First Impressions

The arrival. I remember the trip to the camp well. We flew on the 3rd of July. We had to go through New York and that year the Statue of Liberty had been renovated and would reopen in 2 days time. So the airport was very busy. Somehow our tickets got messed up and I ended up sitting in a different part of the plane. Cheryl, Angie and Vicki were together towards the back. I was next to a freelance reporter headed to Florence for a fashion show. She was nice. Gave me lots of travel tips.
Thank goodness for Cheryl's cousins who live outside of Milan. They met us and drove us to their house for lunch and then drove us to the camp. It was a long drive for them. We were 4 girls who spoke little Italian and who had never been out of the US before. That would make a good movie.
The first camper we met was Sheila from Germany. She is the blonde in the white dress in the photo above. She was so nice and made us feel like we were among friends. She showed us the way to the town and around the camp grounds. We walked back and forth into town trying to make a call to let our parents know we got there all right. There were 79 participants 20 of which were from Italy and did not stay there the whole time. So 61 people sleeping at the camp for sure. 59 foreigners and then Francesco and Elena, the camp councellors. Amazing.

The first official day of the camp was July 4th. But not everyone was there. On the 5th of July, a representative of each country got on the stage and told something about his or her country. I was sick about half way through this presentation and snuck off to my bed to sleep off the jet lag. Sorry. I did stay for some of it. I have no idea who represented the US? Leslie, was it you?

What was your welcome to the camp like? How did you get to the camp? Did anyone meet you? do you remember who was the first camper you met? What were your first impressions?

I can still remember my bed. My cot. I was closest to the window, so some of my t-shirts got eaten by moths! Beth Linn, another American was across from me. I don't remember if we got assigned rooms. I think so. Who else was in my room? Do you remember who originally was bunked up with you?

I think that I was so naive and so impressionable. It was a like a fairy tale just to be there, that even the things that were bad, were some how acceptable, I took it as part of the whole adventure. (like the cold showers!! Try shaving your legs in ice water. ) I can't remember some things. I did keep a travel journal but did not write every day. A lot of my journal was written well after the fact. Too bad. Anyone else keep a journal? You can fill in my blanks or correct where I went wrong.

This is a picture of Alain from France sitting on my bed, writing in my address book. I still have it. A bit worse for wear. But still there.