Blogs from Freedom, New Hampshire, United States, North America

After nearly 3 years of working at Cohn & Wolfe in Amsterdam…I made the choice to leave my job in June to see whether I could take a new direction in my career and head for the non-profit industry. First step: a trip back to a YMCA camp in New Hampshire where I had previously spent summer in 2003, 2005 and 2007. This time to work on a new area: the Environmental Education programme. This summer the camp was also “Going Green”, quite the challenge with around 350 new campers staying every 2 weeks as well as over 100 staff (just imagine the amount of food & waste that gets generated…). Indeed, quite a change from the office environment, but just the challenge I was looking for. So after the goodbyes at the office and ... read more

So, finally my first entry after being back here at camp in New Hampshire for the third year! Leaving the Netherlands in the early hours of a Sunday morning, I slept through most of my journey to New York. In New York I had a few hours at the airport, which I spent trying to find my way around JFK airport, even the staff wasn't always able to tell me where my terminal or gate was... No wonder, when I saw my propeller plane, operated by "Freedom Airlines" - it was tiny and only had about 9 rows. Unlike the air-conditioned flight I just got off, this plane was boiling hot and very noisy. The air hostess was on her first day at work, so she was reading things of a sheet, and her supervisor ... read more

Howdy everyone, What a strange thought that my 10 weeks here at camp are over as of tomorrow!!! It's been a great summer again, we've had great weather, great campers, and after all the sicknesses at the barn we were left with 7 great horses too! For the last week I was a counselor in Cabin Z. With a few counselors having to leave early for college they were short so I volunteered. It was a big change from the last time, when I had Cabin S (some of the youngest campers) to move into the Senior division, with some of the oldest campers. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun getting to know this other side of camp and meeting the girls. I think it was tough on them to ... read more