Although I've been promising both myself and others that I will get this blog back up and running, it's (obviously) not happened yet. Which is a shame, especially considering that Milan's Expo will be opening soon (that is, depending on whether or not Italy gets it together pretty quick!) and I'd love to be able to spend more time blogging about my favourite parts of the city for those of you lucky enough to be going! Hopefully after a bit of time, I'll be back on form.

One of the reasons I'm a bit behind, and have been for the past few months, is because I'm currently trying to get my dissertation ready to submit in just under two weeks time. Psychology is one of the subjects you get to do a research project for although the split between practical work and written work means that I've only got a measly 6,000 words to write it all up in! I'm a sucker for a good ramble but psychology articles are often written as if a robot spewed them out so I'm trying very hard to sap all personality out of my project as I write!

I've had some exciting news recently as well as some incredibly bad news which I will probably talk about a little later once I've got my head around things. For now though, I will ask your forgiveness and leave a few photos of what I've been up to when my eyes haven't been glued to my thesis.


1. Enjoying Michele's cooking efforts on visits back to Italy
My favourite kind of food is the sort that explodes sunshine with every bite. This lemon, leek and parmesan pasta did the job perfectly.


2. Exploring Devon with my Mum
The pretty poor public transport system in the South West means that getting out from Exeter to places like Dartmouth is a treat reserved for family visits. I will start saving for a car...


3. Making desserts out of fruit
I've been perfecting my healthy-ish apple crumble since giving up sugar for Lent. Now I can eat what I like again (hooray) but still think that an apple crumble made with oats, honey, cinnamon and a whole load of orange juice and zest can't be beaten


4. Questioning the meaning of it all
Not necessarily in a deep, philosophical way but when it comes to modern art, I'm always left a little stupefied. Last month Michele and I visited Hangar Bicocca in Milan. It's an amazing space in an old warehouse (the wine bar helps)


5. Getting drunk with this babe
My fellow Slow Food on Campus blogger and I hit the Wine Soc's wine and cheese night with force. So much force that we ended up running out early (yep, turning down free wine!) and legging it to Nandos to eat something with more substance!


6. Discovering great new veggie restaurants
Having been a veg/pescatarian for about 13 years now, I'm used to being limited to one or two choices per menu. Visiting the Acorn Kitchen in Bath with my co-veg and partner in crime (a.k.a dissertation research partner Lizzie) was like taking a very indecisive but greedy child into a sweet shop.


7. More drunkenness and conference winnings
Lizzie and I went to the South West Undergrad Conference hosted by the British Psychological Society and won best presentation for our talk about our research into the effects of media ideals on female self-esteem! Obviously we got drunk at the networking event (a common theme for us) and spent the journey home snapping pics of the snoozing bunch behind us..


8. Playing tour guide
I really love introducing people to Milan. So much so that when poor Katie arrived after no sleep and a 7am flight, I dragged her all around the city, starting with delicious pizza at Frijenno Magnanno. She was an absolute trouper and kept up after pizza, wine, limoncello, gelato (from Gelateria della Musica of course) followed by a tour around the city centre, taking in the Duomo, castello, via Montenapoleone... even I was ready to crash by the end!


9. Discovering the flamingos in the centre of the city
Who knew?


10. Celebrating at Alice (Eataly's swanky restaurant) with Michele
This sneaky one was supposed to be at work whilst I got on with studying but he came home early as a surprise and took me out for a celebratory lunch at Alice, which turned into a three hour affair with lots of wine and ended in a nap. Bloody excellent.