Chicago

I feel so blessed for all that I've been fortunate enough to have experienced thus far.

***

Going to Chicago for the weekend ended up being absolutely bloody brilliant. Its such an amazing city. I would seriously consider moving there if that were at all possible. This was my first time using the website airbnb, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. However my two hosts, Jess and Drew, ended up being the nicest, friendliest, coolest couple ever. Their apartment was in the heart of downtown, right on the lake, on the 17th floor which overlooked the water.

 Jess!

View from the apartment. There was also fireworks on the lake one night

Chicago turned me into a really great walker. I meandered around the city the first day on my own, which was so friggen lovely mind you. Having that time by myself was liberating after being so used to being around other people constantly- I missed hanging out with me.

I ended up walking all the way down Navy Pier and had an ice cream. As I wandered further down I came across this jazz band playing a free show, with people sitting around drinking and dancing. So I decided to have one beer and check them out. Well one turned to four as I realised how incredible they sounded, and I was becoming intoxicated with the environment that I found myself in - sun shining, water gleaming, the magnificent city backdrop right there in front of me, funky music, relaxing drinks, and a lot of guys that were very easy on the eye. I ended up staying till the end - I didn't want to leave!

After they finished, the host dude announced they were having a competition for who travelled the furthest to get to where we were. Already half drunk, getting on stage or being in the public eye in any way was the LAST thing I wanted. However this Indian lady who I was chatting to completely insisted I get up there, and despite my protests, pulled me by the arm towards the guy saying 'YOU HEV TO DO EET! YOU MUST!' then, 'EXCUSE ME YOUNG FELLOW! THIS GIRL FROM AUSTRALIA, VERY FAR!' Mortified I just went along with it and stayed to the side, where another girl was sitting. She must have overheard us because I then discovered she was Aussie too! Needless to say we won free tickets for the Ferris wheel or someshit but we ended up spending pretty much all of the weekend together. Her name was Carly, from Sydney, and she was very cool.

That night we went out for drinks with Jess and Drew and Jess' boss, which was fun. We stayed for quite a while, then Carly and I kicked on to this other place called Howl at the Moon. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It's a piano bar, so basically on the stage there's 2 pianos with singers and that's it. But the crowd was crazy! Everybody singing and dancing and having such a great time. We hung out with some people from a bachelors party who hooked us up with lots of free drinks, and we had a fantastic night.

Best piano bar ever

Once the place closed and we all filed outside, I got talking to some Italian guy who I was completely amused with. His name was Vito, he was an Italian from Chicago, and I was pretty sure he was in the mafia (I asked him about 50 times so..) We went to another bar around the corner with his friends, but after about half an hour I realised the novelty wore off and I was sick of him so I asked him if we could go out for a cigarette, then as soon as he lit up, I told him I needed to use the bathroom (quick escape)

When I walked back in, I ended up talking to this Irish guy who I really took a fancy to. He reminded me of that actor who's the cop in Bridesmaids. He was really funny and we ended up hanging out for the rest of the night.

The next day was spent day drinking with Jess and Drew, sightseeing and chilling at the beach with Carly, and me getting lost in downtown Chicago at night without a phone. It's probably every parent's worst nightmare but in the end this group of extremely nice fisherman helped me charge my phone and call Drew up to get the address, then they fetched a cab for me. Sometimes I honestly think there are guardian angels in this world. I'm not exactly sure what I would have done that night if I hadn't of bumped into them. Apparently at first they thought I was a crazy lady, as I walked up to them in a teary panic announcing that my phone died, which he misheard as my friend died, and proceeded to assume I was going to take him to a dead body or something. What a lol. Anyway I finally made it back, we ordered delicious Chicago styled deep dish pizza, and I went to sleep, waking up at 3am in time to catch my flight to Toronto.

 What a memorable weekend I had. One weekend was definitely not enough, and I know without a doubt I will be back. Love you chitown.

That's a wrap.

I'M CURRENTLY WAITING AT THE AIRPORT TO LEAVE MINNEAPOLIS.

HOLY CRAP.

IT HAS FLOWN BY SO FAST.

10 weeks ago I stepped foot into LA about to embark on this amazing adventure. And here I am, closing the chapter on Camp T, the end of an era. It has been an experience to say the least.

I've decided to spend the weekend in Chicago before I head up to Ottawa, Canada to apply for my next J1 visa to study at UF. I am so excited to explore the city!

I will miss everybody that I've met so much. We have become like a family. Honestly, the people are the saving grace of my job. I know that I have definitely met some friends for life that I will undoubtedly see again in the future. I am so blessed to have been able to partake in this extraordinary experience. As much as I bitched about camp to no end about the early mornings and late nights and the food and the showers and the weather and the insert-other-complaint,  I know that no matter what, I will miss that place. I'll miss seeing the same faces everyday, getting ready together in the bathrooms, having laughs over the most mundane things, the campfires, the kids, the random nights out. All of it will be a fond memory which I'll always look back upon and smile.

To wrap up things from the last time I've updated:

- Party bus for Chico's birthday which was immense. Finding myself late in the night playing poker in a secret upstairs room of a club with these random gangstas with white ditzy girlfriends. What the actual fack

- Spent a weekend with another host family, however minus the famly, with Jiff dawg. We stayed with a girl named Kelly and her muso boyfriend Donny who are about our age. They spent the weekend taking us around town, both downtown and uptown, showing us how real 21+ year olds from Minneapolis spend their weekends. 

Started off Friday night with drinks at her place, then ate amaaaazing juicy lucy burgers at this cool little dig, then went to go see a jazz band play called Sexy Delicious (whatta lol) 

Saturday we woke up late, enjoyed some Bloody Mary's along with breakfast, became tipsy again, spent the entire day walking the city, shopping and barhopping around uptown, then finally headed home in the night, ordered pizza and wings and attempted to create a fort in the living room so we could comfortably watch Mean Girls. Could it have been anymore amazing? I think not.

- Had my last ever Friday night out with the gang, so we made a decision to have a quick dinner then come back to camp and kick on there. Well. The restaurant we turned up at, Lord Fletchers, ended up throwing a DJ into the room we were in at about 9pm randomly. Everyone was like whaaaaatthefuck. Many many drinks were had and a boogie not forgotten. It ended up being such a fun and crazy night. I love spontaneous nights like that! I barely remember getting back to camp but we all crashed in the same place and woke up nice and late. Perrrrrfect.
Saturday was spent lazing around camp, sunbaking on the water tramp, having a bbq, and eating and drinking on the beach with all my favourites. I loved how my weekend consisted of both wild and chill - it's exactly what I needed.

***

Yesterday was my last day ever. It just felt so surreal - it wouldn't sink in that this was it. The day was nice and chill, then at night once all the campers went to bed, all the counsellors sat around the fire with me and talked shit until nearly 1 in the morning, sharing funny memories, talking about the characters of camp, what we'll miss, hilarious moments... I think that's when it started to finally hit me a bit that I wasn't going to see this beautiful bunch of people, who have become my family, for a very long time.

Tears were had this morning as I made my way to the office with my bags ready to go. I never thought I'd say this but I honestly just did not want to leave. We've made promises to see each other again and I know undoubtedly it will be fulfilled. 

As I drove up the long gravel driveway for the last time, I looked back and saw my favourite people looking back at me from the field and waving. I tried to capture this moment in my mind so much. It's crazy, living in this one place for 10 weeks, and then suddenly, I will never ever see it again. It will always be that fond memory of the time I spent one crazy summer in America working at a camp with a bunch of people I had never met before. 

For sure, this was a summer to remember.

***

So right now, as I finish my coffee, I am about to board my flight to Chicago - another adventure waiting to begin. Florida is indeed calling. And instead of the sick, anxious feeling I've had for the past day, I am incredibly excited. More friends to meet, places to see, experiences to be had.

 Lets do this.

5 weeks down.

Can't believe it's been five weeks already. I'm leaving in like, a month from now. Craaazy. I've now started to keep a travel journal as there's so much stuff going on I couldn't possibly fit it all in a blog, not to mention the very private side of things (dirty dark secrets) - just kidding. But seriously.

Things have been so unbelievably busy. Working morning till night is slowly taking it's toll on me, I'm so damn tired by like 4pm every day. So far I've had rez with 11 year old girls who were slightly insane, and this week I had 6 year olds. It was my first time dealing with that age group and I was a tad scared but it turned out all good. I must admit though, I prefer the older ones for sure. The young ones are cute and all but they seriously struggle to follow any basic instructions and cry and sook over literally anything. I guess some people might be a bit more patient than me dealing with that age group's stuff but all I can say is that by Friday 5pm I couldn't wait to just have a drink!

couldn't even get them to stay still for 5 seconds

A couple weeks back now we had one of the counsellor's (Jiffy) 21st birthdays and we went to a place called Gay 90's in downtown. It was one of those gay clubs that everybody goes to. It was huge! So many rooms, awesome music, foam party on the bottom level, drag shows on the top, boys shaking their booties on the bar. I've seen nothing like it before and it was one of the funniest nights I've had. I was wishing that my girls in Melbourne could have been there!

The following weekend I opted to stay with a host family which was a really nice break (I had a shocker of a week with 23+ kids to look after, it was insane!) I deffs needed a break from the place for a bit. The family was super nice and it was amazing to sleep in a REAL bed and not have to shower with flip flops on. They had a boat too which was awesome. They also took me to the Mall of America, which was once the biggest mall in the world - there's a friggen theme park on the bottom level for god's sake!

This week we got to go to the baseball and watched the Twins vs the Yankees. The atmosphere was sooooo cool. It's everything you'd expect an American baseball game to be. Without really trying, Jiffy, Laser and I got quiiiiite merry. The combination of the huge beers and the blazing sun = me not remembering who actually won the game. But gosh damn it was one of the funnest evenings we've had!

not much memory of this one being taken

4th of July was spent at a lake down in Excelsior. It was so lovely to lay a blanket out and watch the fireworks. People were packed like sardines and I'd be a millionaire if I had a buck for every American flag I saw. It was a nice chill night spent with the best.

***

This weekend one of the local staff, Moose, offered for us to hang out at his place on the Friday night. Many a game of King's Cup were played, heaps of laughs, music, dancing, dnms, chilling, raids of the pantry, teabagging unfortunate passed out individuals. It was so good to just hang out with everyone at a house and mind you, what. a. house. Very typical American - huge, beautiful, private bathroom for nearly every bedroom, deck out the back, furniture, just everything! Today (Saturday) all us girls got back to camp and decided to sunbake on the deck of the lake in our actual bikinis (we have to wear tops). Seriously comparing my arms to my stomach is like two different people. So cray.

Received a care package from back home and I was like a kid at Christmas! Vegemite, Tim Tams, letters from nonna, zio and mum, photos of my sister's wedding, and a whole bunch of clothes which I didn't pack and then realised I needed (that process took so friggen long, getting mum to go to my room then show me over skype what stuff I wanted, oh lawd.) I got a bit teary reading it all. I miss my family and my friends so much. But I don't really have time to be homesick here! It comes and goes pretty quickly.

All in all, it has been busy, and I've been living for the weekends. I'm scared that my blog posts are getting too long as I can't update more frequently, so I'm like trying to fit in everything real concisely. Let's see how my last 4 weeks go (can't believe how quickly it's going!)


More little realisations:
- There's no facking fences around the houses. I find that so weird. In Australia we have 8 foot fences so you never have to even see your neighbour, let alone share an entire piece of land with them!

- I cannot sleep in anymore. Dafuq. I'm so used to being up at 6.30 that it's just natural for me now even on a Saturday!
- I have not seen one single-storey house yet
- Alycia does not appreciate the fact that I am now conditioned to call thongs flip flops. Can't help it anymore. I am sorry!

Love you all

Evie x

PS- I love getting mail!!!!!!!! Send me a letter or a picture or something if you ever feel like it!!!!
 --address removed-- I realised I don't want my blog to be connected to the camp I'm at in any way just incase!

First week down

And what a week it's been. Kids arrived on Sunday night, but my ones came on Monday. They run residential camp where kids sleep over for 5 nights Sunday through Thursday, then there's day camp where they come Monday to Friday 7.30 - 5.00 (what I had). I fell in love with my group. I was admittedly nervous before they arrived, hoping my lesson plans would work out and most of all that they would like me. It ended up being awesome. Some of my kids could just make me laugh hysterically and although they had their moments I am so thankful I had such a good first week with them. I feel like I need 9000+ hours of sleep but gosh it's worth it. Highlight was probably telling scary stories in this abandoned cabin in the woods which we weren't really meant to go in but they loved it!

Here's a photo:

Three are missing cause it was the last session of the week and it's so hard to round them all up at that time! Two had some sort of ADD (one always wandered off hence him missing from the picture!) and one I'm pretty sure showed signs of autism. He was moved from two groups for causing trouble and was finally put into mine, but honestly he was good with me. I think because I have that experience dealing with difficult kids and mental health in general I was able to get through to him (bar one incident where he flat out refused to put on his shoes and we spent nearly an hour dealing with it). Some kids who had been coming to camp for years told me I was their favourite counsellor which was nice to hear :) Some of the parents actually offered for me to stay at their house, so seeing as camp allows for host families I may take up an offer one weekend (who could pass up sleeping in an actual bed?!)

Needless to say it was an EXHAUSTING week, not to mention we haven't had a full day off since we started training, so when Friday rolled around I was absolutely hanging for a night out on the town. The kids left at 5 then it was a mad rush to the bathrooms to start getting ready. I must say, after feeling grubby all week it was nice to get dressed up and do my hair and makeup! It was fun getting ready with the girls, all trying to share the same mirror and pumping up the music.

We got a hotel in downtown Minneapolis with nearly 20 of us sharing two rooms. We started the night in one room having pre's and playing drinking games, getting pumped for the night. It was such a laugh. Cabbing it to the club was beautiful - something about downtown just feels so... cool. I really felt like I was in America.

The night was amazing, from what I can remember anyway. I had some cash stolen but it was my own drunken fault and its definitely a lesson learnt. Passport and IDs are still in tact so that's all that matters!  I don't think I've felt that hungover since my 21st, maybe worse. But it was definitely worth it! Having some drinks and a boogie with everyone outside of camp was definitely needed.

 It was funny seeing everybody so out of it back at the office - I was greeted by my boss with "Welcome to Saturdays at Camp". Brilliant. One of the counsellors is celebrating her 21st next week and apparently we're hiring a party bus - lets see how that goes!

A few people went to the Twins baseball game in the evening, but because there were too many of us and we would have had to catch a cab, a few of us ended up having dinner and ice cream locally. It was really pleasant. Can't wait to eventually catch a game soon though.

All in all it was a great first weekend off! And in other news, the weather is slowly picking up!!! Still a bit of rain here and there but at least it's not cold anymore! Here's our beach, Lake Minnewashta: (Just missed the sunset!)

More things I've learnt and noticed:

- Australians cuss a LOT. I didn't know hell and ass were considered bad words!!!

- 'Far out' is a very Australian term and nobody else seems to understand it

- The 'Waiting for a mate' phenomenon has only just picked up here

- I love when kids have that sassy ghetto accent (Y'all know what I'm sayin'?!)

- Kids find the Australian accent hilarious and I spent way too much time repeating words on request

- It would be weird to be under 21 here and considered a minor all over again. You can go out but can't drink - they give you a coloured wristband to indicate your age. Glad I could help out my minor brethren where I could though! 

 xxx Eva

The kids are a comin'

The kids are arriving this Sunday! I've found out I've got thirteen 9-10 year olds for the week. I'm super excited to say the least! I think they will really change the dynamic and the environment at camp - I can't wait. This means I've now moved from the 30+ bunk room to the smaller cabin with two other counsellors. There's no heat, lighting or electricity in general (did I mention its extremely cold lately? Where the F are you summer?!) but hey reppin' the rustic camp lyf yo' where nobody cares about showering daily anymore and we live on s'mores.

Went to get a social security number today with the other newbies. The place reminded me of centrelink a lot actually - just a tad scummy with the staff thinking they are the security of the world. Because we finished up early we got to take a drive downtown Minneapolis, and had breakfast at this uptown diner (I think I'll get diabetes from that meal). Needless to say I can't wait to finally go out and check out some bars and live music, it looks amazing.

More random drives here and there which have been awesome. I was told that if any opportunity arises to get off camp, even if its just for a bit, should be taken up. After being here for so long I guess you can start to get sick of it. Went to Goodwill which was mad, picked up two jumpers and two hoodies for less than $20 all up. Been pumping a lot of songs in parking lots which has made me laugh till my stomach hurts (there was 7 of us stuffed in the car at the time) including niggas in paradise and thrift shop - mah jaaayyums!!! Went to this secluded beach late at night with a few of the girls, as well as other little adventures here and there. I'm so glad a couple of the local people have their cars here, seriously. Trips to the gas station always manage to turn into adventures!

There's only a few people who are 21 and over here so one night after dinner we decided to go out to a bar for a few drinks. Of course this turned into many many drinks, and it was hilarious. I don't think there was any other people our age there and there was terrible karaoke going on but we had a great time. It was my first time trying to work out the whole tipping thing too, so what started as tipping 1 or 2 bucks, after I started feeling merry I think I tipped the bartender like 10 bucks one time. Jesus. I need to seriously watch myself!

Here is a pretty tame picture of our group -

I promise to take more photos eventually!!!

Things I've noticed about America:

- There are more American flags per square mile than people (maybe a slight exaggeration)

- They have drive-thru ATMs and pharmacies (what the hell?)

- They still think I mean a g-string when I mention thongs

- S'mores are delicious and I wish it was a thing back home 

Anyway gotta get to sleep as we're up at 6.30am to jump in the lake. I swear the weather better have picked up by then (it's been so cold and drizzly - I left Melbourne to get AWAY from that shite!!!)

Eva xox

Camp T

So I made it here to Minnesota! I'm at Camp working as a general counsellor until August. It is such a beautiful place. We're training all this week with all the activities, with the kids arriving in a week. Basically we work morning till night with Friday night 9pm until Sunday 10am off a week.

I won't lie - my first day here wasn't the best. I really doubted if I had made the right decision. Everyone that was here seemed to know each other so well and I felt like I was never going to make friends and felt extremely homesick that night. It wasn't a nice feeling, ill be honest. Everyone was friendly but I really missed my friends and wanted to come home.

That all changed the next day. I must have still been jet lagged or whatever but a good nights rest really fixed my mood up and I got to know the people here a lot more. They are seriously awesome. There are people from all over the place - locals from the city (Minneapolis and St Paul), heaps of Brits, a couple from New Zealand and Australia, and even a guy from Amsterdam.

Here at camp we had to make up 'camp names' cause apparently the kids aren't meant to know your real name. I could only come up with the name Lemons as back in the day it was commented to me that I smelt like a lemon and was then called it by this particular group of people. Plus Dee was already taken. Thus for the next two months I am now known as Lemons - not Eva!

That night after we finished up for the day, one of the girls Laser asked me to come for a drive with this guy Sam (who was at camp last year and lived in the area) with this girl Shmo and a guy named Pepper so even though I was knackered I thought I should take every opportunity at this point to say yes to everything. 

What initially started as a little drive around the lake turned into us dropping into two grad house parties. Needless to say it was an extremely random night out (I was in a hoodie and glasses for christs sake) but we were given heaps of free beers and vodka and I even got to try some Minnesotan green which was nice! It was seriously such a fun time. Americans are very cool and love Australians. We pretty much bonded and had our last cigarette outside of camp after getting dropped off. We stumbled back into the bunks at 1am (all the counsellors are staying in a huge room at the moment with I think 30 bunks) and finally settled into bed.

I spent the next day very hungover (it was the first day of training) but we did things like try out the giant swing, go on a massive scavenger hunt, swim in the lake, etc. Even though I was out of it it was a great day.

I wish I had more photos but honestly it's been the last thing on my mind. Some people I've noticed are kinda obsessed with updating their facebook and Instagram and checking their 'likes' and all that (there's only one room in the entire camp that has wifi mind you) but I've honestly had no desire to (apart from Skype family and friends here and there to let them know I'm still alive). Each to their own though, everybody is different.

   From the beginning I really wanted this trip to be about me finding myself and gaining that independence only solo travelling can give to you. I want myself to be fully immersed in this experience - not having half my mind still stuck in whats happening in Melbourne.

Of course I miss home (especially my family - my nonna cried on Skype the other night -.-) but its getting better as I'm getting closer to the other counsellors here. We are living, eating, sleeping and working together 24 hours a day so you are bound to form some great relationships. That being said It has been tough work every day but I'm beginning to realise why everyone calls camp the best summer of your life.

And this is just the beginning.

Until next time,

eva xxx

First day

I don't normally eat a lot of sweets, but I'm currently eating a delicious apple and walnut cobbler with vanilla ice cream at 9.45pm in my queen size bed, whilst overlooking planes landing through my hotel room window in Los Angeles.

In the USA.

Today is the first day of my nine month adventure across the States. And it still feels so surreal.

I was initially going to invest in a travel journal, but realised it's the 21st century and I will probably find it easier to jump on my iPad here and there and write about my trials and tribulations as I go along.

I left Melbourne on the 30th of May at 9.15am. The flight was about 13 hours - my butt felt numb the entire time and my brain was melting after 5 movies, not to mention I had a seat in the middle aisle squashed between two other guys. Lucky they were cool though so I made two new friends. The border officers at LAX were extremely lax themselves - definitely no three hour wait like I was made to believe - and were actually pretty friendly and conversational (shock horror)!

After I finally got to the hotel I was jetlagged as hell but convinced myself that I might as well power through the day and go for a walk around Santa Monica. It was so lovely!!!! I ended up making friends with this really nice English girl and we spent the majority of the day walking around the city.

My first 'Welcome to LA' experience was on the bus. There was this old crazy African American guy sitting near the front having a vivid conversation with himself, everyone just ignored him but as soon as he overheard me talking (and supposedly recognized my accent), he came right over and started talking really damn dirty. It was so freaking awkward! He's all like, 'You wanna suck some black American dick! And lick mah balls, and drink mah piss, miss!' over and over and over again and ended up making like a rap about it. I didn't know whether to laugh or be afraid but I just ignored him and kept looking at my friend wide-eyed, trying not to laugh the entire time. Only me! Luckily the bus driver had enough and yelled out 'Nobody wanna hear dat shiyyt! You better shut yo' mouth or you be gettin' off mah bus next stop ya hear!' and thankfully he friggen left and we sighed with relief. Ahh well, gotta take the bitter with the sweet!

On the way home we stopped at Carl's Jr for my first ever American meal - it was so fatteningly delicious. I think I've gotta make a conscious effort to not put on 10+kg while I'm here. I won't lie, I think it'll be a struggle :/

I got to skype with my family back at the hotel, and I won't lie but I already felt a bit homesick. I miss them a lot.

I fly out tomorrow morning to Minneapolis to start my job at Camp T until August - can't wait! Then after that I'll have to spend a week in Ottawa, Canada to apply for my second J1 visa for my semester at Uni of Florida (massive headache....) but fingers crossed it'll all go smoothly! Then of course after that meeting my three best friends for an epic road trip from NYC to San Fran via the south. I still can't believe this is all happening.

Well I think this was a sufficiently long winded introductory first post.
I'll end it here with a small tl;dr: don't make eye contact with beggar-looking people on the street or they'll hassle you for money, don't make yourself too known on public transport if there's a (relatively harmless) crazy person on it, and learn2tip!!!


'I will soon think of a cool signing-off line',
eva