It’s Tuesday. My room is tidy, but my bed unmade and my mind is in disarray. But some of today has been good. I spent time with a good friend and felt so much better having spoken to someone who I know cares. My best friend and I spoke at length last night which always makes my day.
But I have a term essay due on Friday. Procrastination is inevitable. It happens more than I care to admit – I try my best to complete my work well in advance but somehow it becomes the day before the due date, and there is still work to be done.
It’s the middle of October, and it still doesn’t truly feel like the year has started properly. I still disjointed and unadjusted in my new space. As I look around my room, it feels like I’m in a strange place. It’s weird to be working at a desk in a quiet space when I’m used to our dining room table at home, and the sounds of my family all around me.
I think it’s clear that I’m homesick. Res food will never match up to my mom’s homecooked meals, and the constant smell of cake or jam or soup being made that floats through our home. Food is one of the things I miss most about home because it’s so much a part of our daily lives. If my mom and I go shopping in the morning, we know we have to be home for lunch. To me, it is some of the best time that we spend altogether when it’s so easy to do our own thing all day.
Study week is next week, and as I said, I’m not sure where the year has gone. It seems that it was just last week that I arrived in Grahamstown at the foot of a brand new, daunting opportunity. Now I’m preparing for the final exams of my first year and handing in the final few assignments of the year. It’s been a wonderful year, but nothing makes me happier than to know that the end is in sight. G-Vegas has been a treat for the past ten months, and I’m so glad that I chose to come here, but I’m definitely ready to head back to Pietermagicburg for a couple of months.
I’ve been very quiet over here for the past little while, purely because I needed time to focus on varsity and myself, but I’m feeling much more motivated to come back to Catherine and Cranberries with new energy. Lots of exciting things are coming up soon, and this holiday holds many new opportunities. Watch this space!
A long, long time ago (well, three years, but it feels far longer than that) I ventured into the world of youtube, and I made a few cooking videos. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it, but with school and other commitments, it fell by the wayside. Somehow, I never got back into it, but who knows what I’ll get up to in the future. For now, I thought I’d share them here. They aren’t perfect by any means – the sound is a bit off, and its clear that my editing can improve a lot, but I’m still very proud of all these videos.
Hello there, world! Welcome to my blog, Catherine and Cranberries. I’m a nineteen-year-old from South Africa, and I’m in my first year of university at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. I have a love of cooking and baking and I really enjoy experimenting with new recipes, both healthy and not so healthy. In Grahamstown, there are lots of opportunities to be outside – we walk everywhere and go hiking, running, and exploring lots of new and exciting places. I try to fill my free time with crafts, like crocheting and journaling, with the occasional drawing session – sometimes I just watch series and whittle away my time (but we don’t like to talk about that). I’m also just getting into health and exercise, so I’ll be keeping a little running tab of my progress and how I’m working towards healthy habits while in a university environment. Come along for the ride – I’m super excited to be back on the blogging train, and in this community of people.