Elise's Summer Camp in Germany

Elise spent the second week of July in Germany at a summer camp called Camp Adventure.  It was a traditional camp on a lake where the kids stayed in tents and did all sorts of activities.  Elise went with her friend Nici Bless - her mom had found the camp and the idea was for the girls to have some fun while practicing their German (Nici's mom is German and her dad is American).  As it turned out, they had a great time, but probably didn't practice their German as much as we had hoped.  That's because it really was an international camp, with kids (ages 8-12) coming from all over.  Elise and Nici's two tent-mates were two girls from America who were living and going to an international school in Germany.

They did activities every day, and Elise and Nici joined with the polar bear swimmers who swam every morning in the lake!  They did lots of fun group activities and chose one class to focus on in the mornings - Elise chose guitar.  In the afternoon they did all kinds of water sports.

I am so impressed and amazed that Elise can do this kind of thing - she really wasn't homesick (we missed her more than she missed us!), and she definitely enjoyed the experience.  The Bless family drove her to the camp and picked her up (it was about 4 hours away), so she really wasn't depending on us.  I see this as one of the big benefits of our moving to Europe (and going to the international school) - it has helped the kids to be more flexible, independent and open to new things.  What a great blessing and opportunity!