Those lazy hazy crazy days of summer...

Today on my morning break, I wandered over to the Union for a bagel, and discovered that it's about that time. The Union was packed out with every camp in the southern United States, all of whom had the same goal: recruit summer camp counselors. They had music blaring, powerpoint presentations showing all of the exciting adventures the camp had to offer, and enthusiastic staff urging students to come and find out if Camp X was the place for them this summer!

It made me reminisce about my own college summers. During my freshman/sophomore summer, I worked in the juniors department at Sears and took classes...exciting. This may have been the summer when I had to temporarily work in the lingerie department, where I found out that old women frequently want "assistance" choosing and trying on things. Eww.

During sophomore/junior summer, I prepared to move to Arkadelphia, AR. I took two psychology courses and spent loads of quality time with the dear friends I would be leaving soon.

During junior/first senior summer, I returned to the great state of Texas. Ah, my glory days of working at IHOP (I only spilled one thing the entire summer, a milkshake on my aunt Elsie who was very forgiving). This was also the summer that each Monday evening, Amy & I hit up Ruby Tuesday's and ordered their monstrous chocolate brownie/ice cream dessert to take our mind off of the mundane summer we were having. Ho-hum. Amy & I would jabber 90 mph until the dessert appeared (with 2 spoons) at the table, at which point no more words were spoken and it was a fight to the finish. The evening usually ended with two full tummies, a plate all but licked clean, and two spoons spinning.

During first senior/second senior summer, I went overseas for the first time. I spent 3 weeks in Namibia and South Africa with a team from OBU. We mainly worked with youth in the capital of Namibia. It was here that I fell in love with Africa, and knew I would go back. I went on my first African safari and stood on the southern tip of Africa where my left arm was over the Indian Ocean and my right arm was over the Atlantic. Glory.

During my final college summer, I went overseas again. This time, I ventured to Uganda, again with a team from OBU. We were in a rural area this time, and I finally saw "the bush" of the African village. Another African safari, and instead of dividing oceans, I divided hemispheres by standing on the Equator. I returned home, and spent the remainder of the summer preparing for a two year adventure in West Africa. I went to a matching conference where a very enthusiastic gentleman pulled me to his table and insisted that I hear about an exciting new project called the Texas Partnership where I could work as a volunteer coordinator in Cote d'Ivoire. And that's exactly where I ended up.

Ah, those lazy hazy crazy days of summer...I hope the UNT students who were wandering around today looking at all the summer camp opportunities make the right decision for them. I hope they are happy and can look back for years at the unique experiences that only a college summer can give.