Over the past few years, students from Iowa State and other universities have been participating in an international youth program called Camp Adventure.

Last summer, 38 ISU students took part in the program, with some participants traveling to military bases in southern Germany, and others going to central Germany.

While in Germany, the students interacted with the children of military parents. For these students in Germany last summer, the military barracks with one bathroom was home from June 8 to Aug. 25.

“It’s a test of patience, time and how you deal with each situation,” said Sarah Royer, sophomore in interior design.

Royer said the trip was a “real cultural experience, but very difficult.”

Tricia Ditch, junior in psychology and business, also went on the trip. She said she learned a lot in general, but like Royer, agreed it was a difficult experience.

“It was a complete gamble; we didn’t know what to expect,” Royer said. She said she had talked to some other students who had been on the trip before, and their living conditions varied. Some stayed in cabins, while others stayed in apartments or lived in tents.

Each day the students worked at the daycare from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and participated in various activities with the kids.

On Mondays, Ditch said they usually took the kids to the zoos, parks or roller-skating. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they went swimming, and on Wednesdays, they took trips to amusement parks. Fridays they played games and had barbecues.

Ditch and Royer said one of the most difficult aspects of the experience was the 15-to-1 ratio of child to student.

When the weekends came, the ISU students toured Europe.

Ditch, who traveled to eight countries, said the experience was “unbelievable.”

“No one speaks English, so we used a lot of sign language,” Ditch said.

However, when the weekend was over, she said it was back to work.

Ditch said the people were great and helped out a lot, but some of the children were not very endearing.

“They knew you were leaving, so they felt they didn’t have to be respectful,” Royer said.

Royer said the program taught her how to deal with stress when they had to do long projects.

“It was the weekends when we got to escape from the stress and travel,” Royer said.

Tricia Bolejack, senior in elementary education, was sent to a base in central Germany near Frankfurt.

“It was a great experience. I went because it’s not something you have the opportunity to do every day,” she said. “I wanted to take advantage of it while I was in school.”

Bolejack lived in a hotel on the base with four other people — a total of 12 people were sent to the base. Bolejack, like the others, also found the children difficult to handle and aggressive at times.

“It’s the military environment. The kids get moved around a lot, and it’s just the way they were brought up,” she said.

Bolejack said the children looked up to them and were sad to see them leave. She said it was a great experience, and she would recommend it to other students.

“It was completely different from the U.S.,” Royer said. “[The trip] teaches you about life. You gain a new perspective of your country and the children.”