Sami’s Blog: School Camp

Do you remember school camp? Experts say parts of camp often form core memories because our brains remember emotional events that are different from the norm. I guess it makes sense. I recoil at the memories from grade 8 camp at Caloundra. It was a recipe for disaster! 16 hormone filled girls in one dorm, and 1 (me) with a freshly broken leg. Yes, unco me slipped and broke my leg trying to climb up the wet steps of the old Buderim waterslide. I had a group of teachers huddled around me as my leg lay at a strange angle. The ultimate cringe factor for a 13 year old girl in her togs came when the hot PE teacher kept commenting how hairy my legs were. I had never even thought of shaving them until that moment in time when I prayed the earth would swallow up me and my spider legs right then and there! Let me tell you the Bic razor got a work out as soon as that cast came off!

So, last week my 14 year old went to Canberra for school camp. The itinerary included The War Memorial; an outing to Parliament House (Albo was there); capped off by a day trying to learn to ski at Thredbo. Wow! But the stories coming out of camp were actually what I loved most. Avalon, my girl, sent me a video showing me 8 teens in her room blow drying their hair, chatting on the beds and bragging they even had a kettle for coffee. The 2 minute video ended with how much she loves me and how excited they all are. Now my friend Melisa showed me a text from her son on the same camp. It simply read “The food is Average. Jordan broke a window with his bum and now hehas to pay for it. Bye.”

Can we unpack this mysterious message please? How did Jordan break a window with his bum? Was there any bum damage? It is my favourite text of 2025 and a master class in how males communicate compared to females. Camp stories do grow into legend. The core memories aren’t of Tributes to fallen soldiers or the walking the halls of political power, just broken legs and bum broken windows. Oh to be 14 again!