Nandan Nair

On Wednesday, June 14, 2017, me and my classmates went on a trip to Camp Wing, a camp in Duxbury, Massachusetts. We stayed for 3 days and 2 nights, and engaged in many activities. In this post, I give you an insight on my stay at, arguably, one of the best trips I have ever been on.

Day 1 (Wednesday, June 14)

On the morning of June 14, the day we went to Camp, I was packing up my things. The bus to leave Central was to arrive at 9:30, so we could wait until 9:00 to arrive. This meant that we could sleep a little more. We reached Central at about 9:10 and I found my cabin group which we had decided beforehand. The junior leaders, the people who would look after our groups, took our bags and put them all in one bus while we then got on the other buses and headed off to camp.

The bus ride was about 45 minutes, and was very loud, noisy and musical. When we arrived, the junior leaders and the camp counselors took our bags off the bus and kept them out so we could take them to our respective cabins. The boys’ and the girls’ were in separate cabins, and the girls’ were much farther away from everything else, including the activities. In short, they were isolated from most of the camp. The boys’ cabins, however, were actually only about 30 feet away from the basketball courts, soccer fields, etc. So we kept our bags in our cabins, near the bunk beds that we had chosen, and then went and sat on the logs in the center of all the cabins.

We were given a welcome “speech” by the camp counselors. They told us how our stay at the Camp would be, the expectations they had of us, and the schedule for the next three days. Afterwards, we went down to the dining hall for lunch. They had chicken quesadilla, rice, salad, lemonade, water, and pizza for vegetarians. But before we ate, we all had to do a “grace”, a short phrase which intends to basically say “Thank you for the food”. Each table had a waiter, which was decided by the people, and they were responsible for getting refills of food or drinks for the whole table. The food was amazing, and afterwards we cleaned up and went to our respective groups and did some activities.

Our group first went to the pool for some swimming. I was nervous about this since I still have trouble swimming, but thankfully the pool was only 3 feet deep so I could easily stand on it. Afterwards, we went to Keene Pond, the pond at camp, and did a Raft Challenge. In this challenge, we had to make a raft using two plastic boxes, two water jugs, and some rope. We could complete challenges if we wanted to get more things. We then chose two people to swim out with the raft in a race against the other team. It was a lot of fun, but I got twice as wet so I had to change again!

We then moved on and had about 1 and a half hours of free time to do anything we wanted. I went on the soccer field and played soccer with some of the teachers, counselors, and other students. After that, we went to the dining hall for dinner. Once again, we did a grace, then enjoyed some tacos, salad, lemonade, water, and pizza. However, after dinner, we all went deep in the forest to a huge campfire where we sang songs and ate s’mores. It was amazing. At the end we went back to our respective cabin areas, got changed, brushed our teeth. It was a wonderful day – hectic, adventurous, tiring and in no time I was asleep.

Day 2 (Thursday, June 15, 2017)

At 7:00 in the morning, I got up and did some stretching. It was cold in the night, and my legs were sore for the previous day’s activities. Most of our cabin mates were already awake and were also starting their morning routines. After shower, we went for breakfast. We did a grace, and then ate from the choice of fruit salad, orange juice, water, and bacon. Afterwards, we went to our activities. My group first went to do some Archery. It was fun, and I came close to hitting a bullseye. We then went to play some simple games. One of my favorites was called Walmart. In this game, someone would say a letter, and you would have to say something you can buy at Walmart that begins with that letter. It was fun, and very competitive too. And, before we knew it, it was time for lunch. This time, we had the choice of chicken, burgers, salad, lemonade, water, and pizza. We then continued with our activities. I went to canoeing, where we rowed a canoe to a certain point and was told about Michael Keene, the man the pond is named after. It is said that he once brought a small turtle into the lake, and it soon became gargantuan. It goes by the name Big Mike, and can only sometimes be seen. That is by screaming “Hey Big Mike!” three times then waiting. But, if we saw bubbles anywhere, then we had to row back to shore very quickly, as it is so huge, it could easily and will eat us. We then had the choice of riding a pedalo, which is like a bike on water, or a kayak. I chose a pedalo. It was hard work, but relaxing at the same time. We then got ready for the annual Camp Wing Dance, where everyone danced to music. We then went to the dining hall, which had been cleared out so that everyone had room to dance. We all went inside and danced to the music the DJ put on. It was really fun, and I got swarmed by some of my friends a couple of times. Afterwards we went back to our cabins, got dressed, brushed our teeth, showered, and then went to sleep. It was much warmer than yesterday, and I slept alot better.

Day 3 (Friday, June 16, 2017)

After 2 days, which felt like 2 weeks from all the activities, it was the day that we would go back to Central. Most of our cabin got up by 7:00, and showered at 7:30. This was 1 hour before it was time to wake up, so we had free time. At 8:30, while everyone else was getting ready, we went to Breakfast, and had a choice of Bagels, bacon, cheese, orange juice, lemonade, and water. We then got our Camp Wing T-shirts, the designs of which were made by students in the 7th grade, and took some pictures. We cleaned out our cabins, took our bags, and got on the bus back home. I spent most of the time talking with the junior leaders that came with us, and spent the other part of the bus ride reflecting on what happened at Camp. When we got back, we found our bags and then went home.

It was an awesome trip.