Jocelin McAlpine, Recreation of Leisure Services, Class of 2010
Posted on Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
Jocelyn McAlpine (left) and Alycia Bannon (right), both graduates of the Recreation and Leisure Studies Program, Class of 2010 did Summer work at Camp Beaumont, England.
I came across the opportunity to travel abroad through a close friend of mine. We wanted to do something together for the summer, and this sounded perfect for us. She stumbled upon this job opportunity on the Algonquin College website; it was a posting for a position as a Group Leader at an international summer camp in England. The camp was called Camp Beaumont, and was located in West Runton, United Kingdom.
So we hopped on a plane in mid June to begin our travels to Europe. We left two weeks early before work started so we could start the excitement of traveling England. Our long journey from Canada soon landed in Dublin, Ireland were we stayed and traveled for 9 days, moving from hostel to hostel and one side of the country to the other. We accomplished a great deal of traveling here, but were excited to begin work. Our first week of training was in Whales at one of Camp Beaumont’s many resorts, called Colomendy Valley. Here, we began the friendships with many other fellow Canadians, and stayed in tents for 9 more nights- through all the rain and drought we still had a great time. Once finished our week of training, all 20 Canadians were transported by bus to our final destination- Pinewood Sands in West Runton. Here, it was a small beach town located right on the ocean. Our bedroom view was a great one to wake up to; beach sand and blue water. We worked hard strenuous hours, and a lot of the time we were stressed out to the max from chasing the campers around and making sure their teeth were brushed, but at the same time we loved it. After working 4 ½ days straight, we were then granted 2 ½ days off, and we took great advantage of these days. Often traveling to London for the weekend, or camping out on the beach for the day, we even once flew to Scotland for the weekend and had a chance to see the beautiful country. At work, our duties were fairly straightforward, we were to basically act as a mother figure for the campers in our group for a week. We would make sure daily tasks like showering and combing their hair were done, and at the same time plan a day full of activities for the campers to enjoy.
Pinewood Sands had a big variety of activities for the campers such as, high and low ropes, go carting, ATVing, caving, and other popular games like soccer and volleyball. It was great because it gave the children an opportunity to experience more than a normal camp would offer. The time came for all the campers to go home, for camp to end, and for all of us Canadians to move home. I met some of the nicest and most friendly people I know at Pinewood Sands, and fortunately enough for me, have been given the opportunity to visit with these people and keep in contact with them. We were more of a big family at Pinewood- not just a bunch of employees.
Throughout my two months of travel in the United Kingdom, I learned a great deal about myself, and grew as a person. I am now more outgoing, I am not scared to attack my goals, and have no fear or regrets in doing so. I am now an individual who has greater goals, and who wants to experience everything life has to offer, including traveling the world. I had the time of my life this summer, and would (and can’t wait to) do it all over again. I believe that if I can be away from friends and family to travel and work for two months- anyone can do it!
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