It’s always fun to travel to a new place, see new things and generally experience the culture of a new place. Although some of us may not have the money to go to these places, there are other ways to experience a culture, and one of those ways is Hosting. Brianna Latham has provided the cultural experience for others these past two summers and has learned about the Northern Irish culture in the process.

The opportunity Brianna received was for an organization called The Ulster Project, where they “…work with teenagers in Northern Ireland and the United States to educate them and develop them as leaders,” according to the Ulster Project.org. It was her friend’s mother’s idea to invite her to a meeting and give her a chance to see if this is something she wanted. She never expected she’d meet some of her best and closest friends.

Within 2-3 weeks of the meeting, the first guest arrived, Julie. “I was so nervous…one of the first things I ended up saying to her was, “Wow you are so Beautiful.” Brianna smiled when remembering her experience. For the next month Julie taught Brianna all about the culture of  Ireland and Brianna provided her with the full Tucson experience, (Basically Eegees). As part of the project they had to travel to some chapels and old churches as well. “I had an amazing summer with Julie and I definitely wanted to experience it again,” and she did!

This past summer Brianna got to spend her summer listening to Irish accents all day, this time with double the people and double the culture. This year Brianna was excited to share her stories about the fun she had, and has hopes that maybe the roles could switch and she could experience their country. “This experience changed my life. It made me understand more about Northern Ireland, and I made lifelong friends. If I could, I would do it all again!”