Camp Journal - Village Day Camp Geneva

Busy couple of days ...

Great weather makes it even better!

Well it has been a busy couple of days at Village Camps, and the fantastic weather has made them a great couple of days as well!

Yesterday, the four year olds spent the day up in Signal de Bougy, visiting the animals in the small zoo, playing in the enormous playground, and of course, baking their own brioche, and hopefully there will have baked a bit extra for the rest of us!

The nine year olds went go hiking in the Jura Mountains today, which is a great excursion, but with the strong sun today it was a little bit on the hot side.

The 6’s, 4’s and one senior group were the lucky ones at Nyon Pool today, and yesterday the SA1 group went to Divonne lac to escape the heat, they were using small boats yesterday instead of windsurfing, and the number of campers who purposefully ‘fell’ into the cool water was quite high!

Meanwhile SA1, SA2 andSB1 went to Gland for the afternoon to bowl, while yesterday it was SA3 and SB2 who went, and once again, on both occasions, the counselors were (surprisingly) outclassed by most of the campers. They claim that the added distraction of watching over the campers affects their game, but I think they are a little bit ashamed of having lost to 10 to 12 year olds!

It is sad to think that this second session is almost over, but we still have special day to look forward to and the weather tomorrow should be great, although there is a chance of rain in the afternoon.

I hope you are all planning to stop by at some point, from what I’ve seen in Dance, Drama and Music, the special day skits and songs will be fantastic!

All our age groups who have stayed on campus have been practicing a lot and the performance should be great! For all of you campers who are taking a long weekend, and won’t be here tomorrow, I hope you all have a great time, and if you’re not planning on coming back next session, then have a great summer, and we hope to see you next year!

A Demain! And Happy Swiss Day!!

Danny is one of the Senior Counselors for our Senior Groups.

He is half Spanish and half Irish, and grew up in Spain so he speaks Spanish as well as English and some French. 

Danny is studying Telecommunications Engineering in Madrid. 

He likes music, computers, and playing piano, he also enjoys watching films and reading, and his favourite book is 1984 by George Orwell.

Quite a busy day...

with excursions and loads of activities for all ages!

Well it was another great day here at camp, and quite a busy one, with lots of excursions - the nine year olds had a very busy and tedious day, they spent the morning at Nyon Piscine and the afternoon bowling at Gland, tough life, huh?

All of the other intermediate groups in camp also went on excursions today; the Eight year olds went to the pool this afternoon, and the Seven year olds went to Trelex and spent a few hours playing games in the Forest and building little huts for the Trelex fairies.

The Seniors also had a busy day, three of the groups spent the day in the Jura mountains and had a picnic lunch at the top of La Dole, all the campers and counselors had a great time, although it seemed that for some campers, (not to mention a particularly lazy counselor) that the spectacular views of the Alps and Lac Leman and Geneva seemed to be insufficient reward for a three hour hike.

One of the other Senior groups went sailing this afternoon in the Lac de Divonne, and the Six year olds went on the boat from Coppet to Nyon this morning, which was followed by a brief stop in the playground by the Port de Nyon.

The rest of the day was taken up with on campus activities, many of which included preparation for Special Day on Friday. Thankfully it looks like the weather for the rest of the week will be nice and sunny, so Special Day should be uninterrupted, but if you could also make sure that all your children have plenty of sun cream and water, it would be great.

Just a reminder:
The camp will be open this Friday, although it is Swiss National day, we have a great day planned and it would be a pity to miss it, so please, come along!!

Gloria is currently one of the Senior Counselors in Mini camp, working with group 6A.

She is from Uganda and speaks English and French, and just finished her studies at the University of Syracuse, where she majored in Public Relations with a minor in French. 

Gloria was also on the field hockey team, and also enjoys playing soccer, as well as singing and dancing.

Another great week has started...

lots of diferent things to learn and have fun with!

Wow! It is hard to believe that we are now half way through this summer at Village camps - there is only this week left in the second session and then only two weeks after that! Everybody seems to be aware of this and is taking advantage of camp while they can, today was a great day with lots of activities, as well as quite a few campers who joined us for this week.

The Eight year olds had a great day- they went to Signal de Bougy in the morning, and although they didn’t have time to make bread today, they did get to visit the petting zoo with the ridiculously large pig, the horses and goats, and of course the rabbits and hamsters. They also put on their own production for the counselors on the spacious open-air stage. It might not be a world-renowned venue, but at least they were able to practice their stagecraft before special day, and the space and acoustics make it a great place to simply stop, sit down, and scream/yell for a while. Then, after a picnic lunch at Signal, they went bowling in Gland this afternoon, making it a hugely fun, if also tiring day at camp!

Some of the Senior groups were also up in Signal de Bougy and after having a picnic lunch with the Eight year olds, they spent their day on the Rope Course, which is one of our most popular activities this year.

The Six’s went to the pool after lunch, and the Nine’s went this morning, and apart from that all the groups were on campus today.

Tomorrow is the day with so many excursions that camp will seem dead quite, but today there were campers at all our activities. The on-campus specialists all look a bit tired after the hectic day they had, but they are enjoying themselves and that’s all that matters!  

Erin is one of the Senior Groups counselors this summer.
 
It is her first time in Switzerland.

She speaks English and Spanish, and likes the Florida gators, soccer, tennis, fishing, photography, yoga, dancing, and movies. 

Erin loves traveling, and especially likes Italy, and when she is not here with us she teaches high school students in the U.S.

It’s hard to believe that we only have three weeks left ...

especially considering how fast the first three went!

Day five of the second session and Village Camps 2008 is officially half-finished! 

Today was a very enjoyable day and it is definitely on a high note that this first week of the second session ends. It was a relatively busy day on campus because there weren’t too many excursions today, but that created a great atmosphere around camp and the weather helped make it a great camp day.

The Seven’s got the best of it today- they had Nyon Piscine in the morning and then, after a lovely lunch here on campus – roast chicked, potatoes, ratatouille and watermelon for desert - they headed off for an afternoon of bowling at Gland.

Most of the Senior groups went to the pool in the afternoon. Those groups were then envy of every other camper and staff member as it was universally agreed that today was a day to spend in the Pool (or at the very least with your head in a bucket of water).

As I’m sure you’ve noticed the weather is getting quite warm at the moment, and if it continues then parents please make sure your children are prepared with hats, water and sun cream next week.

The Five year olds went on the Coppet Boat Ride this morning and then spent a few hours playing at the Place des Jeux in Nyon.

All of the other groups spent the day on campus - Arts and Crafts, The gyms, dance and drama, all of the counselors and campers are starting to think ahead to special day at the end of next week and plan skits and performances. The theme this session is Switzerland, we really had no choice since Special Day is also Swiss Day, and hopefully William Tell, Roger Federer, and some other Swiss stars might turn up….!

See you all then, and have a great weekend!!

Sophie has a long history with Village Camps, she was a camper here since she was seven years old, and this is the fourth year that she has been working with us as a counselor.

She speaks English and French, and is currently one of our mini-camp senior counselors. 

Sophie has come over from the U.K, where she is studying theatre, to work with us.

When she’s not having a great time with the kids, Sophie likes to play touch rugby, go ice-skating, or do any drama-related subject.