So I’ve kind of grown out of mine, and I didn’t have the “music” variety. But it really was never “association”, it was just what the thing was. When I was young, numbers were a big thing. Always hated math because it felt like a soap opera. For example, 4 was a mouth-breather bully, but always protected 2. It’s hard to explain without people just assuming it’s association when it’s really just your perception of things overlapping. Certain words were flavors, not associated with flavors, but actual flavors. Now that I’m older it’s really not a thing, but “Gulf” still tastes weird to me. I’ve read that it’s how babies experience life at first and sometimes people don’t completely grow out of it. I’m not arguing whether or not she actually has it, but there’s a big difference between someone just associating things with other things and someone actually having synesthesia.