So if you weren’t aware, my sister got a kitten. I practically begged her to wait until I was home so I could see it when it was little, but nooo. SO now we have a kitten named Riley. Luckily Allie pretty much took over my room so when I’m home the medium sized kitty will hopefully be in my room…I’m just so excited to have a nice cat around again.
Okay, so I've learned many things lately. I have visited New Castle and salsa danced… I've recently finished writing through an entire journal so I bought a new pen for my new journal to celebrate. (I realize how lame this sounds but I felt extra accomplished, it's like finishing a whole thing of Chapstick)
New Castle is crazy beautiful, it’s about 3 hours north of Sydney by train. I went for Easter weekend with my friend Bridget and had a really lovely time. It’s a kinda big city with 500,000 ish people and it’d compare it to Spokane if Spokane was on the coast and clean. The cafés were really trendy and had lots of personality and we went to the bogi hole? I don’t actually remember the name of it but it’s basically a swimming pool in the ocean. The waters weren’t cold and I didn’t get a sunburn which was fantastic. Bridget had really fabulous friends she introduced me to and her mom and sister were so welcoming and it made being away for Easter not a big deal. They even bought me really yummy chocolate, so yes very thoughtful and I was extraordinarily grateful.. and I should have written a thank you note because ladies do that right? 
Anyways, Bridget and I genuinely bond over yoga, so she took me to her favorite studio. I don’t know many other people as interested in yoga as I am, but she has lots more awesome qualities. We chatted about what makes good teachers and our favorite postures and experiences we’ve had and such. So going to her favorite teachers enlightened me more on what she loves about yoga and long story short it was my favorite part of the short trip!
Salsa dancing was an absolute blast. As we left we said we were going to start going every week..we haven’t actually done that but we definitely should. I went with Bridget and we forgot our ID’s. The Establishment is known for their “Salsa Tuesday’s” and we just wanted to go for the class not the after drinking part, so Bridget was extraordinarily resilient and talked us in. We learned quickly that it’s best to switch partners every song or two and that it’s best to ask someone before someone asks you. We both were asked to dance by some... odd characters? That’s a nice way to say it. But we also danced with half professionals and it was so much fun. We agreed it was the best to dance with a guy only two or three skill levels above you; we felt bad for the guys who were really good and tried doing lots of spins and fancy stuff, but you don’t learn anything with a guy who is worse than you.
I was sick last weekend which was super unfortunate. I went to work anyways because I only work one day a week and feel guilty calling in sick, plus in retrospect, I wasn't that sick I just hadn't been sick in a really long time and forgot how much it sucks. Emily, the lady I rent from, had lots of vitamin C and shared so that was sweet.
I also went to an Ayurveda specialist, Dr. Prasad. Ayurveda is alternative medicine based on a traditional Hindu system that works a lot with nutrition and balance. So he asked me to stick my tongue out at him and in 10 seconds he told me everything that was wrong with me. It was funny because as he was telling me my tongue was still out so I would just nod in agreement. Anyways just from looking at my tongue, he told me all about how my right hip is being pulled forward because of the pressure from my small intestine because of blah blah blah. Anyways it was really informative and has worked really well for me, so I'd highly recommend looking into Ayurveda if you are interested in naturopathic medicine!
He also directed me towards more foods I should eat which is always exciting. I’m getting more creative with cooking and the whole house cooks together quite often. It’s really enjoyable eating as a house too, I’m so used to family dinners I’d imagine it being quite lonely… I have discovered zucchini noodles (SO YUM) and pumpkin soup and couscous and this apple pear cinnamon stew thing..ugh so good. I’m also always welcome new recipes if anyone has any suggestions. Annaliese called me the other day and we probably chatted for 5 minutes about all the ways we cook sweet potato’s, so I can admit I’m a foodie but it’s nutrition based so I see no issue :). Grocery shopping is so much less fun here. At home everything went on Mom's card and now that I'm concerned with prices and how much room I have on my shelf in the fridge it is so much more stressful. Also it's hard when I'm really out of stuff if nobody in my house is driving to the grocery store, because I can't carry everything so I have to really plan on what I'm skimping on. That being said I love not driving, but may look into those unicycle hover board things.
School has been going well, I think? It’s really hard to tell in all honesty because I’ve only gotten one assignment back. I feel confident in most of the material and all but since most my classes are based on a one or two essays, maybe a presentation, and maybe a midterm I won’t actually know my stance in class for another weekish. But that being said I think my marketing midterm went really well & my essays for anthropology made sense to me..so fingers crossed. My Future of Business case study came back already, I scored a 70% on that. Obviously disappointing, right? I’m relatively just grateful for passing because our tutors said most of the grades were “50’s & 60’s”, but I definitely had to adjust my expectations. Anyways I got really helpful feedback on the case study, so hopefully next time will be more successful! It’s annoying how long it takes to find out our grades. I understand the logic of the volume of students being an issue, but anything longer than 3 weeks is absurd. I don’t even remember half the stuff I said in essays from 3 weeks ago? That being said I actually really enjoy all of my professors so I’m grateful for that. Working in groups has been kinda stressful. My marketing group gets on quite well but my future of business presentation is coming up next week and I'm starting to feel anxious about it. I think everyone is motivated after seeing what we got on our case studies though, so I'm sure it will all be okay...!
I’m coming home in July if you were unaware! I am going to Canada the 12-17th but am going to be in town or at the lake or river the rest of the time so please reach out! I don’t know what my phone number is going to be but I will update that when I do. I miss the family a lot (especially with the new kitten and grandma and grandpa at home), but I’m not homesick much. It comes in waves definitely, 5 minutes of sadness or so but usually a text home is all I need to recover.
Much love to everyone!
Lynee Cavanaugh
