Working at a summer camp is an experience that is hard to top. You get to be outdoors, you get to ride horses and go kayaking all the time, but the best part is the camp friends that become your camp family. Having a camp family means that you have a relationship with a group of people that is impossible to break. They are your support system in camp and out. Here is why your camp friends become your family.

1. They are who you want to see during winter break

Anytime you can come home from school, the first thing you do is make plans with your camp friends. They are the ones who you know you can be yourself around, they have seen you at your best and worst, they are the ones you want to spend every spare second with.

2. You live with them for the entire summer

Spending an entire two months of summer with the same 30 or more people can really bring you together. They are who you see first in the morning and last at night. Spending that much time with the same people only brings you closer together.

3. You have more inside jokes with them than anyone else

Anyone who has worked at a summer camp knows that the list of inside jokes between you and your coworkers is endless. Those jokes come up in your everyday life often, but no one except your camp friends will understand them and that just makes you miss camp even more.

4. On weekends off during the summer, you hung out with them rather than going home to your family

Working at a summer camp is the most rewarding job, but it is hard work. After a week at camp, most would think that you would want to go home to your family and relax, and although that may be true sometimes, most days you would rather spend your weekends having campfires, going out to the beach, or even just doing laundry with your camp friends. You only get one summer and to get to spend it with the best group of camp friends is the best.

5. They’ve seen you at your best and worst

Whether you just had a camper dump slime on you or you are dressed up for a dinner with everyone, your camp friends have seen your highs and lows throughout your summer together and have never judged you for it.

6. They are your summer support system

No matter what you have to endure throughout the summer, they are there to support you. Your camp friends are experiencing exactly what you are and they are there to hold you up on the days that you just want to stay in bed and sleep. When you spend an entire summer without your friends or family, they become the best support system you could ever hope for.

7. They are your life support system

After spending an entire summer with the same people, you learn a lot about each of their lives. You have learned how to support one another every single day for two months and that is bound to carry over once you return to the real world and leave your "camp bubble." You can go to your friends for school problems, relationship issues, and everything in between because camp friends means that you are camp family. That is a connection that you will never lose.