Update

Well! I fell a little behind, didn't I?  Where did I get up to?  Ah yes, I'd just caused all kinds of trouble, and been sort of told off by CCUSA.  Following their email, I got quite annoyed and emailed their USA head office.  This got forwarded to their UK office, and I got a phone-call from the man I'd been emailing in the UK.  He rang to, very nicely, explain that I wasn't in trouble, I'd just caused a bit of an issue.  See, only one camp at a time can review my application, and I was currently under review with some unknown camp.  This could, apparently, cause camps to "fight over me".  In the end though, the camp who was reviewing me decided they weren't interested, and my application got forwarded to the camp I wanted.  I then got an interview, and was offered the job over the phone.  Overall, a good result!

But, if you want to find your own camp, do it BEFORE you get your application sent to the USA office.  It's ok to find a camp of your own, but once it's sent to their office, it's meant to be down to them to find you a camp.  Make sense?  I think it does, now I've stopped fuming!

After I got accepted onto the camp it all got a little hectic!  I had a lot to do, and very little time to do it in.  From the sounds of it, I'm one of the people who's started the earliest - I'm actually typing this from my cabin at camp right now!

Visa Interview


I had to head down to London on a specified date to get my J-1 Summer Work Visa, after filling out the online visa application from home.  This day was set aside solely for J-1 applicants, and I was met by CCUSA outside.  They handed me the last bits of paperwork I needed.  I was in and out of the embassy in about half an hour!  Would have been quicker, but my face on my photo was "too pale" and I would have "bled into the white background", so I had to pay £5 to get one from the photo-booth in the embassy.  I was "10-printed" (had all 10 fingerprints scanned) and then had a quick interview.  I was asked what I did at home, I explained that I worked full-time investigating complaints.  They asked what my employers thought of me leaving for so long, and I said I was leaving my job to go to camp, but would be coming back to work with my Dad as part of his photography business.  This was deemed acceptable and my visa was approved. Yay!

CCUSA Pre-Departure Orientation


Ok, I'm not going to lie, this was BORING.  I could see it would have been useful if I didn't have my visa yet and if I was having CCUSA make my travel arrangements.  Unfortunately I had my visa and went for the "non-flight" option.  Never mind, it was compulsory so I put up with it.  I did learn a couple of important things, like photocopy EVERYTHING three times - one for me, one for my parents, one for my camp director.  We also got a presentation by some travel company offering us 10% off their tours of America.  Sounded cool but I'm leaving my 30 day travel period pretty open.

Paperwork


Police check!  I sort of forgot about this, so had to pay to have it done with their premium service, which was twice as much.  Not happy about that, but it was my own fault.  Luckily got it back the day before I flew (!) so all was well.  I had a lot of paperwork from camp too that I was meant to send back, but I missed the post to get it back in time, so I just brought it with me.

Travel


As I previously said - I'M HERE!  I arrived last night, after a long day travelling.  I'm still not sure what day it is, or what time it is, but I'm not too badly jet-lagged.  I arrived in the evening so went to bed at a normal, local time, and got up at a normal, local time.  Jet lag?  What jet lag?!  So far the weather looks loooovely, but I've not ventured outside of my cabin!  I've only met one other counsellor, since I'm here quite early.  I have archery training on Friday (tomorrow), but main training for all staff doesn't start til Monday.

The camp is really nice, quite small and not as rustic as other camps.  I think it'll suit me just fine!  The other counsellor has already told me camp is MUCH more fun when you're over 21 (I'm 23).  I guess they like to celebrate their day's off...!

I'm very excited, and will post more when I know more!