How often while walking through the streets of your hometown do you see children or adults outside playing, gardening, smiling, having fun, being friendly or just simply chatting? If you are honest, it is probably not very often.

Instead, those streets are almost always empty, and you hardly see anyone. Most of the time, everyone is inside watching television or using the Internet. Many teenagers are holed up in their rooms playing video games or texting one another.

But there is a place where this does not happen. It is a place that brings joy to not only me, but also to everyone who goes there. A place filled with excitement, smiling faces, where we have a desire to spend every minute of our time with one another—I am talking about AYC!

At camp, you meet new people, see old friends, care for one another, learn teamwork and sharpen communication skills. It is a place to escape from all the things in the world and enter an environment centered on good, clean fun.

During AYC, we were given plenty of free time to do things we wanted, such as play volleyball, soccer, football, badminton, work on speeches and articles—as well as simply spend time with friends. There was also time to break into small groups and work on the latest song for the next sing-a-long.

At any time, if there was anyone who was downcast because they hurt themselves playing sports or if they were a little homesick, there was always at least one other camper there to cheer them up or simply listen to what they were going through.

Then there was all the fun time spent in the vans. During these trips, girls and boys would sing camp songs—their voices loud and exuberant. These rides also gave campers time to learn interesting things about old friends and those they had just met since the start of camp. During the van rides, which were 30 minutes to more than two hours, we all formed closer friendships with each other.

The travel time returning from activities also gave us an opportunity to rest after a long day—which helped us keep positive attitudes and not become overtired. The little sleep we received during the van rides gave us energy to “bounce off the walls” later and help other campers to have fun!

AYC was also a place where I learned to interact with people from around the world and enjoy every minute spent with them. No matter how different or unique we were from one another, the happiness and cheerfulness never stopped.

We did everything at AYC 2010 with a smile on our faces. And we all learned that even if you just met someone, no matter if they were a different age or if English was their third language, you could still come together as family!