Chapter By Chapman

It's now only 16 days until I fly out to camp and it's suddenly dawning on me that I haven't really got myself organised yet. I mean, I've cancelled my gym membership, I've handed in my notice at work and I'm trying to start thinking about what I need to pack, but I have no idea how many pair of shorts I will need to pack for 8 weeks! I feel a little (very) unprepared, but am trying to hold it together. I keep seeing lots of Camp America Storytellers flying out, or arriving at camp and it's making my small attempt at preparation seem pathetic, which it is, but that's going to change from now. So in short, my preparation for camp is well... um, I'm working on it. When I started applying to Camp America, I thought it would be super easy, and it was to a certain extent. The Camp America website has its own checklist to get you through the process: Profile, Payments, Placement, Visa, Insurance, Flights etc, so it seems simple, but there are a few hid...

For those of you who aren't following me on Instagram, (and why aren't you?!), I went on holiday with my family to New York last week for the first time and I completely and utterly have fallen in love with the gorgeous city. I really didn't know what to expect or what it would be like as I'd only been to America twice before on skiing trips to Boston with school and we didn't experience America outside the ski resort and the hotel. There were some things that I kept going, 'Oh that's the same as London' and there were some things where I was thinking 'This would never happen in London!' but what I wish I had before I went is a few tips and tricks to look out for if it's your first time in the Big Apple, so if you're heading out there for Camp this year, hopefully this list will give you a little bit of help with what it's like and what to expect, and how to have the best days off in New York! I agree, Buzzfeed! 1. Toilet Do...

For those of you who don't know, I'm doing Camp America this year! In America, sending kids to camp for the summer is tradition, like in Lindsay Lohan's best work, 'Parent Trap'. Some camps are day camps, where the parents drop them off and then pick them up at the end of the day, whereas others are overnight camp, where the kids have tents or log cabins to sleep in with their fellow campers. During the days they do activities, like dance, canoeing, archery and arts and craft, and then by night camp fire songs and smores, and obviously, lots of fun and laughter in-between. Most camps will have a lake, so water sports like swimming and kayaking are common, especially in the summer months when it's warm and sunny outside! Camp America itself is a cultural exchange programme which enables English young adults to work on a camp in America for the summer, meeting like-minded people and learning about the American culture, all whilst having the 'be...

Being vegan is very easy, but at times it can become challenging. When I think of veganism, I would only think of it as a diet, but the official definition of veganism is: "a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose." Controversially, I believe that your diet is the easiest aspect of veganism. The biggest challenge is all the other sides to being a vegan, things you might not even realise are things. Different vegans have different opinions of how many aspects of your life veganism should affect, some believing it should only go as far as your diet, while others weave it through everything they do. From my point of view, as a 20 year old vegan living in England, I thought I’d share the hidden aspects of veganism I've had to contend with and how it affects my daily life as a vegan. How vegan am I? If I don't abide by every single ...

For the first 18 years of my life, I was a normal girl, eating what I thought was a normal diet. I had always had an interest in cooking but only as a meat and dairy eater; I only knew how to cook beef bolognese, tuna pasta bake and cheesy pasta. It was only when I moved out to go to University and was cooking for myself that I began to pay attention to the foods I was eating and became more aware of how I was fuelling my body. It all started when I was scrolling through social media on my phone one day and happened to watch a video about the dairy industry and the production of dairy milk. I’d had a vegan friend through my teenage years and knew that I liked soy milk from drinking it with her so began to buy that instead of dairy milk. It’s such an easy swap and it mimics dairy milk in nearly every way, other than it curdling in boiling water to make milky coffee. So I simply began to drink black coffee or ask for Soy milk when I bought a coffee from a coffee shop. (Now I hav...

Goodbye 2017! I spent my last night of the year with my best friends playing a board game before heading to a pub, and drinking in the New Year. So naturally, I have begun the year feeling a little more fragile than usual. But once my hangover subsided, it was time to turn my focus onto the year ahead of me. Now, call me clich é, c all me an unconscious follower of social concepts, call me whatever you like, but it's tradition in Western culture to set Resolutions when the New Year hits. I believe there's no time like the presence so I've actually spent the majority of December working my way through these already, making little changes. After all, there's no point putting too much pressure on yourself on the 1st and two weeks into January you've fallen off the bandwagon back into your Christmas food coma! I believe resolutions are different to goals. Your goals are long term achievements and your resolutions should be small, but mighty changes you can apply ...

In the words of John Lennon, "So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over, and a new one just begun." Thinking back over the last 12 months, I can safely say 2017 wasn't the best year of my life. Understatement of the year right there. But rather than dismissing it as complete disaster and starting again, I have collected my favourite memories and achievements of 2017 so I have something positive to look back on in the future. My 2017 in a nutshell - what I'm proud of, what I'm happy I got involved in and who I spent it with. Becoming a Vegan After 2 years of vegetarianism, I took the final step to Veganism in January this year. I did hover somewhere between veggie and vegan for the first few months of the year but when my sister moved back home, she was the final push I needed to commit to the plant-based life and I haven't looked back or regretted my decision at all. My Sister Moving Back Home My sister moved out to University...