It seems that the staff at Camp Ernst are always finding awesome adventures outside of the camp world relate back to the people they met and the lessons they learned while spending their summers with us.  This is a guest post from Hannah Kelly, one of our staffers who is experiencing camp during her study abroad program this semester.

Hi!
This is Hannah Kelly, some of you may know me from working in Cabin E this summer! This winter, I have traveled all the way to England to study abroad for the semester. I am attending school at the University of Central Lancashire. This is in a city called Preston, which is just north of Manchester.

What does this have to do with Camp? Quite a bit actually! One of the best things about attending Camp Ernst is that you can make such amazing friends. Since I’ve started working at camp, I have boasted of having some of the best friends in the whole world! I now know that this is true: it has been proven to me countless times since I have arrived in England!

When I first arrived, tired, but excited from my flight over, I was met by one of my good friends and co-counselors, Katie Biesty (She spent last summer in Cabin C). Let me tell you, to have one of your best friends run through the airport to give you a hug after a long flight is one of the best experiences you could possibly have! Katie and her family were gracious enough to let me stay with them for a whole week before heading off to university. It was so much fun to adjust to the English lifestyle with such an awesome friend.

During that week, we had a bit of a Lakeview reunion. Katie and I took the very English train system to Nottingham, where we met up with Adam (Cabin A last summer). The three of us then managed to surprise Danny (Cabin G from 2009)! It was such an exciting evening. We all went to a teahouse, which is exactly like it sounds, like a coffee shop, but with all different sorts of tea! How English is that?! Nothing quite says friendship like sharing cheesecake at a teahouse, thousands of miles away from home.

And, thanks to camp, friendship for me really is everywhere around the world. I am already setting up plans to visit some of the other English counselors while I’m here, as well as going all the way to Madrid, to visit some of our Spanish ladies from camp!

Hannah in a classic English phone booth!