Overall I have had a really nice life. But one thing that was very difficult for me was band camp. And I know it sounds fun.  I had some really great moments. And other times I was crying. Overall it started out wonderfully, I was excited, who wouldn’t be? I was going to be an eighth-grader playing with the high school band. While looking back it was really fun. But in order to play with the high schoolers, I had to go to band camp. In order to learn to march and play the music, which was really difficult. That brings me to where the first problem really started. 

     Band camp takes place at Camp Nokomis. To get there we first take a bus up to the docks in New Hampshire. Overall the boat ride to the island wasn’t bad at all, although it was about a half-hour long. We got everything off the boat and began to get settled while we waited for the second boat with the other kids. It was only when they were already there that we realized that someone had forgotten to take the t-shirts the sub freshen girls had tie-dyed together onto the boat. It was at that point that I realized the next few days were going to be very long. 

At band camp, you spend a lot of time playing or learning to march, but we do get our own time to do whatever we want. So I and a few other kids decided to go out on a canoe. Once there, some people decided it would be fun if they were to start rocking the boat. Which, as someone on the boat, was in fact not fun. We got back to shore in one piece thankfully and it was time for dinner. That's also the point when we realized that they didn’t know about one of the girls’ dairy allergies. She decided not to tell anyone and instead ate part of a very sad-looking salad.  She had it without dressing because it also had dairy. We all told her to tell someone but insisted she was fine. The rest of the meal was spent in silence. I thought that the night would get better and it would be fine but it was not.

       After dinner, we had a trivia night and we spent the entire time fighting. At one point one girl started to cry. Feeling bad even though I didn’t do anything I went after her. And listened to her cry for twenty minutes. Overall the day and night hadn’t started great but I assumed that after a shower it would be better. Once again it was not. There were eight showers for all of the girls in the band. So I spent almost forty-five minutes waiting just for it to be lights out. At that point, I realized this entire week was not going to be good.  It wasn’t although I am proud to say I only cried once. I ended up calling my best friend who was actually in Disney at the time and telling her about everything. The worst part was that this was only the girls' cabin. I ended up talking to one of the boys afterward and they said that they had a great time. 

     Although it may be weird considering how bad band camp was I can’t wait to go back. Which is exactly how many of the upperclassmen describe it to you. Horrible when you're there but once you leave you can’t wait to go back.  Because when it comes down to it I wasn’t the only one miserable. We all really bonded as a group talking about how bad the food was and the long days. Overall the best part was looking back on it with my friends.