooking, animé and political parties.. But there were also strange ones like Philosotea (they philosophise while drinking tea), Women's Rights and the Dr Who society (I do enjoy Dr Who and watch it when its on, but I'm not sad enough to actually join the society.. as Mum would ask haha). However, I did join the Edge Hill Cheerleaders :) - I am sooo excited about this, I've always enjoyed gymnastics and did dabble in a bit in my younger days but cheer leading is something definitely created to keep you fit and learning the skills required like jumps, gymnastics and stunts is just all part of the package. I've already been to 2 training sessions with the Edge Hill cheerleaders and although they absolutely killed my muscles as I'm not used to the intense exercise, I will be going back and hopefully attending their socials they have every Wednesday! Also, my flatmate, Kitty, got me signed up for the climbing/hiking society.. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind a bit of hiking, but climbing was a little too far.

I'm excited for all the opportunities I'm getting here at Edge Hill as back home in Doncaster I would have never felt comfortable doing all the exercise I am doing because of my worries about weight and things. Hopefully now I will return to my original size I was 2/3 years ago, that was the perfect size for me.

Thursday 27th September

Ormskirk Town Takeover: Emergency Services Fancy Dress

Oh yes, we had one of those good old-fashioned dressing up events. I love dressing up as most of my family and friends will know from previous birthday parties and things. This was going to be a great event for me.. I'd already purchased an outfit for it in anticipation before arriving at Edge Hill so I was prepared. It was a good night that we all thoroughly enjoyed and we will definitely be heading into Ormskirk for another night out.. The only problem with the town here though is everything shuts for 2am, which is my eyes is a little early for clubs as they shut later back in Doncaster.

I hope everyone else has settled into university and making new friends and of course, had a brilliant time on their freshers week!

Lastly..

This is a picture Kitty tweeted when we'd made homemade Shepard's Pie :) - excuse the dress, wet hair and limited makeup haha!

Have a gander at me new photo wall I've finished in the past week; all my photo's on one wall, just behind my bed :)

I'll try and post as often as possible

J