As a teenager, I loved reading poetry. My favourite poets were Kotaro Takamura and Kiyoko Nagase, and I grew up with their books. In my BA, my favourite classes were phonology (English sounds) and morphology (the form of a word). My least favourite (in which I even failed) was second-language acquisition. My teacher in the phonology class was a beautiful […]
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Last weekend, Luca and I thoroughly cleaned the floor, window glass, handrail and furniture in our balcony. It’s a very small, cosy space, so the clean-up was finished in two days after a broom, short-handled brush, cleaning cloth and cleaner arrived. Now, we have coffee on the balcony chair in the mornings, […]
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On Monday, 18 May, I submitted my PhD thesis! This week I have fully enjoyed the freedom. The world feels very different, as if I have come back to reality after three years and five months (176 weeks) of journeying on a small, different planet. My feelings transformed slowly, day by day. After the submission […]
Read more "Week 177: Submitted my thesis!"
I’ve just sent the final text of my thesis to my supervisors for their final check. This weekend (and probably next week), I will be waiting for their approval of my first submission. For the past two weeks, it’s been all about ‘inspection’ of the final text – working with my proofreader chapter by chapter, […]
Read more "Weeks 175 and 176: The final polish before submission"
I stay in touch with some of my students from the last academic year who went back home across countries. It’s a nice feeling to hear about how they’ve managed to continue to study at home. We discuss useful books and how they work for their online learning. One student told me that the situation […]
Read more "Teaching motivation returned"
Savoury muffins are often referred to as a lunchbox idea. I’m a big fan of them and love cheesy muffins in particular. Luca and I very often enjoy cheese and pea muffins as appetisers served with a glass of white wine or Prosecco at the weekend. I’ve been testing my muffin recipe for the past […]
Read more "Cheese & pea muffins [recipe]"