Galentine's Day

We have done so much this week, including a trip to the Blue Mountains which was nothing short of fantastic.Yesterday, however, was a big day for three reasons. It was Cal's birthday, Valentine's Day, and Ash Wednesday. To start off the day, a bunch of us gals went to brunch at a place called Concrete Jungle Cafe to celebrate "Galentine's Day". It was one of those artsy cafes where all of the food deserved to be photographed, and it was definitely a favorite of mine. I had scrambled eggs on toast with some avocado, which was not as instagram worthy as the food choices of my gal pals (pictured below), but it tasted fantastic. Yesterday was also the first day I decided to go all day without coffee. I have calculated how much I have spent on coffee while abroad, and it amounts to about 130 Australian dollars. I could have bought two whole coffee makers with that kind of money, but we all know I am going to keep buying a coffee on the regular. It just goes to show my caffeine addiction. I was sort of a nightmare to be around all day, but I was successful in giving it up for just a day. We came home and had class in the Urbanest cinema room for the last time, and sang Happy Birthday to Cal. I am really gonna miss having class in a bean bag chair on Wednesdays. It made me realize that a month has already gone by, and that's crazy!!! We are already 1/3 of the way done with our program, and I just cannot believe it. In no way am I ready to go home yet, but I know the time will fly by.

Because yesterday was the start of Lent, I went to St. Mary's Cathedral to celebrate Ash Wednesday. As a Catholic it was really neat to see the differences in the celebration of the Mass. Mass at St. Mary's was definitely more traditional than what I am used to, but it was beautiful. For Lent I have decided to give up eating past 8p.m. This is because I will typically eat healthy all day long but as soon as the clock strikes 8, for some reason I cram as much food into my mouth as possible. Last night was hard because a tv show called "Married at First Sight" came on at 7:30, and I usually like to treat myself to some Tim Tams during that show. Because of the 8p.m. rule I have now given to myself, I ate an entire sleeve of Tim Tams as fast as possible in the span of 20-30 minutes so that I would beat the clock. It was liberating. Several of us then went to a study room to study for our Australian History final, which was my least favorite part of the day, but overall my Galentine's day was pretty stellar. After our final we will all be going on our spring break trips and we are all so excited. I will personally be going to New Zealand, and I look forward to sharing with you my future endeavors.

Until next time,
Liza