I'm Back America!

So when I last left you, I will still enjoying my time in Ireland and had just finished my first surfing experience! Well since then, I visited Munich, Germany with one of my very best friends from Spain, travelled to Dublin again to say goodbye to my dear French friends and took my 14 hour flight back to my homeland and man has it been an adjustment getting back in to the swing of American life!

Germany was one of my favorite experiences in another country! It was fun and I met up with three different friends while there. Our favorite Spanish princess, Helena, met up with me and we reunited for the first time in 5 months! Then, my friend Franz, who lived on the same floor as me at UCSB, was working in Germany so we met up with him for coffee! Finally, there was Teresa who is from Germany but came to UCSB for a quarter to study abroad so she took us out for our first night in Germany! They stay out until 7 in the morning in Germany and their public transportation is open all night long which relieves any motive for drinking and driving. I felt really save in Munich because there was so much transportation and we were always with people who spoke English or our new friend from South Africa who spoke fluent German! Helena and I stayed out until 6 in the morning our last night together because we didn't know when we would see each other again but we really enjoyed our time together! Germany will always be a special place for Helena and I!

Then there was Niamh's sisters wedding. Wow, was that amazing experience! It was at one of the most prestigious hotels in Ireland and located on a golf course. The K Club was its name. Our hotel room was basically like a two bedroom apartment, it was so fancy! My main job was to watch odhran the whole time which of course, I didn't mind at all! He sat through the whole ceremony with no problems so then I got to see an actual Irish wedding! I felt like part of the family, it was great! The whole weekend was like a mini holiday for me. It was perfect!

Now, leaving the Irish kids was definitely hard to do but I had a really good time with them the day before I left. We went to the park and played football (yes, I was playing soccer!) and then we went to  Apache Pizza for my going away dinner. They got me the cutest and sweetest gifts and I wrote each family a letter that I couldn't read out loud with out crying. It was the perfect way to end my time with them.

The next morning my flight was at 9am so we had to leave the house at 6am so we woke the kids up and put them in the car and dropped Cillian and Realtin off at their grandparents. I didn't really have time to cry because we were in a rush and it was still pretty early. Aodhan came with us to the airport and Sinead asked if I wanted them to come in with me but I politely declined because I didn't want to fall apart. My bags of course were too heavy so I had to throw some things away but eventually I made it through baggage claim, security and customs and got to my gate right as they were boarding the plane so I literally had no time to spare.

The first leg of my flight was such a breeze because United Airlines has free movies on their transatlantic flights. So I watched probably three movies and tried to sleep but I was already too awake. The fed us a great breakfast and a turkey pretzel sandwich so coming into America I was feeling great.

My layover was in Newark, New Jersey and I tried to walk around as much as I could knowing that I had another 7 hour flight ahead of me. This time, the plane was smaller, there was no free television or free food so I was really anxious to get off the flight. The pilot finally announced we were landing as soon as we did, I got off the plane and basically sprinted down the hallways. As I am riding down the escalator with my backpack that ways about 100 pounds, I can see both my skinny parents waiting for me with huge smiles on their faces. I jumped off the escalator and ran into my parents arms and held back the tears as I got to hug my dad for the first time in a year. We went to baggage claim, grabbed my bags and headed on the San Francisco roads. We stopped at a restaurant in Pleasanton who's name always seems to slip my mind but they give cotton candy with every meal! As we pulled into the driveway at our house in our small town, I was never more happy to be back in Galt.

What is Brittany up to now? Well, I am coaching cheer at Galt High School and I am also a member of two adult cheerleading teams myself. One of these teams will be going to Worlds so its really challenging but I enjoy it a lot and have been making some really good friends. I am waiting for my substitute credential to be cleared and then I will start subbing at the high school. Next fall I will begin coursework to get my masters and credential for teaching high school English. Thank you all for taking this journey with me and following me each step of the way. It was truly one of the best years of my life. Stay tuned to see what the next few years have in store for me!
Thank you!
Brittany Lampson

California Girl's first surf ever... And it's not anywhere near America

So I finally went back to the west coast! Not the American one of course but in Ireland! Megan and I headed to Lahinch in County Clare for a weekend of surfing!

We left Saturday morning from dublin at around 9:30am and were expecting to get to lahinch at around 15:30 after all the bus changes. Unfortunately, our first bus to Galway was so slow that we arrived an hour late and missed our first connection so we had to wait for another bus that would take a total of two and a half hours to get us to Lahinch. We stopped in Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher before we finally reached Lahinch a little bit after half 5. Luckily, the bus stop was about two feet from the hotel we were staying in so we ran in, got our key and dropped our stuff in our room before sprinting down to the beach to make our 6:00 surf lesson!

So putting on our wetsuits took about half an hour and they also gave us little footie socks thing which took another hour to put on haha. Eventually, we were ready to start our lesson. We lucked out because it was just Megan and me and one other guy during this lesson so we had a lot of one on one instruction from Alan! 

The weather conditions were pretty mild and not raining at all. The waves were pretty small so they were perfect for learning! I would basically belly flop on to my board when it was time to catch a wave so Alan got a laugh out of that. Glad I could keep our instructor entertained. By the end of the lesson I would say I stood up completely maybe about 4 times. Megan was really good though! Standing up more times than she bailed! 

We walked back to our hotel with just our jumpers on because we were just going to hop in the shower really quick. Of course we got a few stares but you know we kind of expected it haha. Oh yeah and it was raining on our 2 minute walk back to the hotel. We got showered and dressed and then headed out to find something to eat. We stopped at a pub full of very friendly people and great food. We even got free drinks from the manager because we were pretty Americans! We then went to another pub that was full of people of all ages which was the coolest thing I've seen so far here! Love that that's what happens in the small towns. 

So we settled up there and went to the nightclub that was supposed to be popping. It was literally the smallest nightclub I had ever been in but I guess for a small town it was considered big? Well we ended up staying until it closed and really enjoyed ourselves! And it was so nice to only have to walk two minutes to get back to our hotel! 

The next morning we woke up at half 9 for our breakfast then went back sleep until about half 11. Our surf lesson was at twelve and we looked outside and saw how choppy the waves were and were kind of freaking out. Our group this time was full with a total of 8 of us and the wind kept blowing our boards, we literally had to hug them to make sure they didn't fly away. Eventually, it started hailing and my arms were so exhausted I literally had no more muscle to push myself up with. So when Nills, our instructor for today, said last wave, I gave it my all and had my best surf of the weekend! I was overall pretty impressed with myself. 

Megan and I retreated back to the hotel for our showers then had a lovely lunch at a little cafe. We headed back to just relax a bit on our holiday and I fell asleep until like 7 haha. Then we went to get some food and found a nice little Chinese restaurant which we weren't too impressed with. We went back to the hotel again for a little breather and ended up watching the finale of Britain's Got Talent before we headed out for the night. Back at Kenny's from the night before, I ended up putting my two step skills to use and was impressed to find some Irish guys who actually knew how to dance! Super impressed! I went back to the nightclub from the night before and saw all the same people including Nills, my surf instructor from that day. I definitely had fun, needless to say I didn't get back to my room until 4 in the morning haha. 

The next day we dreaded the long journey home which took me a total of 3 buses and 1 taxi within a 9 hour span. It was so nice to go back and sleep in my own bed and I even got a lie on the next morning. 

Lahinch stole my heart and if I were to come back to Ireland to live I definitely think I could settle there, at least for a little while anyway. 

Well, my next adventure will be Germany with Helena during Father's Day Weekend so I'll catch up with you all then! 

Slan for now! 

Lahinch Beach 

New suit mom bought me 

After surfing on Sunday 

When in Rome!

I am currently ten thousand feet in the air as I write this on my way back to Ireland from Rome! What an amazing weekend I had. Megan and I planned this trip two weeks ago and man was it a good idea!

We flew to Rome on Thursday and our flight got in at about half 8. We then had to take a shuttle bus that would take us into the city of Rome and that took about half an hour. Megan and I were super worried about finding our hostel but it ended up being right around the corner from the 'Termini' station which is where the bus dropped us off. We checked into the hostel and then found that there was a great restaurant downstairs so that is the first time I had food in Italy! I got the four cheese pizza which had a white sauce on it and surprisingly enough Brie on it to feed a host of families. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love me some Brie, but only in small portions. However, it was still one of the best pizzas of my life. Megan got a pizza that had 4 toppings on it and it came out with each topping separated on different portions of the pizza. AND they accidentally put hard boiled eggs on her pizza. Surprisingly tho, we found out that's a really popular thing in Italy. That night, we got to bed semi early because we had to be up the next morning for our first tour of the weekend! 

Friday morning rolls around and the sun is shining so we figured it was going to be a lovely day. It was time for our tour of Vatican City. We had to take the metro to get there which was more crowded than a church on Easter Sunday. Then we walked what seemed like miles to get to the meeting point with our tour group but we made it. At this point, we're both sweating because you have to be completed covered up to get into the Sistine Chapel and the Basilica. So the tour takes us through the Vatican museums and we learn so much history. We see paintings by Michaelangelo and Ferdinand and are then overwhelmed by the magnificent ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. To imagine that Michaelangelo hung upside down for 4 years to paint that ceiling is just overwhelming. It was such an amazing experience so be in the presence of such greatness. We then got to see the tombs in the Basilica and see where s few popes bodies lie as they are just covered in wax so you can still see what they look like. After the tour was over , Megan and I went back into the church to pray and man was that such a spiritual experience. It was an amazing morning to say the least. 

The tour in total lasted around 3 hours so, you can imagine we're pretty hungry by the time it is over. We start walking around to find somewhere to eat and then get lost inside a park that only has 2 entrances. We finally escape the maze and find a lovely little cafe with a view of Vatican City where they sit us outside in the beautiful weather. I had been craving spaghetti bolognese since the second we landed so naturally, that's what I ordered. The flavor was very sweet and the sauce a lot more red than what I would eat in Ireland or America but it was fantastic! All of a sudden, it starts to rain. No. POUR! So Megan and I decided we would get desert to see if the rain would settle any time soon, and of course, it didn't. Luckily there were loads of men running around selling umbrellas and ponchos so we grabbed a poncho and speed walked to the metro station while our feet got soaked! 

When we got back to the hostel, we finally met our roommates who were both traveling alone. One was from The Netherlands and was taking holidays from work and another was from California who works in Alaska on the oil rigs and goes traveling on his time off. They were both pretty cool guys so we went to get gelato and dinner with them and then we planned a roommate outing for that night. We went to a bar full of tourists and met babies of the tender age of 19 from Notre Dame who were studying abroad for the summer. We didn't meet many Italians that night but we did have a pretty good time. It's funny, some random guy said that Italy isn't like America where you can just haul a taxi and next thing you know, I wave one down. Then when we were getting in the taxi he said he didn't like me and I was like good for you, I don't even know who you are. He was from Pennsylvania apparently so I won't be visiting that state if they apparently don't like redheads. Megan and I came back to the hostel to get some rest because we had another busy day ahead of us. 

Saturday was the day we got to tour Ancient Rome. Our tour started at about half one and we didn't finish until about 5. It was a very long walking tour and we got stuck in the rain a few times. Megan brought her poncho but I didn't want to cover up my cute outfit so I just sucked it up. I was dry by the time I got back to the hostel because it eventually stopped raining. The tour started at the colosseum and was pretty sunny for us so we got loads of pictures. I learned that gladiators were actually owned by people so they were technically slaves. I also learned that most people didn't actually die because it would cost too much money for the owners to buy a new gladiator. Don't get me wrong, there were a few people who were killed, but more often than not, the owners wanted their players to live. Next we headed to 'El Foro' and got to see some ruins of "the real Caesars palace" and a garden that used to be a really gigantic fancy pool. We then walked to the Trevi fountain that was closed for construction and then Pantheon which was closed for mass and then we saw the fountain that was used in the movie "When in Rome" with Kristen Bell. By the end of the tour we were hungry again so we went to get food and then decided we would walk to the Spanish Steps. Unfortunately, we weren't too impressed with them but it was nice to say we've been there. We took the metro back to our hostel and got some more Gelato. 5 scoops for 4 euros. Pretty amazing. By the end of the day we were exhausted so we got into bed and fell asleep at about half 10. 

That brings us to the current moment. On my flight home awaiting to land in Dublin, not ready to be back from holiday yet. That's ok because Megan and I are going to Lahinch next weekend and then I'm going to Germany only 3 weeks after that! 

I have 3 months left of my time over here and while I'm ready to get home to see all my friends and family, I am not ready to leave the family I've made over here. At least I've got 3 months left with them. I'll try not to let them go to waste! 

Ciao!