Even though camp and college may seem to be polar opposites at first, they actually have more in common than you would think. After six summers at sleepaway camp, I learned how to live with others, but more importantly, I learned how to live on my own. Sleepaway camp forces young children and teens to become more independent. Even though there is adult staff at camp, campers are still responsible for taking care of themselves. Having this experience, I felt more prepared for college as I had some kind of idea of what to expect when I had to live on my own in the dorms.

Camp prepares you for both the bad things and good things in college.

First of all, I thought I would never have to sleep in a twin sized bed again. Well, I was wrong. After six summers at camp and six months at camp, I can say I have mastered sleeping in a twin sized bed. Yeah, you can't really move around a lot. And yeah, sometimes I fell off my bed because there was no railing. But I guess that's just the camp/college experience. Besides the bed sizes, camp food and college food, unfortunately, aren't that different. With a diet of strictly carbs, I feel like I'm back at camp again.

I mean, I guess eating cereal or grilled cheese with a cookie isn't the worst meal. The only main difference is in college you don't have to eat in the dining halls because you can eat out or order in. But that's a whole other dangerous game. At least I'm not starving myself like I used to as a camper?

Oh, and how could I forgot about my favorite part of camp, shower shoes. Oh did I miss wearing those. Not. Camp taught me to ALWAYS wear shoes in any type of communal shower. Living in the dorms, the worst feeling was walking to the bathroom in sneakers and realizing I forgot to change into my shower shoes. But enough about how camp prepared me for the bad aspects of college. Camp taught me so much more than that. College is basically a less fun version of camp just because of all the responsibilities you have. Yet, camp taught me how to live with other people and that's a really really really important life skill. Like really important, if I didn't stress that enough.

After living with 14 girls each summer, I was more than prepared to have just one roommate in the dorms.

I learned how to share space with someone else and how to live with someone for months straight and not want to kill them. Yet again, really important. Even if I could, I wouldn't trade living in my little 12X19 room in the dorms. My roommate has become my best friend and I don't know what I would do without her. She is basically my counselor. She makes sure I do my homework, eat, and get enough sleep. She is my go-to and partner in everything. Yeah, I never leave her alone. But seriously, if it weren't for camp maybe I would have lived in a double. So I owe it to both camp and the dorms for giving me my best friend. Going off of that, I have made some of my other best friends for life here at school. Camp taught me that these are the times where you make your lifelong best friends. I continued to have that mindset as I transitioned from high school to college.

After only one year, I already know that I have met some of my lifelong best friends, not to sound cliché or anything but it's true. My camp friends and my college friends have become part of my life and I couldn't do life without them I'm so thankful that camp taught me how to put myself out there and make new friends. Because, without this skill, I may have never met some of my best friends. But most importantly, camp taught me to appreciate every second and take in all of the moments between the big moments because before you know it you will be leaving. The time goes by in a blink of an eye so you really have to take it all in why you can. So moral of the story is that every kid needs to go to sleepaway because it will change their life forever but also prepare them for so many things in their future.