Sami from Illinois. Be independent, and I know that sounds strange but I've never been away from home this long. Getting to be independent and live with a group of girls; I've never had that experience before. I've learned to take care of myself. But the nice thing is, you've also got friends here that'll help you out. You know, if you forget to throw your towel in the laundry, you can put it in with theirs, that kind of stuff.

Ariela from Brazil. I've met people from around the world, and I've taken some great classes, like Model UN, that are a little different than normal classes. We're holding a conference and every person is a country. I'm Brazil.

Georgia from California. My sign language class is definitely something I wouldn't have been able to do at home. I think coming to Explo and learning all about sign has been really interesting. We've learned a lot of basic vocabulary and greetings.

Jen from Florida. I've definitely met a lot of different people of every different nationality. Everyone's so nice here and open to meeting someone new. I think it's great because it's important not to be secluded in your own world. It's good to see other cultures and other experiences. Like, I've learned a lot about other cultures, but I've also learned that basically all teenagers are the same. We're all into the same things; we all do the same things at home; it's just we're from different places.

Isabel from Pennsylvania. The classes that I've taken here are really interesting, film studies and improv. They're things that I couldn't really get a chance to do at home, so learning about them here has been fun. Like in film studies, we've learned how to critique films -- how to look at the editing and the lighting, other things that you don't really think about normally.

Claire from China. The weekend trips, because you get to travel up and down the East Coast, and I've never been on the East Coast. I've gone to a [Pawtucket, RI] Paw Sox game, a film tour, Shrek, and on a Chelsea food tour in SoHo. So I've really got to see a lot of New York, and those are just completely different places than where I'm from.

Meg from California. I've really enjoyed the yoga mini-course. Even though I've done a little of that at home, I thought I'd enjoy it here. It's been really nice to break up the day; it's been something I really look forward to.

Rachael from Washington, DC. I'm taking DJing, and where else could do that? I've been to other camps, and they don't offer that, so when I was looking at the book, I figured why not? We've used digital turntables, and it's really fun. We mix it, it's cool, and everyone has their own musical taste. Like, my style is mixing techno with a really popular song.

Maddie from Texas. Living in a dorm, first off, and with someone I had never met in my life. Heather, she's from Philly, and it's been a really great experience. It's been cool to see that someone so far away is still so much the same and so different.

Heather from Pennsylvania. Just meeting people from every different continent. In my public speaking class alone, there are people from seven different countries besides the United States. So, you know, just meeting people who came 22 hours just to be here.

Julia from New Jersey. My classes have been different. I've taken anatomy and immunology. The dissection stuff in anatomy, I wouldn't have gotten to do that stuff at home. We've dissected a fetal pig, a sheep's heart, and a cow's eye. The sheep's heart was definitely the coolest.