My third camp of the summer brought me to Cimadolmo, a small town nestled among the Prosecco hills of the northern Veneto region of Italy. Along with a South-African, a Canadian, and a fellow Michigander, we had an incredibly eventful first week.
At the beginning of the camp, the children were quite timid with our morning circle songs and activities—something that is not uncommon — but their level of apparent disinterest made me worry that they would be an unenthusiastic bunch. Thankfully, the first afternoon of habitat games came around and my worries were alleviated. In habitat games, we divide the campers into teams and have them compete in various relays to select the animals, colors, adjectives, and places that will become their team names. By the second game, practically every kid was invested in the competition and in the fate of their groupʼs name. Once the names were selected and each group began designing their team crests, every camper had at least one marker in hand and was making some contribution to the artwork. After this activity we soon came to know that any artistic endeavor required at least 30 extra minutes because the kids loved so much to draw and create absolutely anything.
Other afternoon activities fortunately proved to stir similar levels of excitement throughout the week; during our camp-wide scavenger hunt we had one Freddy Mercury impersonator, three human pyramids, four love letters to for us tutors, and 35 giddy campers running from one side of the school to another in an effort to solve all of the tasks first.
Once water games day came around we were in for a treat. Not only did we have 200+ water balloons to launch at one another but also a surprise “celebrity” participant (a camper impersonating Johnny Depp), a couple “Baby Shark” references, three water-war waging tutors (including myself), four completely soaked helpers, 10+ water relays, and countless buckets of water poured on anyone within range.
We ended the first week of camp with an eclectic talent show featuring everything from magic tricks, to the Macarena (courtesy of our lovely camp director and assistant), to gymnastics, to a re-telling of a Roman battle, to a dramatic reenactment of the time I was chased by a moose (which featured one of our camp helpers giving another a piggy-back ride so that they could chase me around the stage pretending to be a moose).
In addition to the excitement of camp, during my first few days in Cimadolmo, the Prosecco hills surrounding the town were officially named a UNESCO heritage site! Over the weekend, my host family and I visited a castle on one of the hills, where we made friends with some donkeys, admired the panoramic view of the nearby towns and countryside, and hurried down the hill back to the car when a hail-storm began aggressively pelting us with hail. Due to the storm, we spent 30 minutes hiding under trees, bridges, and overhangs in our car rather than drinking Prosecco but the adventure was lovely just the same (although I think Prosecco would have improved my sentiments toward the situation…. and lowered my panic as we scurried from one partially-safe spot to another).
All in all I enjoyed my first week in Cimadolmo and I look forward to what little adventures come my way next week!
Til then, ciao for now!
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