On Holiday

I just arrived to Edinburgh this morning after a wonderful, fun and family-filled Christmas. While it was not my own family I was spending time with, I was fortunate to be introduced and accepted into my friend Caoimhe's family, friends, and community. I spent five days or so with her, her parents, her aunt and uncle, and her two cousins. They were very charming young men, and everyone was a pleasure to get to know and hang out with. Somehow, even as we almost all caught a bit of a cold or something at one point or another, we were able to hang out and spend time together with little to no awkward moments or misunderstandings. I felt like I was spending time with my real blood relatives. Caoimhe showed me around Galway Bay and the town and we were able to make 9 of the 12 pubs of Christmas pub crawl the night before new years, go caroling in the threets for a good cause the night before, and I dove into the Irish Sea with Monica (Caoimhe's mom), her aunt Anne, Cormac (the 18 yr-old cousin)and roughly 1000 other brave Christmas polar plungers. It was a great experience, but I didn't get any sleep last night since my bus to the Dublin airport picked me up at 1:45am to take me here, so I am going to spend some time in my hotel and rest up tonight so I can meet up with all my arriving friends tomorrow. Night!