Camp America and Losing my virginity...

Hey and happy new year!
So summer 2012 I took part in Camp America and worked in Boston, MA for 2 months. When people ask me about the experience I'm often reluctant to talk about it or explain what really happened, this is kind of because I want to forget what happened or maybe because I'm sick of explaining it over and over again. People expect me to say I had an amazing time and how benefitial it was etc. and presume that it was. However this actually wasn't the case. I don't regret going at all but I definately wouldn't reccomend camp america to anyone else nor praise the company.
I initally decided to take part to have a great summer and had heard from so many people how many friends you make and how amazing it is to travel the states etc. However as I grew further into the scheme I realised how good it looks on your CV to have worked in a different country and the skills you gain from camp. I know can talk about all of these things in interviews and applications and for that reason I am glad I did it.
But at the time I wanted nothing more than to come home, I'm not going to go in to why but I didn't get on with one of the girls I shared with and I really missed home. However I think more than anything, Camp America as a brand aren't a company I could rely on.
Firstly, I felt they almost tricked me in to thinking it was a free experience and that I would earn enough money to travel the states after. When in truth, I paid out over £1000 in flights, admin fees, visa, insurance etc. They claim the flights are "free" but then you pay out £400 in admin fees and the flights are only £300 on the virgin atlantic website. I don't understand the dishonesty behind them saying they aren't for flights? And I feel they didn't fully explain the fees before hand as I was well into my overdraft paying for these fees, whereas if I had have known about them earlier I may have considered not taking part.
Then when you arrive at camp, all the americans are paid minimum wage for full time work which isn't a bad wage in the states. The camp were also paying this amount out for me, but I wasn't recieving it. I was actually recieving $100 a week for working full time, which works out at about 50cent an hour. Camp America took the rest of the money from me. So despite the admin fees which I had paid they also recieved over 60% of my wages. I wasn't even aware of this until I spoke to the other workers at camp. I felt so betrayed and again, why were CA being so dishonest and frankly decieptful!
When I arrived back from the states, Camp America asked me to become a brand manager and despite the fact I didn't want to represent their brand, I was interested to see some of their marketing strategies and gain some brand management experience. We were signed up to a forum and I was the representative for camp america at UWE.
However as I looked into it further, some of the tasks they asked us to compelete were so anti-competitive and unjust. They asked us to rip down competing summer camp companies posters, stand outside competitor talks and tell people about camp america and bombard students with CA's name. Now I realise why I hadn't heard of any competitors when I was applying to work at camp. I can only reccomend to people to research other summer camp companies, as Camp America charge the highest fees and the lowest salaries. I just feel that although CA were trying to make me positively represent the brand, they were giving me negative perceptions of a brand that my summer was in the hands of. The forum is just full of people slating other summer camp companies so I removed myself from the group!

Sorry about how negative that was! I just wanted everyone to know the truth about camp america! Some positivity now...
Over the christmas period I have been reading Richard Branson's book "Losing my Virginity". I don't normally read autobiographies however I think it's one of the best books I've ever read! Definately a reccomended read! I think Branson is such an inspiration and it has definately taught me some important business knowledge! I think Virgin is such an exciting brand and the risks he is prepared to take are inspiring and I'm now fascinated by Virgin! A must read if your interested in business, entrepenurism or marketing.

Finance exam next week then our big product pitch presentation next week! And can't wait to hear if the marketing societies budget request for the networking event has been approved or not! All very exciting and I am very confident that they will all go fine!
Steph