Last summer gapyear.com followed Yolande Squire as she headed to Lake Greeley Camp in Pennsylvania to work as a horse riding counselor with CCUSA. We caught up with her before she left to see if nerves had set in...

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Interview with a camp counselor Name: Yolande Squire Age: 20 Job: Horse riding camp counselor with CCUSA Hi Yolande, how’s it going? So you are off to camp with CCUSA - where are you going, how long for and what will you be doing when you get there? It's going great thanks, even better now that I’ve finished with university exams and can properly look forward to the summer! I head out to my camp, Lake Greeley Camp, in the Pennsylvanian Pocono Mountains next week where I will be for eight weeks working as a camp counselor/horse-riding instructor. Once the eight weeks are up, hopefully there will be a bit of post-camp travel, although that is completely dependent on funds! Sounds great... how have you been preparing for camp? Lighting camp fires in the back garden? Not quite! I had the pleasure of the US embassy visa interview the other day, but luckily I was pre-warned and went armed with a book. It takes queuing to a whole new level! Apart from formalities like that, a couple of other forms, health checks and meetings; most of my preparation has been looking through my the Lake Greeley Camp website and talking to camp old handers - which has done loads to help me get excited! How much do you know about the whole summer camp thing - what are you expecting to find when you get there? A couple of my friends are now regulars on the camp scene and it takes a lot to shut them up when it comes to camp tales! I am expecting great people, gorgeous camps, exhausting work but it all being worth it! Plus a good excuse to behave like a big kid for most of the summer which sounded right up my alley! As a counselor and horse riding instructor, what are your main responsibilities going to be? I am going to be living with and looking after the campers in my role as counselor and as horse-riding instructor, I'll be teaching riding and getting involved with the upkeep side of things like feeding and mucking out the horses. I'll generally be doing whatever needs to be done on the horse front. What is it that you are you most looking forward to - the people, the place or the camp food? I really can't wait to meet everyone, especially all of the kids. I'm also really looking forward to getting into the riding and rumour has it there’s paintballing on my camp, so kicking some ass is also on the agenda! It's sounding like paradise so far, gorgeous setting, wonderful people and ass-kicking opportunities too - but is there anything that you are particularly worried about? Something you might find hard or are not sure that you will like about camp? Not really - I'm just going into it with a complete positive attitude, as I am sure that I am going to have a brilliant time. However, I do think it may take a while to adjust to the early mornings especially coming from student life! As the saying goes, never work with children or animals. Yet, you are working with both. Have you worked with children before - is it something you’ve always wanted to do and what are you expecting? I worked with children in a playscheme set up on my gap year. It was such a fun, rewarding experience that I couldn't wait to work with kids again. It will definitely be hard work, but the rewards will be enormous. I’m prepared to be exhausted by the end, but I know it’ll be content exhaustion! You’ve done a fair amount of independent travelling - most notably throughout South America - what is it that attracted you to camp and a more structured type of gap? In short, I wanted to try something new. I’ve always thought that camp would be fun and my summer holidays are only going to get shorter, so I wanted to do it while I still can! I also really wanted to do something involving horse riding as I haven’t been able to do much recently and so camp seemed like the perfect opportunity to get back into it. I'll also get to try my hand at teaching it, which is exciting. What’s making its way into your rucksack for camp? Anything that you’ve been recommended to take or that you don’t think you can live without? My most essential item when travelling is mossie repellent - I hate the little buggers! Finally - and most importantly - how good are you at making camp fires and do you know any good camp songs? My camp song knowledge extends about as far as Ging Gang Goolie and as for building fires it’s a skill I’ve often felt lost without, so I look forward to learning! Thanks Yolande, have an amazing time and we look forward to reading about your camp experience in your live diary! Thanks guys - I can't wait! Click here >> to read and comment on Yolande's summer camp diary in full Click here >> for summer camp postcards from Yolande Click here >> for more on becoming a horse riding counselor Click here >> for frequently asked questions about CCUSA Click here >> for more experiences on working for CCUSA Click here >> for all jobs on summer camps with CCUSA