12 Days Of Summer Camp

Day 4

Day three of the worst two weeks of my life arrives. I wake up and we get told that today we will be doing archery and kayaking. Great! I think, At least if I don’t get to shower today I will be all groggy from the river water. We were all split into two groups, and I was in group one, meaning I would be doing archery first. I was feeling pumped and ready to go. Archery would probably be the most fun activity throughout this entire horrendous camp. This experience is probably the closest to death you can get without actually dying.  

I was sitting on the tree log, waiting for my turn to shoot the arrow, and it felt like it would never come. There were about 15 people and 4 archery stands which meant you only got a turn every 4 rounds. What a crock! I was sitting on the tree log for 10 minutes flat waiting for my turn while shivering because of the soul sucking wind refusing to give me a break. It was like the whole world was against me having a decent camping trip.

Anyway, so my turn finally comes and I walk up to the stand all professional like and ready to go. I get into the right mindset and everything, aiming for the bullseye. I pick up my bow and grab my arrow. Then I realise I have no bloody idea how to shoot an arrow and have to call over the instructor to show me.

After he tells me what to do, I draw my bow back and release. Sure it skimmed the floor about 5 times before it reached the end of the field but I thought it was a pretty good attempt. I take another arrow and release it. This time it goes over the hay stacks and I have to stop what I’m doing to go find it. After retrieving the arrow I just gave up and decided to freeze in the cold until I had to go kayaking.

So far, this camp was becoming more annoying than tall people sitting in front of you in a movie cinema. You know it’s not their fault that they’re tall but you still hate them anyway. Just like I hate everyone who was involved in making it so all year 9’s had to spend 12 days here.  

So it’s time to go kayaking and I changed into my really old clothes because I knew there was a strong possibility I would fall into the river. Also, after I found out we were able to shower after we came back; I immediately started stuffing the clothes I was going to change into, into a bag. This was so as soon as I got back from kayaking, I would be able to grab the bag and hit the taps without waiting to get a shower first.

I walk to the river and as soon as I get there, I notice the horrible stench it is sending out. It smelled worse than B.O and there is only one smell worse that B.O and that is- Deodorant on top of B.O. I was about to puke and I wasn’t sure if I could hold it in for any longer, but I had to put it out of my mind.

We put all of our gear on, you know, life jacket, helmet, all that jazz. I grabbed a helmet and it was just my luck I get stuck with the one with the broken strap. I think I spent about 10 minutes trying to adjust it and in the end I just said stuff it. If I fall out and my head smashes against a rock, it’s just another way out of this place.

While I was adjusting my helmet I got stuck with the partner no one wants to go with. Oh well, I just had to suck it up like I did with everything else. I’m sure as everyone knows, when you go kayaking, both people have to row in synch with each other. Because I was at the front of the kayak, I told my partner to watch my rows and copy them. I wasn’t being bossy or anything, but how was I supposed to follow her rows when I couldn’t see them?

So we get started and like you can imagine, she completely disregards everything I told her and she drives us straight into a rocky wall. I push ourselves away from it using my ore, only to bounce right back because my hair got caught in a tree branch. The instructor begins giving us instructions (duh) and tells us to switch positions with our partner, while on the water. What the hell? This kayak barely fits two people and it is skinnier than the nuts and bolts that obviously fell out of her head when she told us to do this. In what life would she expect I basically jumped into the river? Well not this one. Instead I just didn’t do it. I know what you guys are all thinking right now. What a rebel, and let me tell you, it felt very liberating.

So it’s time to get out of the river and I was very proud of myself that I didn’t fall into the river. We rowed up the shore but we didn’t get enough momentum to actually get out because the shore was on a hill... if that makes any sense. So we’re struggling to get up and I hear the instructor (the same one that told us to suck it up when we were nailing in out tents) say,

“You girls have to get out yourself; I’m not going to help you”

Wow, you’re at a school camp and you get no satisfaction out of helping out another person. Can I ask what insane asylum you were released from before you came here? Because I think we need to call them back, or the person that made Frankenstein, whichever one is easier to get a hold of.

So I am still struggling to get out of the water (no help from my partner by the way) and in the end, I just say stuff it (like I did with archery and my helmet strap) and I step into the water and drag us out. At this point, everyone else is out of the water and packing their kayak away and I really need to move if I’m going to shower first. So I throw off my helmet and rip off my life jacket and make a run for it. My feet are swimming in fish bowls and I’m carrying extra weight because of all the water soaked up from my clothes. I finally make it up the hill and to my tent. I grab my bag and bolt for the showers. Yes! I made it, first one there. I turn on the water and what do I find? The group that went kayaking first already showered and because this piece of shit camp runs on tank water, there was absolutely no hot water left.

 I got out of the shower and walked to my tent. It was going to have to be another day before I washed off the stench of the gross smelling lake. Only 9 more days to go. 

Hope you liked the third chapter. Dont forget to comment about some of your bad campaing experiences!